Advertising agencies in Russia

Russian advertising market

Main article: Advertising (Russian market)

2024:10 largest advertising agencies in Russia

In 2024, the first place in terms of the volume of concluded advertising contracts in Russia was taken by the Media Instinct agency with a result of 37.8 billion rubles. This corresponds to almost 9% of the budgets served by all market participants (440 billion rubles). Such data are given in the AdIndex study, the results of which were published on May 6, 2025.

AdIndex indicators are based on monitoring the advertising outputs of the national media meter Mediascope and the industrial outdoor meter Admetrix. Ratings of Internet placements for the rating are provided by Digital Budget. The turnover of agencies is formed from the media budgets of the advertisers they serve.

The total indicator is formed from advertising on television and radio, in the press and the Internet, as well as outdoor advertising. Among all these channels, the leader of the Russian market Media Instinct holds the first place only on TV with revenue of 26.25 billion rubles in 2024. In the press segment, the palm belongs to Mediaplus with 477 million rubles, and on the radio - OMD Optimum Media with 1.21 billion rubles. On the Internet, the maximum result was shown by the MGCom agency - 18.72 billion rubles. In the direction of outdoor advertising, SberMarketing is in the lead, the revenue of which amounted to 7.84 billion rubles.^[1]

2022:2 changes in top three advertising agencies in Russia

In June 2023, AdIndex published an annual rating of agencies selling advertising on TV, radio, press, outdoor advertising and the Internet. The study is based on advertising output data from research companies Mediascope, AdMetrix and Digital Budget. AdIndex emphasized that they publish estimates for these groups "for reference based on data from open sources in the absence of confirmation on their part."

The top three in 2022 underwent changes: in second place, replacing, OMD Optimum Media came out SberMarketing"," he confirmed the receipt of contracts for 17.6 billion. rubles Occupying the third place a year earlier (Mera the former name is Carat) is located in fourth place with a turnover of 16.6 billion rubles, its position was taken by SkyTecKnowledge (formerly SkyTec), which was in ninth place. Media Instinct retained the leading line, the volume of purchases in 2022 amounted to 22 billion rubles.

List of the largest advertising agencies in Russia

* The agency is included in the assessment for the first time in 2022, confirming market conditions for receiving service contracts.

• * "Until 2022, the agency was ranked under the SkyTec brand.

* * * Communication Group Okkam issued a formal ban on the mention of the group's companies in the 2022 AdIndex rating, ignored AdIndex's request to provide client sheets and pointed out the unreliability of the calculation made by AdIndex. However, in order to avoid distortion of the rating and ensure its completeness, AdIndex informatively publishes estimates based on data from open sources and indicates that there is no confirmation from the group.

* * * * The turnover of United Partners includes the budgets of customers served by the Air and Horizon agencies, which announced the merger in 2021. For the correctness of the comparison, hereinafter the indicators of 2021 for the combined companies are adjusted, i.e. the total billing is taken into account in the revolutions and positions in the ratings of 2022 and 2021.

• * * * * Agencies in the Media Direction group ignored AdIndex's request to provide client sheets. To avoid distortion of the rating and ensure its completeness, in the absence of information from the group, the calculation was made on client lists of 2021 in the absence of reports of loss of contracts. New customers were included based on data from open sources - messages about taking for service, published in the media. The estimates given in the publication are not confirmed by the group and are given for reference.

According to the researchers, in total, the agencies participating in the rating accounted for 66% of advertising budgets in the five media studied. The top 10 agencies accumulated 57% of agency purchases and 38% of the total market. In 10 advertising groups, 54% of all media advertising budgets are served, groups account for 83% of budgets. passing through agencies.

The authors of the rating called 2022 unprecedented in terms of the scale of the shocks that hit the Russian media advertising market. The departure of international brands, agency networks, sites, platforms forced the industry to rebuild, moreover, in record time. As a result, according to AdIndex, the actual losses of the advertising industry in 2022 amounted to 7.3% in rubles. It was possible to achieve such a "soft landing" due to the training of market participants in overcoming the crises of 2009 and 2015, when the industry lost 28% and 10%, respectively.^[2]

2019: OMD Optimum Media is the largest advertising agency in Russia

The largest advertising agency in Russia in 2019 was OMD Optimum Media. This is evidenced by data from a study conducted by the Sostav.ru Advertising and Marketing Portal and the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR).

According to experts, advertising budgets under the management of OMD Optimal Media at the end of 2019 reached 22.6 billion rubles (excluding VAT), which corresponded to almost 10% of all contracts concluded by advertisers with agencies.

Rating of media agencies and holdings 2020

The volume of OMD Optimal Media media purchases on TV at the end of 2019 amounted to 17 billion rubles, on the Internet - 2.2 billion rubles.

The leader of 2018 - the agency Carat (owned) Dentsu Aegis Network in 2019 is in third place with a budget of almost 20.4 billion rubles. The second position was taken by the Media Instinct agency with a result of 20.5 billion rubles. Havas Media (15.4 billion rubles) and (Starcom 12.4 billion rubles) also got into the top 5.

