China Marketing Insights Monthly Newsletter [May 2022]
Hello,
Welcome to our May Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Mia C. Chen
CEO & Co-Founder of OctoPlus Media
CHINA REGULATIONS - MAJOR CHINESE PLATFORMS DISPLAY IP LOCATION OF USERS
This is part of our series on the regulatory policies updates, reports and advertising laws – Xiaohongshu Banned 39 Brands, March update, December update, November update, October update, Anti-monopoly crackdown, PIPL, Advertising law, Medical Advertising.
On April 15th, Douyin, Toutiao, Kuaishou, Zhihu, Baijiahao (Baidu content platform) and other platforms announced that they will launch the function of displaying user IP location. Weibo has even upgraded the function of displaying users’ IP location, which was launched in March, including opening the comment area to display the IP location and the launch of the “the first-level page of personal homepage display the IP location” function. Weibo officials stated that the account IP location is subject to the information provided by the operator, and related displays do not support turning on or off manually, aiming to present the truth to users more transparently. However, some media, enterprises, celebrities, etc. that have undergone “real-name authentication at the front end” will not display their location, but users with “real-name authentication at the back end” will still display their location. This is mainly due to the front end real-name authentication is more real than displaying the location.
The online IP location is mainly due to the draft of the “Provisions on the Administration of Internet Account Information Services” that China is revising. One of the regulations is that a location label is required for publishing information, and the second is that there has been a lot of false information circulating on the internet recently, in order to purify the network environment, and at the same time protect the legal rights of users and effectively reduce the content of rumours.
Both Toutiao and Douyin proposed that the purpose of displaying the account IP is to maintain a real and orderly discussion atmosphere, reduce impersonation of hot event parties, and at the same time protect the legal rights of users, and effectively reduce the content of rumours.
Kuaishou stated that it was to prevent some netizens from spam traffic in hot events, spreading false information, and impersonating parties to interfere with normal discussion; Xiaohongshu’s announcement also stated that it was to maintain a real and interactive community atmosphere, prevent the behaviour of impersonating local netizens for hot events to spread rumours.
The IP location of the account is the network location of the user when he last posted or commented in the last month, it is displayed in provinces (direct-administered municipalities, autonomous regions, special administrative regions), overseas display to countries (regions).
Disclosing IP location will not infringe on the privacy right, the IP location of users who only read information without comment will not be displayed. In addition, IP location will not disclose the exact IP address, but only the province where they are located. Therefore, as a whole, this regulation only plays an important role in the clear cyberspace environment.
（Picture source: Sohu)
As soon as the “IP location” function was launched, many verified bloggers authenticity descended into chaos. Some marketing accounts known as local bloggers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are actually posted in Hunan. In addition, there are a large number of internet celebrities hidden in the crowd have also “revealed” that they are not where they claim they are. Publicly revealing IP location measures can effectively manage this chaos and improve the network ecology.
The “Grey” industrial chain is also online
（Picture source: Sohu)
With the launch of the “IP location” function, the business of paid IP agents has quietly risen, forming a “grey” industry chain. According to reports, some e-commerce platforms have quietly appeared with paid IP agency services at affordable prices, the seller claims to be able to change IP addresses and support all platforms, but most of them are only short-acting IPs. At present, the seller that provides the service of changing the IP attribution, the servers are generally located in China. There are fewer merchants providing foreign servers, and the asking price is higher.
Law enforcement has been cracking down on such illegal IP proxy services. Last year, the public security bureau cooperated with the relevant departments to check 82 related service companies and shut down more than 13,000 illegal broadband internet lines and more than 5,000 broadband internet accounts.
The law enforcement takes advantage of the existing “IP proxy” chaos, they have launched a rectification campaign to identify more illegal agents who are submerging, and breaking this black production chain. At the same time, all major e-commerce platforms should strengthen supervision and screening, and strictly prohibit IP agent online stores, in order to cut off any e-commerce sales channels for illegal sellers.
After all, this black industry chain is hidden from the public eye, only a few people with specific purposes will buy it, for example, people with the intention to use dynamic IP proxy services to connect to the internet and invade the local network to steal confidential information. Even though legally, there are currently no relevant penalties for users, the usage of IP proxy services will leads to the risk of leakage of user information such as browsing records, account passwords, etc., and is more likely to be misused by criminals.
