How to Win in China's $70B Mobile App Market

Featuring Special Contributions by
BEYOND THE GREAT
[APP]WALL OF CHINA
A Practical Playbook for Global App Marketers
Who Want to Win in China

Chapter
INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 3
PART I: China Rising......................................................................... 4
PART II: A Different Animal Altogether ....................................... 12
PART III: ‘Setting App’ Your App in China ................................... 22
PART IV: Advertiser & Partner Tips for Success ........................28
APPENDIX: Key Offerings from Top Media Sources ................54
PageWhat’s in the Guide

INTRODUCTION
China’s explosive economic growth did not skip the mobile marketing industry.
Indeed, China is an extremely exciting market for app developers and marketers,
presenting vast opportunities but also challenges that are unique to this special
market.
China is like no other and we strongly believe that the opportunities significantly
outweigh the challenges. It is the goal of this playbook to show you why that is
the case and how to make the most of the Chinese mobile app market.
The playbook will help you understand:
• The potential of the Chinese mobile marketing space
• In what ways the market is different
• Challenges app businesses face in China
• How other advertisers and partners adapted to the market
• Which Chinese media partners are right for your app
In Chinese culture, this year marks the Year of the Rooster. So there’s no better
way to say it:
WAKE UP
TOCHINA!
China Guide August 2017
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CHINA RISING
PART 1
There is no shortage of research data on the Chinese market. Here we attempted
to highlight the most important information, including crucial input from Chinese
sources which is unlikely to show up in standard Google searches.
1. Internet Penetration
A staggering 751 million people in China have access to the Internet - equivalent
to the entire population of Europe! As of June 2017, the penetration rate hit
54.3%, which was 3.5% higher than the global average, and 7.9% more than the
Asian average.
China Internet User Population and Internet Penetration Rate
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2. Mobile Adoption
There are 724 million mobile users in China, representing no less than 96.3% of
all internet users in the country.
3. Mobile Adoption By Age
As expected, young people dominate as far internet usage in China goes with
almost 1 in 3 users between 20 and 29 years old.
China Mobile Phone User Population and Mobile Phone Users/Internet Users
China Internet User Age Breakdown
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4. Mobile Connectivity
We can see that China’s mobile infrastructure is vastly improving with nearly
25% accessing the internet via 4G connections. Having said that, the cost of
data is still an issue - according to Bloomberg, 1MB of data costs $1.13 whereas
the average monthly salary is $886, which is vastly different than the US where
the numbers are $0.01 and $2,987, respectively. As a result, there is a high rate
of WIFI connections.
5. Mobile Payments
In China, smartphones are like wallets. In 2016, the number of users paying with
their mobile phones grew rapidly reaching 469 million at an annual growth rate
of 31.2%. The clear leader in this department is WeChat with almost 55 monthly
mobile transactions per user.
4G user population is increasing,
WIFI user population which accounts for 70% of internet users remains stable.
4G and WIFI users together account for more than 95% of total internet users.
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6. Mobile app user base and usage rate by vertical
APP
June 2017 December 2016
Annual
Growth RateUser Size
(Million)
Use Rate
User Size
(Million)
Use Rate
Mobile Instant
Messaging
667.8 92.30% 638 91.80% 4.70%
Mobile News 596.2 81.90% 571.3 82.20% 4.40%
Mobile Search 592.7 82.70% 575.1 82.70% 3.10%
Mobile Music 489.3 67.60% 468 67.30% 4.60%
Mobile Video 525.2 72.60% 500 71.90% 5.10%
Mobile Payment 501.9 69.40% 469.2 67.50% 7.00%
Mobile Shopping 480.4 66.40% 441 63.40% 9.00%
Mobile Gaming 385.5 53.30% 351.7 50.60% 9.60%
Mobile Bank 350.1 48.40% 333.6 48.00% 5.00%
Mobile Literature 326.7 45.10% 303.8 43.70% 7.50%
Mobile Travel
Bookings
299 41.30% 261.8 37.70% 14.20%
Mobile E-mail 215.4 29.80% 197.1 28.40% 9.30%
Mobile BBS 112.6 15.60% 97.3 14.00% 15.60%
Mobile Online
Education
120 16.60% 98 14.10% 22.40%
Mobile Microblog 258.6 35.70% 240.9 34.60% 7.40%
Mobile Map / GPS 441 60.90% 431.2 62.00% 2.20%
Mobile Takeaway
Service
274.1 37.90% 193.9 27.90% 41.40%
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7. Top 20 Most Popular Apps in China
The division shows that Chinese internet giants are also dominant with apps:
Tencent leads the pack with 9 apps including WeChat and QQ at #1 and #2,
followed by Alibaba with 5 apps, and Baidu with 2 (plus two more they have
invested in).
The number on the Y axis is Monthly Active Users (MAU) in the tens of thousands,
meaning WeChat has roughly 850 million MAUs (!!!) - including both desktop
and mobile.
8. Messaging Apps Adoption & Usage
Led by WeChat, messaging apps are used to communicate, shop, book, send
& receive money, order taxis, and much more. Virtually everyone is taking part
in this unique phenomenon.
Top 20 Mobile Apps - 9 of them coming from Tencent, 5 from Alibaba,
2 from Baidu, and 2 get strategic investment from BAT
Messaging Users Population, Mobile Messaging Users Population, Messaging Users/Internet Users
and Mobile Messaging Users/Mobile Phone Users
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9. Online & Mobile Search Adoption & Usage
With Google out of China since 2010, search is dominated by Baidu. Over 609
million search online with 593 million of them doing so on their mobile devices.
10. Online & Mobile Shopping Adoption & Usage
Chinese users are heavy digital shoppers: 514 million go online to shop, while
480 million do so on mobile.
Online Search Users Population, Mobile Search Users Population, Online Search Users/Internet
Users and Mobile Search Users/Mobile Phone Users
Online Shopping Users Population, Mobile Shopping Users Population, Online Shopping Users/
Internet Users, Mobile Shopping Users/Mobile Phone Users
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11. Online & Mobile Gaming Adoption, Usage & Revenue
Gaming in China is massive with 422 million online players and 385 million
mobile gamers.
China alone will take one-quarter of all global game revenues, reaching $27.5
billion this year, well ahead of the US. Most of China’s growth will come from
mobile gaming with $14.6 billion expected this year and $21.3 billion projected
in 2020.
Online Game Players Population, Mobile Online Game Players Population, Online Game Players/
Internet Users and Mobile Online Game Players/Mobile phone Users
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12. Leading the App Store
According to App Annie, in a little under a year, China has leaped ahead to become
the world’s top revenue generator in the iOS App Store with about $1.7 billion earned.
13. Last But Not Least: Mobile Ad Spend
Mobile Ad Spend in China (Billions)
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
$27.31 $37.63 $49.18 $60.25 $70.43
The potential for mobile advertisers in China is clearly seen in this research, with
almost double the investment between 2017 and 2020. Within mobile advertising,
eMarketer analysts anticipate increased investment in video ad spending - which
is expected to be the investment of choice and account for about 72% of all video
ad spend.
