MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. The share of TV viewers in major Russian cities who watched Russian President Vladimir Putin's combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference amounted to 63.1% of the total TV audience, the press service of the Mediascope company told TASS.

The audience share (the average number of people who watched the TV program, expressed as a percentage of the total TV audience) totaled 63.1% across all channels. The broadcast rating (average number of people who watched the TV program, expressed as a percentage of the total population of the studied audience) reached 10.7%.

The survey took into account viewers over four years of age in cities with a population of at least 100,000 people. Six TV channels carried the event - Channel One, Rossiya-1, Rossiya-24, NTV, Solovyov Live and Mir. Almost all TV channels started broadcasting at 12:07 p.m. Moscow time on December 14. The broadcast ended at 4:11 p.m. or 4:12 p.m.

The president’s last direct line was held in 2021, when the viewership was 58.6%. In 2020, the figure was 54.6%, in 2019 - 50.1%.

The combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin was held on December 14. The event, called "Year-End Recap with Vladimir Putin," lasted four hours and three minutes. During this time, the head of state commented on more than 80 appeals and questions from citizens and journalists.