The Russian broadcaster Channel One is now also the most watched TV service in the country on the internet.
Kommersant reports that it attained top spot in the ‘Big TV’ index, which measures the consumption of the same content on TV and the internet, in December 2018.
It adds that while the increase in internet viewers was less than 2%, it should help at least partly compensate for Channel One’s declining viewership on TV.
In December, an average of 827,000 people watched Channel One on TV and 14,000 (aged 12-64) on the internet, according to data published by Mediascope. However, in the case of the internet, the figure only takes desktop viewing into account.
Once Mediascope also includes mobile devices and smart TVs in its research, the figures for all broadcasters who use the Big TV index will be higher.
Channel One began selling advertising based on Big TV ratings in December, prior to which only Gazprom-Media’s seven entertainment channels did so.
Rossiya 1 (VGRTK) and Gazprom-Media’s NTV have yet to begin such sales and reveal their viewing figures on Big TV.
