The nuances of the Chinese advertising market: secrets of correct placement

Recently, entering the Chinese market has become one of the most accessible and even possible ways for many companies to promote their own brand in the international arena. And here the only thing left is to attract the target audience of the Celestial Empire to their products and services. But how can you do this in a completely foreign country? Regardless of what product you plan to supply to the Chinese market, you cannot do without modern marketing tools and launching full-fledged advertising campaigns. Only if you organize everything as correctly as possible, you will be able to attract the target audience to your website or other online presence, as well as create worthy competition even in a highly competitive niche.

As part of today's review, we will dwell in detail on what advertising in China is today, we will tell you which products and services are prohibited from advertising in this country. We will get acquainted in detail with the five most popular and easy-to-use platforms through which you can launch your own campaigns and promote your brand as a whole. We will provide a number of additional recommendations that will allow you to increase the effectiveness of advertising and achieve excellent results when entering the Celestial Empire market. Let's get acquainted with such a tool as mobile proxies and tell you how you can use it to significantly simplify the upcoming work.

How the modern advertising market in China works

Over the past few decades, the Chinese market as a whole has been growing at a very accelerated pace. During this time, local manufacturers managed to organize the production of products that were supplied to almost all countries and regions of the world. Recently, the pace of development has slowed down significantly, but still the potential here is very impressive, as well as competition in almost every niche. All this has led to an increased demand for advertising. Today, it is considered one of the most effective tools in the competitive struggle between different companies.

But there are a number of nuances that everyone who plans to enter the Chinese market with their products needs to know. The fact is that the Celestial Empire is developing under socialism, but with its own special features. It is a fact that advertising has become an integral part of the lives of the Chinese. But this is no longer the advertising we are used to, the one that the whole world considers classic (banners, targeted context, etc.). Modern digital technologies have had a significant impact on it, allowing for fairly flexible campaign customization, selection of unusual formats, and creatives. This is indispensable in the face of fierce competition.

The basis of the modern Chinese advertising market is campaigns launched in online media, as well as in local social networks. At the same time, its volumes are growing at an astonishing rate. So, today the traditional advertising market in China is estimated at about 60 billion yuan. At the same time, online advertising is already estimated at 300 billion yuan. As you can see, there is an almost 5-fold advantage. This means that regardless of what products you plan to enter the market with, through what distribution channels you would like to sell them, when launching an advertising campaign, you should still bet on the digital space. If you manage to launch original advertising, one that would effectively stand out against the background of other options presented on the market today, then with a high degree of probability your products will be noticed and you will receive the desired orders, you will be able to gain a foothold in a new market and ensure the successful development of your business.

And the first question to think about at this stage is who in China specializes in digital advertising? It is to them that you should turn to develop your own strategy, its launch. So, if we single out the largest market players based on their income level, then it is worth citing a number of leading digital ecosystems:

• Alibaba Group,
• Douyin,
• Tencent,
• Baidu.

So, Alibaba Group united the leading e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, and also connected other large-scale services of the advertising ecosystem, such as the most popular video hosting service in the Celestial Empire today, Youku. This allowed it to take a leading position and seriously bypass its closest competitors. Douyin is one of the most important platforms in the Bytedance ecosystem. But Tencent today owns one of the largest Chinese social networks WeChat, which has opened up unrealistically wide opportunities for launching advertising and attracting the attention of a large target audience. Today, the top five is closed by the Baidu platform. It was created by the Chinese search engine of the same name. In terms of the number of users, it is one of the largest search engines in the country.

If we compare these companies in terms of advertising revenue, then over the past year there has been noticeable growth on each of the platforms. At the same time, the greatest activity was observed on Douyin. This organization specializes in creating short trendy videos. In many ways, it was the correct choice of content format that led to Douyin becoming the largest Chinese advertising platform in this segment. But the lowest figures are still observed at Baidu. Experts agree that the main reason for this is the faster growth of advertising in social networks, as well as in the e-commerce sector, while Baidu can be attributed more to the adherents of traditional solutions.

