In 2016, 695m Chinese used their mobile phones to surf the Internet, accounting for 95.1% of the country’s overall netizens. Meanwhile, 469m people used their smartphones to make payments. This was a 31.2% increase compared to 2015.
This is especially true with the younger audience and people living in smaller cities have skipped desktop entirely and have gone straight to using mobile devices like smartphones. China is the world’s biggest market for smartphones and mobile devices.
With the fast-growing number of smartphone users, mobile advertising is already outranking desktop advertising, with users spending more than 1 hour to 3 hours each day just surfing and accessing social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo.
Some key insights to the growth of mobile advertising in China:
The mobile advertising expenditure is rising. China’s mobile advertising revenue in 2016 began to outrank desktop advertising revenue for the first time, at approximately $23bn to $21bn. The mobile/desktop split is predicted to be $35/$20bn in 2017 and $71/$17bn by 2020.
Search advertising takes the lead. China’s digital advertising revenue market will be nearly $44bn in 2017. Online search represents the biggest segment, which represents more than $30bn. Search advertising remains substantially larger than other segments such as video, banner ads, and the classifieds. Moreover, strong growth is expected in the digital advertising sphere, especially in mobile advertising.
Mobile payment soars in China. Chinese consumers have embraced mobile payment services as a normal way of life. 68% of China’s mobilephone users used their handsets to make payments in 2016. The Alibaba Group reported that 120.7bn RMB (USD 17.8bn) of their Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) was paid via Alipay on Single’s Day, China’s largest online shopping festival, on November 11, 2016.
Brands earn sound reputation and success via mobile strategy. Brands like Uniqlo, Durex, Coca-Cola, Airbnb set up their own mobilemarketing platforms in China to keep engaging their consumers with interactive activities.
To leverage a mobile first strategy companies need to do the following:
Mobile Website: Create a mobile friendly website and ensure it is hosted within China or Hong Kong for faster access. Ensure that your content does not get blocked by the Great Fire Wall of China.
SEO: Optimise websites for Chinese search engines such as Baidu, China’s largest search engine, to increase brand visibility.
Social Media: Strongly recommend having official accounts in WeChat and Weibo to have a 1-on-1 connection with customers and followers.
Mobile e-Payment: Setup mobile payment systems to collect revenue faster.
By being mobile-first and knowing the trends in Chinese digital marketing Australian companies can leverage their growth and connect to more than 1 billion Chinese.
Data Source: China Internet Network Information Center, GroupM and Statista
Ophenia Liang is the Co-founder & Director of Digital Crew. She has versatile marketing skills from her academic and practical experience across the APAC region. She is an experienced practitioner in Chinese marketing, from strategic planning to execution and evaluation
