How to Choose VK Ads Formats for Every Brand Goal, from Website Traffic to Awareness

In January 2026, VK Ads became the only advertising platform in the VK ecosystem. VK is the company behind VKontakte, Russia's largest social network, and several other major digital services. The legacy VKontakte ad account and myTarget (VK's older advertising system) no longer accept campaigns. Many familiar formats disappeared with them, including the manually configured "universal post." This article reviews the current lineup. It groups them by brand goal rather than following the list in the VK Help Center. These goals include website traffic, app installs, catalog sales, leads, community growth, and brand awareness. A separate section explains what a foreign brand needs to launch. You will find the technical requirements for creatives in the appendix at the end.

VK Ads in 2026

One Platform Instead of Three

The transition took three years and ended in winter 2026. From November 17, 2025, advertisers could no longer create new campaigns in the legacy VKontakte ad account. From early 2026, balance top-ups stopped as well. On January 28, 2026, it shut down completely, and VK Ads absorbed all of its functions. The old interface remained open only for viewing statistics on completed campaigns. At the same time, VK announced that it would merge the VKontakte ad account, myTarget, and VK Ads into one system.

For advertisers, this change means two things. First, one set of creative requirements now covers all VK properties. These include VKontakte, Odnoklassniki (OK, a social network popular with older audiences), Dzen (a blogging and content platform), VK Video, VK Clips (short vertical videos), and partner sites. Second, guides from 2023 and 2024, including the previous version of this article, are now out of date. Limits on video duration and text length, as well as the list of placements, have all changed.

Where Your Ads Appear

VK Ads places ads across the entire ecosystem. This includes the VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks, other VK projects, and the VK Ad Network. Inside them, ads appear in the feed, the sidebar, and video (in-stream). They also run in apps before loading or between content screens (interstitial), in apps that reward users for watching (rewarded), in clips, in stories, and in native blocks. Stories are a recent addition, since VK Ads opened this placement in June 2025. VK keeps the full list of placements on a separate Help Center page.

Audience Reach and Ad Revenue

Sheer size explains why VK Ads deserves serious attention. VK's Q2 2026 report cites Mediascope, Russia's official media measurement company. According to these figures, VKontakte averaged 94.3 million users a month in the country, reaching 89% of the online population. Every day, 65.2 million people opened it. VK Video's monthly audience expanded by 11% to 83.1 million. VK Clips gathered 3.4 billion views on a typical day. This last figure matters for format choice, because vertical video in clips and stories is no longer an experiment.

VK's ad business grows along with its user base. In the first half of 2026, online advertising revenue rose by 8% to 48.6 billion rubles (about $575 million). Income from in-stream video ads jumped by 44% to 4.9 billion rubles (≈$58 million). The number of campaigns in VK Ads grew by 45% year on year, while the conversions the platform delivered to businesses climbed by 82%. VK attributes the gap between these two figures to its optimization algorithms. This is also one reason why VK steers its clients away from manual format management toward automation.

Why This Matters for Foreign Advertisers

For brands from abroad, VK Ads became the main channel for paid social in Russia after Western platforms left the market. The statistics confirm this. In the first half of 2026, Chinese companies invested 2.7 times more in VK Ads than a year earlier, and the total exceeded 2.5 billion rubles (about $30 million). The count of advertisers from China went up by 62%. RMAA Agency serves this demand directly. In recent years, we launched the Korean MMORPGs RAVEN2 and RF Online Next by Netmarble on VK Ads. We also ran lead generation for the Dubai real estate agency D&B Properties and built communities from scratch for the K-beauty brand Farmstay. Our service page explains how we set up VKontakte advertising for international brands, while this article focuses on formats and goals.

How Format Selection Works

The main difference between VK Ads and the old account is that advertisers rarely choose a format manually. In most cases, the system makes this choice automatically. You add text and upload images or videos, and the platform adapts the ad to each placement. That is why campaign setup starts with the question "What are we promoting?" rather than "Which banner are we making?"

The interface splits all campaigns into two types. The Target Actions tab handles performance objectives such as clicks, leads, installs, purchases, and subscriptions. The Awareness and Reach tab covers display advertising. There,impressions are the only optimization goal available, and you pay by CPM. The two tabs have different creative limits, which the appendix summarizes.

Table 1 matches every promotion object listed in the Help Center with the ad types VK generates for it.

Table 1. Promotion Objects in VK Ads and the Formats the Platform Builds for Them

Matching Formats to Your Brand's Goals

Below are six objectives that bring foreign brands to VK Ads, along with the ad types that serve each one. You will find all technical parameters in the appendix at the end of the article.

Website Traffic and Sales

The core format for this goal is Universal Ads. A single ad runs wherever VK has inventory. It appears in the VKontakte and OK feeds and sidebars, inside videos, in clips and stories, in apps, and on partner sites in the ad network. The system assembles a version for each placement from the images, videos, and texts you upload. It then moves the budget toward the combinations that bring more conversions.

