Cross-Platform Fragmentation of Video Consumption: from Society-Shaping Television to Enclave-Creating Television?

Cross-Platform Fragmentation of Video Consumption:
from Society-Shaping Television to Enclave-Creating Television?


Poluekhtova I.A.

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Department of Sociology of Mass Communications, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia ipoluekhtova@gmail.com

ID of the Article: 10743


For citation:

Poluekhtova I.A. Cross-Platform Fragmentation of Video Consumption: from Society-Shaping Television to Enclave-Creating Television?. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 11. P. 93-109



Abstract

This article investigates the fragmentation of the Russian television audience within the conditions of a multi-platform digital environment. The author argues that, alongside intra-media and cross-media fragmentation, television is now part of a broader process of cross-platform videoconsumption fragmentation. Based on data from nationwide surveys, the study demonstrates that despite the weakening role of television as a tool of societal integration, cross-platform fragmentation does not lead to social polarization or the formation of stable audience enclaves. The preservation of a ‘floating’ nature of fragmentation is confirmed: the audience actively migrates between various video platforms, consolidates around popular mainstream content, and its differentiation is dynamic rather than enclave-like. The practices of video consumption retain a common ‘core’ where the interests and habits of the majority of users intersect. This creates a foundation for maintaining elements of a shared media experience and social linkage.


Keywords
audience fragmentation; television; television consumption practices; digital video consumption; cross-platformness; enclavization; social polarization

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