The “IP location” displayed by major platforms has obviously caused many bloggers to reveal their secrets, and also made the public worry about privacy leakage, so the business of IP proxy services start to be promoted. However, netizens are not recommended to use the proxy service to avoid any irreparable losses.
To learn more, contact us!
2022 KUAISHOU VS DOUYIN SHORT VIDEO LIVE STREAMING E-COMMERCE INSIGHTS
According to the latest data from QuestMobile, as of February 2022, Douyin and Kuaishou’s live streaming users accounted for 87% vs 86.0% respectively. The proportion of users aged 25-40 is as high as 40.3%, and the proportion of users over 51% is 18.9%. 28.8% of users over the age of 51 spend more than 2,000 yuan online per month, clearly showing that the group’s spending power over 51 is considerable and far exceeds expectations. Thus, Kuaishou and Douyin, which started from short videos, have become the main force platform of live streaming e-commerce.
China’s government has introduced new policies to encourage the development of the live streaming e-commerce industry, by strengthening the industry norms to ensure the healthy development of the live streaming e-commerce industry and focusing on cultivating live streaming talents and encouraging live streaming to penetrate the market of lower-tier cities. Kuaishou and Douyin have an upward trend in the proportion of users, and they are composed of users under the age of 40, while users in cities below the third tier are active, which indicates that the live streaming market penetration in lower-tier cities strategy has paid off.
It is worth noting that users over age 51 have gradually joined the ranks of people watching live streaming. The proportion of their online spending of more than 2,000 yuan is almost similar to the overall population that watches live streaming, which shows that the spending power should not be underestimated. Fashion, price and quality are the core spending concerns of the user groups that watch live streaming.
Kuaishou and Douyin, the differentiated competition form of the two platforms are obvious, and the commodity layout and structures of typical consumer industries are significantly different.
Douyin focuses on high-frequency and low-priced fast-moving consumer goods, mainly in food and beverage categories; while Kuaishou’s core is in the high-unit-price beauty category. In Douyin live streaming, the leading sales of FMCG products are casual snacks, and convenient instant food products, for Kuaishou the strongest sales products are in skin care, while the sales gap of other categories is particularly obvious.
Currently, the live streaming sales of Douyin are driven by mid-tier KOLs with 1 million to 10 million fans, while 70% of the sales on Kuaishou live streaming platform are mainly from KOLs with tens of millions of fans.
According to the live streaming sales in February 2022, there is a new “sales secret passcode” on Douyin KOL’s list – “celebrity” & “couples” are more diversified in categories for live streaming e-commerce. On the contrary, the KOLs on the Kuaishou list are mainly based on the beauty category.
The growing demand for fast-moving consumer goods on the Douyin platform has resulted in intensive KOLs in the food category, which has evolved into fierce competition. The number of KOLs in celebrities, fashion outfits, and longing, is lower than the overall average of the platform, but the ability of live streaming e-commerce is notable. Since the core of Kuaishou’s live streaming sales is skincare products, the sales on the platforms are dominated by fashion, lifestyle and beauty KOLs, but the live streaming e-commerce effect is slightly average. However, the niche category KOLs in Kuaishou and Douyin are in a state of “competition” on both platforms, slightly inferior. Since the core focus of live streaming consumer groups is on fashion, price, and quality, KOLs on various platforms are also competing in these three areas.
Since the challenge of the epidemic, the roles of live-streaming have become richer, and various types of KOLs are competing for the live-streaming market to explore the path of commercialization. Brand self-streaming has become a new infrastructure for consumer companies and has jointly established a brand live streaming matrix with influencers.
With the continuous improvement of the industrial chain and deepening of consumers’ live-streaming shopping habits, the live streaming channels and participants have become more diversified, which will enable the live streaming e-commerce industry to achieve explosive growth.
For full report or wish to learn more, please Contact us!
