Cable and satellite TV advertising has been exceptionally hard hit by a ban, subsequently relaxed, that came into effect at the beginning of this year.
Quoting figures produced by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR), TV Digest and AKTR report that spend in the sector in the first nine months of the year amounted to only $1.5 billion, or 46% less than in the same period in 2014.
The figures also show that the only segment currently showing growth is contextual online advertising. This increased by 12% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2015, while the costs for advertisers increased by 17%.
The overall trend is one of the decline in Russia’s ad market slowing, with the 6% reduction in the first nine months of this year an improvement on the 11% in first half of this year.
The figures are in line with forecasts by ZenithOptimedia, which now expects the Russian ad market to contract by 14.6% this year.
