SearchEngines.ru reports that Yandex has just signed a deal with Bing (Microsoft) to add them to their contexual network. That means Yandex Direct adverts will now be shown on the Bing network in Russia.

Microsoft has not done so well in Russia to date with their MSN brand but Bing has been quietly picking up market share over here. They now hold 1% and are the 5th most popular engine in Runet.

While the proportion of Bing in Russia is not so high, we are very happy that one of the world’s largest companies expressed a desire to monetize in RuNet with the contextual technology of Yandex, stated the Yandex company blog.

This is an important deal but Yandex will be hurting from the loss of their contract with Mail.ru this week to Google. Mail.ru is the 3rd largest engine in Runet with 10%, so this represents a significant amount of advertising real-estate.

However, as my friend Yakov Sadchikov (CEO Quintura) does well to remind us:

Since the Russian contextual advertising market is vauled at $400 million per year, Yandex powering search ads on Bing will translate in several million in additional annual revenues for both Yandex and Microsoft.

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