Key representatives from Russia's VKontakte met with key tech companies and start ups in Beijing on 18 November 2014.
VKontakte's Pavel Safroshkin and Business Consultant in China Marx Chzhan met with company directors and founders, including YeahMobi's Peter Zou at Guobin Hotel. The representatives from both sides signed contracts aimed at bolstering ties between the two countries' technology industries and promoting mutual growth.
The visit comes immediately after APEC and Russia's president Vladimir Putin's visit, and brings exciting prospects for the future of tech companies and the mobile marketing industries of both countries. YeahMobi signed deals with the representatives to boost advertising channels across the Russian-speaking world.
VKontakte is Russia's largest social media site and is looking to enter the Chinese market, and many of China's app and games developers are looking to promote their products via its network.
VKontakte works similarly to Facebook and can provide marketing channels and data based on user behavior and habits.
However, VKontakte's presence in the Russian-speaking world far outreaches Facebook or any other social network's in the regions. 70 percent of the St Petersburg based company's users are in Russia, and the rest predominately come from Russian-speaking countries such as Ukraine. It is the 8th most popular social media site in the world with approximately 250 million accounts and receives 4 billion daily page views.
Russia also has a huge gaming market. The number of gamers is expected to reach 50 million this year. Gaming habits are also exciting for developers as 10.9% (5.1 million) are reported to have used all four main gaming platforms: PC, smartphone, tablet and TV.
The value of the market is also promising. Data suggests that 56% of gamers are willing to make payments during gameplay. Russia and China are looking for ways to cooperate and mutually increase their market successes.
Along with game and app promotion, VKontakte is also considering the possibility of future e-commerce ventures. "Closer ties between China and Russia are paving the way for bigger China-to-Russia investment" stated Marx Chzhan. Chinese retailers are interested in exploring the Russian market, and this might become a big possibility.
VKontakte's Marx Chzhan's visit to Beijing this November is expected to ensure the company gets a foot in and can maintain strong business ties and work with Chinese tech companies to build on its European successes.
Chinese digital advertisers are also excited about the potential for new cooperation. China is seeing a boom in its mobile and tablet gaming industry and is keen to find more channels for promoting products abroad. Companies including YeahMobi have recently signed contracts with Russian technology companies in order to do so.
But there are also other huge markets looking to bolster ties with China. Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg recently held a talk at Tsinghua University, impressing the audience with his Chinese; the act suggests the company intends to build a cooperative and mutually appreciative relationship between a tech giant and an important potential business region.
YeahMobi signed deals with VKontakte that will allow it to act as a bridge between Chinese developers and Russian-speaking markets. Under the agreements, YeahMobi will be able to act as the main conduit for Chinese advertisers to promote games and apps via the Russian-based social media site.
It is also rumored that there are further deals in the pipeline that may allow YeahMobi to achieve even more exclusivity over Sino-Russian ad traffic.
Whatever the future holds, these tech deals between Russian and Chinese companies suggest that the both countries are placing a huge amount of importance on developing the technology and its influence in the ever changing marketing industry.
