Ukraine's international broadcasting mostly targets domestic audience – IMI study

Dim TV mainly produces entertainment content consumed by a small segment of the domestic Ukrainian audience and the content by FreeDom is represented on all possible platforms within Ukraine and its success with Russian-speaking audiences abroad is dubious, according to the study "Ukraine's Domestic International Broadcasting. Whom Do 'Dim' and 'FreeDom' Target?" by the Institute of Mass Information.

"Dim" targets IDPs and people who have left the country and produces entertainment, culture-related, educational and social content. However, according to the IMI's research, "Dim's" content appears to target Ukrainians overall, and the available viewing reports on OTT show that "Dim" is not popular in Ukraine, either.

At the same time, the Russian-language TV channel FreeDom is available in Ukrainian cable networks and on OTT platforms.

"According to the October BIG DATA UA report on OTT/IPTV-platforms, among Ukrainian news channels, FreeDom ranks fourth in viewership share (Shr%) – 0.16%. The closest to it are UNIAN TV and Apostrof TV with 0.15% each. FreeDom's share in cable networks and on satellite may reach approximately 0.5% and 0.8%, seeing as there is less competition," the study says.

Moreover, Ukrainian media groups and international media partners (1+1 media, Starlight Media and Inter Media Group) actively share FreeDom content on their social media and YouTube channels. So, when the SE Multimedia Platform of International Broadcasting of Ukraine reports that FreeDom's content on digital platforms has earned 8.9 billion views since the opening of the TV channel, 1.9 billion of those are people watching FreeDom, and 7 billion are people watching Ukrainian media groups. That is, the Russian-language international broadcasting is widely represented on domestic Ukrainian platforms.

"Dim" and FreeDom are state-owned international broadcasting channels. The SE Multimedia Platform of International Broadcasting of Ukraine is the parent company of these TV channels.

We remind you that during the accession to the Council of Europe, Ukraine undertook to comply with the requirements of ensuring pluralistic democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. According to the 2005 PACE resolution, Ukraine is obliged to transform state television and radio companies into public broadcasting channels.