Advertising revenue in Russia 2000-2021, by medium

Spending on online advertising has seen a tremendous increase in Russia since 2000, reaching 313.8 billion Russian rubles in 2021. The budget spent on television ads reached the second-highest figure after the internet, at over 197 billion Russian rubles.

COVID-19 impact on advertising in Russia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian advertisers reduced their budgets on traditional channels, with the most prominent decline observed in press ads at 47 percent between 2019 and 2020. In outdoor advertising, the budgets on traditional or static screens shrank more significantly than digital placements. Furthermore, as movie theaters were closed during the lockdown, cinema advertising suffered a decline in spending from 1.1 billion Russian rubles in 2019 to approximately 300 million Russian rubles in 2020.

The internet was the only advertising segment that recorded a growth in Russia in 2020, as its expenditure increased by four percent year-over-year. However, the advertising industry is expected to recover in 2021, and the only channel whose spending is forecast to decrease was print advertising which witnesses a general decline due to the rise of digital media.