What products are prohibited from advertising in China

Today, China has a key document regulating all advertising activities in the country. We are talking about the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China. It clearly states not only those products that are prohibited from advertising, but also the requirements themselves that are imposed on publications. In particular, we are talking about:

• Clarity of wording. It is necessary to tell in a few words what product is being discussed, give its advantages, characteristics. Everything should be presented in such a way that the person who sees the advertisement can clearly understand what is being offered to him.
• Accuracy of information. The law prohibits indicating incorrect information in an advertisement, as well as data that can be interpreted in different ways. In turn, this also applies to the expiration date of the product.
• Completeness of data disclosure. It is forbidden to hide information about the product that could be decisive in the decision-making process about the purchase. If we are talking about the sale of products manufactured on the basis of a patent, then its number must be indicated without fail.
• The presence of elements that clearly indicate that this is an advertisement. That is, the advertisements must stand out from other content and be such that the person who sees them can clearly understand that he is not looking at an ordinary publication. In most cases, this is ensured by adding the note “Advertisement” in the ad.

A fairly impressive section of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China is devoted to the list of goods and industries that are prohibited from advertising, and in a rather strict form. Among the bans that have already become familiar to us, we can name ads offering consumers alcohol, tobacco, drugs, weapons. But in China, the list of goods prohibited from advertising has been significantly expanded. Thus, this also includes medical products, agricultural crops, baby food, various biologically active supplements, sports nutrition. It is also prohibited to advertise finances and investments, real estate. Relatively recently, this list was significantly expanded and additional education for children was added to it.

Another section of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China prescribes restrictions on adding certain elements to ads. Thus, it is prohibited to launch any advertising formats that contain the coat of arms, anthem of the Celestial Empire, or any other symbols. It is prohibited to describe a product or service in superlatives (the best, the most wonderful, the most beautiful, etc.), or add socio-political slogans. It is also prohibited to add obscene moments to advertising. In China, these include gambling, discrimination, violence, and racism.

We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the regulatory environment in China can hardly be called stable. It is constantly changing, new directions and individual products are emerging that are prohibited from advertising. Adjustments are also constantly being made to the prescribed provisions. Therefore, before launching each new advertising campaign aimed at the Chinese market, it is very important to re-examine the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China each time so as not to miss key changes.

Whether you agree with all this or not is, let's say, an individual matter. But if you still want to enter the Chinese market with your products, launch an advertisement, then you will still have to follow this law and all the provisions that are spelled out in it. Otherwise, no one will launch your ad.

So on what platforms can you launch advertising in China?

Above, we have already talked about the largest digital ecosystems that are currently operating and actively developing in the Chinese market. They are the ones who provide advertising platforms that deserve worthy attention, not only from the local population, but also from international businesses. In order not to risk your money, save time and effort on launching advertising campaigns and promoting your business on the Chinese market in general, we still recommend paying attention to the following services:

1. WeChat.
2. Douyin.
3. Youku.
4. Weibo.
5. Baidu.

To make it easier for you to understand the specifics of each of these solutions, let's consider them in more detail.

WeChat

Today, WeChat is one of the largest Chinese messengers and at the same time a social network. The platform has collected more than a billion users. Every day, a huge number of residents of this country use the platform to search for entertainment content, watch various videos, make online payments, make purchases and more. It has a truly balanced user base. This means that representatives of any business will be able to find their own audience here. This is what makes WeChat extremely popular for launching advertising.

The advertising account of the platform itself has a fairly wide functionality and allows you to configure targeting literally in small details. And this platform also offers different options for placing advertising publications:

• service accounts;
• mini-programs;
• WeChat Moments, etc.

The average CPM in this case is about 40 CNY. The main differences here are directly in where you will launch your advertising. So, the most expensive option is WeChat Moments. But the cost is also affected by the launch time and the campaign and the targeting parameters you choose. To launch the main advertising formats, you need to top up the platform balance through your personal account by at least 1000 CNY.

Douyin

We have already mentioned above that Douyin is a platform where short video advertising is posted. It is developing very quickly today and attracts a huge audience. So, now the platform's user base is more than 700 million people. It has its own advertising platform Ocean Engine, through which promotion is implemented. In this case, you get access to advanced targeting settings and analytical tools. But the only thing you need to take into account is that only verified users will be able to take full advantage of all this. Moreover, here we are talking about a direct link to the company. That is, a private person will not be able to launch direct advertising through this platform.

One of the most significant advantages of Douyin is that verified users will also be able to promote their products and services through other platforms that are part of the same community, namely the Bytedance ecosystem. The following advertising formats are used here today:

• static on the home page, lasting 3 seconds;
• dynamic on the home page, lasting up to 4-5 seconds;
• ads in the user's feed in video format, lasting more than 5 seconds.

