Additional services are now the main driving force in the Russian pay-TV market.

Quoting data produced by TMT Consulting, Kommersant reports that growth in the country’s pay-TV subscriber total continued to decline in 2017. It amounted to 3.2%, raising the number to 42.7 million.

On the other hand, revenues grew by 10% – the same percentage as in 2016 – to R83.8 billion (€1.2 billion), with ARPU growing by 6% to R166.

Of the 1.3 million new pay-TV subscribers, the majority (900,000) opted for IPTV. At the same time, the number of cable subscribers (-150,000) fell for the third year in a row.

Subscribers are generally moving from smaller to larger providers, which offer more services. The top five – Tricolor TV, Rostelecom, ER Telecom, MTS and Orion Express – gained a combined total of nearly 1.5 million new customers in 2017, while other operators lost almost 130,000.

Rostelecom was the biggest winner in number terms, securing 600,000 new subscribers for its IPTV service. Meanwhile, Tricolor TV and Orion Express saw their subscriber totals grow by 1.2% and 4.1% respectively.

However, MTS and ER Telecom experienced the most rapid growth, by 13.2% and 12.1% respectively, the former by promoting its DTH service and the latter through acquisitions.

TMT Consulting expects the number of pay-TV subscribers to continue growing due to the potential of IPTV and DTH. It predicts an increase of 1.8% this year, raising the total to 43.5 million, equivalent to a penetration figure of 76%.

Meanwhile, revenue growth will slow to 6%, with the market being worth R90 billion at the end of 2018.