Belarusan internet audience prefers Russian websites

Under limited money inflow from the sponsors it is rather hard for Belarusan websites to compete with the well-known Russian Internet resources.

This opinion shared in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service the leader of the project Gemius Belarus Mikhail Darashevich.

According to the research conducted by Gemius, about 25 per cent of the Belarusan Internet audience doesn’t call on Belarusan sites at all.

Mikhail Darashevich connects this tendency with the position of Belarus that occupies the same cyberspace that Russia does. “Popular Russian sites are better known, as they are popularized through traditional channels, such as TV, magazines and so on”, - noted the interlocutor. According to him, it is TV that plays the key role in Internet resources promotion. Belarusan segment of the Internet, as opposed to the Russian, doesn’t get that much attention from the TV men.

It results in poorer situation for our Internet sites, admitted Mikhail Darashevich: “On the one hand, their development requires money from the sponsors who, on the other hand, are not that willing to spend money on quite unknown Belarusan resources”.

More attention to the regions!                                                                        

The expert stated that the stand of regional sites who aim to step up to the level of national resources is rather weak. “Minsk citizens make up only 28 per cent from the number of all Internet users of our country. And for many Internet sites Minsk citizens make up 40-50 per cent of the responsive audience”, - he told.

In the result, while in Minsk people have heard about at least some of the Belarusan resources, Russian sites have stronger stand in big regional and industrial cities, stated Mikhail Darashevich. “On the other hand, - he continued, - when people in Minsk use Google, Facebook and CloudSound, there is no place for Belarusan resources either”.

The solution of this situation can be found in the development of local resources that answer the demands of the region. And certain work in this direction is already going on, notes the expert. Thus, the leader of Belarusan segment - TUT.by - is regularly holding conferences in the local towns. “I find this policy quite reasonable”, - said the representative of Gemius Belarus.

At the same time, it will be more difficult to survive for the resources from small towns: “If we talk about the town with a population of several thousand people, then the potential number of visitors can be easily located within one group at the popular social media”.

There are free places but there is no money

It is not the most active users of the Internet that make up good potential for the local sites’ development, believes Mikhail Darashevich. “We should understand that considerable part of Internet users is not online all the time, - reminded the expert. – Internet is to a large extent a means of communication and entertainment. There are groups of people who are using Internet more during the evening and holidays, and we need to reach out to these people”.

The expert is sure that there are always some opportunities for the local resources. “We can always try finding something new. I believe that there are enough free places in Belarusan Internet. What is not enough is money”, - highlighted Mikhail Darashevich.