Yandex is essentially the Google of Russia, though they also have millions of users in other countries around the world. Any marketers looking to either do business in Russia, or capitalize on a more niche audience that uses this search engine, will be happy to hear about their recent announcement. The search engine is creating a publishing platform that will permit anyone to submit their content directly to them.
Think of this as a service similar to Google Newsstand.
The service is being called Zen, and has been around since 2015. Prior to this new update, however, their AI systems would scan for content and serve it to users based on their interests. The new system will allow users to directly submit articles and other content to the service directly, which should improve the odds of having content displayed to users. This, of course, will drive a significant amount of traffic.
According to the Zen site, publishers of content will be able to make their own channels and publish a wide range of content. This includes written content, videos, advertisements, and more.
In addition to Zen, they are also launching a new content format that they are calling ‘Narratives.’ Narratives will allow users to ‘flip through’ a series of screens to create a multimedia experience. This system has already tested by major advertisers like Nike, Esquire, Vogue, and more with good results.
Both of these systems are currently rolling out to users in Russia, and will then be pushed to other countries over time.
