The rise of Kazakh-language content consumption: a trend that is changing digital marketing strategy in Kazakhstan

The Kazakh language is undergoing a digital revolution, radically changing the digital marketing landscape in Kazakhstan. While just a few years ago, Kazakh content was a rarity online, in 2025, it is one of the fastest-growing trends determining the success of brands in the Kazakh market. Consumption of content in the Kazakh language is growing rapidly, thanks to a young population, state language policy, and the revolutionary development of the local media ecosystem. For digital marketing companies, this means a radical rethinking of strategy: localization is no longer an optional feature, but a critical element of success. Digital marketing in the Kazakhstan of the future will be unthinkable without the Kazakh language. This study demonstrates how this trend is changing company strategies and why companies that start adapting today will gain a significant competitive advantage.

Why the interest in Kazakh-language content is growing

The demand for Kazakh-language content is growing not by chance, but for objective reasons confirmed by official research. Demographics is the main driver of this trend. Young audiences — people aged 15-34 — constitute the dominant group of internet users. According to research by the Yandex Ads Conference Qazaqstan 2025, young people, who will comprise a third of Kazakhstan's population by 2040, actively consume content via mobile devices and clearly prefer information in their native language. According to DataReportal, there are 19.2 million internet users in Kazakhstan, representing 92.9% of the population, and this number continues to grow.

Social and cultural factors also play a significant role in this process. The Kazakh language is becoming a symbol of national identity and cultural revival. It is no longer associated solely with official communication but is perceived as the natural language of the generation. Young people are more actively using Kazakh on social media, in video blogs, and live streams, creating an entire cultural movement around Kazakh-language content. For the younger generation, this isn't just a choice of language; it's an affirmation of their identity in the digital space.

But the most important aspect is the economic one. Companies are beginning to understand that localized content in Kazakh delivers significantly higher conversion rates. Audiences receiving information in their native language are more trusting of the brand, more likely to make a purchase, and have higher customer retention rates. This isn't just a marketing ploy, but a serious economic pattern. According to research by Yandex Ads, 15% of Kazakhstani internet users prefer to receive information in Kazakh, and, crucially, this audience exhibits significantly higher engagement and interest in brands. Companies that understand this pattern see higher click-through rates, higher average order value, and more frequent repeat purchases.

Language policy and government initiatives: official support for the Kazakh language in the digital sphere

Kazakhstan actively supports the development of the Kazakh language in the digital environment at the state level. This is not simply a recommendation to businesses, but an official policy enshrined in legislation and government programs.

State program on language policy

The state program for the implementation of language policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for the development of the Kazakh language in the digital sphere. The program aims to modernize the Kazakh language using the Latin alphabet and expand its functionality in information technology. This means that the state is not simply touting the importance of Kazakh, but is actively investing in its development in the digital environment.

The government has created an entire ecosystem of specialized digital projects to support the Kazakh language. The Tilalemi.kz portal provides language learning opportunities for everyone. The Atau.kz onomastic database helps users correctly use Kazakh names and titles. The Emle.kz spelling database helps content creators avoid spelling errors. The Termincom.kz terminology database provides correct Kazakh equivalents for technical and scientific terms. All these tools work toward a single goal: strengthening the Kazakh language in the digital space and facilitating the work of content creators.

Legislative requirements for content localization

The government hasn't limited itself to mere investment. The new Law "On Mass Media" in Kazakhstan establishes clear, mandatory requirements for the volume of content in the Kazakh language. Starting in 2025, television and radio programs must account for at least 55% of total airtime in the Kazakh language. By 2027, this figure will increase to 60%. This means the government is actively guiding the media industry toward content localization, creating an ecosystem favorable for Kazakh-language content.

Social demand and generational shift

Generational shift plays a decisive role in this process, and this is particularly noticeable when observing the development of Kazakh content in the digital environment. Young people who grew up in independent Kazakhstan are more active in using the Kazakh language online than previous generations. They create content in Kazakh on TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, and Instagram, often disregarding the popularity of other languages. This creates a virtuous circle: the more high-quality Kazakh-language content appears, the more people consume it, and the more creators begin creating content in the state language. Young people are demonstrating that the Kazakh language can be modern, dynamic, and relevant in the digital age.

Content consumption trends: statistics and facts

The trend toward the Kazakh language is particularly noticeable in search queries, opening up entirely new opportunities for digital marketing companies. According to Yandex Qazaqstan, 27% of all search queries will be in Kazakh in 2025 – a huge increase and a significant boost compared to previous years. This means that the Kazakh language is becoming not just significant, but a critical channel for digital marketing.

