MEDIA CONSUMPTION TRENDS: VCIOM: Russia Public Opinion Research Center

Do you watch TV, or not? If you do, how often? Do you use the Internet, or not? If you do, how often?

(% of respondents; closed-ended question, one answer)

Total respondents

Ages 18-24

Active TV viewers — who watch TV at least several times a week but use the Internet only several times a month or less often

Active TV and Internet users — who watch TV and use the Internet at least several times a week

Active Internet users — who use the Internet at least several times a week but watch TV only several times a month or less often

Those who hardly ever use TV and Internet — who watch TV and use the Internet once a month or less often

MEDIA CONSUMPTION TRENDS

More than half of Russians equally watch TV and use the Internet. At the same time, older generation often opts for TV viewing, whereas young people tend to consume online content.

29.09.2022

MOSCOW, 29 September 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on media consumption in Russia.

September surveys show that Russian media preferences have not changed much since February 2021. The media consumption pattern is dominant: more than half of respondents are heavy users of both Internet and television; they report using TV and Internet at least several times a week (53%). Despite the dominant position of the mixed model, there has been a downward trend over the recent four years: the number of those who opt for the hybrid model has decreased by 9 p.p. (62% in 2018). Simultaneously, the number of those who choose the Internet as the basic information source has doubled since 2018. Today almost a third of Russians actively use the Internet (29% vs. 13% in 2018). Sixteen percent of respondents still prefer traditional media, television, which is an all-time low. The smallest number of Russians avoid using media, both TV and the Internet (2%).

Media consumption is shared by gender, age, educational background and place of living:

Active TV and Internet users make up the smallest group, with the minimal socio-demographic differences. This trend in media consumption is typical of those aged 45-59 (66%).
Active Internet users are basically men (32% vs. 26% women), respondents living in Moscow and St Petersburg (43%), Russians with higher and incomplete higher education (34%). Young people can truly be considered as digital generation: the share of the Internet users in the 18-24 age group is 66%; in the 25-34 age group, 52%; active TV viewers are nearly non-existent (0 and 1% respectively).
Active TV viewers are primarily respondents aged 60 and older (43%), non-working retired persons (43%), and rural area inhabitants (25%).

To sum up, the Internet is not overtaking TV: since 2019 the structure of media consumption in Russia has been quite stable, whether it be TV viewers, Internet users or individuals choosing the hybrid model. In addition, online television broadcast and smart TV platforms getting more popular are indicative of convergence, mixed formats, rather than opposition.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 19-25 September, 2022. Questions about TV viewing and Internet usage have been asked on a daily basis since April 2018. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, two-stage stratified random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Average key effectiveness indicators, September 19-25 week surveys, 2022: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7917; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0273; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1673.

Calculations based on the corporate standard

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

***RR: RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

*Do you watch TV, or not? If you do, how often? Do you use the Internet, or not? If you do, how often?* (% of respondents; closed-ended question, one answer)
	IV. 18	IV. 19	I. 20	II. 20	III. 20	IV. 20	V. 20	VI. 20	VII. 20	VIII. 20	IX. 20	X. 20	XI. 20	XII.20	I. 21	1- 7. 02.21	8-14. 02.21	19-25.09.22
*Active TV viewers* — who watch TV at least several times a week but use the Internet only several times a month or less often	23	21	21	20	20	20	19	19	19	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	17	16
*Active TV and Internet users —* who watch TV and use the Internet at least several times a week	62	59	58	57	58	61	58	56	53	52	54	54	54	55	55	55	53	53
*Active Internet users —* who use the Internet at least several times a week but watch TV only several times a month or less often	13	19	20	21	21	18	21	23	26	27	27	26	26	25	26	27	28	29
*Those who hardly ever use TV and Internet —* who watch TV and use the Internet once a month or less often	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	3	1	2	2	2	2	1	2	2

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Media