Media preferences of social groups in Hunan Province

The subject of the study is the regional differentiation of media consumption among social groups in Hunan Province. Regional differentiation is understood as the stable coexistence of several parallel media regimes, determined by the intersection of age, territorial, migration, and socio-economic factors. The object of the study is the audience. The relevance of the research is defined by the global competition of narratives, where the success of media projects (TV BRICS, Sputnik, CGTN) depends on the accuracy of content targeting. Using Hunan Province as a case study, a comprehensive analysis of the issue of regional differentiation of media consumption in China is conducted, which is often masked by national statistics. The author examines in detail aspects of the topic such as the audience, which is segmented along four key axes: age, territorial, migration, and educational-income. Special attention is paid to the study of regional media preferences of social groups, which allows for an understanding of the dynamics of the media space and the adaptation of content to the needs of various audiences. This is a necessary condition for developing modern communication strategies that will enable media platforms to effectively convey their agendas. The methodological foundation includes a systemic and comparative analysis of the provincial media system against the background of overarching Chinese dynamics, quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the typology of sources, genres, and platform formats, observation of user activity in regional applications and social networks, as well as descriptive-statistical data processing and cross-tabulation of indicators. The main conclusions of the conducted research are that successful media may be those that transition from mass broadcasting to dialogue with each segment. This conclusion sets a new research agenda aimed at studying adaptive strategies of platforms and mechanisms for building audience loyalty in a segmented media environment. A significant contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the results obtained from the analysis of media preferences of social groups, which show that the intersection of the studied axes creates a matrix in which it is impossible to describe a typical user of Hunan Province with a single profile. The use of a matrix approach lays the foundation for analyzing regional features of media consumption. Ignoring segmentation leads to a loss of audience trust and a decrease in the effectiveness of communication strategies. The novelty of the research lies in identifying regional media preferences of social groups for tracing the dynamics of the media space and adapting content to the needs of various audiences, as well as developing methods for modern communication strategies to ensure effective communication channels for media platforms.