In this week’s international news roundup from the world of digital marketing: analysis of two significant Yandex studies (Mass media and Urban search); Google takes Adobe Flash warning in search results global; 1688.com opens up to more foreign brands; and email marketing on mobile is growing significantly in India.
Yandex blog analyses Russian mass-media – key points translated
Yandex’s company blog recently published a stat-filled post on Russian mass-media – what outlets are doing, and how their audiences are interacting. Russian-speaking team-member Frank Fanteev has sifted through the data, and brought us some fantastic key points:
– According to Yandex.news, every day Russian mass media publish around 47,000 messages (one and a half times more than three years ago)
– Media sphere growth is due to regional and specialised editions. The number of central editions and their activity in the last three years hasn’t changed significantly
– One quarter of Russians visit online news at least once a month
– Only four percent of Russian users (15% of all online news readers) read more than 30 news pages monthly
– Almost half of news readers only use one source, and about a quarter read news from two to three web-sites
– Half of users who read daily newspapers are over 45
– For urban and entertainment publications such as “The Village” and “Afisha” a large proportion of readers visit through links from social media: 17% of all views, 59% of which are from Facebook
More from Russia – Yandex search behavior, capitals vs. regions
Meanwhile over at Russiansearchtips.com, we have a translated comparison of search activity in the major urban centres of Moscow and St. Petersburg, compared to cities and towns with more than 1 million, fewer than 1 million, and fewer than 100,000 people. This one has plenty of graphs and nuanced facts, including:
– The smaller the Russian city, the longer the average search query
– Generally, smaller cities search for entertainment, larger cities search for services and products
– Young users generally form a larger portion of the internet userbase in small cities
– Small cities account for 25% of the Russian population, 30% of Russian Internet users, but only 6-7% of searches in Yandex
Mobile Flash warning goes worldwide
Back in June, Google.com began warning mobile users of their Search Engine Results Pages, when sites are built in Flash. This feature will now be rolled out worldwide, with Spanish, Japanese and German examples already spotted in the wild. Google is already said to factor the quality of the mobile experience into its algorithm – Flash support was never officially added to iOS-based devices and support on Android ceased in August 2012. However, as the presence of flash on a site doesn’t necessarily mean that a site won’t function, the warning is more useful than an outright de-listing of the site.
South Korean brands come to China’s 1688.com
1688.com, the largest of Alibaba Group’s B2B suppliers is in the process of opening up to businesses outside of China. After accepting suppliers from Taiwan back in August, ChinaInternetWatch reports that 24 South Korean brands will follow, with a mini-site specifically for Korean products up by the end of the year. The new additions are food and drink focussed – Woongjin Foods, HITE-Jinro and Daesang Corp among the Korean brands now available – future expansion will focus on Southeast Asia, but further international expansion is speculated beyond this. 1688.com is an important supplier for many sellers on Taobao, Alibaba’s eBay equivalent.
Mobile email marketing growth in India reminds us established methods can still grow
Marketers are often lead by the growth of emerging tactics, making it easy to forget that tried and tested marketing practices remain important. As Emarketer.com points out, Email marketing is one such stream that is “too-tried and true to be exciting [or] for marketers to give up on”. The reason for this introspection? Research indicates that 89 million people in India will use mobile email this year, up 20 million since last year – and 200 million will be doing this come 2018. A timely reminder that new markets and new devices mean new audiences for old methods.
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Image credits
“Metro, Moscow Set 2013” photo by Ana Paula Hirama
“Internet Email” photo by Matt Wilson