Tag: Marketing in China

In the dynamic landscape of digital advertising, China’s advertising ecosystem has developed unique characteristics that set it apart from the global market. This article delves into specific advertising formats that are not commonly seen abroad but have gained significant attention in China. Furthermore, we analyze popular advertising strategies that have made a splash internationally but remain largely unknown in the Chinese market. By examining these differences, this article will help brands to better understand which advertising formats in the Chinese advertising market will be more conducive to business growth.

Elevator Advertising

China is one of the most populous countries in the world, with a high urban population density, especially in residential communities and commercial office buildings. Elevators, as a necessary facility in high-rise buildings, provide a high-frequency exposure opportunity for advertising as a large number of people pass through them every day.

The widespread application of digital advertising screens makes elevator advertising more dynamic and colorful, and even achieves precise push and interactivity, enhancing the attractiveness of advertising. Compared with traditional television, radio, or large outdoor advertising, elevator advertising has a relatively low cost and is more flexible in placement, which can be selectively placed based on specific attributes of the target audience. In addition, the space inside the elevator is relatively closed, and there are fewer interference factors in the display of advertisements. Passengers often have nothing to do when waiting for or riding in the elevator, which increases the attention and memory of the advertisement.

Advertisers can achieve precise placement after understanding the characteristics of the residents or office workers of the target building, including age, gender, occupation, and other information, and combine creative content with memorable points, using multimedia forms such as video and sound to improve the expressiveness and interactivity of elevator advertising. By using QR codes, NFC, and other technologies, online and offline connections are realized to guide the audience to further interact.

Splash Screen Advertising

Splash screen advertising is mainly used to display a previously cached advertising content (pictures, animations, videos) or re-requested advertising when an APP is opened. While displaying the advertising content, some preparatory operations of the application can also be done. The implementation process is not complicated and is more commonly used in mobile advertising in China.

Most foreign APPs are simple and direct. Users do not like to see an advertisement that is unrelated to the software after opening the APP, such as YouTube, Facebook, etc., which are all directly a logo screen. However, some domestic APPs are in a monopolistic position, and users have no choice. But too frequent advertisements will directly affect the user experience. If there is a splash screen advertisement that makes users wait for 3 to 5 seconds every time the application is launched, it will make people feel annoyed and may even uninstall the APP, so publishers need to reasonably set the number and interval of advertisements to balance revenue and user experience.

Some mobile apps in China with splash screen advertising include: CTV apps such as Mango and iQiyi; UGC social apps such as Zhihu; Knowledge apps such as Youdao and Youdao Cloud Notes; Photo editing apps such as Meitu Xiuxiu; Travel apps such as Gaode Map, Ctrip, and Tongcheng, etc.

Photo by Kelsy Gagnebin on Unsplash

Lock Screen Advertising

The implementation of lock screen advertising is relatively more complex, requiring a background service to listen to the system’s boot, unlock, lock screen, and other broadcasts to replace the system’s lock screen interface with advertising content. It also uses the notification bar, desktop widgets as advertising spaces, but all require the user to apply for authorization to disturb the user. With the update of the Android system, the management of background resident tasks will only be more stringent. Compared with other forms of advertising, such as TV and outdoor advertising, lock screen advertising has a lower cost and is easy to measure the effect, so it is favored by advertisers.

Chinese users spend a long time on the mobile Internet every day on average, and frequent lock and unlock operations increase the exposure opportunities of lock screen advertising. Chinese users have a relatively high acceptance of lock screen advertising, especially when it can provide some instant information or small rewards.

Foreign Google Play has strict policy constraints, in addition to applications specifically developed for the lock screen function, other applications are not allowed to provide advertising or features that profit through the device’s lock screen. Therefore, lock screen advertising is not common abroad.

When advertisers place lock screen advertising, they need to pay attention to designing simple and attractive advertising content to ensure that users can quickly grab attention before unlocking. At the same time, avoid designing advertisements that are too cumbersome or interfere with normal use, and control the frequency of advertising display to avoid causing user dissatisfaction.

Photo by Shahadat Rahman on Unsplash

Email Advertising

This article will also examine some advertising phenomena that have caused a sensation on the international stage but have not yet had a significant impact in China. Among them, email advertising, which is a favorite of foreign advertisers, finds it difficult to win the market in China for the following reasons:

The popularity of social media

In China, social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, QQ, Xiaohongshu, and others are very popular. People are more inclined to use these platforms for communication and to receive information, rather than email.

E-commerce Ecology

China’s e-commerce ecosystem has developed rapidly, and consumers are more accustomed to receiving promotional information directly through online shopping platforms, which usually appear in the form of app push notifications or text messages.

Advertising Regulations

China’s internet advertising regulations have strict stipulations for email advertising, requiring senders to comply with relevant laws and regulations, which increases the operational cost and compliance requirements of email advertising.

User Habits

Chinese users generally rely less on email, and many may not check their mailboxes frequently, resulting in relatively lower open and conversion rates for email advertising.

Mobile First

Most of China’s internet users spend their time on mobile devices, and the email client experience on mobile devices is usually not as good as on PC, which also reduces the frequency of users receiving advertising through email.

Therefore, for advertisers, from the perspective of interactive effects, SMS advertising and mobile advertising in China can perfectly replace email advertising.

Source of featured image: Photo by Magda Vrabetz on Unsplash

As a significant market, China is a resourceful market for international brands to enter. At the initial stage of market entry, outbound marketing, such as advertising, could be a good choice. For those who have already established brand awareness in China, advertising remains essential for market penetration. This article will explain how Chinese ad ecosystem works.

