10:38, 03 January 2026

Online Advertising Labeling in Russia Moves Into Automatic Mode

In 2025, the advertising market gradually moved away from manual labeling. Companies automated token issuance and data reporting to remove routine work from daily operations.

Mandatory labeling applies across the entire online advertising sector. Data on ad placements are transmitted to the Unified Register of Internet Advertising (ERIR) via advertising data operators.

Formally, the rules are the same for everyone, but in practice the most labor-intensive stage has been collecting statistics. While a creative remains in rotation, data must be gathered and sent on a regular basis. With a large volume of materials, this turns into a constant workload for people.

“The biggest headache turned out to be statistics. Collecting and submitting it to advertising data operators can take dozens of hours at scale, and reporting effectively becomes endless as long as a creative stays in rotation,” said Kristina Markina, head of the SmartErid project.

Removing Manual Work

Large advertisers faced the same issue. In 2022, one FMCG brand was tasked with labeling ads simultaneously across 13 websites. Doing this manually would have required a dedicated team. The request was pragmatic: eliminate manual work and the risk of errors. That led to the creation of the SmartErid service, which automates ERID token issuance and the transfer of statistics to advertising data operators.

The mechanics are straightforward. A client connects the service via specifications and an API, while the website’s technical team handles integration. After that, creatives are published as usual. Tokens are assigned automatically, and statistics collection begins immediately. During the reporting period, data are sent to the advertising data operator without files, spreadsheets, or manual uploads.

“Our goal was to make sure users don’t have to think about deadlines, reconciliations, or manual reporting at all. Labeling should be built into the process and run in the background,” Markina explained.

An Easily Measurable Effect

For businesses, the impact is easy to measure. The number of manual operations declines, along with the risk of missing reporting deadlines. Teams stop constantly worrying about reconciliations and cutoffs. Campaigns launch faster, and labeling ceases to be a separate problem, becoming a background process instead.

According to Markina, automation is reshaping the role of labeling in the market.

“Today, ERIR data are becoming a source of objective analytics. They already make it possible to assess advertiser activity and identify broader market trends,” she said.

The trend from last year is set to continue this year, changing the day-to-day work of developers and advertisers. It may not become simpler, but people will be able to focus on creative tasks, while routine work is handled by software and neural networks.

Digital economy