The total volume of internet advertising reached 56.3 billion rubles in 2012 ($1.877 billion) or 18.9% of the total advertising market’s revenues. Television advertising remained the clear leader in terms of market share, however, taking in 143.2 billion rubles, but saw its growth rate fall from 18% in 2011 to 9% in 2012.
Meanwhile, print advertising stagnated with an anorexic growth of just 2% to reach 41.2 billion rubles, down from the previous year’s growth rate of 6%.
“To grow by 50% each year starting from a high base is unrealistic,” RBC Daily business newspaper quoted Stanislav Povolotsky, RBC media holding’s commercial director, as saying. “In the first half of 2012, RBC’s growth in internet advertising was 40%. In the second half of the year there was a decline in advertising budgets, particularly in the automotive segment. This was mainly the reason for the overall decline in the digital advertising market.”
Povolotsky added that products that traditionally were advertised on television were migrating to internet advertising.
“There is a growing trend of investments from the categories of everyday goods, as well as the segment of premium brands – watches, jewelry and perfumes.”
In April 2012, Russia’s most popular internet site, Yandex, saw its daily number of visitors, which stood at at 19.1 million, exceed for the first time the daily number of viewers of the nation’s most popular television station, Pervy Kanal, with 18.2 million, the Vedomosti business daily reported, citing figures from the TNS media and market research company.
