Today at 19:58
Today, March 10, marks two years since the state enterprise “Multimedia Platform for Foreign Broadcasting of Ukraine”, together with leading Ukrainian media groups, began production and broadcasting of the FREEDOM information project in Russian. During its time on air, FREEDOM became a key Ukrainian-centric TV channel aimed at Russian-speaking audiences abroad.
In the early days of the full-scale invasion, the decision to launch an information marathon in Russian was driven by the need to quickly communicate the truth about Russia’s war against Ukraine to more than 200 million Russian-speaking people around the world, and to debunk the lies of Russian propaganda, to which this audience is especially vulnerable. After the first months of broadcasting mainly in the format of an information marathon, the State Enterprise “MPIU” began to strengthen the programming content of FREEDOM with a line of analytical, documentary, journalistic projects of its own production and production of leading media groups 1+1 media, Starlight Media, Inter Media Group. In particular, during the second year of broadcasting, FREEDOM aired a number of premieres that focus on events and phenomena that contribute to transformation processes in Russia; increased attention to Ukrainian items on the international agenda, the strength of the international coalition in support of Ukraine and to countering Russian narratives aimed at Russian-speaking audiences in different countries.
“I would call the second year of the FREEDOM channel a year of testing its media resilience and openness to transformation. In a situation when the world recovered from the first shock of a full-scale invasion, and we, unfortunately, felt a decrease in media attention to the events in Ukraine, content under the FREEDOM brand retained high viewing rates and audience interest. We can talk about this based on the discovery of data* on digital views – in 2 years they exceeded 10 billion**, as well as upon request from the channel’s international distribution partners. Thus, over the past year we have expanded the broadcast of FREEDOM in the networks of operators in eleven European countries, including Slovakia, Denmark, Moldova, Norway, Georgia, Bulgaria, Portugal, and we will further strengthen this direction,” says Yulia Ostrovska, General Director of the state-owned enterprise “ Multimedia platform for foreign broadcasting of Ukraine,” which includes the FREEDOM TV channel.
“We recognize that in the international media space, Ukraine is not in a situation where it can rely only on the organic interest of various foreign audiences in us, especially when Russia is constantly modifying and strengthening its propaganda and disinformation campaigns. Among the many voices of the world media, our state must have its own voice, including in the language of our enemy. In addition to the fact that the Russian-speaking audience in the world is quite large, it is especially sensitive to events in Ukraine and vulnerable to Russian propaganda, and we have repeatedly seen that the most liberal Russian media, when it comes to our country, often remain in the paradigm of imperial thinking. Therefore, on FREEDOM we are very attentive to the topics of decolonization and transformation of the Russian Federation: we have launched a line of projects that address the historical memory of the indigenous peoples of Russia, conveying to them the idea that liberation from Moscow is possible. Last year we were open to exploring and experimenting with new content. Of course, the information marathon remains the basis of the FREEDOM channel, but we have more original projects and documentary programs. The plans for this year are to work more with material that shows the deep difference between Ukraine and Russia and destroys the basic Russian myth of “one people”; strengthen the voice of important topics of foreign policy, international support, coverage of key events in Ukraine and the world, taking into account their impact on the global political, economic and social landscape,” continues the CEO.
The content of the FREEDOM channel clearly meets the needs of the Russian-speaking audience abroad. For example, during the second year of broadcasting on FREEDOM, several documentary projects were launched, addressing issues of the transformation of Russia, the decolonization of its indigenous peoples, the restoration of historical memory and justice. It is noteworthy that Grozny, Makhachkala, and Ufa are among the top cities in terms of views of such projects; issues dedicated to the historical fate of the peoples of the Caucasus, in particular Chechnya and Dagestan, Tatars and Bashkirs, receive high viewership rates.
Since the broadcast and website of the FREEDOM TV channel are blocked in Russia, the use of YouTube allows FREEDOM to convey the truth about Russia’s war against Ukraine and counter the myths of hostile propaganda among the Russian audience. Last year, the number of subscribers to the FREEDOM YouTube channel, which is the basic digital platform of the TV channel, exceeded 1 million. The FREEDOM YouTube channel was the first of the YouTube channels of Ukrainian state and public broadcasters to receive the “Golden Button”. Also, in order to maximize coverage of the target audience, SE MPIU is actively developing the YouTube channel FREEDOM.LIVE, which contains analytical materials, interviews, documentary and journalistic programs, and original projects. The total number of subscribers of the YouTube channels FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE exceeded 1.8 million, and the total number of views – 1.1 billion.
