Eastern Europe to Add 16 Million SVOD Subs

Eastern Europe is forecast to have 26.42 million paying SVOD subscriptions by 2025, according to Digital TV Research, more than double from the 10.26 million recorded at the end of 2019.

Of the 16 million additional subscriptions, Russia will generate 4.8 million to bring its total to 8.8 million and Poland 5 million to total 8.7 million.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Russia became the SVOD subscription market leader in 2019 by overtaking Poland. Although it has plenty of home-grown players, Russia’s SVOD sector will remain held back by the limited presence of foreign platforms.”

Netflix will continue to lead the Eastern European SVOD market, with a projected 7.74 million subscribers by 2025, more than double its 2019 total. Disney+ will have 4.02 million subscribers by 2025 despite starting as recently as early 2021. Hulu may follow in key markets such as Poland. HBO already has a pay-TV presence in many countries, which can be used as a springboard for HBO Max.

Murray continued: “These platforms will not make great inroads into Russia. The Russian regulator introduced a 20 percent foreign ownership equity limit on OTT platforms.”