Typical Belsat viewer speaks Russian, appreciates Belarusian language and advocates integration with EU

According to the study of Minsk research company “Mia Research,” from 2015 to May 2019, the number of Belarusians who know what Belsat is and would never confuse it with Belstat increased one and a half times — from 27% to 40%. The study was conducted in May 2019.

We are confident that this is a cause for pride. We thank everyone who watches our channel via satellite, reads us on a smartphone and likes our posts on YouTube and social networks.

We suspected that Belsat had more viewers lately. This year we received two Silver Buttons from YouTube for the Belarusian-language BELSAT NEWS and Russian-language HERE’S HOW channels with 100 thousand viewers each. But now we have much more significant figures that show that millions of people know about us.

The total audience of our YouTube channels exceeded 220 thousand subscribers. Belsat hosts 8 topic-specific YouTube channels: Belsat News, Belsat without Politics, Belsat History, Belsat Music, Biełsat po Polsku (Belsat in Polish), Belsat in English, and Zhestachaishe (Hardcore Style) Cartoon.

Almost 37% of our viewers learned about Belsat from friends

The share of Belsat viewers among all respondents is 13%. And among our supporters the share of TV viewers is 33% (most of them live in rural areas).

According to the survey, the growth was mainly due to the return of the old audience who stopped watching us but later changed their mind. New viewers also joined us. We will do our best not to disappoint you!

37% of our fans found out about Belsat from friends, and 27% found us on the Internet.

Every tenth viewer earns “500”

Among the main problems that a Belsat viewer is concerned about are low wages, unemployment and lack of prospects for a better life. We should note that people with different income levels took part in the survey. Among the respondents every tenth person earns the proverbial “500”. However, every fifth person refused to name their salary. Also 20% of the respondents monthly earns from 1.2 thousand BYN to 2.6 thousand BYN.

Proud of the country but not of its sports achievements

The study notes that Belsat viewers share the values of individualism and are confident that every person is architect of one’s own fortunes and destiny.

Our viewers, unlike those who have never heard of Belsat, are more likely to be proud of the country in areas such as history (58% vs. 45%), 42% are proud of its natural riches, while 33% are proud of the culture. But the country’s sports achievements are of interest only to 17% of those watching Belsat.

What language do Belsat viewers speak?

91% of Belsat viewers speak Russian at home but respect the Belarusian language. 13% of those watching Belsat believe that speaking Belarusian means being a patriot.

Only 1% believe that the Belarusian language is a sign of opposition mindset. 5% of Belsat viewers speak “trasianka”.

Some viewers want Belarus to unite with the EU, while others — with Russia

13% of our viewers call themselves Soviet citizens. 27% of the audience is convinced that Belarus should be a member of the EU, while 17% think that it should be in an alliance with Russia.

The researchers also asked the audience of Belsat whether they consider the collapse of the Soviet Union a geopolitical catastrophe. The majority (67%) answered “I rather agree”.

As for religious sentiments, 80% of the channel’s viewers are Orthodox, while 12% are Catholics. But only 5% regularly go to church. At the same time, almost 60% of our viewers and readers say that they know the prayers.

Website and social networks

According to Google Analytics, in May 2019, the page Belsat.eu had 1,290,042 unique users and 12,083,368 views. On average, 68,153 users visited the page daily during this period.

The total number of subscribers in social networks is 535,000 people. We have social network accounts in English, Belarusian, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian languages. The Facebook profile of the TV channel “Belsat” in the Belarusian language has 52,000 subscribers, which puts it on the 3rd place by the number of friends among all the fan pages in the Belarusian media space including state and Russian-speaking ones.

The survey was attended by 1,515 people aged 18 to 64 years.

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