According to Smaato, China saw a 90% growth in mobile ad spend between Q1 2016
and Q1 2017 - the highest rate in the world.
TheDataSaysitClearly:
China'sAppEconomyhasExplosivePotential
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SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
WELL, IT’S JUST DIFFERENT
PART 2
1. A Different Type of Android Animal
The good news is that in China, the iOS marketing flow works the same way it
does outside of China, with the only exception being the vastly different media
players, which we will touch on further down in this guide. The bad news,
however, is that dealing with Android is different on all fronts.
The following chart illustrates the common flow of app marketing outside of
China via the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play.
But in China… There are over 300 app stores and traffic sources, a.k.a distribution
platforms, and app developers have to generate different APK files (see next
page) per store and set up custom events for each. The good news is that it is
relatively easy to modify a single piece of code so you don’t actually have to
start writing code from scratch for every single store APK. True, this can be a
hassle but it’s not the end of the world.
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Outside China, the store is the point of sale, while marketing catalysts are the
media sources. In China, all marketing activities within a store are driven by the
store itself, and campaigns are not differentiated within a store (although some
stores have different ad units).
There are two types of stores in China: 3rd party stores dominated by Tencent,
Baidu, 360, and handset makers like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi which
are becoming more and more popular thanks to their captive user bases and
growing audience.
What’sanAPKfile?
Like the .exe files we know running on Windows, an
APK file, which stands for Android Package Kit, is a
very common method to download apps in Asia, and
particularly in China.
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Releasing to a single app store is not an option unless you have an incredibly
strong and established brand that will draw players to that store despite
them not having the marketplace app installed on their phone as one
of their preferred stores. Any single store lacks the reach to address the
broader market despite claims to the contrary.
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The Android Landscape in China
Stores do both app listing and promotion
APK 1
APK 2
APK 3
APK N
...
Developer
3rd-party Android stores
Android stores from
mobile phone manufacturers

2. A Different Type of Mobile Media Animal
The most powerful media players in the West are not part of the Chinese
ecosystem. Instead, Chinese giants dominate.
News Feed Apps
Tencent Social Ads: Tencent operates the leading social, media and mobile
utility properties in China. Tencent Social Ads enables marketers to run app
install campaigns on:
WeChat*: The company’s massive mobile communication platform
with over 800 million combined monthly active users! The largest and
most active communication platform of its kind in the world where
users communicate, send and receive money, shop, book restaurants /
vacation, order taxis, and more - all from within the app.
* Excludes WeChat news feed inventory (see next page)
QQ: Tencent’s instant messaging service with nearly 900 million monthly
active users; includes other Tencent properties such as QQ Music, QQ
Browser, Myapp and others.
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Tencent Tui Ads Platform: An ad network that operates independently from Tencent
Social Ads. Its traffic is primarily based on Tencent Video and Tencent News apps.
WeChat: In addition to WeChat inventory that can be accessed through Tencent
Social Ads (see above), the platform also has an independent ads dashboard. As such,
if advertisers want to buy Moments ads, they have to create a campaign under the
separate WeChat dashboard.
Toutiao (Bytedance): Bytedance is a news app which is a pioneer in the development
of a feed-based, intelligent recommendation engine in China. News-hungry people
in China have led to its explosive growth: its number of daily active users more than
doubled last year, from 30 million to 78 million, while it reportedly has recently
crossed the 100 million mark. Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., Ltd. was founded
in March 2012. The company’s main product “Toutiao” is an artificial intelligence (AI)
powered app.
Weibo (Fen Si Tong): Weibo is a social networking site launched by Sina.com that
offers microblogging services to approximately 260 million monthly active users.
The platform enables users to publish messages or upload pictures via web pages or
mobile clients. Weibo is very similar to Twitter, albeit with more features.
AppsFlyer is proud to be Tencent’s first
globalofficialmobilemeasurementpartner
in China and the only provider that is fully
integratedwithTencentSocialAds,WeChat
Ads and Tui Ads. Click here to listen to a
joint Tencent-AppsFlyer webinar.
What’sthedifferencebetween
WeChatandQQ?
In general, WeChat’s audience is more mature and
high end, while QQ users are younger. As such, the
latter offers gaming and entertainment apps, while
the former is centered on services such as payments
and shopping. Another key difference is that WeChat
has a strong international presence (over 80 million
users outside China, including an English version),
while QQ is mainly used domestically.
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Other news feed apps with significant media propreties include Baidu Tieba,
Momo, Yi Dian, Alibaba Huichuan, Netease News and Kuaishou.
DSP
Baidu Baiyi: Chinese search giant Baidu has around 60 digital ad platforms, but
Baidu Baiyi is the most relevant for mobile app promotion. Its traffic comes
from the user base of several Baidu apps and direct publishers who embedded
the Baidu ads SDK.
Other noteworthy DSPs include Domob DSP, ipinyou DSP, Limei DSP, InMobi,
Matomy.
Video
Video applications in China are also highly popular, filling in the gap of Google’s
YouTube. Other than Tencent Video, where Tencent Tui Ads are integrated,
mainstream video apps such as iQiyi, Youku, Sohu, LeTV, and Bilibili support
video advertising in the form of pre-rolls, pop-up banner ads that open when
a video plays, and video patch ads (an ad pops up on the screen when video
is paused - see image below).
Video app ad inventory is mostly used at present to run brand advertising,
while only a small portion of traffic is used for direct response app install ads.
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Affiliate Networks
You may have already worked with some of the large affiliate networks in
other regions like Mobvista, Yeahmobi, Youmi, Glispa, Papaya, Avazu, and
Matomy. Many of these networks, especially the China based companies,
also operate in China.
SEM
As the dominant search engine in China by a wide margin, Baidu is able to
generate a significant 76% share of the SEM market. Alibaba Shenma SEM and
360 SEM trail far behind but still manage to get a sizable share of the market
considering its sheer size.
75.93%
9.8%
8.07%
2.53%
1.83%
1.84%
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Agencies
Many advertisers in China depend on agencies to run their campaigns, and
the good are separated from the bad based on the ROI they deliver. Some
agencies have their own data analysis team, which can optimize to meet a
defined CPI goal.
Agency can be evaluated from the following angles:
The strength of the Agency: Just like Facebook and Google have different
levels of partnerships (for example, first tier resellers or second tier agencies),
so do the giant media sources like Tencent, Baidu, Toutiao in China. Therefore,
it’s important to have a deep understanding of an agency’s status with these
Chinese media giants, and specifically its ability to get as much inventory as
possible from these sources.
The optimization team: Evaluate the performance of similar apps who are
working or have worked with the agency. Look at metrics such as cost-per-
acquisition, conversion rate, CTR, and ROI. Also, it is important to ask the agency
to customize a distribution strategy according to your product together with a
detailed budget. Make sure you inquire about this team and its plan since the
quality of these teams varies considerably in China.
Rebate policy: This policy is quite complex, but to put it simply you need
to know how much of a rebate media sources offer to agencies. At present,
agencies will not offer a full rebate unless your distribution volume is sky high.
Transparency: Leading agencies in China include Zhiyunzhong, Yunrui, Chance,
Domob, Bluefocus and Adsage.