It's particularly interesting that SEO competition in Kazakh is minimal compared to the Russian segment. Reaching the top of search results in Kazakh can take just 1-2 months, while in Russian, it typically requires 6-12 months of dedicated work. This creates a huge window of opportunity for companies willing to invest in Kazakh-language content and SEO. In fact, now is the ideal time to capture Kazakh-language search traffic while competition is still relatively low.

Consumption of video content in the Kazakh language

Data from Kazakhstan's national television shows a clear trend: in 2023, Kazakh-language content accounted for 64.7% of viewers, representing a 1.1% increase from 2022. Meanwhile, content in other languages ​​declined to 35.3%. This suggests that this trend is sustainable and not a temporary anomaly caused by a one-off event.

Today, Kazakh-language content is actively developing on social media, and this is clearly evident in the number of high-quality projects appearing on these platforms. Telegram and TikTok lead the rankings for the number of Kazakh-language posts and videos. These platforms have become a true incubator for Kazakh-language content, where young creators experiment with formats and find their audience. The success of individual Kazakh-language bloggers and video bloggers demonstrates that the demand for high-quality Kazakh-language video content is very high.

According to DataReportal, at the beginning of 2025, there were 15.7 million active social media users in Kazakhstan (75.7% of the population), a number that grew by 11.2% over the year. Social media has become the primary channel for distributing Kazakh-language content and a key digital marketing tool for businesses.

The emergence of professional video services offering Kazakh content is further evidence of the importance of the Kazakh language in the digital environment. BIRGE TV, a Kazakh online cinema, has over 180,000 hours of Kazakh-language content, making it one of the largest repositories of Kazakh video material. Video services Alma+ and Qazaqstan also actively dub popular international films into Kazakh and create original content in the state language. This shows that the Kazakh language is becoming a commercially viable option for media platforms, and investments in Kazakh content are paying off.

Mobile applications and localization into Kazakh

Mobile apps are being localized into Kazakh significantly faster than web services because the mobile segment is growing faster. According to a Yandex Ads 2025 study, 42% of internet users in Kazakhstan access the internet exclusively from a smartphone. This means that mobile content localization in Kazakh is not a luxury, but a key strategy for reaching audiences and achieving success in online marketing.

Banks, payment systems, news portals, educational platforms, and marketplaces are actively releasing Kazakh-language versions of their apps, recognizing that the mobile market is the future. New Kazakh-language apps are appearing daily, offering a full range of services in the national language. PayGate and other Kazakhstani fintech services have added Kazakh-language interfaces, significantly improving the user experience and strengthening the trust of Kazakh-speaking audiences in payment services.

Factors driving growth in the Kazakh-language digital market

The average age of Kazakhstan's population is 29.7 years, indicating a young demographic structure. Moreover, over 58.5% of the population lives in cities, which means a high concentration of internet users with a high level of digital literacy. Young people and the urban population are the primary target audience for digital marketing in Kazakhstan, and both factors are driving the growth of Kazakh-language content consumption.

Young urban residents are more active internet users overall, spend more time on social media and video platforms, and are less conservative in their choice of language in the digital environment. They grew up in independent Kazakhstan, where the Kazakh language is more natural in everyday life and perception. For them, Kazakh-language content is not an archaic tradition, but the norm, and sometimes even a more attractive option than content in Russian.

Expansion of internet infrastructure and mobile Internet

The expansion of internet infrastructure in Kazakhstan's regions increases access to Kazakh-language digital content and creates new opportunities for the development of the local digital market. According to research conducted by tribune.kz, internet penetration in Kazakhstan has reached 96%, one of the highest rates in the region. Furthermore, the average mobile internet speed increased by 51.3% from 2024 to 2025, making digital services even more accessible to a wider audience.

This means that even in remote areas of the country, people have stable and fast access to Kazakh-language content. The expansion of mobile internet coverage is a key factor in the popularization of the Kazakh language online. Smartphones have become the primary internet access device for a large portion of the population, and it is easier to localize mobile apps into Kazakh than to completely redesign websites.

Growth in digital literacy and user engagement

Growing digital literacy in Kazakhstan is increasing the demand for high-quality content in the native language. According to Yandex Ads 2025, 92% of users demonstrate high digital literacy skills. This means that audiences have become more demanding and are looking not just for content, but for high-quality information in their native language that solves their real-world problems.

