52.5 million pay TV subs for European former USSR countries in 1Q 2018

Tuesday, July 17th, 2018
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Pay TV subs reached 52.5 million in Q1 2018 in former European USSR countries

According to Dataxis latest research, Pay-TV subscriptions in former European USSR countries* reached 53.2m in the first quarter of 2018, a 3% YoY growth. In line with global trends, cable TV is declining in all countries of the region (-2% YoY).

Dataxis - European former USSR - Pay TV Subscriber Share Trend by Access Technology (Cable TV, Satellite [DTH], IPTV, DTT) - 2016-2018

However, cable remains the most common way of accessing Pay TV content with 44% of connections at the beginning of 2018. The share of Cable TV is higher in Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania and Moldova. For some smaller size operators in these countries, more than half of the subscriber base is still using analogue signal. According to industry players, 100% migration of subscribers towards digital is not going to happen before two to three years.

Dataxis - European former USSR - Pay TV Access Technology (Cable TV, Satellite [DTH], IPTV, DTT) Share By Country - Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine - 1Q 2018

The strongest growth is coming from IPTV (+19%), with successful operators such as Rostelecom in Russia, OLL TV in Ukraine and Beltelecom in Belarus. The penetration of this technology among Pay-TV subscribers is also particularly strong in Georgia, where it is driven by broadband expansion.

* Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia