Sber Increased Marketing Spend by 33% — to 32.8 Billion Rubles
Sber spent 32.8 billion rubles on advertising and marketing over the nine months of 2026 — 33.3% more year over year. The growth rate of spending slowed from 75% in the first quarter to 19.5% in the third.
Sber Group spent 32.8 billion rubles on advertising and marketing in January–September 2026 — 33.3% more than a year earlier (24.6 billion rubles). The figures come from Sberbank PJSC's interim consolidated IFRS financial statements.
The quarterly dynamics are more modest than the annual ones. In the third quarter, spending reached 14.7 billion rubles, up 19.5% from July–September 2025.
What Is Happening with Growth Rates?
The trend is clear: advertising is getting more expensive for Sber at an increasingly slower pace. In the first half of 2026, costs rose 47.2% year over year — to 18.1 billion rubles from 12.3 billion rubles a year earlier. The quarterly breakdown looks like this:
- first quarter: 5.6 billion rubles, up 75% year over year;
- second quarter: 12.5 billion rubles, up 37.4%;
- third quarter: 14.7 billion rubles, up 19.5%.
The share of advertising and marketing in total staff costs and administrative expenses over the nine months increased from 2.8% to 3.3%. There is growth. But the curve is clearly flattening.
AdIndex has sent an inquiry to Sber's press service.
How Does This Compare to Financial Results?
What does this change for the advertising market? Almost nothing: the bank earns faster than it spends on promotion. Key figures for the group over the nine months of 2026:
- net profit — 1.5 trillion rubles, up 17% year over year; in the third quarter — 510.8 billion rubles versus 448.3 billion rubles a year earlier (+13.9%);
- operating income — 3 trillion rubles (+17.5%); in the third quarter — 1 trillion rubles (+14.8%);
- net interest income — 3.2 trillion rubles (+23%); in the third quarter — 1.1 trillion rubles (+24%);
- fee and commission income — 908.9 billion rubles (+2.6%); in the third quarter, a decline of 0.5%, to 314.1 billion rubles;
- total assets as of September 30, 2026 — 73.5 trillion rubles versus 68.8 trillion rubles at the end of 2025 (+6.9%);
- customer loan portfolio — 52.4 trillion rubles (+9.2% since the beginning of the year).
Sberbank President and Chairman of the Board German Gref commented on September's dynamics: "September was marked by high activity in retail lending. The retail loan portfolio grew 1.9% over the month: the momentum was supported by record disbursements under the family mortgage program ahead of changes to the terms of government programs. The corporate loan portfolio increased by 1.2%. Against the backdrop of improving deposit terms, retail customer funds rose 0.7% in September and reached 34.7 trillion rubles."
How Much Does Sber Spend on Ad Placement?
According to AdIndex, Sber ranks first in the ranking of Russia's largest advertisers. The credit organization's spending on ad placement across the five largest media — the internet, TV, outdoor advertising, radio and print — amounted to 42.5 billion rubles. The year-over-year change is 22.5%. The budget estimates are based on data from the measurement companies Mediascope, Admetrix and Digital Budget.
So the picture is simple. The bank continues to grow its marketing budgets at double-digit rates, but the peak acceleration — 75% in the first quarter — is already behind it. Profit is growing faster than advertising spending. For the media industry, Sber remains an anchor client. For the bank itself, the question is rather how long the economies of scale effect will last.
Source: AdIndex
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