WebProNews

We know that these 2007 figures are coming a little late, but they're nonetheless impressive: online advertising in Russia roughly doubled from its 2006 standing, reaching $369 million.

MindShare Interaction, which reported that number, also predicted that continued growth will cause the online Russian ad market to reach about $685 million this year.  Again, this is pretty notable.

What's especially interesting, though, is the list of companies driving this increase.  Ford and General Motors ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of online advertising budgets.  Lower among the top ten were Honda, Nokia, Nissan, and Unilever.

It seems that Russia is growing into more and more of an international marketplace; as things go down the tubes in the U.S., this movement is likely to continue.  Take reports of Russia's growing online population as another reason for the trend, if you like.

In any event, if you'd like a breakdown of the 2007 data, Kommerstant states, "Contextual advertising (commercial links generated by a search engine) exceeded media ads (banners, pop-up windows and so on) $210 million to $159 million."