🎦 TV production market faces turbulent times

Data published in April-May by the State Information Resource of Accounting Statements (GIR BO) points to systemic shifts in the economics of television content.

Broadcaster debts and plummeting profits among market leaders

Red Square (Krasny Kvadrat), the primary production partner of Channel One (Pervy Kanal), managed to increase its revenue by 8% to 6.9 billion rubles by the end of the fiscal year. However, its net profit plummeted nearly twentyfold (down 94.9%), resting at a symbolic 9.9 million rubles. The company’s primary pain point remains a massive accounts receivable balance of 5.8 billion rubles, of which 5 billion rubles stems from the unpaid obligations of Channel One itself.

Other market participants demonstrated mixed, yet predominantly crisis-driven dynamics:

• Norm Production (supplier for Friday!, TNT, and Russia-1) boosted its revenue by 107% to 10.4 billion rubles, but its net profit ticked up by only 12.8% to stall at 7 million rubles, indicating razor-thin margins.
• Gen Production saw its revenue slide by 25% to 4.29 billion rubles, while its net profit decreased by 23.2% to 801.8 million rubles.
• WeiT Media sustained a positive trajectory, with revenue reaching 4.3 billion rubles (+36.5%) and net profit climbing to 262.5 million rubles (+60.6%).
• Amedia Production also performed well, posting 1 billion rubles in revenue (+5.6%) and a 161% surge in net profit to 263.4 million rubles.

High interest rates and a shortage of fresh content

Anna Avakimyan, Chief Analyst at Regblock, attributes the market stagnation to the combined impact of macroeconomic factors. Amid a stagnant advertising market, broadcasters are scaling back commissioning volumes. Simultaneously, production companies are battling soaring operational costs, while the high cost of debt financing and expensive credit lines effectively erodes the studios’ net profitability. Driven by the crisis, producers are forced to allocate higher budgets toward marketing existing shows while freezing new, high-cost concepts.

Synergies are partially alleviating the situation: television channels are increasingly co-producing projects with OTT streaming platforms to share production liabilities. Furthermore, according to J’son & Partners Consulting, TV networks’ revenues from digital viewing rose by 24.2% to 6.4 billion rubles, while the Vitrina TV platform registered a 65% surge in digital linear TV viewing, driven predominantly by Smart TV adoption.

Nevertheless, the overall shortage of television premieres and fresh releases on screen has already triggered a noticeable decline in mass audience engagement with the industry’s cornerstone genre—scripted series.