Over the past year, the average share of YouTube views*** FREEDOM from abroad on Ukrainian foreign broadcasting platforms and on partner platforms increased from 73.3% in March 2023 to 79.7% in February 2024, and on YouTube channels SE “MPIU” FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE – up to 90.7%. The average share of YouTube views from the Russian Federation for all channels is from 37% to 46.1%, on the sites of the State Enterprise “MPIU” – up to 62.4%. For two years on air, materials under the FREEDOM brand on all digital platforms of foreign broadcasting and on the sites of our partners – Ukrainian media groups 1+1 media, Starlight Media, Inter Media Group – received 10.1 billion views, more than a third of which were viewed last year . In addition to Russia, the top countries for revisions of FREEDOM in digital include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Germany. The leading cities on YouTube during the year were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, and Nizhny Novgorod. At the same time, in October, when FREEDOM paid significant attention to covering Israel’s fight against Hamas and issues of Russia’s partnership with terrorist regimes, Israel for the first time entered the top countries for views on YouTube.
Over the past year, videos from the FREEDOM channel have repeatedly been among the trends in the Russian, Kazakh, Estonian, Latvian and Belarusian segments of YouTube. Among the topics that aroused the greatest interest among Russian-speaking audiences abroad are statements and addresses by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and events with his participation; materials related to international events and support for Ukraine in the world; the truth about the losses of the Russian army in Ukraine and information about how Russians can avoid mobilization; news about the state of affairs at the front; coverage of the RDK and LSR raids in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation and the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin; information about the consequences of rocket attacks by Russians on civilians. The most popular video on the YouTube channels FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE last year was an emotional statement by a World War II veteran about the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine: “Putin should be hanged and finished. This is genocide,” viewers watched it more than 8.5 million times on just two channels, more than 90% of views came from abroad.
Last year, the FREEDOM team implemented several information campaigns aimed at supporting Ukrainian citizens living in temporarily occupied territories, as well as citizens and residents of the Russian Federation. Among them are a weekly SMS newsletter for residents of front-line and temporarily occupied territories; the FREEDOM campaign “If you know – tell me!”, the goal of which is to motivate Russian residents to oppose the forced deportation of Ukrainian children and facilitate their return to Ukraine; support for the projects of the State Budgetary Institution of the Moscow Region “I want to live” and “I want to find”; chatbot for feedback from Russian residents regarding violations of their rights and freedoms, and others. FREEDOM was one of the 10 main communication tools of “I Want to Live,” a government project on voluntary surrender for Russian military personnel who do not want to fight against Ukraine.
Channel viewers, experts and international partners have repeatedly spoken about the importance and effectiveness of the FREEDOM channel. In particular, this was discussed at a meeting of authorized representatives of the G7 countries with representatives of the Ukrainian state foreign broadcasting, key domestic TV channels and media groups that create and broadcast the “United News” and FREEDOM marathons. On the other hand, residents of the Russian Federation who watch FREEDOM attract close attention from the punitive authorities of the aggressor country, digital platforms and the IT infrastructure of Ukrainian foreign broadcasting have repeatedly been subjected to powerful hacker attacks.
Over the past two years, Ukrainian state foreign broadcasting has significantly increased its presence abroad in cable, DTH, IPTV networks, OTT platforms and satellite. Today the FREEDOM channel broadcasts through six satellites covering all of Europe, the European part of Russia, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. The channel is included in packages of 10 OTT platforms, and is also present in more than 700 cable, DTH, IPTV networks in 44 countries. Most of them were added in 2022. However, over the past year, SE “MPIU” also entered into agreements to broadcast FREEDOM with almost forty companies in eleven European countries. This year, the State Enterprise “MPIU” plans to strengthen the international distribution of the Ukrainian foreign broadcasting channels “Dom” and FREEDOM.
* Measuring the viewing of SE “MPIU” channels via satellite, on-air, and in the networks of cable operators in different countries was not carried out during the entire period of operation of the enterprise due to the high cost of such research. Accordingly, when analyzing the quantitative and qualitative indicators of views and requests from the viewing audience of media brands of the State Enterprise “MPIU”, the enterprise focuses on data from digital platforms, in particular YouTube.
** This refers to the general indicators on all digital platforms (YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram) of the State Enterprise “MPIU” and on the sites of partners – Ukrainian media groups, where content is published under the FREEDOM brand.
*** The data is presented in the material as of 03/09/2024. Data sources: analytical tools of digital platforms; Google Analytics; YouTube Studio of FREEDOM channels and partners.
