Mediaboss Marketing

Thecountry's biggest search engine Yandex saw more daily visitors last month than thenumber ofany television channel's viewers, inwhat analysts said is anindication that inthe near future thenumber ofInternet users inRussia might exceed thesize ofTV audiences.

Yandex had atotal of19.1 million daily visitors inApril, while thenumber ofviewers ofstate-controlled Channel One thecountry's leading TV channel byviewers reached 18.2 million, according toestimates byTNS Russia, which surveyed people between 12 and54 years old incities with apopulation ofmore than 100,000.

Yandex had more daily users than any other Internet project inRussia, according tothe market researcher's Web Index report, which put Mail.ru insecond place, with 17.5 million daily visitors, while thecountry's biggest social network Vk.com took third, with 16.2 million users each day.

Thegap between thetotal daily TV audience andthe number ofdaily Internet users was also narrow: 31.4 million ofthose preferring TV compared with 30.5 million consuming information online, TNS Russia said ine-mailed comments.

"It's not thelimit yet, we are likely tosee even more TV viewers moving tothe Internet," said Konstantin Chernyshyov, ananalyst atUralSib Capital.

Channel One has thebiggest reach across thecountry, but thenumber ofInternet users inRussia is steadily rising, because more people consider theInternet asource ofinformation andpenetration is growing, he said bytelephone.

"The figures indicate acertain trend: more Russians are moving online. Thereasons are growing incomes, decreasing prices forcomputer hardware andbroadband Internet access, as well as increasing Internet penetration, including mobile Internet," Investcafe analyst Ilya Rachenkov said ina note.

Theconvergence ofvarious sources ofinformation also plays its role, with products like Internet TV andInternet radio attracting more people, Rachenkov said.

"A traditional television can't offer such flexibility andvariety yet," he said.

As aresult, more advertisers might place bets onthe Internet inthe future, Chernyshyov said, adding that this segment is already demonstrating rapid growth.

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