results of television viewing in the Russian Federation in 2023

Russians began to lose interest in news and socio-political programs on television, which grew after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. But, according to Mediascope, in 2023 the contribution to television viewing of entertainment, music, educational programs and series increased. Market participants note that the popularity of entertainment content is growing all over the world, and at the same time its production is becoming more expensive.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with Mediascope data on the results of television viewing in the Russian Federation in 2023 (Russia 100+, all 4+). The study did not take into account thematic channels.

It follows from the data that the contribution of news programs to the structure of television viewing at the end of the year decreased by 0.6 percentage points (p.p.), to 14.2%, after an increase of 4.3 p.p. (from 10.5% up to 14.8%) in 2022. Socio-political programs also reduced the figure – by 1.8 percentage points, to 13.5%, after last year’s increase of 7.1 percentage points, to 15.3%.

Other genres are also losing popularity. Thus, the contribution of films to television viewing has been decreasing since 2021: then it was 12.6%, in 2022 – 12%, and at the end of last year – 11.3%. Interest in animation and children’s television programs in 2022 increased by 0.2 percentage points, to 7.1%, but in 2023 it decreased again – just to 5.7%. Documentary (by 0.3 p.p., to 5.1%) and sports (by 0.9 p.p., to 1.5%) programs began to be watched less often: they, like films, continue to decline indicator from 2021.

An increase in interest can be seen only in three genres: educational (by 0.4 p.p., up to 2.7%), entertainment and music programs (by 3.2 p.p., up to 19.3%), and TV series. The contribution of the latter to the structure of television viewing increased from 24.4% in 2022 to 26.3%. Genre figures return to 2021 levels (3.4%, 20.6%, 28.6% respectively).

Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, federal channels, following audience requests, changed their broadcast schedules, reducing the amount of entertainment content, but increasing the number of information programs.

Thus, “Field of Miracles” disappeared from the air of Channel One, “Evening Urgant” was canceled, as well as the programs “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, “Let’s Get Married,” and “Exactly Exactly.” “Russia 1” (the flagship of VGTRK) removed “Dancing with the Stars” from the schedule, replacing them with “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”, and the project “60 Minutes” began to be broadcast daily on weekdays.

But a month later, broadcasters began to gradually return entertainment programs. “Now the grid is gradually being brought into shape until 2022,” confirms a Kommersant source close to one of the television program production studios. Channel One and VGTRK did not respond to Kommersant’s requests.

The growing interest in entertainment television is a global trend, says Kommersant’s interlocutor on the media market, “as a result, the production of this genre is becoming more expensive, including due to inflation.” Thus, Deadline reported in August 2023, citing BBC Studios Comedy producer Josh Cole, that the cost of producing British comedies is getting closer to the budgets of drama shows.

New formats will continue to appear on Russian television, since against the backdrop of a decline in overall television viewing and the development of streaming platforms, it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain viewers, says a top manager of an online cinema, “the main thing is not to reach the principle of “feast during the plague”, it is still important here balance”.

The decline in viewers’ interest in news and socio-political programs was quite expected, says Tricolor content production director Marina Gasparyan; in 2022, the audience was in dire need of news, and now entertainment shows, movies and TV series are gradually replacing socio-political programs. According to the company, in 2024 audience interest will focus on family content – films and TV series for watching together.

Yulia Yurasova