Russian state media and pro-Kremlin news outlets saw their website audience numbers drop by as much as 30% in 2024, the independent news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported Thursday, citing rankings by media research organizations.
According to the Russian web analytics service LiveInternet, the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda’s website experienced the biggest drop, from 6.5 million average daily visitors in 2023 to 4.3 million last year.
Moskovsky Komsomolets, another tabloid, placed second with a 22% drop in website visits from 2023 to 2024, Mozhem Obyasnit said without citing the figures.
Both publications also have a print circulation and are sold at newspaper and magazine kiosks throughout Russia and abroad.
The news website Gazeta.ru had a 14% decline in visitors last year, followed by the broadcaster NTV with 13%, the state news agency RIA Novosti with 12% and Lenta.ru with 11%.
Television also showed signs of a dropoff in audience numbers as the year came to a close, Mozhem Obyasnit said.
NTV surpassed Russia’s flagship Channel One broadcaster as the fourth most-watched channel during the week of Dec. 9-15, the outlet said, citing data from the research company Mediascope.
The fall in audience numbers comes as the Russian authorities allocated a record 137.2 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) to state television, news agencies and newspapers for 2025.
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