When MAX channels are published: days of the week and hours on the heat map

MAX channels publish the most on weekdays from 9:00 to 14:00 Moscow time. For the week of October 18-24, 2026, according to datool.ru , more than 5.1 million posts were published in open channels (more precisely, 5,194,746), and all ten of the densest cells of the "day of the week × hour" map fell on weekdays in this window. The densest is Monday, 11:00-12:00: 60,981 posts, twice the average hour of the week.

The most active days are from Wednesday to Friday, the quietest are Saturday and Sunday: on a day off, there are an average of 24% fewer posts than on a weekday. At night, the messenger almost freezes: from 1:00 to 4:00 there are about 7,500 posts per hour — 7-8 times less than in the morning rush. But the posts that came out late at night and around midnight are gaining the most views.

Let's analyze the MAX publication map by day of the week and by hour: where the peaks are, how weekends differ from weekdays, what happens at night, when ads come out and where your post has fewer competitors.

What is the "day of the week × hour" map

The "day of the week × hour" map (heat map of publications) is a table of 7 rows (days of the week) and 24 columns (hours in Moscow). The color of each cell shows how many posts came out in open MAX channels at this hour of this day of the week: the darker, the more. When you hover over the cell, you can see three numbers: publications, views per post, and the share of advertising.

The map is located on the "MAX Statistics" page, in the "When MAX publishes" section. It is being built on the last full week — seven days that ended the day before yesterday. Such a shift is needed so that the posts have time to gain views and the "views per post" indicator does not underestimate the latest publications. Recalculation — every hour, you can watch without registration.

Next to the map on the same page there are three more blocks about the rhythm: "Weekdays and weekends" (how many posts are published on average per hour), "The best time for a post" (post views by the hour of publication) and "When advertising comes out" (the proportion of advertising by the hour).

Days of the week: when MAX writes the most

Week of October 18-24, 2026 by day (share of 5.19 million posts of the week):

• Monday — 761,284 posts (14.7%).
• Tuesday — 779 503 (15.0 %).
• Wednesday — 802 036 (15.4 %).
• Thursday — 811,782 (15.6%).
• Friday — 825,518 (15.9%). The most active day of the week.
• Saturday — 620,455 (11.9%).
• Sunday — 594,168 (11.4%). The quietest day.

Within weekdays, the volume increases from Monday to Friday. In part, this is the general growth of MAX and the catalog: every next day of the week is slightly "larger" than the previous one. If you average the four weeks from September 28 to October 25, Thursday is in the lead, and Friday and Wednesday are close. A reliable conclusion is this: the middle and end of the working week are the busiest time, weekends are the most free.

On a weekday of the week of October 18-24, an average of 796 thousand posts were published, on a weekend — 607 thousand. The difference is 24%. For more information on how the volume changes from day to day and from week to week, see the article "How many posts are published in MAX every day."

The busiest hours of the week

The ten busiest map cells (day, hour in Moscow, posts for this hour):

1. Monday, 11:00-12:00 — 60 981.
2. Tuesday, 9:00-10:00 — 60 588.
3. Friday, 10:00-11:00 — 60 200.
4. Wednesday, 12:00-13:00 — 59 898.
5. Thursday, 10:00-11:00 — 58 987.
6. Friday, 12:00-13:00 — 57 621.
7. Friday, 9:00-10:00 — 57 147.
8. Wednesday, 11:00-12:00 — 57 114.
9. Tuesday, 13:00-14:00 — 57 107.
10. Wednesday, 10:00-11:00 — 56 857.

All ten are weekdays, all from 9:00 to 14:00. This is working time: it is probably then that the posts of departments, educational institutions, companies and news editorialteams come out. On average, there are 30,921 post—peak for one hour per week, almost twice as dense as the average.

On the map, it looks like a dark "slab" in the center of the top five lines and noticeably lighter two lower lines — Saturday and Sunday.

Weekdays and weekends: not only the volume changes, but also the shape of the day

Weekends are quieter than weekdays at every hour, but not the same. If we compare how many posts come out on average for the same hour on a weekend and on a weekday, we get this:

• Morning and afternoon (5:00-18:00) — weekends are 22-33% quieter. The middle of the day sags the most: at 14:00-17:00 on weekends, only 67-69% of the daily volume comes out.
• Evening (18:00-22:00) — 13-22% quieter. Evening publications on weekends are almost preserved.
• Late evening (23:00) — 10% quieter.
• Midnight and 1:00 — the same as on weekdays. At 0:00 on weekends, even a little more posts are published (9,421 on average versus 9,251).
• 4:00 — more on weekends than on weekdays: 11,838 posts versus 10,218.

Conclusion: on weekends, first of all, the daily, working flow of publications is "turned off". The channels that write in the evening and at night — entertainment, news, author's — work on Saturday and Sunday almost the same as on weekdays. The peak on weekends remains at 10:00-11:00, it's just lower: 45,142 posts on average against 57,700 on a weekday.

On the "MAX Statistics" this difference is shown by the "Weekdays and weekends" block: two lines on the same scale — the average number of posts per hour on a weekday and on a day off.

Overnight at MAX

From midnight to 6:00 am, 7.9% of all posts of the week come out — 408 thousand out of 5.19 million. The quietest hours are from 1:00 to 4:00: about 7,500 posts per hour — 4-6 times less than during the day on weekends, and 7-8 times less than during the weekday peak.

