Moscow TV ratings for Vladimir Putin’s “Direct Line” event with Russian voters have fallen to their lowest level since 2013, preliminary data from the data firm Mediascope showed. 6.8 percent of the city’s population was found to have watched the program, and they accounted for 52.5 percent of TV viewers in that time slot.
About one million Muscovites watched the program, with most viewership going to the second half of the event. The 2018 rating for the Direct Line in Moscow was 8.1 percent, and the viewership percentage was 54.1 percent. Nationwide viewership data is forthcoming. RBC noted that the total number of Direct Line viewers reached an 11-year low last year.