Zenith moved from the eighth to the sixth position from almost 12 billion rubles of billing. The position was also added by the Wavemaker agency (9.5 billion rubles). Starlink rose to ninth place (9 billion rubles).

OMD Media Direction (9.94 billion rubles) moved to one line - from sixth to seventh place. The Initiative agency descended from seventh to tenth place (8.7 billion rubles). This year 15 agencies became newcomers to the rating at once, and People & Screens (3.1 billion rubles) entered the top 30, taking 21st place. For the first time, GK Igronik entered the top of the largest media holdings, immediately rising to 10th place with billing of 2.966 billion rubles.

The basis for the rating was Mediascope data on the placement of the largest advertisers on TV, the Internet, radio, outdoor advertising and the print press. 88 agencies became participants in the rating.^[3]

2016

Revenue and key events in the advertising agency market

In May 2017, AdIndex presented a rating of advertising agencies in the Russian market. According to the results of 2016, 88 companies engaged in the purchase of advertising in at least one of the five media, where there is independent monitoring: on TV, radio, in the press, outdoor advertising and the Internet, carried out by Mediascope (formerly the media research division of the TNS Russia group) and ESPAR-Analyst.

Several companies - LBL, Immedia and TWIGA group agencies - were not included in the ranking, since during the factcheck they could not confirm cooperation with a large number of declared customers.

Starcom loses portion of Novartis brands left for Mediacom

It was obvious that the turnover of the Starcom agency (part of the Publicis Media group) was unlikely to grow by the end of 2016. The fact is that one of its key clients, the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis, as a result of a global deal with the British GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), transferred the latter part of its brands. In 2015, the advertising budget of Novartis was approaching, according to AdIndex, 4.4 billion rubles. including VAT. Only a little more - about 4.6 billion rubles. - spent on advertising and the country's largest advertiser, and at the same time another Starcom client - Procter & Gamble. In 2016, the agency continued to serve Sandoz Farma, Novartis's over-the-counter drug division, and its remaining brands are ACC, Exoderil, Persen, etc. But the budget of this client could not help but be reduced - in 2016, according to AdIndex, these were only 2.6 billion rubles. As a result, Starcom's turnover did not grow at the end of 2016, and the agency, as in 2015, ranks second.

In turn, Mediacom (GroupM), which serves the British GSK, could not help but win from the global deal of two pharmaceutical manufacturers. After all, its advertising budget after an increase in the portfolio of brands (Novartis gave, in particular, the brands Voltaren, Teraflu, Otrivin) grew in 2016, according to AdIndex estimates, almost six times, to 3.4 billion rubles. For the first time, GSK was in the top 10 largest advertisers in the country. Accordingly, Mediacom's turnover increased more than 1.5 times, to 7.9 billion rubles. Of these, 43% was provided by the British pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Beeline moves from Initiative (ADB) to Mediavest|Spark

At the end of 2016, Mediavest|Spark (Publicis Media) was supposed to improve its position in the ranking. Since 2016, his new client has become VimpelCom"," operating under the Beeline brand. According to AdIndex, the advertising budget of this telecom operator in 2016 reached 2.9 billion rubles. (14th place in the top 30 largest advertisers in the country). He provided his new agency with 25% of trade. The former partner of VimpelCom - Initiative (ADD) - lost several lines in the rating. In 2015, the budget of this client was 38% of the Initiative's turnover.

MEC lost Johnson & Johnson and Eldorado budgets

But in 2016, success accompanied another ADV agency - UM. In 2016, it became the new media partner of the American corporation Johnson & Johnson, whose AdIndex estimates last year's advertising budget at almost 2.4 billion rubles. (23rd place in the latest rating of advertisers). Thanks to a new client who provided UM with almost half of the turnover, this agency rose from 27th immediately to 18th place.

Accordingly, without Johnson & Johnson's budget, his former agency MEC (GroupM) worsened its position. A year earlier, in 2015, this advertiser provided the agency with almost 31% of the total turnover.

In addition, since 2016, the MEC team has stopped working with another major client - the retailer Eldorado. In 2015, its budget exceeded 15% of the agency's total turnover.

Havas Media (ADV Group) and Vizeum (Dentsu Group IncAegis Network) became the new partners of the retailer, which took 32nd place in the list of the country's largest advertisers (slightly more than 2 billion rubles) in 2016. The first agency engaged in procurement in all media, with the exception of outdoor advertising. In 2016, according to AdIndex, Eldorado's share in the total turnover of Havas Media was almost 9%.

Rating of agencies and holdings in the field of media banking

The Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR), together with Sostav, conducted a study of the Russian media purchase market in 2016, compiling a rating of the largest media banking agencies and holdings in 2016. This year, the ranking for the first time took into account Internet placements - online media advertising (banners and videos).

