A new record: Russians are switching to paid streaming services en masse
By ForGeeks Russian viewers are increasingly moving to pay-per-view movies and TV series online. For the first time in the history of observation, the share of city dwellers with paid subscriptions to online movie theaters has exceeded 40%. This is the data cited by the research company GFC-Rus for the first quarter of 2025.
In January-March 2025, 41% of city dwellers aged 16 to 55 used paid subscriptions – that’s 6 percentage points more than in the last quarter of 2024. If all forms of subscriptions – including free and trial – are included, the total number of subscribers reached 54% of the urban population. This was also a new record.
Experts explain the surge in interest by the traditionally high activity in the first months of the year: this is the period when major releases in online cinemas are accompanied by large-scale advertising, especially during the New Year holidays. Similar growth was recorded a year earlier, when the total number of subscribers increased to 52%, and the number of paying subscribers increased from 33% to 38%.
Kinopoisk remains the leader
Movie Search remains the leader among all platforms. In the first quarter of 2025, 24% of respondents used the service – a record high. Nineteen percent of city dwellers had a paid subscription to Kinopoisk, which is the best result ever.
Okko beats Wink
The battle for second place in the rankings has become particularly lively. Online movie theater Okko managed to surpass Wink by the total number of users (14% vs. 12%) and took the second place for the first time. By the number of paid subscribers both services are equal – 9% each. At the end of 2024, they were neck and neck, sharing second place with equal shares of 12% for all types of subscriptions.
Only half of the big ones are growing
According to the results of the first quarter, only a part of the largest platforms recorded audience growth. Such services as Wink, KION and START did not show any noticeable positive dynamics. Against the background of the overall growth in paid subscriptions, Kinopoisk and Okko stood out in particular, as they recorded the largest increase in the share of paying users.
Where pay-per-view is watched more often
Moscow and St. Petersburg are traditionally ahead of other cities: at the beginning of 2025, 60% of residents of these metropolitan areas used online movie theater subscriptions. That’s up 3 percentage points from the end of last year. Significant growth was also seen in other major population centers, with the share of subscribers reaching 58% in cities with a million residents, up 4 points over the quarter.
Paid subscriptions saw particularly strong growth. The share of paying viewers grew from 37% to 44% in cities with a million people. In metropolitan areas, this figure increased to 48%, up from 43% in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The survey covered 7,200 residents of Russian cities of various sizes, including small towns with populations of up to 100,000 people. The survey was conducted over a three-month period – from January to March 2025 – and included 14 online movie theaters, from Kinopoisk and Ivi to Netflix and Apple TV+.
