Roscongress presents the study "Print Media in the Digital Age"

Experts from the Roscongress Foundation presented the study "Print Media in the Digital Age." Despite the reduction in the number of publications, the total audience has grown to 65 million people. Currently, 48% read the press through websites and applications, and only 20% read it in paper form.

According to the research, Izvestia is the undisputed leader in print media citations in each of the 12 months. The citation index ranges from 1,905.83 to 2,526.90 points. Izvestia's CI values are highest during the months of active event outbreaks: October 2025 (housing and communal services reform, bank limits), April 2025 (corruption cases, reform of payment systems), March 2025 (death of war correspondents, interview with Dmitry Peskov). The second place is taken by Kommersant.

At the same time, according to Medialogia's calculations, Kommersant is the leader in the engagement rating. He has 9,847,661 interactions in 12 months between April 2025 and March 2026, 6,963,181 for Vedomosti and 6,117,509 for Izvestia.

Izvestia, like other media outlets, has its own strong social platform. The publication is the undisputed leader of the VKontakte social network in terms of coverage per post and audience engagement. ER View of 1.37% is 4.2 times higher than that of Kommersant (0.32%), and 7.2 times higher than that of Vedomosti (0.19%). The average number of views per post from Izvestia (20,552) exceeds that of Kommersant by 49% and Vedomosti by 2.5 times.

According to experts, Izvestia relies on operational news, incidents and the international agenda — such content is easily distributed by other media.

The study captures two types of influence. Izvestia is the main news source for other media. Kommersant is the main driver of readers' activity on social networks and a provider of significant exclusives.

Summing up, the authors of the review note the tendency to maintain the strong role of the print media brand in the digital environment. Despite the fact that the analyzed publications historically belong to the print segment, their influence is no longer formed only by the paper audience, but by the totality of the website, citations by other media, audience activity in social networks and the effectiveness of platforms. This once again confirms the need for a cross-platform presence and content for the success of any media outlet.