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The achievements of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Russian rear, the presentation of the victory plan by the President of Ukraine at meetings with foreign leaders, and dissatisfaction with the methods of mobilization of mothers of Russian conscripts in September attracted the most attention from viewers of the Ukrainian international broadcasting channel FREEDOM, which is aimed at Russian-speaking audiences abroad. FREEDOM’s video was twice trending on the Russian segment of YouTube.
The most popular video of the month on the FREEDOM YouTube channel with over 1.6 million views was a statement by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Putin, who keeps trying to seize Ukrainian territory, while his troops are unable to retake the areas of Kursk region taken under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Geography of views: 94.3% from abroad, including 61.9% from Russia; 7.3% from Uzbekistan; 5.2% from Kazakhstan; 3% from Kyrgyzstan.*
The Russian segment of YouTube trended with the “Front News” episode about Ukrainian long-range drones that overcome Russian air defense and the liberation of the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant in Kharkiv region by the DIU, during which dozens of occupiers were captured: 1 million views, 82.4% – from abroad: 33.2% from Russia; 11.2% from Kazakhstan; 6.8% from Uzbekistan; 2.9% from Kyrgyzstan. This demonstrates the high attention of the Russian-speaking audience to the successes of the Ukrainian military in the Russian Federation. Another trending topic was a new episode of the project “See for Yourself” with host Volodymyr Runts, dedicated to the prospects for the development of relations between Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The conversation was prompted by the unsuccessful attempted raider seizure of the Russian marketplace Wildberries with the participation of Kadyrov’s people and the prospects for destabilizing the situation in Chechnya if Kadyrov loses his privileges. 90.7% of views came from abroad: 52.7% – from Russia; 8% – from Kazakhstan; 5.4% – from Uzbekistan; 3% – from Germany.
Over the month, Russian-speaking viewers abroad continued to show high interest in materials related to the events in the Kursk region. In exclusive materials with confessions of Russian prisoners of war who surrendered during the Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the editorial board of FREEDOM paid special attention to dispelling Russian disinformation that the Ukrainian military allegedly tortured prisoners. A video of a conversation with a Russian marine sergeant received high views, in which he, in particular, spoke about the deaths of Russian conscripts in the Kursk region, although Putin himself claimed that there were no conscripts there. 90.9% of the views came from abroad: 67.4% from Russia; 2.8% from Belarus; 2.7% from Germany; 1.9% from Kazakhstan. In total, the video was viewed 434 thousand times.
In total, over the month, content under the FREEDOM brand on various digital platforms of the State Enterprise “IBMPU” (YouTube, Facebook, Telegram, X, TikTok), as well as on the platforms of partners – Ukrainian media groups, gained 228.7 million views. Over the entire period of operation, the total number of views reached 11.4 billion.**
The materials of FREEDOM dedicated to the real state of affairs in the Russian army and various crises in Russia that could become a prerequisite for transformational changes and instability in the Russian Federation were also resonant. An episode of the project “The Secret Life of Matryoshka” about Russian mothers’ dissatisfaction with the fact that conscripts are deceived into going to war received 762 thousand views.
In September, Ukrainian international broadcasting channels – FREEDOM, UATV English, UATV Español, UATV Arabic – actively covered the diplomatic steps taken by the Ukrainian authorities to stop Russian aggression, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States. The newscasts, separate stories, streams, and short videos of key statements together generated more than a million views on the international broadcasters’ YouTube channels*.
- For example, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address on the action plan during his visit to the United States received 96.9% of views from abroad: 66.2% – from Russia; 6.1% – from Uzbekistan; 5.5% – from Kazakhstan; 2.6% – from Germany. The address was viewed 159 thousand times.
- The broadcast in Russian of the speech of the President of Ukraine at the UN Security Council meeting, where he emphasized the need for the international community to unite to end Russian aggression, received 101 thousand views: 91.2% from abroad, including 55.8% from Russia; 5.7% from Uzbekistan; 5.4% from Kazakhstan; and 3.4% from Tajikistan.
- Other video materials about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States on the FREEDOM and FREEDOM.LIVE YouTube channels received over 90% of views from abroad.
- The video of the Ukrainian president’s high-profile meeting with Donald Trump received 152 thousand views: 95.7% from abroad (56% from Russia, 7.1% from Uzbekistan, 6.2% from Kazakhstan, and 3.2% from Tajikistan).
The top cities in terms of views were Moscow (Russia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), St. Petersburg (Russia), Krasnodar (Russia), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
*The data is as of 09/30/2024. Data sources: analytical tools of digital platforms; Google Analytics; YouTube Studio of FREEDOM and partner channels.
**Total indicators on all digital platforms (YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram) of the State Enterprise “IBMPU” and on the platforms of partners – Ukrainian media groups that publish content under the FREEDOM brand.
***Total views of all content about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States published on the YouTube channels FREEDOM, FREEDOM.LIVE, UATV English, UATV Español, and UATV Arabic.
