According to Digital TV Research, Eastern Europe will have 26.19 million over-the-top (OTT) subscription VOD (SVOD) subscriptions by 2024, up from 10.02 million recorded by end-2018. Russia is expected to supply 8.77 million to the 2024 total, with Poland bringing in another 6.32 million. Together, they are expected to account 58% of the region's total.
The research house estimates that Russia became the SVOD subscription (an SVOD subscriber can have more than one subscription) market leader in 2018 by overtaking Poland. However, it is expected to take until 2023 for Russia to generate greater SVOD revenues than Poland as its subscribers pay lower fees.
Digital TV Research forecasts that Netflix will have 8 million subscribers across 22 Eastern European countries by 2024, double its 2018 result and representing 30% of the regional total.
Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: "The imminent launches of both Disney+ and Apple TV+ will further boost the sector. We forecast nearly 3 million subscribers for Disney+ by 2024. Apple TV+ will be more modest."