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4. A Different Type of Android Measurement Animal
A holistic solution that addresses the market does not yet exist.
What are your options?
1) Use tracking links with stores that accept them, like Tencent MyApp store
(covered by Tencent Social Ads) and Baidu Mobile Assistant (covered by Baidu
Baitong). In this case, the attribution flow is normal.
2) If a tracking link is not available, or if anyone seeks to upload an APK to some
web page, an out-of-store workaround (in which the attribution vendor provides
tracking solutions for out-of-store Android apps, in addition to its tracking for
Google Play apps) can be used so anyone who installs an app is marked as
having come from that channel.
3) Do it the old-fashioned way like running billboard campaigns and then
measuring the lift in sales. In this case, attribution is not needed but there is
also no way to differentiate between organic and non organic campaigns. This
means clients will separate data on their own since APKs are already separated
between the different stores. As such, channel data is gathered simply by the
channel information in each install.
DOES THE STORE ACCEPT TRACKING LINKS?
Yes
Same as normal flow
Out of store
workaround
Measure lift
during and
after campaigns
No
BOOM!
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Summary Table
Outside of China China
Google Service Yes No
Android App Store
Landscape
Google Play
Over 300 Android app stores and traffic
sources with the top 10 appearing in 75%
of Android devices.
App Store
Monetization
Google Play ads are part
of AdWords Universal App
Campaign, are not directly
sold by the store
APK stores sell traffic directly, have their
own sales teams selling on a Cost Per
Time (Day) / CPD (Cost Per Download),
and revenue-share model
App Promotion
Scenario
Media sources lead users
to Google Play
The media properties of giant
companies only lead users to their own
APK store or download url:
- Tencent Social ads g Myapps
- 360 DSP g 360 Mobile Assistant
- Baidu Baiyi g Baidu Mobile Assistant
Top networks who don’t have APK stores
(i.e. Toutiao), upload the APK file to their
own server and generate a download url
(direct download upon click)
Android Attribution
Holistic solution across
media properties
No holistic solution: either work with
stores that support tracking links,
use out of store workaround and / or
measure lift during campaigns
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‘SETTING APP’ YOUR APP IN CHINA
PART 3
1. Find a local partner
As foreigners, launching campaigns in China is all but impossible without local
help. The language barrier is just too great: from bureaucracy, through media
partners, to app stores. But don’t despair, there are good options to help get
you going:
If you have a non-gaming app and you only run on iOS, you can start by self-
publishing your app to the iOS App Store and measure organic traffic. But when
it comes to non-organic, you’ll still need to work with local media players.
a. Companies that can help you handle the complex Android market and
manage Android package updates (e.g. AppInChina and AppsToChina)
b. Media buying companies (e.g. Zhiyunzhong, Yunrui, Chance, Domob,
and Bluefocus).
c. Agencies that specialize in gaming, where you only need to send your
code and they’ll take care of the rest including ongoing optimization
- all via a revenue sharing model (for example Yodo1 and iDreamsky).
• Work with local media sources. Build up direct connections with giant
media sources like Tencent/ Baidu / Toutiao etc.
• Hire a local person on the ground
• Working with a local agency
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2. Bureaucracy: Jump over the red tape
Chinese authorities are very strict when it comes to gaming apps because of the
rampant gaming piracy in the country. The good news is that all other apps do
not require any pre-evaluation (other than a standard app store review screening).
If you want to launch your Android game in China, here’s what you need to do:
• Set up a local entity
• Fill in the forms
• Load your game onto a smartphone and send it to the authorities
• If mobile content is reviewed and found to be appropriate for Chinese citizens,
the game will be issued a publication number - which could take up to three
months
What about iOS?
Apple China and the Chinese government agreed to put the strict requirement
of the Publication Number on hold for the time being. But it is very likely that
this will change and that app store rules will apply to the iOS App Store as well.
Because this takes time, it is recommended to start the publication number for
iOS as well rather than wait for the day it becomes mandatory.
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3. Localize your app
Translation
The key thing here is to strike the right balance between respecting local syntax,
terminology and context, while remaining true to the messaging of your global
brand. For this purpose, it is recommended to include both locals and native
speakers living outside of China.
It’s important to translate all content, or else you risk having your app deleted!
This includes titles, descriptions, texts inside images, error messages and feedback
requests.
There is also a clear difference between written and spoken language. As far as
the former is concerned, it’s important to remember that Chinese has two writing
systems: Simplified Chinese is used in China and Singapore, while Traditional
Chinese is used in Hong Kong and Taiwan. If your app has voice messages, you
should probably opt for Mandarin, as it’s the official language in both China and
Taiwan.
A few details to consider:
• Bright colors have better performance, so increase the saturation. Stay away
from dark colors, like browns and grays, especially in gaming. The perception
of colors in China is often very much different compared to the West.
• Chinese text often takes up about 30% less space than English
• CTA buttons should be redesigned, as an invitation to ‘buy’ does not usually
come across well. Instead, “share” seems to be the actionable verb used.
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Monetization
1) In-app purchases: The 70-30 revenue share through Apple’s App Store is the
same as the rest of the world. On Android, it’s more complex, as integrated billing
within the Google Play experience does not apply in China. Instead, there are a
few options:
Non-gaming apps can integrate with the payment method of their choice, but
for gaming apps, developers need to embed the payment SDK from each third
party store (each store’s payment SDK includes the common payments tools -
WeChat Pay/ Alipay/ Credit Card - and others).
The stores will then evaluate your app, and if they believe it has potential, they will
promote it via an in-app revenue share model (usually split in half). In this scenario,
you (or your agency) manage traffic directly with the APK store.
• WeChat Pay
• Alipay
• Credit Card
• Others
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2) Ad revenue monetization: A popular monetization method that is similar to
the global market - for iOS. On Android, different APK stores may have different
policies regarding the uploading of APK files with an ads SDK. Some stores will
only allow developers to embed their own ads SDK which is already integrated
with many other 3rd party ad networks’ ads SDK. Failing to do so will likely lead a
store rejecting the app.
3) Subscriptions: Same as the rest of the world, but rarely used in China.
4) Paid apps: Very rare among Android apps in China.
4. Overcome the China Connectivity Performance Challenge
Connectivity in China can certainly create problems for foreign app businesses
with increased latency, frustrated users and annoyed marketers. There are three
reasons for this:
• The Great Firewall of China: The Chinese government imposes restrictions
on foreign websites and networks
• Poor infrastructure: Although there is constant improvement in this area, the
average cellular network and ISP quality in China is still not high. Add to that
the sheer size of the country and you understand the impact
• The physical distance between servers of foreign companies and end users
across China
How can this problem be mitigated?
On a campaign level, the click-to-landing page performance can be improved
by up to 10x by connecting to a Content Delivery Network (CDN) service with
local servers (CloudFront, EdgeCast, and Akamai to name just a few). Therefore,
it is vital that your attribution provider has this kind of setup to ensure that users
who click on ads don’t have to wait.