If you are unable to pass verification on the platform, then if you wish, you can bet on native advertising and hide it in posts. In this case, the CPM will be 25 CNY. But we repeat once again that you will not be able to launch direct advertising this way.

When working with the Douyin platform, you should understand that you get the opportunity not only to promote your posts or launch targeted advertising, but also to work with video content. The algorithms that have become the basis of the modern platform will help you quickly promote your material to the TOP and ensure an influx of target audience to your business. We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that KOL also works on this platform - a large-scale global database that stores information about the most influential people of our time, opinion leaders. You can also use their services to attract a user audience to your business.

Youku

The Chinese platform Youku can be compared to YouTube, at least in terms of domestic market coverage. The fact is that the same YouTube, as well as many other foreign platforms, are currently blocked in China. Therefore, users have no choice but to use domestic video hosting services. Thus, Youku today belongs to the Alibaba Group, one of the largest Internet companies in the advertising sector. Today, it accounts for the majority of all advertising revenue in the Celestial Empire. Users will now be able to place their ads here in different formats:

• as a regular advertising banner, which will be launched automatically when users open the application;
• as a pre-roll, that is, advertising video content that will be shown to viewers before viewing the main material;
• advertisement that will be launched when the user clicks on pause and then decides to resume viewing.

Most advertising on Chinese video hosting sites is significantly lower in price than alternative campaign options. So, if you decide to launch an ad during a pause on the same Youku, this action will cost you 45 CNY at CPM. If you plan to attract the audience's attention with a 15-second video, then you will need to pay at least 67 CNY in CPM.

Among the main advantages of the Youku video hosting service, we highlight the ability to cover a fairly impressive volume of the target audience. However, the targeting settings here are quite limited and are focused more on a narrow market niche. If you decide to work more widely, you will need to launch more than one such advertisement, which will ultimately lead to an increase in the overall cost of the entire project. In principle, users who are looking for more advanced targeting options can use Tencent Video. Here you can also launch advertisements through a single Tencent Ads advertising account. By the way, you can also throw your advertisement in WeChat from here. But Tencent will still be more expensive to work with. Here, the minimum deposit will initially be 5,000 CNY.

Along with Youku, video advertising can also be launched on other Chinese platforms, such as video hosting sites Bilibili, IQIYI and Xigua.

Weibo

Weibo is a fairly popular Chinese blog service today, which has gathered an audience of over 600 million users on its pages. The latest news and other content appear here almost instantly. All this can be immediately displayed on your official page on the platform. At the same time, subscribers will also be able to use special QR codes to go to the official account of the platform, as well as gain access to related products and services of the service.

In practice, targeted advertising is most widely used here, as well as promotion of posts through a personal advertising account. In this case, the CPM is 25 CNY. The coverage of the target audience in this case will directly depend on your initial material investments. So, as an option, if you allocate an average of 500 CNY for one publication, you will be able to attract from 20,000 to 25,000 users. One of the most significant advantages of this platform can be called a fairly reasonable and justified cost. If we talk directly about targeted advertising, then here to attract one buyer of goods or services you will have to pay on average only 10 CNY. We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that when setting up a target, you can use not only basic characteristics and interests, but also focus on the subscribers of your direct competitors.

Through the Weibo platform, you can launch the following types of advertising:

• stories that allow you to bring your products to the forefront among subscribers;
• direct advertising in search and trends;
• classic promotion in the feed;
• launching a full-screen video, lasting an average of 3-5 seconds, in parallel with the opening of the application.

We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that when working with this service, you will also be provided with other opportunities, including launching a system advertising campaign. In this case, we are talking about various contests, lotteries and other interactive activities that facilitate interaction between the audience and the business. As an option, we can talk about the arrangement of comments, reposts, transitions to official online representations of the business. Also, such solutions will help to increase the quantity and quality of traffic thanks to well-thought-out search marketing.

The platform also provides access to KOLs. That is, you can directly contact opinion leaders with a request to take part in your advertising. But here everything comes down to the price. So, working with opinion leaders, you will have to pay about 10,000 CNY when attracting small bloggers, 30,000 CNY - bloggers with an average level of audience reach and over 60,000 CNY - popular and well-promoted influencers. And, please note, these are figures for one post. Agree, the amount is quite impressive. If you can afford such advertising costs, then it is quite possible to attract opinion leaders to work.

