RT WEEKLY TV AUDIENCE GROWS BY MORE THAN A THIRD OVER 2 YEARS; NOW 100MN – IPSOS

MOSCOW, APRIL 3, 2018 — According to Ipsos’ latest survey on TV news consumption, RT’s weekly TV audience has grown by more than a third over the course of two years. RT’s total TV audience is now 100 million weekly viewers in 47 of the 100+ countries where RT broadcasts are available.*

Ipsos, a leading market research firm, found that in the same 38 countries that were surveyed in 2015, RT’s weekly audience has grown by 36 percent, from 70 million to 95 million viewers. The survey, conducted in late 2017, captured data from nine additional countries compared to the 2015 survey, bringing RT’s total TV viewership to 100 million weekly viewers in 47 of the 100+ countries where RT broadcasts are available.

In the US, RT’s weekly TV viewership grew by more than 30 percent, from eight million to 11 million viewers, placing it among the top-five most watched international TV news channels. In Europe, 43 million people watch RT weekly in 15 European countries.

“Many thanks to our most devoted viewers: the US Department of Justice, the UK government, and, in fact, the entire Western establishment. It is because of their efforts that an increasing number of people are eager to hear RT’s alternative voice,” said RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

Latin America showed the greatest growth in viewers of all the regions surveyed: there, the weekly TV audience of RT nearly tripled in two years to 17 million viewers (18 with addition of new study markets). Of these countries, RT exhibited the strongest growth in Mexico, with weekly viewership increasing more than 4.5 times over two years.

Some 11 million people watch RT weekly across 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, with its largest weekly audience in Iraq attracting 2.2 million weekly viewers.

Respondents across several regions cited a desire for ‘a different perspective on global events’ among their top-three reasons for their increase in watching RT in the last two years.

“Ipsos has once again brought its expertise in the area of international audience measurement to conduct the largest study of RT’s TV viewership yet. The sizeable growth demonstrated by RT over the last two years speaks to the international appeal of its programming,” said Elie Aoun, CEO of Ipsos Connect MENA.

Notes to Editors

* The study was conducted in 47 countries, with representative samples of the total population from telephone or online interviews, between October and November 2017, by Ipsos, a leading global audience research company. The study was carried out in Russia, Poland, Greece, Ireland, UK, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, US, Canada, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Libya, Palestine, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Lebanon, Tunisia, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, India, New Zealand, and Australia.

** Based on weekly viewership in comparison to CNN, BBC News, Euronews, Sky News, Al Jazeera, NHK, CGTN, DW News and France 24. 

For more information, please contact: Athanas Jamo, senior research manager, Ipsos Connect. Phone: +971 56 414 88 33; athanas.jamo@ipsos.com

About RT

RT is a global TV news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic, Spanish, and French from its studios in Moscow, Washington DC, London and Paris. It is the most watched TV news network on YouTube, with more than five billion views. RT is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Award for best 24-hour broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to be a five-time Emmy finalist for news programming.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With offices in 86 countries, Ipsos delivers insightful expertise across six research specializations: advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, media, public affairs research, and survey management. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999 and generated global revenues of €1,712.4 million ($2,274 million) in 2013.