These answers about Russian market address developers’ common questions
We’ve covered the growth trends of Russia’s market in one of the previous articles for a general overview. You can find it here for review. In this article, we want to address some of the most popular questions developers have about the Russian market to shatter the myths and share more actionable tips.
Q1: Is Russia’s current economy stable enough for me to develop businesses there?
The Russian economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience in recent years. Despite the global economic downturn caused by the pandemic, the Russian economy quickly rebounded, growing by 5.9% in 2021, 2.3% in 2022, and 3.6% in 2023. These figures represent the highest growth in the past decade. Real disposable income also saw a significant increase, rising by 5.4% in 2023, and real wages increased by 7.8% year-over-year. These positive economic indicators, coupled with the country's large and tech-savvy population, make Russia an attractive market for app developers.
Besides, Russia presents a golden opportunity for developers, boosting a thriving mobile app market due to its tech-forward ecosystem, affordable connectivity, and low smartphone costs.
Q2: Will I have payment issues working with Russian ad networks?
Russia’s ad tech ecosystem is reaching a mature stage with established ad networks and algorithms. Their services are adopted and trusted by global app developers. For example, the Yandex Advertising Network, the leading ad platform in Russia, has more than 13,000 apps with developers from more than 100 countries.
The advertising network makes payments to partners from around the world, including China. There is no need to open a representative office in Russia.
Q3: Are there any special aspects we need to take into consideration going into the Russian market?
In-app purchases in the AppStore and Google Play are temporarily unavailable for users in Russia or involve significant difficulties. International payment systems VISA and Mastercard do not work in Russia nowadays, and local payment system MIR cards cannot be linked to the AppStore or Google Play. Ad monetization is now the most popular and accessible monetization strategy for the Russian audience.
In Russia there is a law on advertising, according to which all advertising must be labeled, and data about it must be transferred to a government register. For lack of labeling, both the advertiser and the app that showed the advertisement can be fined. But Russian advertising networks Yandex and VK automatically label all advertising to comply with the law.
Q4: What should you consider when localizing?
Localization is important to the Russian market. Users in Russia appreciate localization, and every seventh app store review mentions that a game was localized. In contrast, games that lack localization often receive 25% lower ratings.
Remember that many popular Latin fonts do not have Cyrillic alphabet. Give them special attention. People couldn't understand Chinese characters, but app titles in English are not uncommon.
Since Russia borders both the West and the East, the country's culture gravitates equally towards these directions. Russians listen to Western music and watch Hollywood films, but Eastern culture (music, books, films, games, anime, modern technology) is also extremely popular. If you have already launched your application on the European or US markets, localizing it in Russia will not be difficult.
Q5: Does the mobile business really grow in Russia?
According to TradPlus’ data, Russia demonstrates a notable growth in 2023 with eCPMs exceeding other emerging markets in most app categories. For Social, Business, and Card Games categories, the eCPMs are even catching up with mature markets such as Japan and Korea. The growing momentum is spreading and developers can grasp this opportunity to ride on the trend to grow their mobile business in Russia.
From Yandex Advertising Network’s point of view, casual games such as word, puzzle and simulation demonstrate great successes. With Yandex Advertising Network’s support, Catwalk Queen games’ revenue increased by 26% and Car Parking: Traffic Jam 3D’s eCPM increased by 30%.
TradPlus and Yandex Advertising Network are working closely together to support developers to expand their business in Russia. With our sophisticated products, dedicated teams and actionable advice, developers can achieve rapid ad revenue growth. Unique budgets from Russian advertisers and from Yandex itself are helping developers monetize their Russian traffic via DSP-SSP integration with TradPlus Exchange. The Yandex Advertising Network is also available via SDK for connection in TradPlus Mediation VisiM.
We’d love to hear your voice and solve your inquiries about the Russian market. You can reach us for more information:
TradPlus: contact@tradplus.com
Yandex: cn-ad@yandex-team.com
