With 84 million users, Russia’s Internet penetration rate has nearly doubled in five years

Russia, which lagged far behind most other European countries in terms of Internet penetration in the recent past (with a 37% penetration rate in 2010), has been catching up rapidly over the past few years. In late 2015, according to a GfK poll, Internet penetration exceeded 70%, with 84 million Russians aged 16 or more — up 4 million in one year — declaring that they use the Internet.

GfK attributes much of the growth to mobile connectivity. According to the survey, mobile Internet access in Russia more than doubled during the year. By the end of 2015, 37.5% of users 16 and older went online by way of their phone and 19.5% from tablets. In 2014, the same research found that 17.6% of users were connecting on mobile phones and 8.4% by tablets, displaying a major climb from 2014 to the end of 2015.  Access to wifi and mobile application packages from the major telecom operators contributed to the mobile rise in Russia.

Today in Russia there are approximately 50 million users accessing the Internet from mobile devices, which is 42% of the adult population in Russia.  The older population drove a strong portion of the Internet growth because 97% of younger users were already online.  The younger users (16-29) drove more of the mobile activity.  70% of this age group goes online through their phones and and 35% on tablets.

Russians in bigger cities and primarily Moscow are more practiced Internet users. The Internet penetration in Moscow exceeds the country average and has a significantly higher mobile and tablet uses than other areas.  Russians from places with smaller populations are less practiced Internet users but the regions are slowly catching up with larger cities thanks in large part to mobile accessibility.  Often the lower costs of mobile connectivity encourage Internet use.

Total Russian-speaking audience nears 110 million users, taking into account an approximate 25 million Russian-speaking users in the former Soviet republics, Western Europe, Israel and North America, according to an EWDN estimate.

Internet penetration in Russia (16 y.o. and older), 2008-2015

Internet penetration Russia 2008-15_by GfK

Source: GfK

Mobile Internet penetration (16 y.o. and older), 2013-2015

Mobile Internet penetration Russia 2013-15_by GfK

Source: GfK

Types of Internet use by age in 2015

Type of Internet use by age_by GfK

Source: GfK

Internet penetration by city size in 2015

Internet penetration by city size_by GfK

Source: GfK

Over the next few weeks, Russian Search Marketing will be publishing a demographic blog series that covers the Russian Internet audience in greater detail. The series is intended to help advertisers gain a better understanding of the Russian audience to improve their targeting and marketing.  

Topics: Analysis, Data & Reports, Internet
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