How we detect ads

We automatically check every post of a MAX channel for signs of advertising. This mark is the basis for the ad share, the ad load in the quality index and every number on the “Ad statistics” tab: how much advertising a channel runs, when it goes out, how many views an ad post gets compared with a regular one and who buys ads.

The full methodology is on the page “How advertising statistics are calculated”. This article explains the same in plain words and describes in detail what each block of the tab means.

Where you see it on the site

• The “Ad statistics” tab on a channel page is the main place. It is in the “More” menu next to the channel tabs; the direct address is https://max.datool.ru/channels/<channel address>/#ads. To see what the tab looks like with everything open, visit the demo channel (its data is made up).
• Post page — an ad post is labelled “Ad post” under the text, and the channel card on the right has an “Ads” row with the channel's ad share.
• Channel dashboard — the “Ad share” tile in the “Key numbers” block and the ad blocks further down.
• Quality index — the “Ad load” part (see “Quality index”).
• Citation index — mentions in ad posts are not included (see “Citation index”).

Which posts we count as ads

We regularly read all public MAX channels. Every post is checked automatically when we save it, and again if the owner edits it. A post is an ad if it has at least one of three signs:

What erid is. It is a unique ad code issued by an advertising data operator (ORD in Russian) when the ad is registered. By law it must be shown in online advertising — so an erid in a post almost certainly means an ad.

We check the post text and all its links: visible ones, links hidden under a word (in MAX any word can be made a link), links in buttons under the post and links with previews. A repost is checked the same way as an original post: a repost of an ad is an ad, a repost of news is not.

What we do not count as ads

• News with a link to the source — an external link without a call to buy or follow it.
• “Subscribe to our channel” with a link to another MAX channel — a call to action without an external link.
• The word “реклама” in the middle of a sentence (“the advertising market grew”) — only a line that starts with “Реклама” counts as a label.

The detector is deliberately cautious: it is better to miss an ad than to call ordinary news an ad. So the real ad share of a channel is usually a little higher than ours.

Only the automatic check sets the ad mark — nobody sets or removes it by hand. If you see a mistake, send us a link to the post: we will fix the rule, and the mark will change on all similar posts.

Period and general rules of the tab

• The period is chosen at the top of the tab and is the same for all blocks: 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, year, all time or custom dates. The window is never longer than a year.
• Days and hours are in Moscow time.
• Views and reactions are taken only from posts older than two days: fresh posts are still gaining views and would drag the averages down.
• ER (engagement rate) — reactions per 100 views. It is calculated only for posts whose reactions we have already read.
• The previous period of the same length — the same number of days right before the selected window. “All time” has no previous period.
• If a block needs data that the period does not have (for example, no similar channels or advertisers), the block says so — we do not fill in zeros.

Which periods are available to whom:

Blocks of the tab

The blocks are listed in the order they appear on the page. The names are as on the site; above each block title there is a small section label (“Summary”, “Schedule”, “Advertisers” and so on).

Key ad numbers

Seven tiles. Each shows a number for the period, a comparison and a mini chart.

How to read them:

• Badge colour (the change label): growing ads are red (a minus for subscribers), growing ad reach and ad ER are green.
• Percentage points. If the ad share was 10% and became 12%, that is a rise of 2 pp (not 20%).
• Mini charts go by day; if the period is longer than three months — by week, longer than six months — by month. On the daily chart, the share, “every Nth” and “ads per week” are calculated over the last 7 days for each day — the daily share jumps around too much.

Below the tiles is the ad load, with the same thresholds as in the quality index:

How much advertising the channel runs

The same share in words (“every Nth post is an ad”) and a strip of the latest 100 posts of the period in order: an orange square is an ad. Click a square to open the post. Next to it — the share and its change, ads per week, ad reach compared with a regular post and the number of advertisers (each number is shown only if its tile in “Key ad numbers” is open to you).

Ads by day of the week

The bar length is all posts of that weekday in the period, the orange part is ads; on the right — the ad share of that day. It helps you see on which days the channel sells ads and when your ad would sit among fewer others.

Every post is a dot

A column is a day, a bead is a post, ads are orange and at the bottom. If the period is longer than 62 days, a column is a week; longer than six months — a month. If a column has more than 24 posts, one bead stands for several posts — this is noted under the chart.

Place among similar channels by ad share

The channel and up to ten of the most similar ones (the same selection as on the “Similar channels” tab: category, region, mutual mentions, size) are lined up by ad share for the period — from lowest to highest. First place goes to the one with the least advertising. All channels' shares are calculated the same way — from our daily statistics. Below is the median of similar channels: half of them have more ads, half have fewer. The dashed lines on the scale are the 10% and 25% thresholds.

When ads go out

Four 6-hour windows: night (0–6), morning (6–12), afternoon (12–18), evening (18–24). For each — how many ads went out in the window, what share of all ads that is and the average views of an ad post in the window. Below is the rhythm: on how many days there were ads, the most ads in one day, the longest pause without ads and the weekday with the most ads.

