Russia’s ad market has started to recover from last year’s crisis. However, it has only returned to the levels of mid-2007 and is still some 17% off its peak a year later.
According to data produced by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR) and published by Kommersant, the value of the market in H1 this year amounted to around R105 billion (2.65 billion), or 10% more than in the corresponding period in 2009.
Last year was a particularly difficult one for the ad market, with spend in H1 falling by 30% and that for TV by 21%. However, TV bounced back by 7% in H1 this year, while online advertising has grown by 33% year-on-year (it was the only medium to also grow in H1 2009, though by a much smaller 5%).
Although TV’s share of the total ad market grew significantly during last year’s crisis to a level of 55.7%, it fell back to 53.7% in the first half of this year.
