As mobile internet outages spread across Russia, advertisers began turning more frequently to promotional SMS campaigns, carriers told the Russian business daily Kommersant.
MegaFon recorded the sharpest spike in April 2026, when the volume of promotional SMS messages rose 37% year-on-year and advertising budgets grew by an average of 20%. Retail and financial sector companies were the most active buyers of SMS advertising, along with clothing and footwear manufacturers.
MTS also said April saw the strongest growth in SMS advertising activity. The largest number of SMS campaigns that month was recorded in Moscow and the Central region.
Beeline AdTech said demand for SMS campaigns has been rising throughout the second quarter of 2026.
Advertising market participants, however, said they had not noticed any surge in demand for SMS promotion. Some companies cut back on the channel or dropped it entirely because of rising costs. “That’s why businesses use SMS selectively: for urgent trigger messages and short-window promotions,” said Irina Belitsa, a representative of the marketing company Mindbox.
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