Much has changed in Russia’s TV industry since the start of the war in neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
In what has been a process of reorientation, it has moved away from the West and become more inward looking while at the same time establishing closer relations with such countries as China and Iran.
In monitoring local reports on the industry, the impression one gets is that everything is progressing well despite there no longer being little if any contact with Western companies. If we look at the OTT sector, for instance, we find that Russian platforms spent 30% more on their own productions in the first quarter than in the same period in 2022. Start has led the way, releasing seven films and the same number of TV series in the first four months of this year, with Kion, Premier and Okko each producing 12 pieces of original content.
Furthermore, in an important development reflecting new realities that now exist in content production, distribution and monetisation, it was announced last month that two of the country’s leading streaming services – more.tv, which is operated by Rostelecom, and National Media Group’s Wink – will merge into a single platform.
Meanwhile, the Russian pay-TV market has remained stable, with the number of subscribers at the end of Q1 (46.5 million) being similar to that a year earlier. Although revenues were 0.3% down year-on-year, the fall would have been greater had it not been for sizeable increases in subscription fees at the end of 2022.
It has also recently been reported that Russia’s parliament (Duma) is considering effectively legalising pirate sites that show unlicensed video content belonging to Western companies no longer present in the country. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is opposed by OTT services and TV channels on the grounds that it could negatively impact the market and make piracy even more of a problem.
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