WebProNews

Russia Says "Nyet" To Idea Of Advertising Recession

The poor old Dow went down almost 225 points today, and we expect that some tears are being shed within certain sectors of the American economy.  A new report indicates that Russian advertisers are operating on the opposite end of the spectrum, however, with big year-over-year growth taking place.

In Russia, Google's New Service Grows Fast

Russian contextual ad network Begun, purchased by Google from Rambler Media, saw a quick uptick in its business through the start of 2008.

Google Bids And Wins Russia's Begun

Context ads firm ZAO Begun joined Google after the search advertising company purchased it from parent firm Rambler Media for $140 million.

Russian Blogger Convicted Of Inciting Hatred

A Russian blogger who referred to local police as "scum" in a post received a suspended jail sentence on Monday for extremism, leading other bloggers to express concern over online free speech.Savva Terentiev, a 28-year-old musician from Syktyvkar, 940 miles north of Moscow, wrote a post that suggested the police should be dealt with by burning officers two times a day in a town square.

Previet, Russia! Google Says To $1B Market

The vast expanses of Russia may be as potentially rich in online ad revenue as they are in oil and minerals, and Google hopes to be the next firm to mine that resource.

Google Predicts Impressive Online Ad Growth In Russia

Thanks to matters of both proximity and size, discussions concerning overseas search tend to focus on the UK and China.  Russia may soon enter more conversations, though, as at least one expert feels its online ad market is ready to explode.

Russian President Wants Cyrillic Internet Domain

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia needs to be assigned an Internet domain name in the Cyrillic script in an effort to promote Russian as an international language.The Kremlin is worried that Russian, once the main language in the Soviet Union is being used less because of local languages and the influence of English.Medvedev said that 300 million people worldwide used Russian media and that a Cyrillic domain name would play an important role in raising the importance of Russian as a language.

AOL Beats Google In Reach And Time Spent In Russia

The average Russian Internet user went online 13 days in February, spent an average of 82 minutes per day online, and viewed 2,322 pages of content during the month according to comScore World Metrix.Russian language search engine Yandex reached 62 percent of the Russian online audience, making it the leading Web property in February, followed by Mail.Ru sites (51% reach), Rambler Media (49 percent reach), AOL (42 percent reach) and Google Sites (41% reach).

Putin Successor Pledges Fair Position On Internet Rules

Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said his country should take a balanced approach when it comes to regulating the Internet.Critics charge that Russian authorities are trying to impose stricter regulations of the Internet, a popular place for political debate within the country, where the mainstream media kowtows to the Kremlin.Speaking at a forum about the Internet Medvedev acknowledged what he called "the delicate question of the relationship between freedom of speech and responsibility," on the Web.

Russia's Medvedev Seems Okay With Online Freedoms

Say what you want about censorship in Russia; the man who will likely become the country's next president publicly recognized that, at least in theory, the Internet has made the spread of information much freer.