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On an analytics dashboard level, it is important to understand if your provider
has separated the bundles between 3rd party UI code and their own application
code. Bundling both is highly inefficient because when the browser has to call
both, it creates a significant slowdown. Instead, robust provider infrastructure
can have the rarely changed 3rd party code cached in a user’s browser upon
first visit, and then on subsequent events only call the constantly changing
application code. As a result, the file weight can be dramatically reduced leading
to much faster load time.
5. Decide Which Media Sources to Run with
As we’ve touched upon in part II, the media landscape is a different animal all
together. Which networks should you run with? What type of criteria do you need
to compare?
To drive scale in China, marketers must ensure that their tracking provider is
integrated with at least 40+ top domestic ad networks that cover over 80% of
the iOS traffic in China, as well as providing you a tracking solution on Android
platform. Media sources include Tencent Social Ads, WeChat, Tencent Tui Ads,
in addition to Toutiao (News Master), Baidu Baitong, Baidu Baiyi, Xiaomi, 360
Dianjing, Momo, Kuaishou, Ipinyou, Domob, Limei, and Youmi etc.
Having been in the market since 2013, we at AppsFlyer have forged strong
relationships with the biggest players in the Chinese media market. We’d be happy
to connect you and your local representative to these companies. Just drop us
a line at partners@appsflyer.com
To help make your decision easier, we’ve included the highlights of top partners
in the Chinese market. Please refer to Appendix A for more!
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ADVERTISER & PARTNER Q&AS
PART 4
There’s no better way to understand China than to take advice from those on the ground,
whether local or not. Gaining insights from experienced industry players is important wherever
you take your app, but in China it is particularly important. As such, we have approached our
top partners - media sources, advertisers, and agencies - to offer their two cents on the market
in the form of a Q&A.
Tencent is a leading provider of Internet value added services in China. As of March
31, 2017, the monthly active user accounts of QQ was 861 million while its peak
concurrent user accounts reached 266 million. MAU of WeChat was 938 million.
1. Why should advertisers start to look at acquiring users in China?
The recent launch of the government’s Internet Plus strategy and the rise of a powerful digital
economy has helped to power the transformation and development of the whole country.
According to Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends Report, China’s macro economy continues
to see smooth and upward progress. Since the second half of 2016, consumer confidence and
manufacturing PMI index have improved continuously. Analysts expect that by 2030, middle
class and high net worth individuals, the main forces of consumption, will account for 89% of
China’s total population, unlocking huge market potential.
China has more citizens connected to the internet than any other country, with an online
population of more than 731 million, and over 695 million mobile internet users. As one of
China’s leading technology companies, Tencent has been there from the very beginning,
helping to create the country’s internet landscape and shape the way people live today by
providing connections and content.
Media Networks
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Tencent’s product ecosystem caters to the wide-ranging needs of a diverse population of users,
covering fields ranging from social networking, news, entertainment and O2O. For brands,
Tencent provides a user base, platforms, and technologies for mobile marketing.
2. What is the biggest challenge for overseas advertisers to tap into the China market?
Today, over 90% of China’s population uses the internet, and 75% shop online from their
smartphones. It has never been easier for individuals or brands to communicate. But China’s
consumers are also growing more and more diverse, with increasingly more personalized
demands and fragmented media consumption. Even the best advertisements are increasingly
more likely to be lost in a flood of information. Brands must master this changing environment
to grab the attention of their target audience and turn it into revenue.
China’s unique internet model also poses challenges to international brands. In addition to
the mobile media platforms found the world over, China has countless unique platforms
dominated by domestic companies. For any brand to market its products in the Chinese
market, cooperating with local partners and leveraging local infrastructure is a must.
3. What important tips you can offer to global advertisers who want to successfully
market their mobile or app business in China?
First, understand your target audience and develop an appropriate branding strategy. When
it comes to marketing a mobile or app business, it is more important to know users' online
and mobile habits.
Second, app localization makes it easier for a brand to be user-friendly to local users.
Third, find a local partner who understands the market and the audience. As the No. 1 Internet
company in Asia, Tencent has grown up together with China’s Internet. It boasts a huge amount
of data accumulated over the past 18 years and its platforms are used by 95% of all Chinese
netizens. Chinese mobile users spend 55%+ of their online time with Tencent*.
*Source: Internet Trends 2016, Mary Meeker
Media Networks
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4. How can Tencent help global advertisers in China?
Tencent has the world’s largest matrix of content platforms, with full penetration of different
user groups at every moment of their daily lives. Backed by data generated over the past 18 years
and supported by precise insights from the Tencent Data Management Platform and advanced
advertising technology, Tencent can provide comprehensive and in-depth insights into any
target audience. It offers a digital marketing platform that organically integrates audience,
content and scenario-based advertising, a powerful tool to help international companies
quickly understand and effectively enter the Chinese market. Brands can meet their unique
marketing needs and achieve their business goals.
For international advertisers entering the China market, Tencent helps build a successful
business in China in two ways. Tencent streamlines the mobile-oriented marketing ecosystem
by linking online media, advertising platforms, data management platforms, payment services
and customer relationship management. Tencent’s services cover planning, execution,
evaluation and optimization. They are also able to build a customized, consumer-oriented
strategy integrating a range of user needs and services, including social, news, entertainment
and O2O.
5. Is there a lack of measurement with mobile advertising in China?
China is now the world’s second largest online advertising market. As this market has grown,
the online advertising environment has become more and more complex. The China Mobile
Internet Advertising Standard, which was formulated and launched by the Interaction Committee
of China Advertising Association in 2015, has provided a feasible standard to follow. But in
order to assure reliable and effective execution, dedicated institutions must be established to
ensure deals are conducted fairly, reliably and systematically.
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Tencent has long been committed to opening its monitoring platform system to third parties,
in order to guarantee that the measurement results of its mobile ads are objective, fair and
effective. Tencent is also dedicated to facilitating the formulation of industry standards. In May
2015, Tencent and Nielsen co-launched the Digital Ad Ratings in China, a criterion to measure
the reach of a digital ad on its target audience. In August 2016, Tencent and three additional
media peers including iQiyi, Heyi Group and Sohu co-established the China Media Rating
Council (CMRC), China’s first media rating and accreditation agency formed upon industry
consensus, with SY Lau, Chairman of Tencent Advertising, and Chairman of Group Marketing
and Global Branding, named as its first chairman. Two months later, SY Lau visited the Media
Rating Council (MRC) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the US, and together with
MRC CEO George W. Ivie and IAB Executive Vice President David Doty, held extensive and
in-depth discussions on how to promote greater collaboration and exchange between the
Chinese and American digital advertising communities.
6. Why does Tencent work with a third party measurement provider? What does
Tencent think about third-party tracking and its overall importance in the app
marketing ecosystem?
To conduct in-depth analysis and measurement of their display ads, advertisers need to have
not only the data (e.g. impressions and click-through rate) from the platform where the ad
is launched, but also data (e.g. frequencies and UV) endorsed by professional third parties.
Third-party measurement is a necessary step for any ad serving platform.
At Tencent, we believe that third-party measurement can better satisfy advertiser needs in
mobile advertising service and results assessment, and can be helpful in establishing a system
that allows greater precision in mobile ad measurement. In addition, ad serving will be more
trustworthy. All these serve to facilitate ad placement at a large scale and lead to healthy
market development.
