Study of media consumption of the Russian audience
Authors:   Institute of Socio-Political Research of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia, Nazarov Mixail M. , Yurkin Dmitrij N. ,   Media communication group OKKAM, Moscow, Russia
Published: November 2024

The paper provides the results of a representative study of the multimedia
usage in Russia. The data collection methodology include detailed recording of the
respondent media use. Most of the total consumption time allocated to online media:
using of social media (30,2%), watching online video (18,6%), using online music
services (6,5%) and reading online publications (2,8%). Among traditional media,
television takes the significant share in the total time of media consumption (33,1%);
other accounted for smaller share – listening radio (8,3%) and reading print media (0,5%). Conceptually, the authors proceeded from the fact that audiences have
a certain level of autonomy from the media system and at the same time are within
the framework of structural constraints imposed by both the media environment and
the social context of a more general level. The media consumption patterns reflects
the trend of media convergence. Thanks to technological innovations, previously
separated environments for the distribution of traditional and new media transformed
gradually in a meta-environment, the basis of which is the Internet infrastructure.
A significant part of the population is actively turning to media platforms with
various types of communication exchange, which contribute to the erosion of a fairly
stable, for many decades, picture of the dominance of the so-called mass media.
There is a statistically significant relationship between media consumption and
socio-demographic characteristics, in particular, age. Among representatives
of middle and older age groups, the average time of using television, radio, reading
online publications is longer than the average for the surveyed population. Among
representatives of younger age groups, the use of social networks, watching videos
on the Internet, and accessing online music services turned out to be longer than
the average for the surveyed population. Analysis of the variation in time spent
on media showed that the use of television, social networks, and watching videos
on the Internet is an established habit in a significant number of age and gender
groups, a stable element of media consumption in general. Authors discussed media
audience dynamics in the short and medium terms. The features of media content and
audience characteristics of mid-2022 considered within the framework of the premise
of the growing social significance of the media system during crises and conflicts.
An assessment of changes in the structure and time of media consumption in the
medium term over the past 20 years provided. It is shown that media substitution
occurred during this time interval, when the increase in consumption of some media
occurs due to a decrease in consumption of others and the new media performing the
functions of old media. Along with this, there is an increase in the average duration
of media use in general. Presumably, the resource for this may be the expansion of the
media use within certain types of activities in free time, including communication,
“inactive rest”, as well as moving from home to work and back.