TV channels note an increase in demand for esotericism

The demand for mystical programs on Russian television in the first half of the year has grown significantly. TV channels began to restart old projects and introduce new programs. Publishing houses and educational courses have seen similar trends last year and this year. Experts attribute the trend, on the one hand, to the “maturity of the format,” and, on the other hand, to the desire of citizens in times of crisis to “escape from reality” and understand “the reasons for everything that is happening.”

Citizens have become more active in watching mystical TV shows and reading thematic print publications, representatives of TV channels and publishing houses told Kommersant.

According to a Kommersant source in the TV market, in general, the demand for mystical genre programs in the first half of the year grew by 34% year-on-year.

TNT (part of Gazprom Media Holding), citing Mediascope data, says that the share of viewers of the Psychics. Battle of the Strongest” (a continuation of the show “The New Battle of Psychics”) in the first half of the year grew to 17.4% (viewers aged 14–44 years). In 2022, 2021 and 2020, the figures were at 13.2%, 14.5% and 13.1% respectively. According to the general producer of the TV channel Arkady Vodakhov, TNT has increased the production of mystical projects.

On TV-3 (which specializes in serials, feature films and documentaries of a predominantly mystical nature), they note that the channel’s flagship projects – the TV series “Blind” or “The Fortune Teller” – are now “at the peak of demand.” “This trend remains stable,” said Konstantin Obukhov, general producer of the TV channel.

He also calls the astrological show Good News with Vasilisa Volodina one of the most successful projects, which premiered in July: “Last week, its average share of viewing exceeded the average share of the channel and amounted to 6.3% (data from Mediascope.— “b”)”. Good results were shown by the Morning Divination project and the new season of Ghostbusters, added Konstantin Obukhov.

Interest in esoteric topics has been growing over the past few years, and the first half of this year is no exception, says Aleksey Ivanov, CEO of the IM Media publishing house: “In the portfolio of our house, the most popular publication is The Oracle, but this is more popular science esotericism, and not just horoscopes and predictions. This year, the audience of “Oracle”, according to him, has grown by 19% compared to the average value of the same period last year.

Back in early 2022, sales of books about predictions, spiritual practices, mindfulness and positive thinking skyrocketed in Russia (see “Kommersant” dated February 1, 2022). At that time, experts called the instability that arose in the context of a pandemic and accelerated digitalization the reason for the surge of interest in such literature. This year, the demand for mystical courses among Russians also increased, online education platforms noted (see “Kommersant” dated February 9).

Interest in esotericism is increasing all over the world, Mr. Ivanov clarifies: “The fact is that esotericism itself has qualitatively evolved and has ceased to be associated with something demonic in people, but, on the contrary, has proved its relevance.”

However, a Kommersant source in the online cinema market does not agree with this explanation: “Such projects are more popular precisely at a time when citizens are looking for ways to escape from reality.”

Mysticism in audiovisual content (movies and TV series) is also “a rather long trend,” says Alexandra Modestova, General Director of Expocontent: “From the point of view of audience behavior in turbulent times, interest in this genre is growing, as it becomes difficult to explain the world around us from rational positions.”

According to Ms. Modestova, the current growth in demand may be related to the specific policy of the platforms: if a project is popular, another one often orders or launches similar content. “This is how recommender algorithms work,” she says. The time lag with the book industry can be explained by the fact that TV usually needs a couple of years to see the trend, to develop and produce content, which is often based on these very literary works, sums up Ms. Modestova.

Julia Yurasova