2022 CHINA MARKETING TRENDS - POPULAR CONSUMER GROUP INSIGHTS REPORT ANALYSIS
Entering the year 2022, many changes have taken place in the China market environment. According to the “2022 Popular Consumer Group Insights” report released by GeTui, through the combination of big data and current China market trends and consumption hotspots, it is found that there are many changes in the China market environment and identifies 6 types of popular groups:
Post-95s
Health Preservation Group
Exquisite Boy
Pet Keeper
Smart Device Enthusiasts
The Hipsters
Post-95s have become the main consumer stream
The new youth of the Z era have become the main consumer stream in China. Most of the post-95s have set up their own families, and they have been promoted to novice parents and began to dominate household consumption. According to the report, the TGI (Target Group Index) preference value of the post-95s for the above apps is greater than 1, which means that the post-95s will pursue cost-effectiveness when shopping. But that doesn’t stop them from paying for their own interest. Consumers born in the 1995s will still buy skins, equipment, etc. in the game.
People have further enhanced health awareness
With the impact of the epidemic on our daily life, people gradually pay more attention to health, and a health preservation consumer group has gradually emerged. With regards to this, the health preservation group is more sensitive to weight management. They are keener to self-cook and buy fresh ingredients online for better health quality. In addition, sleep management is also a focus for them. They will study and understand the knowledge and way of health preservation on the internet, thus recently health care app has been downloaded more by China people. Based on the analysis of the report, the health preservation consumer group, women pay more attention to health, accounting for 83.27%. At the same time, the post-95s generation and parents pay more attention to health preservation.
Men are also promoted to senior skincare and beauty experts
More China men are gradually promoted to senior skincare and beauty experts. They are more particular about the exquisite life from the inside out and gradually began to use facials, taste fine wine, learn horsemanship, and enjoy music. This type of exquisite men understands skincare and loves fashionable clothes and will read through reviews when shopping. They will also big brands through live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and buy new products from overseas, propping up another consumer market.
Pet merchandise hits high record among e-commerce platforms
Based on the report, most of China’s smart device enthusiasts are 25-34 years old post-90s male programmers with high spending power levels. They are online community experts who pursue a smart life that is convenient, comfortable, and safe. In addition, they also love learning, passionate about communicating with online communities, willing to pay for more knowledge points on multiple China knowledge platforms, pay for knowledge.
The “fashionable economy” is booming
In China “hipsters” is also a point that has recently attracted many people’s attention. The spending power of the “hipsters” group is quite strong, and most of them are young college students aged 18-24. Moreover, according to the reports, the proportion of women in the “hipsters” group in China is as high as 56.01%, and women are more fascinated with hipsters’ trends than men. They are keener to socialize with pictures, and they are all senior anime fans, who like cute elements and cute pets. China’s hipster group is the main consumer group in the second-hand market, and they will use second-hand trade apps to exchange or buy hipsters goods with friends, just to collect more toys and complete the “Wishlist”
The main consumer groups in 2022 will come from these 6 types. Except for the novice parents who are born after 1995, most of them are high-spending level groups, who love life, have individual hobbies and are more willing to pay for their hobbies. Marketing seems to be heading for a different trend in 2022!
Contact us to get the full report!
2022 INSIGHTS ON GEN Z MOBILE USER
Active mobile users of Gen Z composed of post-95s and post-00s have exceeded 220 million, accounting for about 22% of all mobile netizens in China. The average internet usage is about 174.8 hours, which exceeds the level of 140.1 hours for the entire network. Additionally, the APP usage time is higher than the average level of the whole network as well.
It is undeniable that from the perspective of market size, Gen Z will be the “new core” of mobile users. However, it is necessary to deeply understand the needs of Gen Z for mobile applications to drive the content and socialization of Gen Z, and the driving force of Gen Z is to continuously bring them freshness and specialize in their hobbies.
The social interest of Gen Z has already shifted to multi-sensory integration such as audio and video, and the explosive metaverse is also reshaping the mobile social field. Gen Z feels the immersive content experience and virtual social functions in the social and entertainment empowered by the Metaverse through the 3D virtual world situation.
In just ten years, China’s mobile social network has grown rapidly and is increasing year by year, it is expected to exceed 1 billion in 2022. Among them, the mobile social platform of Gen Z has attracted the most attention, and the market scale has continued to expand. According to iResearch data, it is expected to continue to grow by 28% in 2021, and the marketing size will reach 83.1 billion.
