Potential offline advertisers on the Internet have little understanding of the opportunities the new ad medium could give them, according to research conducted by the Rakurs PR group, commissioned by Internet ad agencies Promo.ru and Dot.

Researchers discovered that almost none of the interviewed marketing managers from several main sectors of the economy could accurately estimate the present audience of the Russian Internet. And as well as being ignorant of the Net's advertising potential, few knew the critical mass of customers their companies would need to launch their own profitable Internet operations.

Timofey Bokariov, director of Promo.ru, said that the respondents tended to overestimate the number of Runet users but underestimated the overall potential of the medium. "They think Runet's audience is bigger than it actually is, but they underrate the Internet in terms of the possibilities it opens for them," he said.