According to Digital TV Research, eastern European OTT TV and video revenues will reach $1.976 billion in 2021, up from $26 million recorded in 2010 and $454 million in 2015.
The research house says Russia accounted for half the region's OTT revenues in 2015 and will remain at around this level for the next five years. From the $1.522 billion additional revenues between 2015 and 2021, Russia is expected to provide $724 million, with Poland bringing in a further $220 million.
Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: "The Eastern European OTT TV and video sector is more immature than most of the rest of the world. Although this is changing with several platform launches, the region will still have lots of room for growth after 2021."
SVOD (subscription VOD) is expected to become the region's largest OTT revenue source in 2016. SVOD revenues are expected to total $1.142 billion by 2021, up from $4 million in 2010. Russia (up by $460 million between 2015 and 2021) is expected to remain the SVOD revenue leader, with Poland in second place.
Digital TV Research forecasts 19,706,000 SVOD subscribers in the region by 2021, up from 125,000 in 2010 and 3,356,000 by end-2015. Russia is expected to have more than 10 million SVOD subscribers by 2021.
Murray explained: "Netflix launched across the region in January 2016. However, it has been criticized for being too expensive [€8-12/month], lacking local content - or even being too English-language, and is yet to announce any local distribution partnerships. Perhaps Netflix has plans to rectify this, but it better move quickly before local players (especially in Russia and Poland) gain too great a foothold."