Infotainment on Television as an Object of Scientific Analysis

The aim of the article is to analyse the main stages of the development of scientific ideas on the infotainment phenomenon in the context of television evolution from the late 20th century to the early 21st century, based on archival sources, periodicals, and specialised literature.

The results include a comprehensive study of the scientific analysis of the concept of "infotainment" in contemporary Ukrainian and foreign television art; as well as an art studies analysis of the implementation of infotainment principles and methods in television programmes. The need for its emergence is determined, and it is revealed that the concept of "infotainment" has been most thoroughly studied by foreign scholars. The article demonstrates that the issue of the dominance of the entertainment component over the informational component in the journalistic programmes of modern Ukrainian television is relevant for Ukrainian researchers.

Scientific novelty. A detailed analysis of infotainment is carried out, which, despite its relevance, is insufficiently studied in the Ukrainian context. The development of infotainment in both Western and Ukrainian media is examined.

Conclusions. At the present stage of television development, the term "infotainment", in addition to the new format of news and information and analytical television programmes, is understood as the majority of television content that has an entertainment character. In the international scientific space, there are many thorough studies and scientific investigations devoted to the analysis of the process of formation and development of infotainment, attempts to differentiate this phenomenon, and other aspects of the issue. Dynamic trends in television development, socio-political, socio-economic, and cultural factors, as well as competition and market relations, stimulated significant transformation processes and contributed to the search for advanced technologies to influence the audience in the field of news content. Infotainment has become one of such innovative technologies. The state of scientific development on the mentioned topic is examined and knowledge about infotainment, its sources, reasons for its emergence, techniques, methods, and functions is systematised. A new phenomenon of the world media space, which emerged in the 1980s in the American television industry and gained wide popularity in the early 21st century, is increasingly becoming the subject of discussion in the Ukrainian educational and scientific space. Historiographic analysis shows that the special characteristics of infotainment in information and information and journalistic programmes of Ukrainian television are the most researched.