Yandex launches personal ad targeting in messengers

What Yandex says

Director of Product Development at Yandex Advertising Network Oleg Ivanov commented on the launch as follows:

"Businesses are incorporating messenger promotion into their strategy: Direct advertisers named Telegram (67%) and MAX (56%) as priority channels through the end of 2026. Yandex Advertising Network is open to platforms ready to monetize their audience — and we have already been working with MAX channels since April this year. The new format is the next move in reinforcing it: and now, when an ad is targeted not at a channel's audience but at a specific user, it starts working as a performance tool."

How much has the market grown?

Today, businesses launch advertising campaigns through Direct on all key content platforms — VK, MAX, Telegram, RuTube, YouTube, and Dzen. Since 2024, investments by Yandex Direct advertisers in promotion on these platforms have grown sevenfold. The company attributes this largely to the constant growth of advertising inventory.

How to promote channels and blogs

The new format is available not only to businesses but also to channel owners and influencers. In Direct, you can attract subscribers to a brand channel or to specific posts and pay only for clicks rather than impressions.

The mechanics look like this:

• when launching a campaign, the advertiser sets a comfortable target cost per subscriber;
• Yandex's system itself optimizes placements for this indicator;
• a channel can be promoted not only in MAX but also in Search and on Yandex Advertising Network platforms;
• it's enough to provide a link to the channel — Direct will select campaign settings and create a landing page for ad clicks free of charge.

Where to launch

Campaigns with the new promotion format are available in Direct in two types: in a Unified Performance Campaign and in Simple Start.