By Victor Fiodorov
Our world is moving ever closer to virtuality, with advertising a major part of the Internet. Of course, online editions of newspapers and magazines already rival printed versions and even television programmes are available for online viewing. Belarus is no exception.
Heads and experts of the largest Belarusian Internet trading platforms and Internet-salehouses recently met, estimating the volume and dynamics of media Internet advertising in our country. According to their estimations, in the first half of 2013, Internet advertising grew by more than 60 percent (against the same period of 2012). If this trend continues, by the end of this year, Internet advertising will confidently take second place after television in terms of revenue.
During the first half of 2013, the volume of Belarusian Internet advertising grew by 65 percent against last year’s early months and rivalled that of the second half of 2012. Internet advertising generated $4.5 million in the first half of 2013, including banner and text advertising and special projects, but excluding contextual and catalogue advertising. The market volume of Internet advertising in Belarus is clearly even bigger.
In 2011, domestic Internet advertising platforms collected $4.77 million. In the first half of 2012 alone, about $2.7 million was generated, followed by $4.5 million in the later months. According to forecasts for 2013, Internet advertising in Belarus will continue to grow, exceeding $11 million by the end of this year. Adding on contextual advertising, we can see clearly that the Internet advertising segment will soon only be surpassed by TV.
Our nearest neighbours are already ahead of us in this sphere, although the trend is clearly now hitting Belarus. In some countries, it seems that saturation point may have been reached for traditional advertising, largely thanks to mobile devices. Analysts had predicted that mobile devices would not surpass the use of personal computers until 2015, with spending on regular Internet advertising peaking in 2014, before being gradually inched out by mobile advertising. Of course, as more people use tablets and smart phones, the less time they dedicate to ‘stationary’ computers. People are spending more time than ever online, but few do so at home. Internet advertising is growing rapidly, but with growth occurring in the mobile segment.