According to the data, China’s mobile social users tend to skew towards the young generation, and the post-95s and post-00s account for 13.3% and 18.2%, with a total of 31.5%. Gen Z users continue to grow, and the market prospects look promising, spawning more demand and room for growth and opening up more new products for the mobile social field.
According to the survey data, among the 2.52 million apps on the China market, a total of 271,000 apps are social communication apps, and 68.5% of users use social software for “chat needs”, 54.7% for “acquaintance communication”, and 43.8% for “life or opinion sharing”. In addition, 40.9% and 39.4% of users are for “kill time” and “be acquainted with like-minded friends”. It can be seen that chat needs and acquaintance communication are the main forces driving the use of social software. While the room for growth of stranger social interaction should not be underestimated too.
In the Morketing research report, the mobile social behaviour of Gen Z users is being analysed and 6 “keywords” are listed:
Lonely individuals
The Gen Z group who grew up after the millennium pursues “emotional companionship, belonging, respect and self-needs”. Most of Gen Z are a single child that grows up with the penetration of the internet, they tend to yearn to gather together for warmth and online gathering. They are more resistant to complex social relationships and social pressures.
Emotional companionship
With the growth of the internet and single child Gen Z, coupled with less face-to-face offline communication, generally based on loneliness, the need for social interaction is stronger. From passive to active social interaction, they yearn for a long-term relationship centered on “accompanying”, while the integration based on “interest” on the mobile internet is more durable and convenient.
Interests + Circles
In addition to having diverse hobbies, Gen Z is also a group that does not like to be defined by the outside world, however being deeply influenced by the internet, Gen Z will label themselves to expand friend circles and find like-minded people. For example, in the recent popular MBTI test, the Gen Z group use the test results to label themselves on social platforms, they expect to discuss and share with similar groups to achieve the purpose of making friends.
Spiritual satisfaction
“Spiritual emptiness” is mainly a persistent pain point for Gen Z, the Gen Z group desires respect and empathy and needs emotional talk. In order to solve the problem of “emptiness and loneliness”, an anonymous social software function that does not need to reveal the real identity and appearance allows the Gen Z group to hide, and output their real feelings more freely and without worries, thus satisfying the spiritual world.
Deeply interaction
For the evolution of social needs, the Gen Z user group expects to gain a sense of existence, not just a single text demand, but a multi-sensory comprehensive satisfaction that longs for interactivity.
Immersive experience
As the aborigines of the first generation of mobile internet, Gen Z has basically been addicted to the “metaverse” that provides them with unlimited “world” possibilities, and at the same time, it satisfies the sense of achievement and recognition that Gen Z users desire for interactive friendships.
Based on the above, post-95s and post-00s have grown up, regardless of consumer brands or social platforms, has realized that they have become the backbone of consumption. However, the mobile social application still has difficulties to retain and gaining the favour of Gen Z users. If social products want to retain Gen Z users, fun, interactivity and metaverse form will be what companies should think about and measure.
To learn more, contact us!
APP OF THE MONTH – HUAWEI
Huawei mobile phone belongs to Huawei’s consumer business and is one of Huawei’s three core businesses. The mobile phone business was established in 2003, and now it has become a global smartphone manufacturer. It has established research institutes in many places around the world and combines the advantages of different regions and other technological advantages to build global innovation capabilities.
Why choose Huawei Advertising?
- Rich ad inventory
Huawei Advertising has rich advertising resources, including native applications such as Huawei video, music, reading, and browsers with monthly active users of over 100 million, as well as a large number of the high-quality game applications, covering lock screen, open splash, in-feed, rewarded video and other rich advertising formats are available for advertisers to choose from.
- High-quality user base
High-quality global user base with more than 700 million monthly active users, covering more than 220 global markets and more than 83 million advanced users. Huawei gathers high-end and high-quality users in the core 18-44 age group, with high activity, high education and high-income traits.
- Sophisticated user profiles
Utilize big data analysis to conduct detailed multi-dimensional and precise targeting, lock in the target audience, and combine EMUI user scenarios to help achieve high conversions, help to reach target customers, and at the same time improve conversion rates.
