This survey took place in March 2018 and was conducted throughout all of Russia in both urban and rural settings. The survey was carried out among 1600 people over the age of 18 in 136 localities of 52 of the country’s regions. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The answer distribution is presented as percentages of the number of participants along with data from previous surveys. The statistical error of these studies for a selection of 1600 people (with a probability of 0.95) does not exceed: 3.4% for indicators around 50%; 2.9% for indicators around 25%/75%; 2.0% for indicators around 10%/90%; 1.5% for indicators around 5%/95%.

Over the course of the next five years, some significant changes will be made to a number of different news channels. Television is still the most popular source of information: 70% of Russians get information from TV every day or almost every day. Online media outlets are an important news source for a third of Russians.

WHERE DO YOU LEARN ABOUT NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS MOST OFTEN? (several answers)

PLEASE INDICATE HOW OFTEN YOU…

The degree to which people trust the information they hear on TV noticably changes from poll to poll. This could be related to the current news agenda. Past research has shown that people have a greater degree of trust in information on foreign politics, and lower levels toward news about Russian domestic politics. Accordingly, this offset balance between news on domestic and foreign politics could affect people’s trust in various news outlets.

WHICH INFORMATION SOURCES TO YOU TRUST MOST FOR COVERAGE OF DOMESTIC AND WORLD NEWS? (up to three answers)

The most popular news channels are Channel One (Perviy kanal—72%), Russia-1 (Rossiya-1—57%), NTV (44%), and Russia-24 (Rossiya-24—38%).

DO YOU WATCH TV NEWS PROGRAMS, AND IF SO, WHICH CHANNELS DO YOU WATCH ON A MORE OR LESS REGULAR BASIS, INCLUDING ON-LINE VIEWING? (respondents were presented with a card; several answers)

The most popular websites proposed by respondents were the news aggregators Yandex.Novosti (29%) and Novosti Mail.ru (11%).

DO YOU VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES ON A MORE OR LESS REGULAR BASIS? (respondents were presented with a card; sites that were mentioned by at least 1% of respondents are listed)

The most popular informational-political programs are “Evening With Vladimir Solovyov” (Vecher s Vladimirom Solovyovym—34%), “Vesti Nedeli” (29%), and “Itogi Nedeli” (18%). They are primarily watched by older respondents. This is related to generally high levels of absenteeism amongst younger respondents and a tendency amongst young Russians to be less-active TV viewers.

The most popular entertainment shows are  “Andrey Malakhov: On Air Live” (Andrei Malakhov. Pryamoy efir—37%) and “Evening Urgant” (Vecherniy Urgant—20%). There are notable age difference between these programs’ viewers: the main audience for Andrey Malakhov’s talk show consists of older people, while “Evening Urgant” attracts younger viewers and, to a lesser degree, viewers over the age of 55. The show “vDud” is the fifth most popular amongst the youngest TV viewers (18-24 years old) and outranks many political shows on state-run channels.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS DO YOU WATCH ON TV OR ONLINE ON A MORE OR LESS REGULAR BASIS? (several answers)

60% of Russians use social media. One third (36%) of Russians use social media every day or almost every day.

DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES? IF SO, HOW OFTEN? (single answer)

70% of social media users think that these sites are a source of new and important information, 72% say that social media helps them to relax and reduce stress, and 30% think that spending time on social media is a useless activity.

(March 2018) TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT: (percentage of respondents that use social media)

About 80% of social media users at least occasionally encounter various information that makes them angry, and around 15% consistently encounter information that falls into at least one of the following three categories: contrary to their views, unpleasant, distracting.

(March 2018) DO YOU EVER ENCOUNTER POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY OTHER USERS THAT ARE…(percentage of respondents that use social media)

More often than not, users ignore such information. In total, about 25% of social media users contact site administrators about or block content that falls into at least one of the following three categories: contrary to their views, unplesant, distracting.

(March 2018) HOW DO YOU HANDLE INFORMATION THAT… (percentage of respondents who use social media)

Most social media users would like to see more information from people they know (67%). A quarter of respondents would like to hear about people who share similar views with them (24%). A small minority would like to see more content posted by people who have views that conflict with theirs (5%) or content posted by news agencies (5%).

(March 2018) WHAT KIND OF POSTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF ON SOCIAL MEDIA? (percentage of respondents who use social media)

Translated by Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (formerly Monterey Institute of International Studies).

The ANO Levada Center has been forcibly included in the registry of non-commercial organizations acting as foreign agents. Read the Director of the Levada Center’s statement of disagreement with this decision here.