ALE "Central Asian Advertising Association" (CAAA) has summarised the results of its assessment of the Kazakhstan advertising market for 2023. The CAAA expert commission calculated the total advertising volume across various categories: TV, internet, outdoor advertising, radio and print. The total amounted to approximately 113.4 billion tenge.
Chairman of the CAAA expert council Ilmurad Jumayev noted that in 2023, the figures for almost all media segments grew significantly, with the exception of print.
"The Kazakhstan advertising market in 2023 demonstrated impressive growth of 33% and more than surpassed the psychologically important milestone of 100 billion tenge", Mr Jumayev stated.
How exactly Ilmurad Jumayev interprets the "psychologically important milestone" remains open to speculation. It likely refers to the fact that such significant sums were not invested in advertising before. And since they have been invested, it is necessary to show some kind of development in this sector, and not just to assert primacy among Central Asian countries.
True, despite the billions invested, domestic advertising companies still lag significantly behind foreign ones in service quality. And even among the few Kazakh industry leaders, there is its own elite, which has or had connections with the family of ex-president and Almaty akim Yerbolat Dosayev.
For example, the wife of the Almaty akim, Gulnar Dosayeva, owned 15% of shares in the large JSC "RTS Deko", specialising in outdoor advertising, until 2023. In 2007, the company became part of the global JCDecaux holding company, based in France.
LLP "TV Media Advertising Agency", which primarily handles television advertising, was owned until 2016 by Dariga Nazarbayeva and LLC "Andrade Holding B.V." with jurisdiction in the Netherlands. "TV Media Advertising Agency" also has 4 subsidiary companies: LLP "TV Media Digital Sail", ALE "National Media Association", LLP "TV Media Digital" and ALE "Central Asian Advertising Association".
As is well known, competition promotes development. In our case, development, or rather promotion, is facilitated by completely different factors.
The lack of competition breeds passivity, which in turn leads to an outflow of promising talent. Moreover, there are also very few industry professionals in the country, just as there are few platforms for training young specialists. Hence the lagbehind global trends.
But we have surpassed the "psychologically important milestone" of 100 billion tenge.
Incidentally, how is the cost of advertising formed? The final cost primarily depends on the advertiser's solvency and the level of competition. If questions arise regarding the latter indicator, the opposite is true for solvency. Ultimately, only the cost of advertising for a specific buyer matters.
The editorial board of FBRK has compiled a list of the largest advertising contracts for 2022-2024, conducted through the electronic procurement portal of JSC "NWF "Samruk-Kazyna".
Topping our list is the Retail Business Division – branch of JSC "Kazakhtelecom". In December 2024, the branch concluded a contract with LLP "Top Media Group" for the provision of marketing campaign services in various media segments. The total contract value amounted to over 537 million tenge.
In December 2022, JSC "Kazakhtelecom" and a consortium comprising LLP "Media Resource" and LLP "Owl Media" concluded a contract for the provision of online advertising placement services. The contract amount was over 279 million tenge.
The top three most expensive advertising contracts are rounded out by a contract between JSC "Kcell" and a consortium that included LLP "Tandem Media" and LLP "Owl Media". Initially, approximately 706 million tenge was allocated for the provision of online advertising placement services. The tender was conducted on a descending basis, and the final contract amount was over 249 million tenge.
In December 2022, LLP "Digital Economy Development Centre" put up 3 lots for tender with a total value of over 49 million tenge. Two contracts – for online advertising placement and conducting marketing campaigns – went to SP "ASM Company". Obligations under the contract for the provision of services for the preparation, production and release of video materials/clips were taken on by SP "AV Group Production".
In December 2023, the Corporate Business Division – branch of JSC "Kazakhtelecom" concluded 4 contracts for the provision of outdoor advertising placement services with LLP "MYD Construction". The total value of the contracts was over 22 million tenge.
The above-mentioned companies belong to the quasi-public sector, meaning their capital is partially formed from the state budget. Hence, questions related to the expenses of such companies arise quite reasonably. This includes spending on self-promotion.
Recall that we previously wrote that CAAA sent an open appeal to the President of Kazakhstan asking to ensure the equal participation of experts in the discussion of legislative initiatives amid debates about the ban on displaying betting agreements in the media, for example, on the results of sports competitions, and the potential refusal to advertise over-the-counter medications.
Censorship restrictions always cause heated debate. Advertising, as the authors of the appeal note, largely shapes consumer behaviour. In this case, advertising restrictions are used to prevent the spread of harmful ideas, as a kind of counteraction to the moral deformation of society. In other words, a ban on advertising bookmakers or alcohol is introduced not to oppress representatives of the advertising sphere, but to filter the content consumed.
On the other hand, abuse of such a powerful tool, extending beyond the advertising industry, can hinder the full development of society. After all, censorship does not solve problems, but only partially allows one to refrain from displaying, for example, those same bookmakers. Here it is important to determine which restrictions are reasonable and justified, and which are excessive.