How To Effectively Advertise In China
The Internet is becoming an important part of Chinese culture. By the end of 2007, 35 percent of the world’s social networking users will reside in china. And even more interesting for advertisers looking to gain a foothold in the world’s most populous nation and fastest growing economy, user-generated content plays a large role in the Chinese people’s purchasing decisions.
According to a recent Netpop survey, 58 percent of purchases are influenced by consumer reviews and ratings sites, discussion boards, blogs, and other social media sites. In contrast, only about 19 percent of purchase decisions in the U.S. are influenced by user-generated content.
With traditional media outlets like television and print proven to be less effective channels, marketers are targeting user-generated content on the Web to reach youngsters, cultivate brand evangelists and trigger word-of-mouth. It’s no longer just about having a big advertising budget to get the most impressions; you have to understand online consumer behavior to use your budget most effectively.
This rapidly-changing market for user-generated and repurposed content on social networking sites has advertisers reworking their typical models to reach the Chinese marketplace – especially with the upcoming Beijing Olympics taking place in August ’08. TV has traditionally monopolized Olympic advertising; however, instead of relying on television ads, costing upwards of $800,000 for 30-second spot, advertisers should broaden their reach and hone their targets by investing in multimedia campaigns that reach their desired targets like the 176 million Chinese consumers between the ages of 18-28.
The Value of Video Sharing Sites in China
In China, video sharing sites are becoming more popular than watching television, especially for younger members of the Chinese population. And because users are generating such a vast array of content, traditional broadcast networks are even supplementing their own broadcast material with user-generated content, to a much higher degree than U.S.-based television broadcasters.
User-generated video has only recently gone mainstream and the games in Beijing will be the first Olympics since this phenomenon has taken hold. Keeping in mind the potential audience this could draw, U.S. brands looking to break into China should know what online ad models are available in order to capitalize on the trend.
Online Ad formats – What Works Best?
With the traditional lines between viewer and broadcaster blurred, online video-sharing sites and their advertisers are forced to rethink not only the directional flow of content, but identify new ways to capture the attention of viewers while generating meaningful revenue.
There are many drawbacks to traditional online ad options like banners and pop-ups. Banner ads place major limitations on your creative options — there’s only so much you can do with a rectangular box. Also, since online users’ viewing behavior is skimming and scanning, this box is easily skipped and ignored by users, in turn lowering the click-through rate and wasting marketing dollars.
Pop-up ads, and then floating ads, were created because of the intrinsic limitation of banner ads. They are more effective in grabbing the attention of viewers and can display information without disrupting the page. Sites like Sina.com, the largest portal site in China, use pop-up ads almost exclusively. The problem with these ads is that they interfere with the user’s experience and there have been many applications designed to specifically block them.
Through research with focus groups and prolonged testing, Tudou has found two formats that work especially well for Chinese audiences viewing video online: wallpaper ads and 3 second screen insertions. Both of these methods are large enough to grab the viewer’s attention without annoying or distracting the viewer and have been well received with conversion rates 10 to 15 times higher than average online conversion rates in China.
Conclusion
With the explosion of broadband Internet and the popularity of social networking in China, advertising methods have drastically changed forever and will be put to the test as the world’s eyes turn to Beijing for the Olympic Games this summer. So as marketers tap into social networking as a way to advertise their brands in China, it’s important to learn user behavior and choose a platform with sufficient reach, strong targeting functionalities and higher variety of ad product assortment.
Reader Comments.
this sounds too much of a plug for tudou.. perhaps a more insightful article will follow to articulate online user behaviors of chinese users rather than discuss ad formats?
Hi,
I’m a research analyst at Media-Screen LLC working for Netpop study. Thank you for covering our research in your article. Would you like to know more about our ongoing Netpop study? If so, please email me your emaill address at grace@media-screen.com. We’d love to keep you posted on new reports.
Thanks,
Grace
Leave a Comment
Article Sponsor
More Opinions
Features
- Automakers Need to Become Better Conversationalists July 2nd 2009
- Affiliates can win in the media buy game July 2nd 2009
- Crowd-Sourced Ads: A Measured Response June 28th 2009
- Is the government coming for you? June 28th 2009
- Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It June 25th 2009
Latest News
- Readers weigh in on ATT, ad networks and the iPhone July 2nd 2009 ADOTAS — In our weekly poll, readers overwhelmingly said that [...] more »
- Hiring, promotions, location, partnerships and product news July 2nd 2009 ADOTAS — Internet Oldtimers Foundation, Jumptap, eXelate, Kampyle, The Digital [...] more »
- OPA large ad units unfurl across the web July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — The Online Publishers Association said a group of [...] more »
- Email spam in June worst since 2007 July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — MessageLabs Intelligence released its numbers for June, and [...] more »
- Joost becomes YouTube roadkill, starts layoffs July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — Despite reworking its technology to work in a [...] more »
- Ad networks, not websites, choked on Michael Jackson news July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — The news of the pop star’s death saw [...] more »
- StrongMail doubling down on social media, buys PopularMedia July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — StrongMail has announced that it acquired PopularMedia, a [...] more »
Spotlight
Trust Me – I’m a Professional … SEOADOTAS — At WebMetro we typically provide SEO Action Plans as part of campaigns. As the name implies, an SEO [...] more...
-
Loading ...
Reader Favorites
Layoff Tracker
- AOL - 700
- Apple - 50
- Clear Channel - 2,800 total (1,000 currently)
- Google - 340
- IBM - more than 7,800
- Joost - about 90
- MySpace - in June, about 720
- World Avenue - 30 percent of workforce
- Yahoo - 2,220 total, about 700 currently
- Zango - closes, about 90, in addition to earlier layoffs
Classifieds
Recent Comments
- minnickup: Hello, I found your forum is www.adotas.com after I have been surfing the internet to be
- Josette Davids: Great article and an amazing time was had by all at this event. I'm an
- Mike Poserina: There is also a tragic flaw rumored in Bing's ad placement engine. When resolved,
- Andy: Erin, Never mind the commenters who can only see the negative side of things. I thank you
