Brand Media Market in Russia: Definitions, Classification, Characteristics

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Kamilla R. Nigmatullina

Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor at the Chair of Digital Media Communications, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

e-mail: k.nigmatu lina@spbu.ru
Natalia A. Pavlushkina

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Institute Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St. Petersburg, Russia

e-mail: n.pavlushkina@spbu.ru

Section: Theory of Journalism and Media

The research is devoted to the phenomenon of brand media and brand journalism, that is to say, online publications which use professional journalistic standards when creating content in marketing communications. The authors formulate the current definitions and key characteristics of the phenomenon, summarizing the Russian and English-speaking academic experience accumulated so far. For the first time, the article attempts to describe the scale of the market: out of the top 200 companies in the RAEX-600 rating, only 22 have brand media; the total number of publications is 30 because two companies among these 22 have more than three media outlets. The study describes the state of the identified brand media in the first half of 2022 and serves as a starting point for analyzing the further dynamics of the media market segment. In addition to descriptive analysis and formulation of definitions, the authors of the article created two scales for media mapping. The first one highlights the leaders whose content is most useful for a wide audience. The second one presents a range of standards between corporate and journalistic ones, where typical brand media occupy a median position. The results of the market description and definition creation were authorized through expert interviews with brand media executives and sampling participants. Thus, in the public professional and academic discourse, the authors keep track of significant assessments and understandings of the brand media market and general ideas about the object of research. The practical significance of the work lies in specifying the arguments for a business that chooses brand media as a working marketing tool and the arguments for communication agencies that solve similar tasks at the request of businesses.

Keywords: brand media, brand journalism, marketing, media market, professional standards
DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2022.327

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To cite this article: Nigmatullina K.R., Pavlushkina N.A. (2022) Rynok brend-media v Rossii: opredeleniya, klasssifikatsiya, kharakteristiki [Brand Media Market in Russia: Definitions, Classification, Characteristics]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 6: 3–27. DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.6.2022.327