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What to expect. The campaign optimizes for an action on your site, such as a visit, a registration, or an order. For this, you need an installed pixel and a Russian-language landing page. Without it, the format loses most of its value, because users click a localized ad and land on English content. If there is no Russian version yet, start with the "leads without a website" or "community" goals described below.

App Installs

For games and services from Korea and China, this is the main promotion object in Russia. The campaign optimizes for installs or in-app events. VK Ads integrates with AppsFlyer, Adjust, MyTracker, and other attribution services, and it supports apps from RuStore (Russia's domestic app store). The formats are the same Universal Ads with an app icon, plus a carousel that shows several screenshots.

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What to expect. The RAVEN2 campaign for Netmarble ran for three weeks and targeted members of rival game communities. It delivered 108,613 clicks to install pages from 3.68 million impressions. The CTR reached 2.95%, against a forecast of 0.44%. Weekly, we moved the budget toward the best creative groups, and CTR grew from 1.88% in the first phase to 3.48% in the third. Streamer integrations on Twitch and YouTube ran in parallel, and VK Ads served as the second touchpoint after them. A year later, we repeated this model for the RF Online Next launch. We added a VK Ads campaign to Yandex (Russia's leading search engine) and creator activity, and it brought 52,642 clicks in the week after release. Our game promotion page covers the method in more detail.

Catalog Sales

If you have a product feed, VK Ads builds ads automatically. The platform pulls cards with a photo, name, and price from the catalog, and retargeting reaches people who viewed specific items. VK accepts catalogs not only for goods but also for real estate, cars, services, flights, and hotels. This makes the format useful for developers, dealers, and tour operators, not just online stores. A separate option, Products in Video Ads, overlays a carousel of items on top of a video. It runs inside videos and in rewarded apps.

What to expect. This format suits brands that already have a sales infrastructure in Russia. That means a local website or a marketplace store, delivery, and payment processing. Without this setup, a catalog launch is premature.

Leads Without a Website

Lead forms, surveys, and business cards open directly inside VKontakte, so users submit their contact details without exiting the social network. The form fills in profile data automatically. As a result, the conversion rate is higher than on an external page, and the brand does not need a localized website to start. The format fits services, real estate, education, and B2B, where the buyer decides after a conversation with a manager.

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What to expect. For the Dubai real estate brokerage D&B Properties, we tested several options within one campaign. These included a quiz with a brochure as a reward, a contact form in the community, a newsletter subscription, and a website visit. Over three months, the ads generated 2.91 million impressions and 7,050 clicks. We brought the CPC down to 50 rubles (≈$0.60), and the brand received 25 qualified leads. A large part of the result came from lead handling rather than the format itself. We made the first call to every applicant ourselves and passed only confirmed prospects to the agents.

Audience and Community Growth

For brands that enter the Russian market without a local website, a VKontakte community becomes the starting asset. Two formats support it. The Universal Post boosts a regular or hidden entry on behalf of the group, and it looks like a normal publication in the feed. Community promotion, on the other hand, optimizes for subscriptions and messages. In 2026, VK added a separate object called Channels. It offers one unified scenario for all three platforms (VKontakte, MAX, and Dzen) and targets follows, clicks, full reads, and video views.

What to expect. The Korean cosmetics brand Farmstay sells in Russia only through marketplaces and retail chains. Its VKontakte community became the brand's main owned channel. VK Ads campaigns brought in new subscribers, and we boosted selected posts inside it to widen their audience. Over eight months, Farmstay's accounts on VKontakte, Telegram, and Instagram gained 13,418 followers. Paid promotion delivered 14.8 million impressions, and sponsored VKontakte content generated 21,849 actions. For D&B Properties, we published client videos with Russian subtitles every three to four days. In one month, the group added more than 1,000 members with 1.34 million impressions, including organic reach. In both cases, ads worked only together with regular content, since advertising an empty community makes no sense. Our page on social media marketing in Russia describes how we organize these projects.

Brand Awareness

Display formats live in the Awareness and Reach tab, and you pay for impressions. The lineup includes banner ads, video ads, and boosts for existing posts, videos, and clips. Within video advertising, in-stream stands apart. These are 6 to 30 second spots inside VK Video, and you pay either per impression or per completed view. With CPV, you pay nothing for skips.

What to expect. This is the fastest-growing area of the platform. VK's revenue from in-stream video ads climbed by 44% in the first half of 2026, and VK Clips gather 3.4 billion views a day. We usually add VKontakte media placements as a second stage, once conversion campaigns already deliver results. The RF Online Next launch for Netmarble followed this pattern. The campaign started on Yandex and with streamers. When the client saw conversions grow and decided to expand, we added VK Ads to the mix with separate performance and display placements. In the week after release, VK Ads brought 52,642 clicks. Brand campaigns on VKontakte also work for B2B. For VARTA batteries, we reached 100,500 business customers, 2.3 times more than planned, and 337,000 consumers. Learn more about video advertising in Russia.

