The advertising market in Russia was worth between R380-385 billion (€6.04-6.12 billion) in the first three quarters of this year.
According to the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR), this was around 6% less than in the same period in 2021. The domestic regional market, excluding Moscow, in the four media segments (TV, radio, press and outdoor advertising) fell by 5% to between R26-27 billion.
AKAR notes that the dynamics of all three quarters this year differed significantly, with the first showing a positive trend and the second seeing serious double-digit losses in almost all segments. The third showed an improvement, with a loss of 7% compared to 16% in Q2. However, in the regional market a 19% reduction in Q2 was followed by growth of 6% in Q3.
Looking at specific segments, the least pessimistic forecast for the internet came true in Q3, with advertisers adapting to the new reality and saving their budgets for purchasing online commercials. Meanwhile, the TV sector is showing resilience, with 700 new local and national advertisers having appeared since the start of the year and the majority of Russian consumers happy to buy locally produced goods.
E-commerce accounted for the greatest share of national TV ad spend in the first nine months of the year (18%), pushing pharma (17%) into second place, followed by insurance and financial services (15%). In the regional sector the top categories were retail (23%), FMCG (18%) and e-commerce (17%).
In his comments on the prospects for the Russian ad market, Sergey Veselov, VP of AKAR, said it can be assumed the crisis will continue in 2023. However, there may be noticeable changes in the second half of the year.
