The OTT service operated by Russia’s NTV-Plus ended the third quarter with over 200,000 subscribers.
This, according to parent company Gazprom-Media, was 2.7 times more than in the same period last year. At the same time, 170,220 people only subscribed to the NTV-Plus online TV service and did not have a satellite subscription. The share of viewers of the NTV-Plus online TV service who were also subscribers to the satellite service amounted to around 15% in Q3.
Satellite subscribers have the opportunity to use Multiscreen. The retention of a relatively small number of such users in the total number of OTT subscribers is explained by by the rapid growth in the number of paid subscriptions. The number using the SVOD model increased by almost 3.8 times in the year to September 30 and amounted to 160,918.
Furthermore, 85% of customers have renewed their subscription for the next period, which indicates a high degree of audience loyalty. At the same time, the number of subscribers who use the PPV model continued to decline and was 32% lower than in the same period last year. This trend is explained by the significantly fewer number of sports broadcasts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the latest figures, Konstantin Smirnov, director of the digital products department at NTV-Plus, said: “The steady growth of the online TV subscriber base confirms the correctness of our chosen strategy both in the field of content integration and in the technical development of the platform. In July, we offered the market a new device – an OTT set-top box based on the Android operating system, which opens up access to all the functionality of our service on any TV, in fact, turning an ordinary TV into a TV with the smart TV function. The successful start of sales of the set-top box speaks of the demand for such a device and allows us to count on the further expansion of our audience”.
