Despite Russian president Vladimir Putin banning online anonymisers and virtual private networks (VPNs), internet advertising in Russia has overtaken TV in the third quarter for the first time according to Kommersant, quoting data produced by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR).

The report further said that the first nine months of this year TV ad spend amounted to R1176-117 bn (+13%) and internet spend R115-116 bn. However, in Q3 internet spend was worth R41bn and TV R36.5 bn.

AKAR further plans to strengthen the volume of TV advertising revenue in the digital environment by the end of 2018 reported Broadband TV News. Kommersant also quoted a Deloitte report which states that Russians have an increasingly negative attitude to internet advertising despite the internet now being the driver for media consumption.

Out of those who are aware of ad blockers, only 1% do not plan to use them. Twitter recently banned ads from Russia Today and Sputnik over US presidential election meddling.

Facebook too said that ‘inauthentic’ Russian accounts spent $100K on ads in US Presidential race.