Huawei Advertising Model
Huawei advertising has abundant advertising resources, with diversified advertising formats and wide coverage, able to meet different advertising needs. Below we have sorted out some of the more common advertising models, hope it will help advertisers in executing their marketing plans!
1. In-feed Ads
1. In-feed Ads
In-feed ads are natively exposed in media feeds such as browsers, smart assistants, videos, reading, music and topics media streams. The in-feed advertisement can cover multimedia, strong native, and achieve a high conversion effect. The in-feed advertisement includes the playlist details page, film list in-feed, channel page column, etc.; it supports the large picture, text and video format.
Estimated PV: 450 million/day
Buying method: CPM/CPC/oCPC auction delivery
Promotion ability: Web page promotion, application promotion, application download, quick application promotion, promotional activities.
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Picture: 1080*607, 225*150, JPG/JPEG/PNG;
- Video: 640*360, MPF format;
- Material files size: no more than 150KB for large images, no more than 80kb for three/small images, and no more than 10240KB for videos;
- Copywriting: no more than 22 words for large/three pictures/video, and no more than 24 words for small pictures;
- Brand name: no more than 7 words
2. Open Screen Ads
2. Open Screen Ads
Open slash ad will be displayed when the app of Huawei is opened, and it will be displayed in Huawei’s app (Huawei Music, Huawei Video, etc.) in the form of a screen-opening; the display time of the image advertisement is three seconds.
Estimated PV: 48 million/day
Buying method: CPM/CPC/oCPC auction delivery
Promotion ability: Support application download and webpage promotion; webpage pull-up application is only open to whitelisted customers, special application is required.
Remarks: CPT advertisement and contract CPM advertisement are preferentially played for open splash ads, and bidding advertisements are broadcast for the remaining traffic.
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Supported formats: 1080*1620, JPG/JPEG/PNG;
- Material files size: no more than 150KB
3. APP Focus Image Ads
3. APP Focus Image Ads
The APP focus image ad is displayed in the original form on the focus image position of the APP homepage or channel page such as music, video, reading, theme, weather etc.
Estimated PV: 35 million/day
Buying method: CPM/CPC/oCPC auction delivery
Promotion ability: Web page promotion, application promotion, application download, quick application promotion, promotional activities
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Supported formats: 1080*607, JPG/JPEG/PNG;
- Material files size: no more than 150KB
- Remarks: The text should be more than 18 words, and the brand name should be no more than 7 words.
4. Vertical Small Video Ads
4. Vertical Small Video Ads
Vertical small video ads are displayed in media such as videos, reading, smart assistants, and browsers in the form of vertical videos.
Estimated PV: 5 million/day
Buying method: CPM/CPC/oCPC auction delivery
Promotion ability: Web page promotion, application promotion, application download, quick application promotion, promotional activities
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Supported formats: 720*1280; MP4 format;
- Material files size: no more than 50M;
- Video duration: 6-60s
- Copywriting: The text should not exceed 22 characters, and the brand name should not exceed 7 characters;
- Cover image: 720*1280 must be uploaded at the same time, and the size should not exceed 150KB
5. In-game Banner Ads
5. In-game Banner Ads
In-game banner ads are displayed at the top or bottom of the in-app page in a banner or rectangular format, with large traffic inventory, frequent user visits and long stay time.
Estimated PV: 150 million/day
Buying method: CPM/CPC/oCPC auction delivery
Promotion ability: Web page promotion, application promotion, application download, quick application promotion, promotional activities
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Supported formats: 1080*170, JPG/JPEG/PNG; Material files size: no more than 100KB;
- Brand name: no more than 7 characters
6. APP-icon Ads
6. APP-icon Ads
App-icon ad is displayed on media such as video, music, reading, and file management in the form of icon downloads.
Estimated PV: 62 million/day
Buying method:
Application download: delivery according to CPD bidding;
Application promotion: launch according to CPC bidding
Promotion ability: application download, application promotion
Material Specifications:
Size format:
- Supported formats: 160*160, JPG/JPEG/PNG;
- Material files size: no more than 150KB;
To learn more about Huawei advertising, please contact us!
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