Fraud's Share in Russian Mobile Advertising Reaches Nearly 50%

At the same time, according to Whiteleads data, the share of video creative among Russia's top 5 mobile agencies is about 24%, with the rest mostly static. The company itself has this figure at 98%. "The gap is huge, and it directly affects the cost of a user," Zheronkin noted.

Advertisers' main demand today is transparency and efficiency. However, the market understands transparency as two different things: transparency of results and transparency of method. "It's the opacity of results that the market has already been burned by," the head of Whiteleads emphasized.

Why the "360" model no longer works

According to the expert's observations, no team manages to maintain a high bar in all areas of mobile marketing at once — from creative and buying to ASO and influencer marketing. "The 360 approach works worst of all today," he said.

A broad media plan and service pool lead to a loss of depth and create an illusion of control, Zheronkin believes. It makes sense for businesses to assemble a stack of the best specialists in each category while developing their own expertise.

Within buying itself, on the contrary, the number of variables should be reduced. "Every tool must prove its contribution to the result," he summarized.

What Whiteleads is betting on

Starting in 2026, the company positions itself as a "system of managed and scalable growth for mobile products." The model is built on four elements:

• analytics and strategy with a search for the point of maximum demand;
• communication through UGC creatives;
• an acquisition infrastructure — premium In-App networks, social media, and search;
• scaling with cost control and data reconciliation with MMP and CRM.

Whiteleads operates through its own closed accounts and is paid on a CPA (Cost per Action) basis. "We are accountable not for access, but for results," Zheronkin emphasized.

Recently, the agency has attracted over 3 million users per year for a number of clients. Whiteleads' portfolio includes the market's biggest players: products of Yandex, Sber, and Wildberries.

How the market will change by 2030

In the next 2–3 years, AI will have the biggest impact on mobile marketing, Zheronkin predicts. A joint study by Whiteleads and Beeline showed that users are already ready for AI content in advertising, as long as it remains sincere and alive.

According to him, AI makes UGC content production cheaper but does not devalue it. "The difficulty lies in what idea you produce and how you manage communication," the expert explained.

An additional factor remains the possible return of international players like TikTok. If that happens, some Russian agencies that have worked in a "primitive media field" will not survive the competition, he believes.

Whiteleads' strategic goal is to become one of the leaders in performance budget volume in Russia and to change the very model of working with agencies. "Trust in the agency business has dropped significantly in recent years. Our goal is to bring it back," Rodion Zheronkin concluded.