Baidu

Despite the fact that the Chinese search engine Baidu has quite a lot of very serious competitors in the advertising niche, this still does not allow us to discount it. But the platform still manages to compete with more advanced and technologically advanced solutions today and occupy leading positions in the field of online advertising. Representatives of B2B businesses should especially pay attention to this solution. Unlike B2C brands, more attention is paid to the development of the platform itself, its promotion, and improvement of organic traffic. Moreover, thanks to the built-in advertising tools of Baidu Ads, you can make your strategy more flexible, adapt it to the characteristics of your target market.

Also, through the advertising network of the platform, you can launch KMS campaigns containing advertisements with links to a site localized in Chinese. In this case, the minimum amount of the initial replenishment of your account balance will be 6,000 CNY. At the same time, 600 CNY of this amount will be charged as a verification fee, and another 1,000 as an annual maintenance fee. The remaining amount of 4,400 CNY is a direct deposit that will be spent on your advertising campaign.

But still, when working with this platform, you must first understand that you are dealing with a search engine. This means that all the principles of SEO optimization familiar to every business representative will also be relevant here. In particular, we are talking about creating the most useful, easy-to-use website, filled with high-quality, structured and interesting content for the target audience, based on key queries. Also, external links posted on information portals and leading to online representations of your business will have significant weight here. Here we are talking about the possibility of publishing content on specialized platforms belonging to the same search engine, in particular Baidu Zhidao, Baidu Tieba and the like. You can also use the online forums and media platforms that are popular in China today, such as Zhihu, Sohu. These solutions are well ranked by the search engine.

What determines the effectiveness of an advertising campaign in China?

When working with the Chinese advertising market, it is necessary to follow all the basic recommendations that are relevant in other countries of the world. In any case, in order to launch a campaign that will be most effective in practice and will bring new orders and income to the business, first of all, it is necessary to carefully and thoroughly study your target audience. You must understand who the direct consumers of your goods or services are and rely on them when developing a strategy for future advertising. Moreover, this way you will be able to segment the most relevant channels for yourself. Other recommendations include:

• preparing unique content that can captivate the audience, interest them;
• forming your own online presence, where potential buyers could go to learn more about your products and services;
• launching several test campaigns using different offers and formats: this is especially important if you are just planning to enter the Chinese market and are selecting individual approaches to the audience;
• detailed planning of each stage of the advertising campaign, using different channels of interaction with the audience, especially online advertising, since companies that are launched through the media, television, and traditional external banners are already losing their relevance today;
• constant monitoring of the effectiveness of launched campaigns, as well as changes that occur in the advertising law of the PRC: this will allow you to quickly make adjustments to your strategy and minimize waste money.

We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that one of the important stages will be registration in local social networks, as well as filling the accounts with relevant content in Chinese. If you do not have the relevant knowledge, then you will need to involve a third-party specialist who will translate your materials.

Let's summarize

Regardless of whether you plan to work with the Chinese market or any other countries in the world, the effectiveness of your work will directly depend on how comprehensive and professional an approach to implementing the strategy you will use. The work here will be quite impressive, and also mostly monotonous, routine. Those that require a lot of time and effort to implement. Tools that automate actions will help to significantly simplify all this, as well as save yourself from excessive time waste. But in order for the system not to detect their use and not apply sanctions to you, it is optimal to additionally use mobile proxies, as an option from the MobileProxy.Space service.

We are talking about an intermediary server that will replace your real technical data with its own, thereby hiding your identity on the Internet, and along with this, multi-threaded actions. Thanks to the simultaneous operation on the HTTP(S) and Socks5 protocols, which was implemented by parallel connection to ports, users are provided with high levels of confidentiality of work on the network, protection from hacker attacks and any other unauthorized access. A huge selection of geolocations will allow you to bypass any regional restrictions and connect to sites from different countries in order to gain new knowledge and technologies that appear in the world, including in the field of advertising.

Follow the link https://mobileproxy.space/en/user.html?buyproxy to get acquainted with the functionality of mobile proxies, current tariffs, available services of the site, and also undergo free testing for 2 hours. This is what will allow you to be convinced of the high quality of this tool, its reliability and ease of use. If any difficulties arise in the work, additional consultations, assistance from specialists, and a 24-hour technical support service will be required.

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