Russian TV channels and social media in the transformation of the media field
Authors:   Lomonosov Moscow State University, Kruglova Lyudmila A. , Shchepilova Galina G. ,   Lomonosov Moscow State University
Published: November 2024

The article presents the results of an analysis of the work of six Russian TV channels (Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, STS, TNT, Friday!) with social media: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Telegram, RuTube, YouTube, and in particular the performance of Telegram accounts of the selected channels. The year 2022 brought about the biggest change in Russians’ digital habits, which cannot even be compared with the transformation of pandemic times. Two-thirds of the time Russians spent online in 2022 was spent on the largest types of activity: 21% on social networks, 18%
on video and 15% on messengers. The researchers attribute the redistribution of the audience share between social networks and messengers not to a decrease in one activity and growth of the other, but to a spillover between the platforms and hybrid formats. The blocking of some social networks in Russia has led to an outflow of users from these platforms. This has also been one of the growth drivers for the hybrid Telegram, which also serves as a social network. Telegram’s growth peaks are related to Russians’ logical need for news sources during a period of turbulence. A significant portion of the time users spend on the site is spent reading Telegram feeds. Despite the evidence of the growing influence of social media in Russia, traditional television remains the number one media in terms of accumulated reach. Based on an analysis of the Telegram accounts of six Russian TV channels over four random weeks in 2022 and 2023, an attempt was made to identify the changing digital content strategies of the TV channels in the face of turbulence. A sample of TV channels was selected based on average annual ratings as well as thematic segmentation. Formally, all the six TV channels are now “equalized in rights” and are among the publicly available channels of the first and second multiplexes. The following parameters were analysed in each of the weeks: number of posts, comments, views, and likes. On the basis of all the audience and channel activities, the Engagement Rate, a coefficient of user involvement in the published content (posts), was determined. In addition, on the basis of the entire array of material, the most popular publications were identified and the forms of presentation were analysed. The specific objectives of the study were to identify content strategies, monitor and record the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the activities of the selected television channels on the rapidly growing Telegram platform, and determine the audience response. Based on the results of the study, it is possible to identify an audience demand for news agenda, on the one hand, and for distracting content – rather than entertainment – in a period of turbulence, on the other hand. Television channels are forced to reinvent themselves in the changed social media space that they struggled to explore a few years ago. It seems that the Big Three channels are only trying to find their content strategies in Telegram, trying to copy the content strategies of other and previous social media, with NTV being the most successful. The “news” content Telegram is best suited for youth entertainment channels – TNT, STS, Friday! They successfully adapt interactive forms developed on other networks and use content created for other networks.