User engagement is also growing across all segments. According to Yandex Ads 2025 research, 80% of users use instant messaging apps daily, 72% access social media, and 78% watch online videos. This means that people are willing to consume content in a variety of formats, and localization into Kazakh helps companies better engage with audiences across all these platforms.

This is a particularly important indicator for e-commerce companies: 61% of users make online purchases at least once a month. According to PwC, the Kazakhstani retail e-commerce market will reach a record 3.439 billion tenge in 2024 (a 42% year-on-year increase), equivalent to approximately USD 7.3 billion. The number of online purchases has grown to 162 million (an 87% year-on-year increase). These figures show that Kazakhstan's e-commerce market is already a significant segment of the economy, and localization into the Kazakh language has a direct impact on sales volumes.

Digital marketing in Kazakh: a new strategy for brand

Digital marketing in Kazakhstan increasingly depends on high-quality content in the Kazakh language. This is no longer just a recommendation or advice, but a necessity for success in the Kazakh market. Companies that create blog posts, articles, videos, and social media content specifically for Kazakh-speaking audiences gain a significant competitive advantage over companies that still rely solely on Russian.

What is digital marketing in modern Kazakhstan without Kazakh-language content? It's an incomplete tool that doesn't utilize its full potential. A company that creates high-quality content in the Kazakh language demonstrates respect for its culture and language. This builds trust at a fundamental level, because people subconsciously trust information delivered in their native language.

Content marketing in the Kazakh language requires not simply translating Russian-language content, but creating new content that meets the specific needs of the Kazakh-speaking audience. What interests Kazakh-speaking youth? What problems do they solve? What values ​​do they share? The answers to these questions should determine a company's content marketing strategy.

A Kazakh-language SEO strategy as a growth tool

Online marketing is all about search engine visibility. SEO optimization of Kazakh-language content is becoming critical for companies seeking success in the Kazakh market. According to Clickshunter.kz, a multilingual strategy creates a competitive advantage: "It's much easier to promote an electronics store solely in Kazakh than to rank high in Russian." This is direct evidence from experts that the Kazakh language offers a real opportunity for rapid growth in search engines.

Local SEO for Kazakh requires an understanding of Kazakh search queries and semantics. Companies must conduct keyword research in Kazakh, understand searcher intent, and create content that answers their questions. Geolocation also plays a crucial role – queries like "beauty salon Almaty," "repair Astana," and similar searches are often performed in Kazakh. Local extensions for Google My Business and Yandex.Business in Kazakh also improve visibility in local searches.

The role of mobile marketing in the digital environment

According to Astana Hub, 42% of users access the internet exclusively via smartphone. This means that mobile optimization of Kazakh-language content is not optional, but a mandatory digital marketing strategy. Companies must ensure that their Kazakh-language content displays well on smartphones, loads quickly, and is easy to use.

Mobile apps allow a brand to be constantly in the user's pocket. A Kazakh-language app interface means that users feel more comfortable with the service and are more likely to use it regularly. This is especially important for fintech apps, where users need to feel completely confident and understood when making financial transactions.

Programmatic advertising and content personalization

According to Byyd.me, in the first half of 2025, Kazakhstan's overall advertising market grew by 17%, reaching 27 billion tenge. Digital confirms its status as the fastest-growing segment of the overall advertising market. Online advertising generated nearly 14 billion tenge (a 29% increase compared to 2024). The reasons for this growth are clear: automation, personalization, and high measurability make digital marketing extremely attractive for brands, allowing them to precisely control their spending and return on investment.

Digital advertising allows brands to accurately target Kazakh-speaking audiences and deliver relevant messages. The system can personalize messages for each user based on their behavior, interests, and location. Companies can optimize their advertising budgets in real time, disabling underperforming campaigns and scaling up successful ones. Obtaining detailed performance metrics allows companies to continuously improve their strategy and achieve better results.

How businesses can adapt to the growth of the Kazakh-speaking audience

Localization as a strategic priority for companies

Localization is more than just a quick translation of text. Full localization includes adapting all aspects of the user interface for the Kazakh audience, culturally relevant translation of content, adapting payment methods and currency, and optimizing the user experience specifically for Kazakh-speaking users. Companies should focus not on translating their Russian website into Kazakh, but on creating a fully-fledged experience of interacting with the brand.

Companies must provide a bilingual or even multilingual interface, allowing users to easily switch between languages ​​at any time. Translation quality is crucial – using machine translation without human editing can lead to misinterpretation of content and loss of customers. Kazakh audiences will notice incorrect grammar or unnatural phrases and may lose trust in the company.

