AdIndex · AdIndex · 2025

The Russian Ad Market 2025–2026: Forecast and Priorities

The ad market showed resilience this year overall. Some segments posted explosive growth, while others had a more moderate year.

— Elina Isagulova

Elina Isagulova spoke at AdIndex Talks 2025 — AdIndex's annual forecasting project where leading market players assess the outgoing year and share priorities for the next. The uneven performance is understandable: in a climate of macroeconomic uncertainty, advertisers shift budgets toward measurable formats. Performance advertising with a clear ROI was winning the budget battle against image campaigns with hard-to-measure impact.

Technology as a Sustainable Advantage

Technology remains our strong suit. Like other major market players, we don't stand still — we create new value and technology-driven offerings.

— Elina Isagulova

VK consistently invests in tools that help businesses prove the effectiveness of every ruble spent: predictive analytics, AI-powered campaign automation, and conversion attribution tools. In an environment where advertisers are more cautious with budgets, technological superiority becomes the key argument in the competition for spend.

2026 Priority: Social Commerce

One of our main focuses for 2026 will be social commerce. Our goal is to respond to the changed user behavior patterns and give businesses and sellers effective tools to sell directly within VKontakte.

— Elina Isagulova

Social commerce changes the purchase logic: a user sees a product in their feed and completes the transaction within the platform without leaving VK. This shortens the path from ad contact to purchase from several steps to one — fundamentally changing conversion rates for sellers. VK is also developing tools for content creators: monetization through sales commissions turns authors into a distribution channel for brands.

Economic Turbulence as the New Normal

Isagulova describes economic uncertainty as "the reality we will continue to live in." For the platform, this means a shift in role: VK is transforming from a provider of ad inventory into a business growth partner. This requires not only technology but also expert client support — strategy consulting, analytics assistance, and joint campaign planning. Maximizing results from every invested ruble is a challenge the platform solves together with advertisers, not instead of them.