The emergence of a new segment did not affect the composition of the top 4, but forced the company to change last year's positions. Thanks to the highest rates of online advertising purchases, OMD Optimal Media rose to the first line, followed by Starcom (VivaKi), which has held a leadership position for several years. The third and fourth lines were retained by Media Instinct and ZenithOptimedia, respectively.

Next is Havas Media, which has strengthened its position by two points over the year, Carat occupies the sixth line for the second year in a row, MediaVest|Spark is the seventh and Vizeum is the eighth, which has also risen by 2 points. Rounding out the top ten are OMD Media Direction and MEC, which ranked fifth last year.

In total, the rating includes 78 agencies, whose total billing amounted to more than 275 billion rubles, including VAT. Among them, almost 197 billion rubles. fell on purchases of television advertising, 25 million - on digital, 21 million - on placement in Out-of-Home, 18 million - on radio and 13 million were placed in the press.

The rating of media holdings has not undergone significant changes - all 9 holding houses that took part in the project in 2015 retained their positions. They were first joined by GRAM ("Hidalgo," Medialect, RentStreet) and SA Media Group (Smart View, 2STEP), which took 10th and 11th places.

2012: Largest baing agencies

According to the results of 2012, the leader in the market of professional advertising buyers has changed, according to the rating of media agencies prepared by the industry publication AdIndex specifically for Kommersant.

The first place with a turnover of 17.9 billion rubles. now occupies the OMD Optimal Media agency, which in 2011 consolidated the entire advertising budget of PepsiCo Russia (Pepsiko Holdings), including the previously acquired Wimm-Bill-Dann^[4].

According to the results of 2003, 30 companies were ranked with a total turnover in terms of rubles (then all budgets were given in dollars) almost 45 billion rubles. including VAT. In 2012, there are already 60 agencies in the ranking, together in 2012 they purchased advertisements for 207.4 billion rubles. According to the results of 2003, the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia estimated the volume of the entire domestic advertising market (together with those media for which costs are not taken into account in the rating) in ruble terms at 80.7 billion rubles. also including VAT, according to the results of 2012 - already at 351.4 billion rubles.

In 2003, the first place with a turnover of more than 3.8 billion rubles. occupied by Starcom. It remained the leader of the rating for six years. Primarily because Starcom's key client is the nation's largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble Corporation (P&G). However, at the end of 2009, the first place with a turnover of 11.1 billion rubles. already occupied the ZenithOptimedia agency. And this shift also has a simple explanation: by this time, the agency, which has served Nestle since 2006, had consolidated all of L'Oreal's advertising budgets. The two major advertisers combined their purchases (Nestle co-owns L'Oreal) and their combined budget exceeded P&G's advertising costs. At the end of 2009, the L'Oreal-Nestle alliance spent almost 9.4 billion rubles on advertising, according to AdIndex, P&G - only 5.6 billion rubles. Thanks to the alliance, ZenithOptimedia remained the leader in the rating at the end of 2010.

According to the results of 2011, the first place with a turnover of 14.1 billion rubles. already came out agency Havas Media (formerly called MPG). The fact is that that year L'Oreal and Nestle reduced their advertising activity, while the key customers of Havas Media - Reckitt Benckiser, LVMH, Hyundai and Kia Motors, on the contrary, increased it. In addition, then the agency began to work with two new large clients - United Breweries - Holding (formerly Heineken in Russia) and included in the top ten advertisers Danone. Moreover, Danone also consolidated the Danon Russia budget in Havas Media, with which it merged its business in the CIS.

According to the results of 2012, the rating is already headed by OMD Optimal Media with 17.9 billion rubles. This take-off is also due to a major customer transition. One of the agency's key clients for several years has been the American PepsiCo Russia (Pepsiko Holdings). In 2011, she completed the purchase of the Russian Wimm-Bill-Dann and combined their advertising purchases, becoming in 2012 the fourth largest advertiser with a budget of 5.8 billion rubles. The budget of Wimm-Bill-Dunn, which historically has always been larger than PepsiCo, from the Maxus agency moved to OMD Optimal Media. In addition, until 2012, advertising purchases for Frito Lay, one of the PepsiCo divisions, were carried out by OMD Media Direction, which, although it is, like OMD Optimum Media, part of the American communications holding Omnicom, is part of another advertising group in Russia. Since 2012, advertising purchases for Frito Lay have also moved to OMD Optimum Medi.

It is noteworthy that PepsiCo, which provided its agency with the first place in the ranking, in 2012 turned out to be one of the most problematic customers. At the end of 2011, the American corporation withdrew its budgets from the TV channels, which complicated the agency's conclusion of deals with television sales houses for 2012. The largest seller of TV ads - the Vi/Video International group in February 2011 admitted that at that time it had not agreed with PepsiCo.

The largest Russian advertising agencies in 2012 in terms of advertising purchases

• Until 2012, the agency was called MPG

• In 2011, Sorec Media and Sauce agencies were evaluated consolidated

Notes