For companies and brands, building trust is an absolute necessity. Joining hands with the entire
industry, Tencent hopes to provide a boost to the Chinese online advertising sector with the
development of a strong standards system and lead the healthy and inclusive development
of the industry built upon cooperation, trust and mutual benefit.
Media Networks
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Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., Ltd. is the leading mobile internet company
dedicated to connecting information with people. As of Dec 2016, Bytedance's
flagship product Toutiao serves over 78 million daily active users.
China has a very large number of mobile internet users, and great potential to dig out the
market value. According to Chinese MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)
statistics in October 2016, Chinese active mobile internet users hit 700 million. The highly
developed mobile terminals, social networks and mobile information platforms, make today's
China a huge mobile market that cannot be ignored.
2. What important tips can you offer to global advertisers who want to be successful
in China marketing their mobile or app business?
We have faith that successful advertisers in the global market can also be successful in the
Chinese market, if they follow these suggestions for reference:
1) Fully understand the characteristics of Chinese users: Their culture, habits, behavior and
other aspects of the differences between countries and cultures. Fully understanding these
differences is a prerequisite for success in the China market.
2) Localize your apps step by step: When looking to maintain the main product features, you
can try making some small improvements to localize features with each update, or use popular
local elements, including specific language choices, local culture icons, etc. This is a great
way to make a good impression on users.
3) Leveraging China's most influential promotion platforms, such as Toutiao: To find popular
Chinese media sources, which are not only able to cover a large number of Chinese users,
but can also reach your target audience, and provide you with marketing and ad performance
optimization solutions.
3. How can Toutiao help global advertisers in China?
Toutiao is one of the most popular news apps in China. There is a massive number of users
that open our app to read news every day. The average usage is more than 76 minutes per
user per day, and the average number of opens is nine times per user per day (as of the end
of December 2016). Our machine learning techniques effectively provide users with the
information they are most interested in. As such, Toutiao can help overseas advertisers with
the following:
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1) Massive coverage: Toutiao has a comprehensive coverage of Chinese users, from major
metropolitans such as Beijing to smaller cities across the country. We have various ad formats
which can reach all of our users, such as Open Screen Ads, News Feed Ads, etc. We provide
multiple media buying options for Advertisers according to their preferences. For example,
advertisers can choose time slots to distribute ads in as well as choose a CPM model for a
preset number of guaranteed views.
2) Precise recommendations: The core of Toutiao is our machine learning techniques. We have
thousands of engineers and 4000 servers working day and night. Through the accumulation of
big data and algorithm calculculations, we constantly perfect our understanding of the users’
needs, to ensure advertising content matches the user's interests to increase performance.
We help the ad find the right person, with the right words, for the right result.
3) A variety of advertising products and content cooperation: In order to continuously improve
the advertising effect and maximize ROI, Toutiao provides advertisers with a wide range of
advertising products. These can be divided into several categories: precise positioning of
products for the target audience, creative optimization products, content cooperation products,
and more. The advertising formats can be graphic, GIF or short videos, or many other types
of diverse content. There is a great deal of potential for cooperation opportunities between
overseas advertisers and Toutiao.
4.Overall, is there a lack of measurement with mobile advertisingin China?
In China, there are many, many media platforms in the playing field. Third-party testing
companies and agencies are taking initiative to protect data, promote transparency and anti-
fraud, and support data tracking and monitoring. It is within all of our best interests to maximize
the protection of advertisers’ rights using a combination of our technologies.
Toutiao is one of the pioneers in this field in China. We have been fully supporting third-party
tracking both on branding and mobile app ads, and we‘re fully integrated with AppsFlyer as our
third party measurement partner. I believe that with time more and more Chinese platforms
will support third party tracking, and with these efforts, China's mobile advertising market will
be more open and transparent.
Media Networks
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5.ForToutiao,whyworkwithathirdpartymeasurementprovider?WhatdoesToutiao
think about third-party tracking and its overall importance in the app marketing
ecosystem?
If one media platform is playing both referee and athlete roles, it cannot be impartial. To involve
third party tracking is the only way to truly balance the advertisers and media platform, and
to solve the problem of trust between the two sides.
"Since the very beginning of our monetized activity, Toutiao has always supported third-party
monitoring, including clicks and impressions and many other actions. Open and inclusive is
the consistent attitude of Toutiao." said Zhang Lidong, a partner (co-founder) of Toutiao.
The development of the Internet provided a more efficient platform for advertisers, as they
are able to more easily monitor and analyze ROI, but they still need to get more information
regarding their UA activities. The only way they can get accurate performance data from their ads
is with the data transparency, which strongly relies on an open attitude and trust between both
parties. Third-party monitoring acts as an impartial referee, using their technology to provide
services to advertisers, that are essential for the mobile ecosystem’s growth - which is why such
agencies should be supported by all players in the mobile field. On the advertisers’ side, they
should take the initiative to maintain the transparency of data to measure ad performance. On
the publisher and Agency’s sides, they should open third-party tracking to detect ad exposure
and clicks, to help advertisers understand the effect true, accurate measurement can have
on their performance. Making every aspect of the process clear and transparent is the way to
ensure the health of mobile advertising and its long-term development.
Media Networks
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6.Have you seen any early success for global advertisers using Toutiaoand AppsFlyer
for attracting app users in China? Are there any examples / stories you can share?
Uber entered China in 2016, struggling with the market for life and death. In order to quickly
obtain users, maximize their market share, and compete with the local competitor Di Di, They
cooperated with Toutiao for UA very closely. The specific promotion strategy was:
Uber used to spent $440000/Day with us. They got very positive ad performance results, that:
• Divide users into different groups and target them
• Test various creatives
• Deliver ads with reasonable traffic allocation
• Optimize campaigns in a real time and monitor CR
• Brought more than 100000 registered drivers to the platform with more than
20% order taking over rate
• Brought more than 80000 new users and 60000 user registrations. Around 44%
of users used the app to call a driver the first time they opened it.
Media Networks
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Baidu was founded in 2000 by Internet pioneer Robin Li, creator of visionary search
technology Hyperlink Analysis, with the mission of providing people with the best
way to find information and connect users with services. Baidu boasts the world’s
largest Internet user population—731 million as of December 2016.
China has a huge population, with a number of internet users increasing every single year,
among which the mobile users are growing fastest and becoming more and more active.
China mobile users spend hours on apps and mobile service everyday. Advertisers simply can’t
afford to miss out on a market that has so much potential.
2. What important tips can you can offer to global advertisers who want to be
successful in China marketing their mobile or app business?
3. How can Baidu help global advertisers in China?
Baidu helps advertisers by providing them with diversified online and offline media sources
in high volumes as well as a variety of ad display formats. We achieve intelligently accurate
distribution by taking each customer’s industry features into account as well as taking advantage
of Baidu’s leading data AI function.
a. You should define a marketing plan that will work for you, identify your marketing goals
and target audiences. You might set up different goals for different stages, for example:
at your current stage, are you focused on brand awareness or user acquisition? If it’s the
latter, is your goal acquiring new users or re-engaging existing ones? Maximizing user
retention? Or increasing in-app purchases?
b. You need a data-monitoring system that works for you. Based on the marketing goals or
campaign evaluation method, you need to have a clear idea of what budgeting goes to
which channels, and what is the expected ROI from these channels.
c. You have to work with top advertising agencies, as they guarantee safe app promotion,
through high quality media sources that help you achieve campaign goals.
