Mass media audience keeps drifting towards internet.
MOSCOW, August 7, 2017. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey describing the sources of information Russians use.
As before, most of Russians get information from television; however Internet is expanding its audience and approaching television. Today more than two-thirds of Russians (69%) almost always get news and information from the central television (a decrease from 78% in 2012); a further 44% prefer regional television (from 52%). But its high degree of popularity is mainly due to older audiences: federal channels are chosen by 87% of those aged 60+ and only 48% of the 18-24-year-olds.
Online resources (websites) are almost overlapping regional television even across sample in general (46%); they are the predominant source of information used by those aged 18-24 and 25-34 (82% and 59, respectively). Social media and blogging results are close to online media: 41% of all respondents opt for them to learn the necessary information (81% of the youngest audience).
Press and radio give way to television and the world wide web: federal print media are regularly used by 25% of Russians, and regional print media - 22% (these values do not differ much from the values obtained five years ago; print media are mainly popular among persons aged 45 and over); central radio stations are popular among 20%, local radio – among 15% (compared to 2012 there has not been any strong dynamics).
As five years ago, foreign media are ranked lowest: the recent survey shows that only 9% of Russians read foreign media (14% of the 18-24-year-olds and residents of cities except for Moscow and St Petersburg (for each group)), compared with 6% in 2012.
The VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide survey was conducted on July 20-24, 2017 in 130 settlements, 46 oblasts, krais and republics and 8 federal districts of Russia, with a sample of 1600 persons representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage. The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
How often do you use the following media to get information? (closed-ended question, one answer per line, %) | |||||
|
| Often | Rarely | Never | Don’t know |
Central television | 2017 | 69 | 22 | 9 | 0 |
2016 | 71 | 23 | 5 | 1 | |
2012 | 78 | 20 | 1 | 1 | |
Internet – news, analytical, official websites | 2017 | 46 | 19 | 33 | 2 |
2016 | 40 | 24 | 34 | 2 | |
Regional, local television | 2017 | 44 | 36 | 20 | 0 |
2016 | 40 | 40 | 19 | 1 | |
2012 | 52 | 36 | 10 | 2 | |
Internet – social media and blogs | 2017 | 41 | 21 | 36 | 2 |
2016 | 37 | 22 | 40 | 1 | |
Central press | 2017 | 25 | 34 | 40 | 1 |
2016 | 20 | 36 | 43 | 1 | |
2012 | 27 | 43 | 28 | 2 | |
Regional, local press | 2017 | 22 | 35 | 41 | 2 |
2016 | 17 | 38 | 45 | 0 | |
2012 | 26 | 42 | 30 | 2 | |
Central radio | 2017 | 20 | 26 | 52 | 2 |
2016 | 18 | 27 | 53 | 2 | |
2012 | 23 | 30 | 44 | 3 | |
Regional, local radio | 2017 | 15 | 25 | 57 | 3 |
2016 | 13 | 28 | 56 | 3 | |
2012 | 16 | 29 | 51 | 4 | |
Foreign media | 2017 | 9 | 23 | 66 | 2 |
2016 | 5 | 21 | 70 | 4 | |
2012 | 6 | 20 | 68 | 6 | |
How often do you use the following media to get information? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) 2017 | ||||||
Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over | |
Central television | ||||||
Often | 69 | 48 | 56 | 67 | 76 | 87 |
Rarely | 22 | 38 | 32 | 20 | 17 | 10 |
Never | 9 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 2 |
Don’t know | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Regional, local television | ||||||
Often | 44 | 30 | 37 | 39 | 46 | 57 |
Rarely | 36 | 45 | 41 | 37 | 35 | 25 |
Never | 20 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 17 |
Don’t know | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Central press | ||||||
Often | 25 | 17 | 16 | 22 | 29 | 34 |
Rarely | 34 | 41 | 42 | 39 | 33 | 20 |
Never | 40 | 41 | 38 | 39 | 37 | 44 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Regional, local press | ||||||
Often | 22 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 26 | 32 |
Rarely | 35 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 36 | 25 |
Never | 41 | 45 | 40 | 46 | 38 | 41 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Central radio | ||||||
Often | 20 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
Rarely | 26 | 39 | 34 | 28 | 23 | 12 |
Never | 52 | 43 | 46 | 50 | 54 | 63 |
Don’t know | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Regional, local radio | ||||||
Often | 15 | 12 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 17 |
Rarely | 25 | 41 | 31 | 26 | 24 | 13 |
Never | 57 | 46 | 51 | 56 | 59 | 67 |
Don’t know | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Foreign media | ||||||
Often | 9 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
Rarely | 23 | 38 | 31 | 26 | 20 | 10 |
Never | 66 | 47 | 60 | 65 | 69 | 79 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Internet – news, analytical, official websites | ||||||
Often | 46 | 82 | 59 | 56 | 38 | 15 |
Rarely | 19 | 12 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 12 |
Never | 33 | 5 | 17 | 21 | 37 | 70 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Internet – social media and blogs | ||||||
Often | 41 | 81 | 57 | 51 | 29 | 12 |
Rarely | 21 | 15 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 10 |
Never | 36 | 4 | 16 | 23 | 43 | 74 |
Don’t know | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!