An unusual step is visible on the map at 4:00: there are 41% more posts at this hour than at 3:00 (74,765 per week versus 52,845), and weekends even overtake weekdays at this hour. This is probably due to time zones: 4:00 Moscow time is 8:00 in Novosibirsk and 11:00 in Vladivostok, morning in Siberia and the Far East. Perhaps scheduled posts also play a role. This is an assumption: the author's region cannot be determined by the hour of publication.

Night posts read better

Posts posted late at night and around midnight get the most views per post. For the week of October 18-24, 2026, the best publication hours are 23:00 (2,399 views per post), 0:00 (2,342) and 22:00 (2,162). The worst is 6:00 (1,105) and the morning peak is 10:00 (1,205).

By days of the week, the picture is similar: Sunday (1,670) and Saturday (1,487) have the most views per post, Thursday and Friday have the least (1,350 and 1,348). One caveat: Sunday this week is the earliest day, October 18th, and his posts had more time to gain views. But Saturday, October 24, is the freshest day — still ahead of all weekdays.

The best time for your channel is shown in the "Best time for a post" section on the "Publication coverage" tab of the channel page.

When ads are released in MAX

The share of advertising is advertising posts - all posts × 100 %. An advertising post is considered to be marked with an erid, marked "Advertising" or a link to the outside with a call to buy; details are on the page "How advertising statistics are considered". During the week of October 18-24, 2026, there were 198,952 advertising posts — 3.83% of all.

By the hour, advertising is distributed differently than regular posts. The largest number of advertising posts comes out at 10:00 (14,376 per week) — simply because this is the densest hour. But the share of advertising is growing by the evening:

• 20:00 — 5,71 %. The most "advertising" hour.
• 21:00 — 4,71 %.
• 19:00 — 4,64 %.
• 0:00 — 4,47 %.
• 18:00 — 4,41 %.

The least advertising is late at night and early in the morning: 2:00 — 1,74 %, 4:00 — 1,92 %, 6:00 — 2,05 %, 3:00 — 2,09 %.

By days of the week, the share of advertising is highest on Saturday (4.62%) and lowest on Sunday (3.40%), on weekdays — from 3.61% to 3.88%. On the "MAX Statistics" you can see this in the "When ads come out" block — a smooth line of the ad share by the hour.

Where your post has less competition

The competition for attention is the number of posts that come out at MAX at the same hour as yours. The fewer of them, the fewer publications are simultaneously fighting for the reader's attention. The "day of the week × hour" map helps to find windows where there are fewer neighbors and readers are no longer sleeping.

• Weekdays, 7:00-8:00. About 31 thousand posts per hour against 57-58 thousand at 10:00-11:00. People have already woken up, and the main stream has not yet begun.
• Weekdays, after 21:00. 26 thousand posts at 21:00, 18.5 thousand at 22:00, and at the same time high views per post.
• Weekends, 14:00-17:00. The daily flow drops by a third, and people have more free time.
• Sunday as a whole. The quietest day of the week and the highest views per post.

How to use the card: checklist

1. Open "MAX Statistics" and find the "When MAX publishes" block.
2. Hover over the cell of your usual publication time — see how many posts come out at that hour and how many views they gain.
3. Compare it with neighboring watches: there may be noticeably fewer competitors an hour earlier or later.
4. Check out the "Weekdays and Weekends" section: if your audience is active on weekends, use a quiet day off.
5. If you are an advertiser, check "When ads come out": there are the most ads in the evening, and your post will be adjacent to other people's offers.
6. Open the page of your channel and compare the overall rhythm with your own — for this there is a tab "Publication schedule" and a block "The best time to post".
7. Check the map every few weeks: the MAX is growing rapidly, and the rhythm may shift.

Frequent questions

At what time do MAX channels publish the most posts?

On weekdays from 9:00 to 14:00 Moscow time. During the week of October 18-24, 2026, the densest hour was Monday, 11:00-12:00: 60,981 posts — almost twice the average hour of the week (30,921).

Which day of the week does MAX have the most publications?

For the week of October 18-24, 2026 — Friday: 825,518 posts. On average, for the four weeks from September 28 to October 25, Thursday is in the lead. The fewest posts are published on Sunday and Saturday — about a quarter less than on weekdays.

How many posts come out at MAX at night?

From 0:00 to 6:00 Moscow time — 7.9% of all posts of the week. The quietest hours are from 1:00 to 4:00: about 7,500 posts per hour, 7-8 times less than in the morning rush.

When does MAX have the most ads?

According to the number — at 10:00, because this is the busiest hour. By share — in the evening: at 20:00, advertising posts make up 5.71% of all publications, with an average of 3.83% for the week. Of the days of the week, the highest share of advertising is on Saturday (4.62%).

At what time was the MAX publication map built?

Moscow time. Rows are days of the week from Monday to Sunday, columns are hours from 0:00 to 23:00. The map is based on the last full week that ended the day before yesterday and recalculated every hour.

The result

MAX writes according to the working schedule: weekdays from 9:00 to 14:00 are the densest, nights and weekends are the quietest. But silence is not a disadvantage, but an opportunity: in the evening, at night and on weekends, the post has fewer competitors and more views. The latest "day of the week × hour" map is on the "MAX Statistics" page, and the daily rhythm of today is hour by hour on the "Today in MAX" page.