Media Networks
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4. Overall, is there a lack of measurement with mobile advertising in China.
Compared to the global market, there is a lack of effective ad tracking and measurement in
China. With more and more challenges mobile advertisers are facing theses days, such as the
inability to use cookies for tracking and the growing demand for data privacy, it is impossible to
use one party’s data to achieve a loop monitoring. Thus, we need to rely on monitoring tools
from trustworthy third parties, using their data as a bridge between advertisers and distribution
platforms, to achieve a more accurate monitoring loop and thus improve ad performance.
5. For Baidu, why work with a third party measurement provider? What does Baidu
ecosystem?
Baidu is always willing to co-operate with other companies. With third party measurement
providers, it would increase advertisers’ trust in the data. And when data is trusted by advertisers,
it makes easier for them to evaluate ROI from different marketing channels, so platforms
with excellent performance such as Baidu would stand out. Also, we rely on the third party
measurement providers to further improve our intelligent distribution module, so we can
better serve our advertisers.
6. Have you seen any early success for global advertisers using Baidu? and AppsFlyer
for attracting app users in China? Are there any examples / stories you can share?
Baidu has a lot of global advertisers who are using AppsFlyer for monitoring, such as Agoda,
Lvmama, and more. By using data monitoring, Baidu is able to provide advertisers with more
strategic products, such as TCPA (target cost-per-acquisition) to help them control their
budget. Meanwhile, we can use deep-dive data integration to build better optimized models
(such as retention, payments, etc).
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Xiaomi was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun, who believes that high-
qualitytechnologydoesn'tneedtocostafortune.Xiaomicreatesremarkablehardware,
software, and Internet services.
There is a large number of mobile internet users in China, and it is still growing rapidly. As
of December 2016, the number of mobile phone users in China reached 695 million, with a
growth rate of more than 10% for three consecutive years.
In recent years, the average spending rate of the Chinese people has grown significantly. The
United States McKinsey Global Institute study pointed out that by 2030, the annual spend of
China's labor-age population will grow from 2.5 trillion US dollars in 2015 to 6.7 trillion US
dollars. Consumer spending on purchasing services will also grow significantly.
2.What important tips you can offer to global advertisers who want to be successful
1. Adjustments for local markets: The mobile internet industry in China is highly developed
with countless players. For overseas apps, adjustments for the local market such as product
positioning, design styles, feature differences, and different language editions can all help to
promote the app in the Chinese market.
2. Timely operations: Keeping product operations and app versions updated at the same pace
as overseas versions helps in creating a positive impression among Chinese users.
3.How can Xiaomi help global advertisers in China?
Xiaomi can help advertisers reach 200 million high-quality users at a very rapid pace. Based on
rich data thanks to our extensive user base data and owning many various apps, Xiaomi’s digital
marketing system guarantees accurate audience targeting and outstanding ad performance.
Xiaomi occupies a leading position in the industry when it comes to both products and
technologies. The Xiaomi Store was established six months before the App Store. Their Search
ads are the top promotion channel and as such are leading the industry in China. Being user-
centric, Xiaomi cooperates with numerous media sources and supports almost all ads positions,
which improves both media buying efficiency and ads performance.
4.What is the biggest challenge for overseas advertisers tap into China?
There are lots of third party APK stores in China, and app developers are aggressively competitive
with each other. So for overseas developers, choosing high-quality promotion channels and
make effective promotion strategies are the key steps to tapping into China.
Media Networks
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NetEase, Inc. is a leading internet technology company in China. Dedicated to
providing online services centered around content, community, communication and
commerce, NetEase develops and operates some of China’s most popular PC-client
and mobile games, advertising services, e-mail services and e-commerce platforms.
The Internet market in China offers a lot of value for advertisers, but it is also fiercely competitive.
China has stepped into the stage of consumption upgrade. How should mobile marketing
be addressed in the environment of consumption upgrade? In such fierce competition, how
could foreign enterprises gain quality users when they are competing against local companies
with a far better understanding of the Chinese market? We’d like to share some creative ideas
that have proved effective for us.
Step1: Upgrading content. The core elements of upgrading content are brand upgrade, product
upgrade and user experience upgrade. In other words, nowadays, users are looking for a quality,
multi-cultural, personal and efficient experience. Therefore, we rigorously select our products
and content, while involving more people in the process, including users themselves, making
the product/content created a joint effort. Meanwhile, we keep utilizing multiple cultural
influences, and pay a great amount of attention to upgrading user experience, trying to make
the platform enjoyable for our users.
Step2: Upgrading marketing strategy. China is a very emotional nation, and so are the Chinese
users. Netease gives each of our users a creative tag, which we call an Emotion Tag. The
Emotion Tag IP provides users with a more personal and culturally sensitive experiences.
2. What is the biggest challenge for overseas advertisers tap into China
Achieving emotional resonance with Chinese users and how to gain user interaction in the
intense competition within the market
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3. How can Netease ADS help global advertisers in China??
Netease is one of the first and biggest internet companies in China, and as such it is familiar with
the Chinese market and users. With the brand philosophy of Quality, Attitude, Innovation and
being a One-Stop-Shop, Netease Ads provides global advertisers with diversified promotion
solutions and ad campaigns.
Netease Ads enjoys traffic from news, entertainment, social, e-commerce, utility, education,
game apps (including our in-house apps) Netease news, Netease cloud books, e-mail master,
Netease Kaola, LOFTER and other netease premium resources, covering ten million users at
overall ad scenarios. Wherever is the user, we will help you to reach him/her.
Netease Ads also connects and integrates all the data from Netease products, with advanced
data analysis engines and data experts, working to display high quality ads to the right people.
Netease Ads also initiated the Netease attitude tags, enabling advertisers to discover users’
attitudes and values, connect users who share similar attitudes and spirits, and then optimize
performance. In other words, we have moved forward from the individual-oriented era to
the cohort-oriented era.
Netease Ads has rich product lines for overseas advertisers to choose from, with different
purchase models available to satisfy various marketing needs in the Chinese market.
Media Networks
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Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (Qihoo 360) is a leading Internet platform company
in China as measured by active user base. At the end of June 2014, we had about 496
million monthly active Internet users, according to iResearch.
China is the country with the largest number of internet users and one of the fastest growing
consumer markets in the world. Consumption upgrade in China brings huge opportunities
for global advertisers, with rising demand for overseas e-commerce, games, entertainment,
and outbound travel. Meanwhile, the number of global smartphone users approached two
billion in 2016, and one quarter of those users hail from China. Also, eMarketer predicts that
by 2019, revenue from mobile internet advertising will reach $195.5 billion, 70.1% of overall
digital advertising.
