Over 6 million people in Russia now regularly pay to watch films and TV shows on the internet.
As of H1, according to data produced by Telecom Daily and published by AKTR, the figure stood at between 6-6.5 million, compared to 4.3-4.5 million in the first half of 2018.
Furthermore, predicts Ivan Grodetsky, the head of the OTT service Okko, this could grow to 15-20 million in the next five years.
Meanwhile, revenues from video services in H1 amounted to R10.6 billion (€149 million) or 44.3% more than in the corresponding period in 2018.
The figure for 2019, including foreign services such as YouTube, iTunes and Google Play, is likely to be in the region of R21.5 billion.
Revenues from paid services first exceeded those from ad-funded ones two years and now account for almost 70% of the total.
Significantly, the data from Telecom Daily indicates that the market share of smaller OTT players such as TVZavr has fallen at the expense of market leaders ivi and Okko.
