The article discusses the impact of using internet memes in the information agenda of the sports Telegram channel Match TV on audience perception. The processes of changing subscriber attention to posts and the dynamics of positive audience reactions were examined. The aim of the study was to obtain evidential results logically following from the nature of internet memes, positing that the inclusion of internet memes in the information agenda increases audience interest in the offered media content and their approval of the provided materials. Audience interest was assessed through engagement, or the ratio of the number of active subscriber actions (comments, reposts, shares, and instant reactions using emojis) to the number of views. The approval of posts was evaluated by the likelihood of receiving positive ratings (the ratio of the number of approving instant reactions to the number of reactions without approval). For comparative perception, the most viewed posts from the selected time frame of the Match TV Telegram channel were divided into a study group consisting of internet memes and a control group that did not contain internet memes. The formation of groups was carried out based on the concepts of primary and secondary speech genres, features of intertextuality, and the degree of creolization. The study revealed that sports mass media channels predominantly utilize visual and mixed internet memes in their information agenda. It was shown that the group of media texts representing internet memes receives statistically significantly greater audience attention. This group is characterized by a higher tendency for audience replication of the media text through reposts and shares. The degree of positive reactions in the study group is also higher than that observed in the control group. The statistically significant results obtained regarding the positive influence of using internet memes in the information agenda of a media channel on audience perception represent scientific novelty and provide an evidential basis for the use of media internet memes in influencing the formation of the public agenda and promoting certain frames in the social consciousness of the audience.
Daria Georgievna Krylova (Sun,) studied this question.