How many views a post gets

Posts are sorted into view “buckets” of equal width (for example, 2,000 each). Upwards — the share of ad posts in each bucket out of all ad posts, downwards — the share of regular posts out of all regular posts. This way groups of different sizes are compared fairly. The last bucket is “and more”: one viral post does not stretch the scale.

Example: if the upper (ad) part of the chart sits further left than the lower part, ads in this channel usually get fewer views than regular posts.

What format ads use

The shares of formats (photo, video, text, link, repost) among ad posts and regular posts, and the average views of ads in each format. If a format has fewer than three posts, the number is only a rough guide (a pale bar).

For large channels this block and the previous one are calculated from a sample of up to 1,000 posts (up to 400 ads), spread evenly over time. The sample is the same every time you open the tab — the numbers do not “jump”.

How ads are marked

Which sign we used to recognise each ad post:

• Marked — the post has an erid;
• Partly marked — there is a “Реклама” label, but no erid in the text (it may be given somewhere else);
• Looks like an unmarked ad — only an external link with a call to action, with no label and no erid.

We count the latest 500 ad posts of the period. These are signs in the post text, not a check of legal compliance: we do not know the contracts and do not see ORD data.

Whom the channel advertises

A table of advertisers:

• websites — from the links in ad posts (without “www.”; links to MAX are not counted);
• MAX channels — channels the channel mentioned in ads, by link or repost; we do not show private channels.

Each row has the type, the category (for MAX channels), the number of posts, the “repeat” mark (the advertiser appears in two or more ad posts), the average views and ER per ad post of this advertiser and the date of the latest post. The first 5 advertisers are shown; the “Load more” button shows the next 5.

What is advertised

The categories of advertiser channels — by the number of ad posts mentioning them. Websites have no category, so they are not included in the bar. Small categories are grouped into “Other”.

Where the channel was advertised

Ad posts in other public channels that link to this channel or repost it — that is, ads bought by the channel itself.

• “Gained” — the channel's subscribers at the end of the placement day minus at the end of the previous day. This is approximate: other ads could have been running the same day, and some subscribers come on their own.
• “Per 1,000 views” — how many subscribers came for every thousand views of the ad post. The colour shows whether it is better or worse than the average of all placements in the period: green — not worse than average, yellow — below, red — well below.

Approximately how much an ad post costs

This is a datool.ru estimate, not the owner's price list. MAX channel owners do not publish prices and sell ads by agreement. So we estimate the price like this: we take the typical number of views of the channel's ad post and multiply it by the average market price per thousand ad views (known as CPM).

How it is calculated:

1. We take the median views of an ad post of the channel for the period — posts older than two days. The median is the middle value: half of the ad posts have more views, half have fewer; one viral post does not move it. If there are fewer than three ad posts, we take the median views of all posts.
2. We multiply it by the average market price per thousand views — low, middle and high — and get a range: the left edge, the middle (the large number) and the right edge. Prices are rounded to 100 ₽.

The price per thousand views is set by the datool.ru team based on the messenger advertising market, and while the market is young it is the same for all MAX channels. So the estimate does not take into account:

• the channel's category (ads in business and finance channels are usually more expensive, in entertainment ones — cheaper);
• the format (a pinned post, a video post, a series of posts) and the placement period (for a day or permanently);
• package discounts, urgency, mutual exchange and other arrangements;
• audience quality and how well the ad pays off for a specific advertiser.

The real price may differ from ours several times in either direction. Only the channel owner can tell you the actual price. The estimate is for sketching a budget and comparing channels with each other, not for negotiating.

Ad posts

A table of the most viewed ad posts of the period (posts older than two days): the beginning of the text, the ad sign, date, format, views, ER, reactions and “vs median” — how many times the post's views exceed the channel's median for ads (×2 — twice as many as the channel's typical ad). Click a column header to sort the table by it. The first 5 posts are shown; the “Load more” button under the table shows the next 5 (with a subscription — up to 30 posts).

Conclusions in words

Short sentences about the channel's advertising — not AI, but rules: a sentence template plus numbers from the same tab. For example: “The ad share grew by 2.9 pp”, “An ad post gets 29% fewer views than a regular one”, “More than half of the advertisers order again”. Each sentence has a small chart from the same tab. If there is no data for a conclusion (no previous period, similar channels or advertisers), it is not shown. A sentence never reveals the numbers of a block that is closed to you.

Who sees what

The “Channel owner” column applies only to the page of your own verified channel. A closed block is shown as a blurred example on made-up data with the “Available after signing in” or “Available with a subscription” badge — so you can see what will open after signing in or subscribing. What each subscription includes — see “Plans”.

If a number looks wrong

• A missed ad, or news marked as an ad, is a reason to fix a detector rule: send us a link to the post.
• The numbers on the tab are refreshed: for 7 and 30 days — every 10 minutes, for 90 days — every 30 minutes, for a year and all time — every hour; the ad share of similar channels — every hour.
• MAX views of older posts may still grow: the numbers for the last few days change slightly over time.

See also

• The “Ad statistics” tab — how to use the tab
• Quality index — ad load as part of the channel score
• Citation index — why ads are not included
• Basic metrics — reach, ERR, ER
• Full methodology on the site