Local media and community pages in Kazakhstan: where to advertise in 2026
Translated from Russian.
In short
Choose a platform for the task and the audience, not for how loud the name is. If you need a narrow professional audience, mainstream media are pointless or unjustifiably expensive. If you need the residents of a particular city, a big trendy outlet isn't the best choice either: a city community page will be read by exactly the people you need. City media are in demand among large companies, even though many of them still don't know the words “integration” or “carousel”. When vetting a local platform, look first at reach: high ER is almost never found there.
A map of platforms
We use everything, depending on the task:
- Large media — when you need broad reach across the country or in a big city.
- City media. In 90% of cases they don't know the words “integration” or “carousel”, but it's a really great tool. And one in demand: large companies are happy to work with them, and so are we.
- City community pages on Instagram and Telegram — when you need the residents of a particular city.
- Niche channels — when you need a professional audience.
Sometimes there's simply no suitable platform, and then it's worth creating one. We launched the Telegram channel bailanys precisely because going to mainstream media with a message for a telecom audience was pointless, or at least unjustifiably expensive.
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When a community page beats a big outlet
How can a city community page like “Typical Kostanay” be better than a large outlet? By the fact that people from Kostanay will read it. Obvious, but often forgotten.
If you need the audience of a particular city, there's little point going to a big trendy outlet. You'll pay for reach across the whole country, and only a small part of it will reach the people you need.
What to check before placing
The main thing is reach. You can't count on good ER on local community pages. The exception is platforms full of grim and shocking content, but far from every brand is willing to go there.
So judge not engagement but how many people from your target city will actually see the post, and what that costs per contact. I wrote in detail about vetting Telegram channels in the article on paid placements.
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Case study: the Map of Kazakh Street Food for Kinopoisk
For the premiere of the STREETХАНА series on Kinopoisk, we created an interactive map of street food in eight cities of Kazakhstan, from Aktau to Ust-Kamenogorsk. For each city: its own dish, its story and places to try it.
Since the project was about cities, it had to be promoted in cities. We went with the regional editions of Skhodim. But they don't exist in every city, so where there wasn't one, we worked directly with city community pages — say, a hypothetical “Overheard in Kostanay”. In total, 13 local media outlets.
Results in one week: 800K+ views, 5,000+ content interactions and 2,000+ clicks through to the project.
The takeaway from the case: promotion works better when it talks about what the audience is proud of. And local platforms help bring that conversation to every city.
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Key points
- Choose a platform for the task and audience, not for its fame.
- For a narrow professional audience, mainstream media are often pointless — sometimes it's easier to create your own media.
- City media and community pages are in demand among large companies and work well for the audience of a particular city.
- If you need a city's audience, a big trendy outlet isn't the best choice.
- On local community pages, look at reach: high ER is almost never found there.
Need to get your message to residents of different cities in Kazakhstan? Message me on Telegram at @maximfetisov: we'll pick platforms for your task.
