Revenues from online video services in Russia amounted to R3.1 billion (€42.5 million) in the first half of this year.
According to data produced by TelecomDaily, they should reach R7.35 billion for 2016 as a whole, with the share of paid services, which continues to grow at the expense of ad-funded ones, accounting for 37.2% of the total.
In revenue terms, TVZavr (+50%), followed by Google Play (40%), Tvigle and Megogo (37% each), enjoyed the greatest growth in the first half of this year. On the other hand, Zoomby (-21%) and Rutube (-6%) experienced the biggest falls.
In market share terms, Ivi, Rostelecom, Tvigle, Megogo and TVZavr enjoyed the biggest growth, while YouTube, Rutube, CTC Media and iTunes lost share. In the period 2014 to the first half of 2016, Ivi (+5%), Tvigle (+3.3%) and TVZavr (+2.9%) enjoyed the biggest growth.
The largest libraries were held by Megogo, with 77,000 pieces of content, followed by iTunes (75,000), Ivi (45,100) and TVZavr and Zoomby (40,000 each).
Content was most watched on PCs and laptop (49%), followed by home screens (27%) and mobile screens (24%). However, only mobile screens (+4%) registered an increase in the first half of this year.
TelecomDaily notes that the market in legal online video services has large untapped potential, with long videos watched on smart TVs likely to be increasingly watched.
Significantly, the market is also benefitting from the little if any competition it faces from pay-TV operators.
