Ukrainians started watching Ukrainian movies more often — survey by Gradus Research

Ukrainian cinema is experiencing exceptional times: two Ukrainian films from Cannes and another from the Venice Film Festival are now in theatres. The research company Gradus Research conducted a survey to find out whether Ukrainians have started watching more Ukrainian films, where and how they watch them.

In general, according to the media consumption survey conducted by Gradus Research in March 2023, watching movies is second only to news in terms of content consumption.

But do Ukrainians watch Ukrainian films? The trend for supporting Ukrainian, reinforced by the war, is also present in the film industry: while 29% of respondents used to watch Ukrainian films before the full-scale invasion regularly, the number of Ukrainian film fans has now increased to one-third (33%). This growth is due, among other things, to the fact that those who watched Ukrainian films occasionally (59% before the full-scale invasion, and 50% now) have become regular viewers. Only 14% declare that they do not consume such content.

The most popular option for watching Ukrainian films are online streaming services such as Megogo, SweetTV, Netflix, etc. — online cinemas are preferred by about two-thirds of Ukrainians (61%). They are mostly used by the 18-34 year-old audience.

Television is the second choice for watching Ukrainian films — 56% of respondents watch Ukrainian films on TV. This medium is mostly preferred by viewers aged 55-60.

Offline cinemas are visited by 14% of respondents, which can be explained by both the difficult security situation in the country and their lower accessibility. It is worth noting that they are particularly popular among young people — the share of Ukrainians aged 18-24 who usually watch Ukrainian films in cinemas is almost three times higher than the sample as a whole (41% vs. 14%).

"We can see that the viewership of films is greatly influenced by where they are shown. After all, streaming services, television, and offline cinemas have radically different levels of accessibility. Nevertheless, we can definitely state the growing audience interest in Ukrainian cinema," comments Evgeniya Bliznyuk, sociologist, CEO & Founder of Gradus Research.

The infographic below shows what movies were most popular among the surveyed citizens of Ukraine over the past year:

The survey was conducted by Gradus Research using a self-completion questionnaire in a mobile application. The sample: 1,240 respondents aged 18-60 living in settlements with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Period of the survey: April 13-14, 2023.