Creating Kazakh-language content that meets audience needs

Companies need to understand that content marketing in Kazakh is more than simply translating what's already written in Russian. Kazakh-speaking audiences have their own needs, interests, and ways of consuming information. Companies should create blog posts and articles in Kazakh that are optimized for search engines and answer real questions from Kazakh-speaking users. Video content in Kazakh should be created with consideration for Kazakh culture and meanings. Social posts should use a tone and style that are natural for the Kazakh-speaking audience on a particular social network.

Email marketing in Kazakh to a target audience has significantly higher open and click-through rates than Russian content sent to Kazakh-speaking subscribers. Webinars and educational content in Kazakh demonstrate that the company is an expert in its field and is willing to share knowledge with audiences in their native language.

High-quality Kazakh-language customer support

When a customer has a problem, they want it resolved quickly and with minimal hassle. If a company can't provide support in Kazakh, the customer will that the company does not respect their language and culture, and will be more likely to switch to a competitor. Customer support should be available in Kazakh across all possible channels, including chats, live chat support, email responses, push notifications, and social media replies.

Multilingual chatbots with Kazakh support improve the user experience and reduce the workload of the support team by resolving simple questions automatically. This also increases customer trust and speeds up resolution, as customers can receive answers in Kazakh 24/7. Investing in high-quality Kazakh-language support is an investment in customer loyalty and brand reputation.

The economic impact of localization into Kazakh

Kazakh localization opens access to millions of new users who might otherwise be overlooked. 15% of Kazakhstan's internet users (approximately 2.9 million people) prefer Kazakh. However, given that the majority of Kazakhstan's population is bilingual and can switch between languages ​​depending on context, the actual potential audience that will prefer Kazakh-language content is significantly larger.

According to PwC, the share of marketplaces in Kazakhstan's e-commerce reached 91% of total online sales. Local marketplaces accounted for 65% of total sales (a 1.4-fold increase year-on-year). This means that Kazakh-language content optimization on marketplaces has a significant impact on sales volumes and company revenue.

Increasing conversion and customer retention through the Kazakh language

Communicating in a customer's native language increases customer satisfaction on a fundamental psychological level. People feel that a company respects their culture and language, which strengthens their long-term brand loyalty. This is especially important in Kazakhstan, where national identity and language are particularly important for a large portion of the population.

According to Yandex Ads, Kazakh-speaking audiences are more engaged and interested in brands than Russian-speaking audiences. This translates into higher CTR (click-through rate), higher average order value, and higher repeat purchase rates. Customers who can resolve their issues in their native language are more likely to remain loyal to the company, recommend it to friends and family, and become repeat customers.

Search engine ranking advantage and lower CAC

As noted earlier, SEO competition in Kazakh is significantly lower than in Russian. A company that successfully optimizes its Kazakh-language content can achieve top search rankings in 1-2 months instead of 6-12 months. This translates into faster organic traffic growth with a lower customer acquisition cost (CAC). Organic traffic is less expensive than paid advertising and often has higher conversion rates because the user is actively seeking a solution to their problem.

Competitive advantage in the market in 2025

Companies that are the first to adapt their content and services to the Kazakh language will gain a significant advantage in the market. They have the opportunity to capture a large share of Kazakh-language traffic and become a well-known brand in the eyes of the Kazakh-speaking audience before competitors emerge. In less saturated niches, the Kazakh language offers a real opportunity to capture a larger market share without fierce competition.

Digital marketing in the Kazakh language is not yet fully developed. This means that companies investing in this area now will gain a competitive advantage that will be very difficult for competitors to overcome later. When all major companies begin localizing content, the pioneers will already have an established Kazakh-language audience, high conversion rates, and established relationships of trust with customers.

According to Yandex Ads Conference, "Kazakh-language digital is a gaping hole and huge potential. While traditional media has a high share of Kazakh-language content, the digital segment lacks quality content. Meanwhile, audience demand is clearly high." This means there's a huge opportunity for companies willing to meet this demand.

Forecast for 2026–2027: the future of the Kazakh language in the digital world

The Kazakh language will be actively integrated into all layers of the digital market in the next two years. From social media to e-commerce platforms, Kazakh will become increasingly common and natural. Platforms will improve support for Kazakh in search, recommendation systems, and other key functions, as it will be a highly sought-after feature for a growing audience.

