Viewing of satellite TV services offered by Russia’s leading pay-TV operator Tricolor increased by 18% during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Research findings published by the company show that in the period April 1 – May 17 each client and their family members watched an average of 167 minutes a day, compared to 141 minutes in the same period last year. At the same time, the TV rating increased by almost 2% to 11.6%.
Tricolor notes that historical and cultural programmes saw their ratings double, while entertainment programmes and series saw theirs increase by 23% and 20% respectively. On the other hand, there were significant falls in the ratings for sports programmes (-60%), music programmes (-40%) and talk shows (-11%).
Tricolor’s own series on satellite TV saw their ratings increase from 11% in April to 12% in May, while the popularity of national (federal) channels on the first and second multiplexes fell from 59.2% to 53.8%.
Tricolor’s OTT service meanwhile saw ratings of proprietary movie productions increase from 25% in April to 27% in May. Tricolor notes that there was a significant year-on-year viewing share reduction on the internet of the national channels on the two multiplexes, down from 54% to 37%.
It also says that the main increases in audience figures for satellite TV viewing were among those aged over 55, with the number of viewers rising by 35%. At the same time, those aged 4-17 and 35-54 increased by around 23% and 18-34 by 10%. Furthermore, there was a 73% increase in the rating of children’s content.