On demand services in Russia offered by operators had total revenues of R7 billion (€111 million) in the first half of this year.
This, according to TMT Consulting, was 46% more than in the same period last year. The largest players in the sector were Wink (Rostelecom) and Kion (MTS), with the former’s revenues increasing by 47%.
A major driver for Wink was the introduction of 5in1 subscriptions, which gave viewers access to the services Wink, Start, Amediateka, more.TV and Kinopoisk along packages from Tele2 mobile communications.
Meanwhile, Kion’s revenues grew by 123% thanks largely to its own productions from the Kion Originals line. As of this July there were 33 originals in its library, with 13 released this year.
TMT Consulting notes that this has come alongside a significant slowdown in the growth of non-operator OTT services. In H1, their revenues grew by 29% and amounted to R25.6 billion, as opposed to 52% in the first half of last year. This was due to a number of factors include the exit of Netflix and Megogo from the Russian market.
Significantly, the total audience for OTT services in Russia fell by 4% in the first half of this year to 65 million. At the same time, the number of households with at least one OTT subscription changed little, remaining at 11.0 million, compared to 11.3 million at the end of last year.
Subscription penetration among Russian households remained at 20%.
