Russian TV production falls

The number of original series on Russian TV fell by 12% last year as the economy suffered and sports programming took prominence.

Data from KVG Research shows the number of new, original Russia-originated content across the major channels in the country was 10,600 in 2014, a 12% decline year-on-year.

KVG said: “The decline of the premieres was influenced by several factors, which are the slowdown of TV advertising, the increase of the share of sports content at the top three broadcaster to broadcast the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the World Cup in Brazil.”

KVG added the value of Russian originals in 2014 at RUB43.1 billion, a 3% decline year-on-year.

It added that its market research shows the major channels expect the price paid for content to fall between 13% and 26% this year.

The most prolific Russian producers in 2014 were, in order: Red Square, Comedy Club Production and Mir Reality Production. Each of these, however, produced a smaller number of hours in 2014 than the previous year.

Leading prodco Red Square recorded the sharpest drop-off, making 1,208 hours in 2015, a 27% fall on the 1,650 hours recorded in 2013.

The seven leading channels surveyed by KVG were Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, CTC, TNT, St. Petersburg TV and Ren TV.

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