TikTok, known as the international version of the Chinese successful short video app Douyin, is a global hit. Despite Bytedance’s efforts to present Douyin and TikTok as being the same product, they are actually two separate entities. Douyin, (抖音, literally “shaking sound” in Chinese) is a short video media app owned by China’s young tech giant Bytedance (字节跳动). The app allows users to create, edit, and share short videos as well as livestreams, often featuring music in the background. Douyin’s …

Kuakua groups on WeChat, whose members seek compliments for moral support, have become a new fad among users in China Social Media. A student usually posts something bad that happened in his or her life and seeks compliments from members of their group, and other students will think of every way possible to help the student who posted see the silver lining in the cloud. «I just failed at a job interview. Need compliment,» said one student in a kuakua …

Pinduoduo users surpassed JD.com and challenged Taobao in just three years since it was established. The number of active buyers skyrocketed from 67.7 million in the first quarter of 2017 to 418.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. The annual per capita consumption increased from 67.7 CNY to 1,127 CNY. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the revenue was 5.653 billion CNY, a year-on-year increase of 379% So, how did they manage to squeeze the momentum on such a …

With the rise of live streaming apps like Yizhibo, Inke, and Huajiao, live streaming videos have become incredibly trendy in China.  This is particularly true when it comes to the e-sports & video games industry. This can be seen in the West as well with the success of Twitch, which was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for 940 million dollars. Live streaming combined with video games has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment for people in China.  …

Why Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton look to Douyin, China’s hot video app, to boost profiles Since August, Dior has gained 282,000 followers to its posts on the platform, which attracts 250 million active daily users – 60 per cent of them women Douyin, a hip short video app that is popular among China’s young social media users, has hit the radar of luxury marketers. Despite some critics’ concerns that the app’s mass-facing content could diminish the prestigious image of …

Small cities in China lead the growth consumption, 40% of all WeChat Pay transactions were in small fourth, fifth, and six-tier cities. According to data released by Tencent’s ubiquitous app WeChat and Alibaba’s payment platform Alipay, China’s mass holiday migration over the lunar new year shook up spending patterns domestically while setting new trends abroad. Holiday travelers made a total 1.2 billion transactions using WeChat Pay from Feb. 4 to 9 during the Spring festival. But not only that,  travelers took …

Live-Streaming in China – the summary When it comes to marketing in China, you can do it the classic way – Baidu Advertising, WeChat and Weibo campaigns are commonly recommended options. You probably have heard of them if you did any China marketing-related research. But what we like to highlight as often as possible is that China is very different from what you know, and it changes quickly too. Chinese competitors know the market very well and will almost certainly …

6 Chinese Social Media Apps you Should Use in 2019 We’ve already reached that time of year when we start making predictions and setting strategies for the Chinese social media apps marketers should use in 2019. So, we thought we’d take another stab at predicting which Chinese social media apps will be popular in 2019. Xiaohongshu (aka Red) Xiaohongshu was one of our “5 Chinese Social Media Apps Marketers Should Use in 2018”, and it’s still on our list because it’s …

At less than 50% penetration, China’s internet is still the third-largest country on earth China’s internet is massive. How massive? According to a new report from CNNIC, more than 668 million people are now using the web in China. That means that were China’s internet a country, it would be the third-largest country on earth, behind only India and China itself. In fact, China’s internet has more people than the two next-largest countries, Indonesia and the United States, combined. Unsurprisingly, …

Peppa Pig goes viral as China prepares for the year of pig. Peppa Pig has been extremely popular in China since 2016- and not only among children. She has also become a symbol of some subcultures. However, at some point in the last year, the government tried to crack down on this movement, banning Peppa from social platforms in China and rolling out its own animated pig. However, Alibaba will release a Chinese New Year-themed Peppa Pig movie in February, …