SVoD subscriptions in Eastern Europe to almost double between 2021 and 2027

Eastern Europe: SVoD subscribers by platform (000)

The number of SVoD subscriptions in Eastern Europe will almost double between 2021 and 2027, according to UK analysis firm Digital TV Research, jumping from 23 million to 43 million.

The roll-outs across the region of services like Disney+, SkyShowtime and HBO Max will fuel this growth, with Poland becoming the market leader in 2026 despite having a much lower population than Russia, Digital TV Research said.

Together, Russia and Poland are expected to account for 64% of the region’s SVoD subscribers by 2027, down from 79% in 2021 as other countries grow faster.

Netflix will continue to lead the Eastern European SVoD sector, with 8.9 million subscribers expected by 2027, up from 5.8 million at end-2021. Disney+ is tipped to reach 4.7 million subscribers by 2027 despite only launching in the region this June.

The number of subscriptions to Amazon’s Prime Video is predicted to rise from 1.3 million in 2021 to 4.0 million in 2027, while HBO Max subscriptions will increase from 263,000 to 3.1 million and SkyShowtime will see growth from 337,000 subscriptions to 2.9 million over the same period, according to Digital TV Research.

Other SVoD services combined will grow from 15.1 million subscriptions in 2021 to 20.4 million in 2027, the company said.

Western SVoD platforms have withdrawn from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and are unlikely to return before 2027, Digital TV Research said. The company added that these platforms only made a limited impact in Russia, so the subscriber losses are not that great.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “We assume Russia will withdraw from Ukraine before end-2022. After the Russian withdrawal, we expect massive investment in Ukraine by Western companies/governments as well as most refugees returning home eventually. It will take some time to rebuild the economy and for homes to spend on entertainment.”