Television is still the main source of information for Russians, but the total audience of Internet sources exceeds the television audience. For the first time, the share of the daily audience of online sources exceeded the share of those who watch news on television every day. Younger, educated, and well-off respondents are more likely to learn about news from the Internet. Older, less educated, and less well-off people watch news on television more often. About one in ten people learns the news on the radio, and the portrait of a radio listener is similar to that of a television viewer. During the Soviet era, two thirds of the respondents listened to radio more or less regularly, primarily Radio Mayak, and about 8% listened to foreign radio stations. The respondents believe that they are better versed in Russian events than in foreign ones. At the same time, most people do not feel tired from the daily news. V. Solovyov was named the most popular journalist/blogger, the respondents also mentioned O. Skabeeva, E. Popov, D. Kiselev and E. Poddubny. Poddubny.
Television remains the main source of information among Russians, but its importance is gradually decreasing: from 90% in 2014 to 54% in August 2023. In the last year, the decline has stopped and the values fluctuate at the level of 60%. In March, 61% of respondents learned about the news in the country and the world on television. Social networks are in second place, 38% of respondents use them. Three out of ten respondents use online publications and telegram channels as news sources, however, if telegram channels continue to gain popularity (an increase of 29 percentage points since March 2019), then online publications are slowly losing it (a decrease of 11 percentage points since March 2021), which may be explained by the transition audiences in messengers. The number of Russians who learn about news from YouTube channels has been decreasing recently (to 6% in March 2025), but increased to 10% in April. In general, in the last measurement, an increase in the use of all sources of information was recorded by an average of 3-4 percentage points.
Television is more often used as a source of information by women (66%), older respondents (82% among older respondents), respondents with secondary education and below (64%), less affluent respondents (75% among those who barely have enough for food), as well as those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (64%) and those who approve of V. Putin as president (63%).
Young people under the age of 24 (60%), respondents with higher education (41%), as well as more affluent respondents (45% among those who can afford durable goods) are more likely to read news on social networks.
Men (33%), respondents aged 25-39 (38%), respondents with higher education (37%), more affluent respondents (36% among those who can afford durable goods), and those who believe that things are going well in the country receive news from online publications. on the wrong track (33%), as well as those who disapprove of V. Putin as president (38%).
Men (33%), respondents aged 25-39 (38%), respondents with higher education (37%), more affluent respondents (36% among those who can afford durable goods), and those who believe that things are going well in the country receive news from online publications. on the wrong track (33%), as well as those who disapprove of V. Putin as president (32%).
[1]The answers to the question of trust in information sources generally repeat the structure of the answers to the question of using information sources. The respondents trust television the most – 44%. Every fifth person trusts telegram channels – these are the highest values for the entire observation period. Trust in social networks and online publications decreased to 16% (by 10 percentage points from January 2021) and 14% (by 12 percentage points from January 2021), respectively. Trust in YouTube channels has halved to 4% after it “slowed down” last summer (in June 2024 – 8%).
Women (51%), older respondents (63% of those aged 55 and over), respondents with secondary education and below (50%), less well-off respondents (54%), as well as those who believe that things in the country are going well in the right direction (50%) and those who approve of V. Putin as president (48%).
Young people under 24 are more likely to trust news from telegram channels, social networks and online publications. (34%, 33%, 24%), wealthier respondents (24%,20%,18% among those who can afford durable goods), as well as those who disapprove activity of V. Putin as President (24%, 17%, 17%).
[2]In recent years, the frequency of mentioning radio as a source of information has been decreasing, today it is noted by about 10% of respondents (a decrease of 12 percentage points since 2016). About 8% of respondents trust the information received on the radio. Men are more likely to use the radio and trust it as a source of information (16%/10%), older respondents (55 years and older – 16%/11%), less affluent respondents (17%/10% among those who barely have enough for food).
During Soviet times, two thirds of the respondents (66%) listened to the radio more or less regularly. Radio Mayak was in the first place in terms of frequency of mentions (54%), Radio Yunost was regularly listened to by 20% of respondents, the First program of the All–Union Radio and local/city radio stations were named by 14% and 13%, respectively. 8% listened to foreign radio stations (including Radio Liberty/Voice of America – 6%, BBC – 4%).
[3]Almost half of the respondents (48%) believe that they are well versed in the events taking place in Russia (4% – very well, 44% – rather well), their share has increased slightly over 9 and a half years (by 6 percentage points since December 2016).
The share of respondents who believe they are well versed in Russian events is higher among men (58%), respondents aged 40-54 (51%), respondents with higher education (53%), residents of Moscow (60%), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (51%).
The share of respondents who believe that they do not understand Russian events well is higher among women (56%), youth under 24 (60%), respondents with secondary education and below (54%), as well as among those who believe that things in the country are going the wrong way (49%).
A noticeably smaller number of respondents think they are well versed in events that take place outside of Russia – 26% (2% – very well, 24% – rather well), their share, on the contrary, decreased compared to 2016 (also by 6 percentage points).