What a Foreign Brand Needs to Launch

The formats are the same for everyone, but a foreign company enters the platform differently from a Russian one. Below are five questions to settle before your first ad goes live.

Account and Payment

VK Ads accepts payment from a legal entity or sole proprietor registered in Russia. The payer must match the account holder. VK does have a separate public offer for non-residents. In practice, however, a direct contract with an overseas business requires special approval and currency control procedures. It also involves handling closing paperwork via the national electronic document exchange system. That is why most foreign brands launch VK Ads through an agency, which runs campaigns in its own account. The brand receives an agreement, reports, and invoices in a familiar format. Our page on digital marketing in Russia explains how this works with us.

Add taxes to your budget in advance. Since January 1, 2026, Russia's standard VAT rate has been 22%, and VK Ads includes it in every balance top-up. Since April 1, 2025, Federal Law No. 479-FZ has also imposed a 3% levy on revenue from distributing online advertising. Roskomnadzor (the country's communications regulator) calculates this charge based on records in the Unified Register of Internet Advertising (ERIR). As a result, a VK Ads media plan must cover both surcharges.

Ad Labeling

Every ad in Russia must carry a label and go into the ERIR register through an advertising data operator (ORD). VK Ads builds this process into the platform. VK's in-house service, ORD VK, assigns IDs to ads and submits reports automatically. The advertiser only needs to enter correct information about itself and the agreement. Foreign companies face one nuance here. The registry lists the end client's details, including the country of incorporation and company number, and they must match the contract. Our separate article on ad labeling in Russia explains how the system works and what penalties apply to unlabeled ads.

Localization and Age Ratings

Ads, landing pages, and forms must be in Russian. Otherwise, the campaign loses most of its effectiveness before it even reaches moderation. Certain categories also require an age rating on creatives. Under Federal Law No. 436-FZ, games, films, books, and other information products carry an age category mark, and the ad must display it too. On the RF Online Next project for Netmarble, we guided the client through both requirements. We also supplied a back-translation into English for every ad text, so the team in Korea could approve each wording. This approval process takes time, so build it into your launch schedule.

Moderation and Documents

VK Ads reviews every ad, and some categories require documents to pass moderation. These include licenses, certificates of conformity, registration permits, and letters of guarantee. The requirement applies to cosmetics, dietary supplements, medicine, finance, education, real estate, gambling, and a few other niches. For distance selling, you must fill in the "About the company" field with the seller's details. VK accepts a foreign manufacturer's paperwork in translation, and it is better to collect them before launch. A rejection over a missing certificate delays the start by several days.

Another set of refusals has nothing to do with documents. Text covers more than 20% of the image, the ad contains emojis, the video shows drawn buttons and arrows, or the footage is overcompressed. The appendix lists all these restrictions. For a brand, the key lesson is to adapt creatives for Russia in advance rather than copy them unchanged from other markets.

Data for Optimization

Automatic optimization in VK Ads works only with data. A website needs a pixel with configured events, an app requires a tracker, and a catalog depends on a regularly updated feed. Without them, the campaign optimizes for clicks rather than leads and purchases, and the brand pays for traffic that does not convert. Installing these tracking tools takes a few hours. However, it requires access to the site or app from the client's side, so settle this question during preparation.

Table 2. What to Prepare Before Launching VK Ads: Brand and Agency Responsibilities

Appendix: Technical Requirements for Creatives

This section is for the people who prepare launch materials, such as designers, production teams, and local marketers. All limits come from the VK Ads Help Center, which has separate pages for display formats. VK updates these requirements several times a year, so check them against the ad account before you submit creatives.

Table 3. VK Ads Formats and Requirements for Images, Video, and Text

Teams most often make three errors when they move creatives between campaign types. Performance campaigns cap vertical 9:16 video at 30 seconds, while display video ads accept up to 180. Headlines in conversion campaigns can run to 40 characters, but media ads for websites and communities allow only 25. Finally, safe zones differ by campaign type.

Table 4. Safe Zones for Creatives in VK Ads

Keep logos, text, faces, and products out of safe zones, because interface elements, buttons, and captions cover these areas.

Five Moderation Rules Behind Most Rejected Creatives

1. Text on an image may cover no more than 20% of its area.
2. Ad copy may not contain emojis.
3. Videos may not include drawn buttons, checkmarks, arrows, or other elements that imitate an interface.
4. VK rejects low-quality videos with artifacts, distorted proportions, or heavy compression. You cannot edit a video or reframe it in the ad account, so submit it in final form.
5. Upload all images and videos for one ad concept into a single campaign. The Help Center advises against splitting them across campaigns, since the ads would then compete with each other.