Advertising market in Armenia
The advertising market in Armenia has undergone drastic changes over the past four years, overcoming a period of significant upheaval. By the end of 2024, advertising and marketing professionals began to notice signs of stabilization.
The established rules of the game began to change during the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, advertising budgets have been reduced. Traditional advertising platforms were hit the hardest. Global advertising trends reached Armenia, and the lion’s share of advertising funds shifted to online platforms.
As a result, advertising-based organizations were forced to optimize. Billboards on the streets became empty, television companies reduced staff and survived by airing reruns, and only the editors who updated news feeds remained on websites.
Although these upheavals were painful, experts consider them justified. They say it is normal that advertisers no longer wanted to pay for a product that could not be measured and did not deliver the desired results.
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Transformation of advertising in local market
Mane Avetisyan is an advertising placement specialist. She worked for many years in various advertising companies and has now created her own company, focusing on digital advertising.
“All of my current clients previously placed ads on television, radio, and websites. However, our reports and product sales in real life did not confirm the effectiveness of this approach,” says Mane.
According to her, the time had come to test new platforms. In this regard, the first experiments were conducted on social media. Initially, everyone began ordering ads on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms.
“Then, more substantial offers from advertising companies appeared, such as native advertising, which seamlessly integrates into the media content, and action-oriented ads that encourage activity after viewing. Advertisers quickly achieved significant success in sales and brand recognition,” she says.
According to Mane, in Armenia, any advertiser — whether with a large or small advertising budget — prefers online platforms, and this trend will continue in the coming years:
“However, advertising agencies faced serious financial problems, as they lost large amounts in commissions. But many of them managed to adapt and now specialize in the digital advertising market. Many have also started working in the international market, catering to foreign companies.
Television companies, which were the main players in the advertising market several years ago, began attracting ads on their own even before the coronavirus pandemic. They stopped using the services of advertising agencies and created their own sales houses.”
Analysis by types of advertising
The executive director of the advertising agency “Media Systems,” Yana Yanikyan, views the processes occurring in the market from a global perspective. She states that the advertising sector has reached a certain phase of development worldwide, which is leading to painful changes in the media sphere, often impossible to resist.
According to her, the pace of digital advertising development has remained steady in recent years in Armenia, which is quite justified:
“Demand for digital advertising is constantly growing, driven by numerous factors. It is attractive to advertisers because it is effective and measurable. Unlike other types of advertising, internet advertising allows the client to reach all target audiences, as people’s lives have now moved into the digital world.”
In this regard, Yana notes that there is not much activity on traditional advertising platforms. To attract advertisers to these platforms, more effort is required:
“We can’t say that advertising has fully moved into the digital world. To some extent, traditional media platforms today can retain their advertisers. But for this, they have to offer modern solutions and interesting advertising approaches.”
According to her, Armenia’s advertising field has already reached a certain level of stability. Regarding outdoor advertising, recent legislative changes have been implemented. Based on these changes, billboards distorting the architectural appearance have been dismantled throughout the capital, and standards concerning content have been developed.
“Television advertising volumes have also decreased. This is noticeable in the quality and quantity of content. Television is a field that requires significant costs, and products are expensive. In recent years, repeats have become more common, and there is a lack of fresh content. As a result, TV companies’ advertising revenues have decreased, while production costs remain the same or even have increased,” explains Yana.
She states that the same situation exists on news websites. During the coronavirus pandemic, many of them managed to stay afloat for several months due to self-financing and other sources. However, after that, analytical and original articles became fewer. Websites simply started updating news feeds, which does not require large resources.
Regarding the choice of platform for advertising placement, the expert points out that not all advertisers want to promote their products only on the internet:
“The choice depends on the field in which the client company operates, the competitive environment, and the marketing tasks that need to be solved.”
However, she acknowledges that more often, clients move most of their advertising to the internet, but the reverse process almost never happens:
“If we try to describe this situation in numbers, we can say that 50-70% of the advertising budget is spent on digital platforms, and the rest goes to traditional ones.”
From a budget perspective, according to the agency director, there is a misconception that digital advertising is cheaper:
“If the client’s goal is to convey information about themselves through social media to a small number of contacts, say, 1,000 people, a small budget may suffice. If the task is more complex, such as reaching a large target audience and prompting specific actions, a more substantial budget is required.”
According to Yana Yanikyan, players in the advertising field are working to develop the sector in all directions and on all platforms. However, they cannot ignore modern trends and advertisers’ requirements.
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