Russian SMM market to grow by 35% in 2024: up to 65 billion rubles

This growth will put SMM on par with the media advertising market, which is also expected to grow by 35% to 65.7 billion rubles. However, if the growth rate of media advertising is slowing down (in 2023 the growth was 43%), then SMM is accelerating (last year the growth was 30%).

As Ingate Group noted, SMM is the only digital advertising segment where growth rates are not expected to slow by the end of this year. By way of comparison, results-based advertising will grow by 30%, while a year before this figure was 33%, and SEO, by 20% compared to 30% the previous year. The growth of the SMM segment is explained by the expansion of formats on popular platforms such as VKontakte and Telegram, as well as increased investment by brands in the creation of original content to meet the audience’s high expectations for the visual component.

Timur Akhmedov, head of the project team at the Association of Bloggers and Agencies, notes that corporate accounts on social networks are becoming an important channel for attracting new clients. According to him, the company is increasing spending on SMM, even though this segment previously focused on Instagram*. Evgeniy Korablev, director of marketing and strategic partnerships at Centra, adds that the market has adapted to new realities.

SA Media CEO Nikita Pribylovsky also confirms that the SMM market is growing faster than the media advertising market, although he expects growth in 2024 to be around 30%. Pribylovsky attributes this to increased competition between advertising tools and the development of new social media.

Among the problems of the influencer marketing segment, Ingate Group highlights the growth in the number of bloggers in a context of reduction in the platforms available for advertising. This leads to lower integration costs. The market is also affected by the discussed bill prohibiting advertising on blocked platforms and the regulation of bloggers with an audience of more than 10 thousand subscribers, who from November 1 will have to transfer data to Roskomnadzor.

SocMediaMarketing Business Director Sergey Tsyganov emphasizes that the low barrier to entry in influencer marketing creates trust issues due to fake subscribers and engagement rates. Okkam Creative COO Apollinaria Dvurechenskaya notes that global brands have traditionally invested more in social media, while Russian brands see it only as an additional tool.

* belongs to the Meta corporation, whose activities are recognized as extremist in Russia and are prohibited