Programmatic in Armenia

The advertising market is constantly changing, and this process has become faster along with the development of the digital environment. If in the past digital advertising was a “dark horse” for brands, today it is difficult to find a brand in Armenia that doesn’t use digital advertising for promotion. So digital advertising is developing gradually to replace traditional ads in the future.

Digital Ad Market

Every year digital ads continue to grow at a rapid pace and investments in online ads have increased. Ad spending in the Digital Advertising market is projected to reach US$31.63 million in 2022. Ad spending will increase step by step to reach $45.46 million by 2026.

Source: Statista

The next form of advertising about which discussions have intensified in recent years is programmatic advertising. While the Armenian advertising market is still small, brands increasingly deliver their messages through programmatic advertising to the target audiences. In 2022, 79% of Digital Advertising revenue will be generated through programmatic.

Source: Statista

Available audience

There were 1.98 million internet users in Armenia in January 2022. That’s equivalent to 66.5% of the total population. With a growth rate of 2,907 (+0.1%) between 2021 and 2022, internet proliferation is expected to increase. The top popular websites among Armenians are Google.com, Youtube.com, Facebook.com, List.am, Ok.ru, Mail.ru, News.am, Wikipedia.org, Google.ru, Yandex.ru, Amazon.com, Google.am.

Mobile phones are the most popular means of accessing the Internet among Armenians. There were 3.90 million cellular mobile connections at the start of 2022. It was equivalent to 131.1% of the total population. Although there is a high level of mobile phone usage for accessing the Internet, more traffic is generated by laptops.

Source: Statista

Given that 69.0% of users have access to social networks, it has clearly become a widespread service. During this time of COVID-19 restrictions, social media has become an important part of daily lives. No wonder the number of social media users is growing rapidly. According to DataReportal, the number of social network users increased by 250 thousand (+13.9%) between 2021 and 2022. Also, when brands are developing ad strategy for social media, they should consider that mobile phones are the most popular device for social media activities among Armenians. For instance, 78.8% of users use only mobile phones to access Facebook.

Source: Statista

Ad Formats

The market’s largest segment is Banner Advertising with a market volume of US$12.41 million in 2022. As users use social media more often as brands increase ad spending on advertising on social networks. Social media Ad Spending is expected to reach $24.16 million by 2026.

Source: Statista

One more developing tendency is to focus on advertising on mobile devices. In the Digital Advertising market, 57% of total ad spending will be generated through mobile in 2026.

E-commerce market in Armenia

The e-commerce market in Armenia continues to grow, supported by the high proliferation of the internet. Revenue in the eCommerce market is projected to reach US$607.40 million in 2022.

Source: Statista

Although the e-commerce market is growing, for many Armenians online shopping can be a new experience due to unfamiliarity, a low income, a poor delivery infrastructure and other reasons. However, online shopping is expanding in Armenia step by step. Users penetration in e-commerce will be 43.6% in 2022 and is expected to reach 47.0% by 2025. So there is a great opportunity to adopt an e-commerce experience for brands to capture their audiences in a young growing market with a low level of competition.

Despite Armenians increasing preference to shop online for a variety of goods, including household appliances, electronics, clothes, cosmetics, groceries, etc., they are price-sensitive. Also users in Armenia choose online stores with a wide range of products because they are eager to be able to choose between several products. Brands should consider that because it can help stand out from competitors.

Market peculiarities

As in the rest of the world, so in Armenia, the trends are moving towards the clearest and most specific targeting with programmatic advertising. All technologies that are being developed in the world today are aimed at ensuring that specific and clear targeting. Despite the fact, advertisers in Armenia have just started to adopt this technology. So there is a long way to go.