Trade fairs, shows, local newspapers, trade publications, radio/TV/cable networks are good avenues for advertising a product.

Television, radio, print, and billboard advertising are ubiquitous in the Russian market. Most international advertising agencies are active in Russia along with domestic counterparts.

The Association of Communication Agencies (ACAR) estimated Russia’s advertising market at 469 billion rubles (USD7.3 billion) in 2018, up 13 percent compared to the figure for 2017. Accounting for the production of creative products, advertising goods, and payment for agency services, the total value of marketing communications is estimated at 810 to 830 billion rubles.

Russia is Europe’s largest Internet market by the number of users, with over 109.6 million people. 76 percent of the population has internet access. Both Russian and Western social networking sites are growing in popularity, especially among users from younger demographic groups. Between January 2018 and January 2019, Russia gained two million active social media users (plus 3.3 percent). In comparison, that figure for the United States remained unchanged. The most active social media platforms (including messaging apps) in Russia are YouTube, VKontakte (VK), and WhatsApp.

According to Statista, one of the most frequently updated sources of social media statistics, in the second and the third quarters of 2018, YouTube was the most actively used social network in Russia (85 percent of those surveyed); Vkontakte was the second most used (83 percent). The global leader, Facebook, was only the seventh most actively used social media platform in Russia, with 39 percent. Skype and WhatsApp dominate among instant messengers.

The most prominent trend in social media use was the rapid increase in popularity of Instagram among Russian users. According to AiTarget, the official ad distributor for Instagram and Facebook in Russia, at the end of 2018, Russia ranked sixth in the world and first in Europe for the number of active Instagram users. In December 2018, Instagram was visited by 16 million Russian users.

LinkedIn had approximately six million Russian users before it was blocked in 2016 by Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor. LinkedIn was blocked after it failed to transfer Russian user data to servers located in the country, violating the 2014 data localization law, which requires all online sites to store Russian citizens’ personal data on computer servers situated in Russia.

The following is a summary of 2017 advertising market performance:

Terrestrial television – RUB179.8 bln     

Cable – RUB7.3 bln                 

Internet – RUB203 bln              

Magazines – RUB10.8 bln                    

Periodicals – RUB 7.2 bln                     

Outdoor – RUB43.8 bln

Radio – RUB16.9 bln    

Total – RUB468.7 bln