01 Ad Category: Programmatic Ad is the mainstream with more complexity

According to Emarketer, 4 years ago, programmatic ads account for a significant 44% share of China’s digital ad market. Additionally, with more stakeholders engaged in the context of programmatic advertising, we believe that the introduction of programmatic ad ecosystem in China will help you better understand Chinese ad environment.

02 Composition of Programmatic Ad Ecosystem in China

An outline of the stakeholders in Chinese programmatic ad ecosystem could make it easier to get the whole picture. Brands, companies, or even individuals who wish to pay for advertisements aimed at attracting target audience are advertisers. In that course, DSP/ADN and Trading Desk are tools in the demand side; while ADX/SSP are platforms on the supply side, which serve media or publishers who have the final say over traffic and ad inventory. Data platforms such as DMP will collect and provide data for the publish of ads as well as connect the audience and advertiser someway.

The programmatic ad ecosystem in China works like a tree. Advertisors are the root because of their products and services hidding behind the ads are the fundamental factor of purchasing. And advertisors will make the final decision of what messages shall be communicated in their ads, by what means, in what places. Other stakeholders or tools such as ad agencies, DSP/TD, AdX/SSP, ADN, are functioning as the trunk that brings the “nutrition” ads all the way up to the branches “media owner” or “publisher”, so that the audience as the leaves will be reached and feel the commitment and value of the advertisors’ brands.

03 Key Players of Programmatic Ad Ecosystem

In China, the basic logic of advertisement is the same. Within the ecosystem, we got three key players as advertiser, publisher and the audience. The advertiser would like to convey message to their target audience via the impressions on publisher. And that’s what advertisement will achieve.

As the bridge to connect advertiser and the audience, media/publisher controls the ending ad inventory, which could be the most important resource in advertisement. In China, the leading comprehensive publisher includes: ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Kuaishou, Meituan, Jingdong, Pinduoduo (Temu), Xiaomi, Weibo, etc.

With the booming of publisher’s quantity and categories, Ad Network (ADN) came up to the ad ecosystem, which purchases ad inventories from different publisher and sell to advertisers or ad agencies.

Some advertisers, especially those leading enterprises would like to invite another role in during advertising: advertising agencies. Some of the most popular and influential advertising agencies in China include: Ogilvy, WPP, Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, BBDO, BlueFocus, etc. You might be quite familiar with some of them.

04 Platforms to Collect and Communicate Ad Demands

Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

For both the advertiser and ad agency, DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is a must in conducting programmatic ad. DSP provides real-time bidding services and algorithm & AI capabilities to enable automated buying and selling of ad inventory, so that advertisers and agencies could efficiently manage their advertising campaigns, such as audience targeting, budget management, bidding management, creative management, etc. The AI and algorithm embedding in DSPs will make all those actions above more agile, precise and accurate.

The more inventories a DSP covers, the more powerful and efficient it is. YOYI Tech, which has focused on AdTech in China for over 10 years, has developed a DSP that integrates 80% publisher inventories across Chinese internet, with full coverage of mainstream CTV inventories as well as rich Ad formats within different media touchpoints, will accelerate market penetration in China and precisely reach your target audience at a lower cost, as well as enhance your advertising strategy with data-driven insights.

Trading Desk (TD)

A trading desk integrates different DSPs and can manage advertising in a comprehensive manner, .which often handle more complex budget management and bidding frequency control, etc.

Here is a list of the different types of trading desks operating in China:

Agency Trading Desk (ATD): A trading desk within a 4A advertising agency serving multiple brand advertisers. Examples include Xaxis, Accuen, AOD, and Charm (昌荣）, etc.;

Independent Trading Desk (ITD): Similar to ATD, but ITDs can serve multiple advertising agencies or brands. Examples include YOYI Onedesk, Marketin, Chinapex, and Fugetech, etc.;

Brand Trading Desk (BTD): Typically, this is an in-house trading desk built by the advertiser themselves or with the help of a technology provider, such as Yili Trading Desk, etc.

05 Platforms to recieve demands and release ad inventory

Both supply-side platform (SSP) and Ad exchange (AdX) are essential to process ad demands from DSP and trigger ad impression.

A supply-side platform allows ad publishers to sell their inventory within an appropriate price range after the evaluation of advertisers, bidding prices, TA requirements, etc., so as to meet both publishers’ and advertisers’ needs.

Therotically, an AdX will connect DSP and SSP. However, nowadays the differences between SSP and AdX are so slight to take into account. Hence we would like to introduce you some representative platforms of SSP/ADX running in China:

The third-party SSP/AdX collects and reallocates traffic of all kinds (premium traffic, medium traffic, long-tail traffic, etc.) from media owners or publishers. Some examples can be: BES from Baidu, Tanx from Alibaba, Tencent AdX, 360 MAX, etc.

The examples of private AdX/SSP owned by media giant who has their own natural traffic are YOUKU AdX, AIQIYI AdX, Netease AdX, Sina AdX, etc.

06 Supportive Platform towards Agility of Advertising

Data Management Platform (DMP) generates tags for different audience segements and build user profiles and portraits based on user data, which would enhance the precision and efficiency of advertisement.

YOYI Tech creates a DMP that collects first-party user data from advisor-owned channels such as websites, apps, social medias, as well as second-party data from our own DSP and third-party data from our partners such as ecommerce giants, media, and agencies, etc. Moreover, YOYI DMP is open and ready to accept any other data sources and with our powerful ID mapping capability, our DMP will match household IDs with individual IDs and calculate user tags for various scenarios.

Source of featured image: Photo by Johann Siemens on Unsplash