Digital media audience: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Continuous research and study of technological advances in media communication is a modern requirement that is dictated by scientific needs. Technological possibilities are changing daily and being supplemented by new tools and mobile services, making it important to define the audience of the media communication. This article presents the results of survey that aimed to identify media literacy issues and identify gender and geo-regional characteristics of digital media users. The social status of the audience was also analyzed, as well as the coefficient of network usage. The purpose of the scientific article was to evaluate the activity of social networking channels and personal information portals of major media companies in the country. To determine the scientific and practical relevance of the research, the level of news distribution in social networks and information portals was studied, and the impact of fake news on the audience was discussed. The most common formats in social networks, such as podcasts and infographics, were also tracked. Methods such as survey, comparative content analysis, and monitoring were used to identify the main problems of the study. As a result, the audience of digital media in recent years was analyzed, and new data was provided on the users of the video hosting of the most viewed YouTube channels. It was determined that literacy in the use of open databases still needs to be developed. The study found that media audiences are not yet capable of developing technological capabilities at this stage. The difference between independent and state-owned media was cited using specific examples. Ways to create competent content in the media space were evaluated, and solutions to audience problems in digital media were proposed based on scientific papers and expert opinions. Keywords: digital media, media audience, multimedia, audio, video content.