The volume of Kazakh-language content will grow exponentially thanks to the development of AI tools for translation and content generation. This will make it easier for companies to create Kazakh-language content and expand their presence in the Kazakh language. However, high-quality, human-created content will remain more valuable and deliver better results in terms of conversion and loyalty.

Government regulation and localization standards

The government will continue to tighten requirements for the localization of services and content. The Law on Mass Media already requires a minimum of 55% Kazakh-language content on TV and radio, increasing to 60% in 2027. Similar requirements are expected to gradually expand to the digital segment, creating a mandatory requirement for companies to localize their services.

Accessibility and localization standards will evolve, creating clear frameworks and requirements for companies. This could be both an opportunity for companies that are already prepared and a challenge for those that have delayed localization. Overall, this is a favorable development for companies that have already invested in localization, as it raises the bar for all competitors.

Acceleration of localization in the fintech and e-commerce segments

Banks, payment services, and marketplaces will increasingly implement Kazakh-language interfaces and communications, as this directly impacts sales volumes and user satisfaction. Fintech companies will use the Kazakh language as a key means of attracting and retaining customers, as financial transactions require complete understanding and trust.

According to research, 61% of Kazakhstanis make online purchases at least once a month, and this figure will grow year after year as internet access improves and digital literacy increases. Marketplaces that provide a comprehensive Kazakh-language experience with Kazakh-language product descriptions, Kazakh-language customer support, and Kazakh-language payments will win the competition for Kazakh-speaking audiences.

Practical steps for companies: starting localization into Kazakh

Companies that have decided to adapt to the growing Kazakh-language audience trend should begin with specific, practical steps. The first step is to conduct an audit of existing content and services to understand what percentage of your content is in Kazakh, what percentage of your users speak Kazakh, and what your Kazakh SEO ranking is in search engines. It's also helpful to look at which competitors have already localized into Kazakh and what results they are achieving.

Based on this audit, the company should develop a comprehensive localization strategy, identifying which sections of the website or app are a priority for localization. The company should allocate a realistic budget for creating Kazakh-language content and hire experienced Kazakh translators and content creators, and avoid relying solely on machine translation, as this often leads to lost customers.

It's best to implement localization in stages rather than trying to localize everything at once. Start by localizing the homepage and key sections of the website, then move on to creating Kazakh-language content for your primary target audience. Optimize your content for Kazakh search engines, set up customer support in Kazakh, and then expand to social media and video platforms. Establish metrics and KPIs to measure localization success to understand whether your strategy is working.

Conclusions

The growth of Kazakh-language content consumption and localization into the official language opens up entirely new opportunities for businesses in Kazakhstan to engage with customers. There are countless ways to organize a digital marketing strategy in Kazakh, from creating high-quality content to search engine optimization. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Initially, minimal investment might be sufficient: localizing the homepage, creating a few Kazakh-language articles, and setting up Kazakh-language support. However, as your Kazakh-language audience grows, it's best to incorporate more advanced tools: full website localization, comprehensive content marketing in Kazakh, programmatic advertising, and Kazakh SEO specialists.

It's important to keep localization quality and relevance in mind. Choose trusted translators and content creators, monitor trends in the Kazakh-language segment, and continually analyze the results of your campaigns. This will help avoid content perception issues and provide Kazakh-speaking users with additional quality assurance. Ultimately, the goal is to make interaction with the brand as convenient and understandable as possible for the Kazakh-speaking audience. User experience directly impacts conversion: the less effort it takes to make a purchase or find information, the more likely the transaction is to be successful. By providing their customers with a complete experience in the Kazakh language, companies build customer loyalty and drive sales while remaining competitive in the digital age.

PayGate assists companies with all aspects of accepting online payments, including localizing payment interfaces and communications in the Kazakh language. If you want to adapt your digital marketing strategy and expand access to your payment services for Kazakh-speaking audiences, contact us today. Together, we will help you reach the vast and growing Kazakh-speaking audience ready to make purchases and interact with brands in their native language.

Therefore, localization into the Kazakh language is a reality of the current and future digital market in Kazakhstan, and capitalizing on this trend effectively enables business operations that meet the expectations of today's Kazakh consumers. The key is to choose the appropriate localization method or combination, taking into account the specifics of your business. Then, the Kazakh language will become not just a marketing tool but a strategic asset, opening up new horizons for growth. Companies embarking on localization today gain a huge competitive advantage and position themselves as leaders in adapting to the changing Kazakh market.