Frost & Sullivan: Online Russian market remains hotspot

The Russian Internet economy still has plenty of room to expand its subscribers, which, in particular, will allow its internet businesses to grow.

The Russian internet (RuNet) has not yet reached the saturation experienced by the West’s more matured markets. There is considerable growth potential which could allow it expand up to a third over its current level during the next 5-7 years, finds a report from Frost & Sullivan (‘The Russian Internet Landscape’). “Despite an increasingly challenging macroeconomic and political environment, the Russian Internet economy has maintained high momentum,” says Martin Hoff ter Heide, Information & Communication Technologies Lead Consultant at Frost & Sullivan.

In recent years the Russian media market has transformed from merely tuning televisions into also plugging in the internet. In that time, the Russian search engine Yandex’s has overtaken Pervy Kanal, the main Russian television station, in terms of advertising revenues and audience. “Russia already has the largest internet audience in Europe,” states Hoff ter Heide. “Nonetheless, there is still some room for the number of internet users to increase in the country. This will continue to be a source of growth for the Russian Internet economy.”

Expansion in internet subscribers is expected create a hotspot  for growth in the Russian economy as it is strong local players that are expected to take the greatest advantage of the opportunities created by the expansion. According to the consulting firm, local players will to dominate the market as a result of their specific knowledge of the culture, language and business environment.