Russian film and TV production on the up

During 2014 roughly 750 TV series and TV films were in different stages of production for Russian TV, up 18% compared to 2013, according to Moscow-based KVG Research.

The research firm said more than half of these productions were broadcast on Russian TV last year, while the country’s three leading content producers – Channel One, Russia 1 and NTV – produced 60% of the titles.

However, KVG Research said that “niche channels” also started to intensively produce TV series and films, creating 30% more content last year than in 2013.

Overall, 62.5% of Russian production was for TV series and 37.5% for TV films, with melodrama the most popular genre for series and detective titles the most popular for films.

The figures follow recent changes to Russian media legislation that bans advertising on pay TV channels that don’t broadcast a content mix that is at least 75% locally produced.

Under the new law, programming that is 50% funded by Russian entities or individuals will qualify towards the 75% quota.