2. What important tips you can offer to global advertisers who want to be successful
a) User location: Find and target audience accurately. Defining what kind of users you want
to target should be your first priority for professional data analysis.
b) Select big Ad platforms: Big Ad platforms are always the synonym of abundant traffic sources,
accurate targeting technology and advanced optimization systems.
c) Choose multi-channels: A single channel could not cover all of your potential users, and
certain channels will be much more effective for certain apps. Comparing the ROI of different
channels on a regular basis will help you figure out the best promotion strategies for your
different apps.
Media Networks
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3. How can 360 help global advertisers in China?
360 Ads provides search ads and mobile ad services, with three main advantages:
1) Massive traffic: 360 Ads connects in-house and out of house traffic, covering the top app
and main AdExchange medias, reaching all user scenarios and offering mobile traffic of four
billion impressions per day.
2) Accurate targeting tech: 360 Ads target new users automatically with the platform’s unique
smart feature, and targets user groups using advanced DMPs for better ad performance.
3) Well-rounded features: 360 Ads has creative ad types and provides a flexible matrix of ad
medias and ad types. Install data based on device ID shows directly on the 360 ads dashboard,
offering data support for optimization.
4. What is the biggest challenge for overseas advertisers tap into China?
There is a massive number of apps in China, and mobile traffic is thus quite fragmented. In
addition, traffic fraud is on the rise. To avoid losing money to traffic fraud, global advertisers
need to use strong anti-fraud mechanisms. 360 Ads connects internal and external premium
traffic via MAX (AdExchange), reaching all user scenarios. As a security tech company, 360 Ads
has strong anti-fraud abilities enabling it to exclude fraudulent traffic and improve performance
for advertisers.
5. As one of the largest third party apk stores in China, do you think there is a lack of
measurement with android mobile advertising in China? How does 360 to overcome
the limitation??
For app install campaigns, there is a problem of inaccurate install data, and install discrepancies
between ad platforms and third parties, so it’s hard to analyze the install data correctly. On
the other hand, most ad platforms lack the retention data. As a result, it’s hard for advertisers
to track post-install data. 360 Ads provides data on downloads, installs, retention and more,
while supporting various third party attribution and data monitoring solutions.
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Momo is a location-based mobile social networking and entertainment platform
launched in August, 2011. Momo enables users to connect with each other in a
personal and lively way through short-form videos and live streaming.
Because the biggest mobile internet market is in China.
You have to identify your product’s position in the market and its target audiences, then look
for a professional team to get you integrated advertising campaigns.
You can’t just measure your campaign performance based on the number of installs and
launches, as there are many cheap media sources in China that might provide quantity without
quality, which won’t do any good for your business.
3. How can Momo help global advertisers in China?
As the largest open social platform in China, Momo has collected a high volume of quality
young users who are willing to try new apps and services.
The ads from Momo are integrated with the user behavior data from our own platform, so the
advertisers can target very accurately according to user’s interests and behaviors.
We also offer multiple media types (such as videos) to help the advertisers reach their goals
in terms of both brand awareness and user acquisition.
4. What is the biggest challenge for overseas advertisers tap into China
You need to identify all of your competitors, know how you are going to reach your target
audiences, make sure you can get quality users from the first batch of the new users, and
adapt to the market changes and uncertainties quickly.
5. Overall, is there a lack of measurement with mobile advertisingin China?
Right now ad tracking is in a good place, but attribution is still lacking. In addition, it’s hard to
measure offline advertising and video ads.
6. For Momo, why work with a third party measurement provider? What does Momo
ecosystem?
Because we need a set of complete and unbiased data for the measurement, to help us make
the right decisions.
Media Networks
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Playrix is one of the leading mobile game development companies in the world. Its distributed
team consists of 450 professionals from around the world. The company has released three
highly successful mobile free-to-play games – Township, Fishdom and Gardenscapes.
1. Why did you decide to start running campaigns in China?
Due to the immense market growth and strong prospects for our games.
2. How did you localize your game for Chinese users?
Due to the immense market growth and strong prospects for our games.
3. How do you overcome the measurement and attribution challenge on Android?
Right now we’re only working with iOS users.
4. What do you consider to be your biggest challenge(s) in the CN market?
From our experience, one of the biggest challenges is finding the proper UA channels and
reaching the right users within these channels. Since many of the social media platforms which
are the usual suspects for the rest of the world are banned in China, we have to work hard to
understand the features of each unique Chinese channel separately. Also, it is a problem that
some channels don't support the analytic tools we use.
5. Was bureaucracy an issue and if so how did you deal with it?
Yes, because of strict terms of PRC legislation as a foreign company we had a hard time getting
ICP and other licenses. Usually, there's a way to make it work through Chinese agencies, but
the level of their expertise is extremely varied.
6. How would you assess the performance you're seeing from Chinese users?
While it's harder to get paid, there are some big whales that generate good revenue.
You have to work hard to provide the audience with creatives they are really like, it is not easy
because usually, campaigns that show good results in Europe or the U.S don’t perform well
in China.
7. Can you offer 2-3 tips/best practices that could help marketers make the most
of China's potential?
It's important to learn all of the features of your channels and do your best to set up good
relationships with their managers. And of course, everything should be translated and double
checked by locals.
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Agoda.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. It is owned by
a subsidiary of The Priceline Group and is one of the world’s most popular travel apps.
China is the biggest market we work with, generating huge demand in outbound travelling in
recent years. In addition, there was a massive behavior shift from PC to mobile (mainly on our
app) which is much faster than any other country, so we didn’t want to miss the opportunities
these trends presented.
2. How did you localize your app for Chinese users?
While internet technology is growing rapidly, localization in China is never easy for an
international company. One of the main areas we focused on was payments. We've implement
various payment options like Alipay and Wechat Pay, and have enabled other features to
ease localization such as Wechat login, localized maps, etc. We are continuously developing
features which Chinese businesses value, and aim to constantly offer them a customized user
experience to improve conversion rate.
This is tricky, and very different from other countries as there are so many stores in China, and
none of them are particularly dominate. Measuring the ROI from each store and determining
which results come from a paid campaign and which are organic has always been a headache
for agoda.
Luckily now we have AppsFlyer as a third party provider for distribution and attribution analysis.
Another big challenge we’re facing in China is download hijacking. In this situation, no matter
what APK the user is trying to download, from a store or out of store by using a link, Android
devices in China may detect it and ask users to download the app through a different source,
which would result in incorrect attribution. We are now implementing cross-app attribution to
enjoy more accurate data and better understand the user’s journey through the stores in China.
Advertisers
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Besides our ongoing business and tracking visibility, verifying traffic quality is going to be
the biggest challenge for the next couple of months or even years. The reason is when
mobile traffic is growing fast, there are more and more tricks coming from vendors/medias
to generate fraudulent traffic. Even with our years of experience in promoting campaigns in
China, it’s very hard for advertisers to evaluate the data coming from publishers or even from
certain third party tracking companies. The data we implemented and looked into includes
basic metrics like impressions, click conversions, etc. Nowadays, machines can use bots or
other up and coming technologies to generate data that could seem like genuine traffic, and
seriously damage results. Take for example an app campaign, based on a CPI or CPS model,
generating fraudulent traffic stolen from another channel, or organic traffic attributed to their
channel, which means we lose money. When media sources are selling traffic using the CPC
or CPM model, fraudulent traffic makes their performance continuously bad and at the same
time hard to evaluate and optimize. I think this happens in every market but it seems more
evident in the China market.
of China's potential?
