In 2017, pay-TV market once again demonstrated good dynamics. The number of subscribers increased in one year by 3.2% to 42.7 million, service penetration exceeded 75%. In 2017, pay-TV market once again demonstrated good dynamics. The number of subscribers increased in one year by 3.2% to 42.7 million, service penetration exceeded 75%. study of “TMT Consulting”.

Income growth rates remained at the level of last year. The reasons for the growth were both an increase in the subscriber base and an increase in average income per user by 6%, from 156 to 166 rubles per month. In addition, the increase in the average bill was affected by the increase in tariffs, for example, the subscription fee for users of Rostelecom and AKADO in Moscow and St. Petersburg was increased. Users have moved from smaller providers to larger, which offer more expensive services.

The growth rate of the pay TV subscriber base continued to slow down, but all operators from the TOP 5 significantly increased the subscriber base for the year. The total number of subscribers of the five largest operators (Tricolor TV, Rostelecom, ER-Telecom, MTS, and Orion Express) increased by almost 1.5 million during the year.

Rostelecom became the leader in the number of new users. The operator has connected 600 thousand new subscribers per year. Its indicators are growing due to the connection to IPTV, analysts say. At the same time, the subscriber base of KTV of operator continues to decrease – for the last three years 350 thousand households disconnected from the service.

MTS and ER-Telecom have demonstrated a similar increase in both absolute and relative terms. The reasons for the positive dynamics, however, were different: “ER-Telecom” grew mainly due to M&A (among purchases – the largest Novosibirsk operator “Novotelecom”, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg assets of “AKADO”). MTS actively promoted the satellite TV service (annual growth amounted to about 300 thousand subscribers) and the IPTV service in Moscow (MGTS).

The subscriber base of satellite operators “Tricolor TV” and “Orion Express” – has slightly increased compared to previous years. Today digital terrestrial TV is a growing competition for satellite TV providers.

TMT Consulting analysts are confident that the subscriber base will continue to grow due to the potential of IPTV and satellite TV. According to their forecast, by the end of 2018, the number of subscribers will grow by 1.8% to 43.5 million, penetration will exceed 76%, and the growth rate of the income will drop to 6%. The market size in 2018 will be close to 90 billion rubles.

SOURCE: SOSTAV