The share of respondents who believe that they are well versed in events outside of Russia is higher among men (35%), respondents aged 55 and over (28%), respondents with higher education (28%), residents of Moscow (33%), those who believe that things are going well The country is moving in the right direction (28%).
The share of respondents who believe that they do not understand events well outside of Russia is higher among women (77%), respondents aged 25-39 (73%), respondents with secondary education and below (71%), as well as among those who believe that things are going wrong in the country. paths (72%).
[4]It should be noted that the attitude to daily news among respondents in the United States and Russia (taking into account the five-year gap between measurements) is significantly different. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, two-thirds of Americans were overwhelmed by the amount of daily news, whereas according to this survey, the same number of respondents in Russia (66%) do not feel tired of the daily incoming information.
[5]The most frequent respondents read news on the Internet: 76% of respondents do this at least once a week (including 57% – daily or almost every day). 72% of respondents watch news on television (daily or almost daily – 51%), read telegram channels – 53% (daily or almost daily – 39%), watch video blogs, video bloggers – 38% (daily or almost daily – 21%), listen to podcasts – 19% (daily or almost daily almost daily – 8%).
[6]For the first time, the share of those who watch news on the Internet every day exceeded the share of those who watch news on television – 33% and 31%, respectively, but over the past year their daily audiences have decreased by 5 percentage points and 7 percentage points, respectively. The daily audience of video blogs is gradually growing – up to 13% (an increase of 6 percentage points since 2019). A quarter of the respondents (25%) read news on telegram channels every day, and 4% listen to podcasts.
Respondents under the age of 39 (64%), more affluent respondents (65% of those who can afford durable goods), respondents with higher education (63%), and residents of Moscow (72%) read news on the Internet more often than others (daily + almost every day).
Older respondents (37%), less well-off respondents (38% among those who barely have enough to eat), respondents with secondary education and below (39%), as well as residents of cities with populations of up to 100,000 people are more likely to read news on the Internet less than once a week or almost never (29%).
Older respondents (77% aged 55 and older), less well-off respondents (68% among those who barely have enough for food), respondents with professional education (54%), residents of Moscow (64%) are more likely to say that they watch news on television (daily + almost every day).), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (56%), those who approve of the activities of V. Putin as president (54%).
Young people under 24 (55%), more affluent respondents (32% among those who can afford durable goods), respondents with higher education (32%), residents of cities with populations from 100 to 500 thousands of people (29%) are more likely to say that they watch news on TV less than once a week or almost never, those who believe that things in the country are going the wrong way (40%), and also disapprove of V. Putin as president (43%).
Young people under the age of 24 (64%), more affluent respondents (46% among those who can afford durable goods), respondents with higher education (44%), and residents of Moscow (42%) are more likely to answer that they read telegram channels daily and almost every day.
Older respondents (66%), less well-off respondents (63% among those who barely have enough for food), respondents with secondary education and below (52%) are more likely to answer that they read telegram channels less than once a week or almost never.
Watch videobloggers more often (daily, almost daily) men (27%), young people under 24 (36%), more affluent respondents (26% among those who can afford durable goods), and those who believe that things in the country are going the wrong way (35%), and also disapproves of V. Putin as president (35%).
Women (66%), older respondents (78% among respondents aged 55 and older), less affluent respondents (69% among those who barely have enough for food), those who believe that things in the country are going in the right direction (65%), those who approve of the activities of V. Putin as president (64%) watch videobloggers rarely/almost never.
Young people under 24 (15%) are more likely to say that they listen to podcasts daily and almost every day. Older respondents (90%) listen to podcasts less than once a week or almost never.
[7]According to the open-ended question (the respondents themselves mentioned their last names), Vladimir Solovyov is currently the most popular journalist/blogger: 11% of respondents regularly watch/listen to/read him. 5% mentioned Olga Skabeeva, 3% – Evgeny Popov, 2% each – Dmitry Kiselyov and Evgeny Poddubny. Also in the TOP 10 were Yuri Podolyaka, Andrey Norkin, Yuri Dud*, Nikita Mikhalkov and Dmitry Puchkov (1% each).
Young people are more likely to watch/listen to/read Yuri Dudya*, Dmitry Maslennikov, Ksenia Sobchak, Ilya Varlamov* and Maxim Katz*. While older respondents are more likely to follow the activities of Vladimir Solovyov, Olga Skabeeva, Evgeny Popov, Dmitry Kiselyov, Evgeny Poddubny, Andrey Norkin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Artem Sheinin.
[8]METHODOLOGY
The survey by the Levada Center was conducted March 22 – 26 2025, among a representative sample of all Russian urban and rural residents. The sample consisted of 1615 people aged 18 or older in 137 municipalities of 50 regions of the Russian Federation. The survey was conducted as a personal interview in respondents’ homes. The distribution of responses is given as a percentage of the total number. The data set is weighted by gender, age, level of education for each type of settlement (large cities, medium cities, small towns, villages) within each Federal district independently, in accordance with Rosstat data.
The statistical error of these studies for a sample 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%
Learn more [9] about the methodology