Pay TV subscribers in Russia up 3.7% in 2015

According to preliminary estimates from TMT Consulting, in 2015 the number of pay TV subscribers in Russia reached 39.4 million. The total was 3.7% up year-on-year, compared with a growth rate of 8.6% for 2014.

The growth leader in terms of technology was IPTV which grew by 20.2% to 5.52 million subscribers. Although IPTV has a smaller share of the market than satellite TV, this high growth rate meant that for the first time IPTV added around the same number of subscribers over a year as DTH TV. Both added approximately 0.9 million in 2015. Cable TV, on the other hand, was less successful with subscribers down 1.5%, leading to a reduction in market share for this technology of 3 percentage points.

Despite cable TVs losses, it remains the most popular pay TV technology in Russia, accounting for 46% of connections, followed by satellite with 40% and IPTV at 14%.

Growth Rates

            2014   2015
           -----  -----
IPTV       23.0%  20.2%
Satellite  13.5%   5.8%
Cable       1.4%  -1.5%
           -----  -----
All         8.6%   3.7%

Top-5 Russian pay-TV operators (subscribers, thousands)

Operator         2015    2014  Growth%
-------------  ------  ------  -------
Tricolor TV    11,800  10,919     8.1%
Rostelecom      8,600   7,983     7.7%
ER-Telecom      2,801   2,585     8.4%
Orion Express   2,800   2,580     8.5%
MTS*            2,745   2,696     1.8%

* Excluding satellite TV subscribers