The Russian advertising market in the first half of 2023 grew by 27%

In January-June 2023, the Russian advertising market increased by 27% compared to the same period in 2022 (hereinafter – excluding VAT) and amounted to 315 billion rubles, follows from the data of the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (ACAR). By the first half of the pre-crisis 2021, the market grew by 19%, it is indicated there.

ACAR did not disclose the dynamics of advertising market segments and their absolute indicators for the first half of 2023. The Association stopped doing this in quarterly and semi-annual reports from the beginning of 2022. And in the report for 2022, it indicated indicators for all segments, except for TV. In the context of the current crisis and the serious impact of non-economic factors on the advertising industry, the television advertising segment of the Russian advertising market did not consider it possible to provide its estimate of the volume, a representative of ACAR explained to Vedomosti at the time.

Top managers of advertising groups interviewed by Vedomosti give their estimates of the growth rates of the entire advertising market. In the first half of 2023, the market, according to Andrey Skorodumov, head of the department for control and performance of media purchases at OMD OM Group, grew by 15% compared to the same period in 2022 to 289.4 rubles.

According to Mikhail Eliseikin, Director of Trading and Media Partnerships at Group4Media, the advertising market grew by 30% to RUB 327-330 billion over the period.

At the same time, experts agree that online advertising showed the best dynamics. This is partly due to the fact that in 2023 advertising groups began to include advertising in retailers’ online stores and marketplaces in the overall assessment of the segment. OMD OM Group estimated the growth of the segment in the first half of 2023 at 20% (amounted to 166 billion rubles), at Group4Media – at 46% (taking into account new digital promotion channels). The general director of the Arena advertising agency (part of the ADV advertising group) Ruslan Samaev estimated the growth of the Internet segment, taking into account promotion on e-commerce sites, over the same period at 36%.

The outdoor advertising and radio segments, according to OMD OM Group, grew by 18% to RUB 23.9 billion. and 7.3 billion rubles. respectively. The only segment that showed a decline, as noted in this advertising group, is advertising in the press, which over the specified period decreased by 19% to 2.2 billion rubles. According to Group4Media, radio advertising grew by 22-23%. Growth in outdoor advertising is “approaching 30%,” notes Eliseikin.

Two of the surveyed advertising groups agreed to provide Vedomosti with an estimate of the volume of advertising on TV. Thus, according to OMD OM Group, the TV segment in the first half of 2023 grew by only 9% to RUB 90 billion. In Arena, the increase in TV advertising over this period was estimated at 5-7%.

Group4Media forwarded Vedomosti’s questions about the volume of TV advertising to the National Advertising Alliance (NRA; controls the sale of more than 90% of advertising on Russian TV).

“The industrial decision was made not to disclose the figures for the first half of the year by segments, due to the need to revise the approach to assessing market volumes,” a representative of the NRA told Vedomosti.

The segments of TV and outdoor advertising are growing, including due to the reduction of advertising inventory on the Internet, says Sergey Beloglazov, senior vice president of the Rodnaya Rech group of companies. In March 2022, Google disabled its advertising tools in Russia. So did the social networks Instagram and Facebook (owned by Meta, which was recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), which were subsequently blocked in Russia by a court decision. Since March 2022, the TikTok social network has introduced restrictions on uploading new videos and conducting live broadcasts for users from Russia.

The growth driver of the entire advertising market was “the trend towards increasing investment in advertising by local companies,” Eliseikin believes. Among the categories that are most dynamically increasing advertising budgets are retail, finance, real estate, and food products. As well as technology companies, Skorodumov knows. Another driver of market growth, he adds, is the increase in advertising rates.

In 2023, the advertising market (including advertising on retail platforms), according to OMD OM Group forecasts, will grow by 16% to RUB 661 billion. The Rodnaya Speech Group of Companies is more optimistic: according to their forecast, it will increase by 24-30% to 699-726 billion rubles. Market growth of 20-30% by the end of the year is predicted by Arena and Group4Media.