• Seek out every available channel for promotions which can generate revenue and verify
the data/tracking visibility using a trusted attribution company.
• Do more AB testing to find out the best strategy for your product/service in China
• Prepare a big budget (because China is simply too big)
• and dive into it ;)
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A leading gaming studio out of Finland with popular simulation titles like Build Away
and Farm Away.
After the launch of our first title, Farm Away, we discovered that China was our second largest
market for organic traffic after the US - accounting for 15% of revenue. The same was true
for our second title, Build Away, so naturally it made sense for us to test UA in China and it's
worked well for us. Today China accounts for 17% of our marketing spend.
2. How did you localize your game for Chinese users?
We use a localisation service, Transfluent, to translate our in-game and marketing text. We've
also released updates specifically targeted at China such as Chinese New Year themes, crops,
animals and buildings. We're a startup and haven't yet brought out the big guns like China
specific SKUs or marketing graphics, but we're in talks with partners who handle these and
will be testing them as we grow.
We're currently live on iOS only in China, and attribution works as smoothly as it does in other
territories which is a blessing. We're progressing towards launching on Android, however, and
will work closely with the distributors and our attribution partner, AppsFlyer, to overcome
attribution challenges across the fragmented Android ecosystem.worked well for us. Today
China accounts for 17% of our marketing spend.
In our case volatility of user quality and fraud have made user acquisition slightly higher
maintenance than other territories. We've found user quality from a given channel can vary
more in China so campaigns need to be optimised more frequently. China also accounts
for more fraudulent installs for us than all other geos put together, so we work closely with
AppsFlyer's fraud detection systems and our internal tools to block fraudulent traffic. As we
move into the Android space, however, the fragmented ecosystem and partner relationship
management will likely become an interesting challenge.
Advertisers
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5. Was bureaucracy an issue and if so how did you deal with it?
Apple handled the iOS side of our China distribution which has been seamless, but the
Android space is more complex. We’re in discussions with partners who handle the licences
and relationships required to launch on Android in China. The partnership between Unity and
Xiaomi looks to be a game changer: they’re developing a system in which distribution, ads
and IAPs are all handled seamlessly through the Unity Engine. We’ve partnered with them on
this and will be one of the first companies to use the platform that aims to be launched to the
public later in 2017.
6. How would you assess the performance you’re seeing from Chinese users?
Our China iOS LTVs are about half that of top geos (US, GB, AU), but the sheer volume of the
audience more than makes up for the decreased LTVs in terms of marketability. Our ARPDAUs
in China are actually very similar to the US, primary due to the great eCPMs we get on rewarded
video from ad networks like Unity and AdColony, consistently north of $20-$30. Retention
rates are lower than our best territories, however, which presents an opportunity for us to
work on further China specific content to improve our engagement in the region.
of China’s potential?
1. Get out there: We’re a case study in how a small company can do well in China without
needing to go all-out on marketing and localisation. China is our second largest source of
revenue and we don’t have a China specific team or external partner - we were just 6 people
at the launch of Farm Away.
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2. Watch out for fraud: It's advisable to have a healthy level of vigilance on UA campaigns in
China to make sure you're getting what you pay for. Working with a top attribution partner like
AppsFlyer who have high-end fraud detection systems saves a lot of time and money. We also
have an internal automated fraud detection system in place to verify install numbers reported
by ad networks against those reported by AppsFlyer, and check whether installs actually go
on to engage with the game.
3. Grow iteratively: I've worked on big releases that tried to do everything at once by locking
into a separate Chinese SKU and blowing a large China launch marketing budget. While this
can work for some if they're confident in their strategy, we'd recommend a staged approach to
entering the Chinese market; take the low hanging fruit first such as text translations, releasing
and marketing on iOS - then testing out platforms, content and marketing pushes if/when
they make sense and incrementally learn what works for you.
Advertisers
49www.appsflyer.com

App In China helps companies and start-ups launch their apps into the fast-growing
Chinese mobile app market.
China currently has almost 1B smartphone users which is certainly an audience you can't
ignore. Add that to the fact that China is a mobile-first country for many users, making the use
of a smartphone very natural to them. This is why you see that mobile technologies (such as
mobile payments and integrated services) in China are much more advanced than in the west.
2. What important tips Appinchina can offer to global advertisers who want to be
successful in China marketing with their mobile or app business?
China is the wild wild east especially in the mobile world. Things like mobile advertising,
promoting an app and tracking work very differently in China than in the west. The best tip
is forget everything you already know and be open to learning. Be prepared for uncertainty
and unexpected results.
3. How can AppInChina help global advertisers in China?
AppInChina is a one-stop shop for global advertisers in China. AppInChina handles the entire
operation of the app from A to Z. We do the distribution, updates, maintenance of the app, as
well as consulting for payment solutions and localization. In addition, our platform lets you
see your app status on the Chinese stores in one single dashboard.
4. Overall, is there a lack of measurment with mobile advertising in China?
Ultimately yes. We bumped into many cases where the data generated by a campaign could
not be explained even by people who owned the platforms.
5. For AppInChina, why work with a third party measurement provider? What does
Appinchinathink about third-party tracking and its overall importance in the app
marketing ecosystem?
We had clients using third party measurement tools which got more accurate results. While
some platforms can sometimes offer a decent solution, it might not be 100% transparent. We
want to make the Chinese market transparent and accessible for our clients. That's one of our
core values. We take away the uncertainty when an advertiser chooses to work with us, and
using a third party measurement provider helps us do just that.
APPINCHINA
ADVERTISERSAgencies
50www.appsflyer.com

Based in Beijing with a presence in California, Yodo1 is a full- service team of 125+
who work with talented developers around the world to help their games succeed
in China and everywhere else mobile games are played.
1. Why should overseas gaming developers start to look at acquiring users in China?
China has the largest population and the fastest growing mobile internet market in the world.
The China gaming market has become one of the largest game markets globally, and Chinese
game players are one of the highest value players advertisers can find. Any game developer
who wants to achieve global success, needs to consider how they can be successful in the
Chinese market. More and more global developers are trying to tap into the China market and
launch ad campaigns to acquire users in China.
2. What important tips you can offer to global gaming developers who want to be
1.Cultural difference: Before entering the Chinese market, foreign app developers need to
consider localization of product and design seriously. Especially when it comes to culture,
China is a typical oriental country and Chinese users have their unique characteristics, which
need to be taken into consideration.
2. Ad channels: Compared with overseas markets, the China market is more complex, with
many various traffic sources and many massive apps with a large user base that can become
media sources for user acquisition. For each specific product, we first need to understand
who our users are and then select suitable traffic channels to run campaigns on and optimize
them on an ongoing basis according to the data.
3. Market competition: China is a highly competitive market, in which foreign advertisers have
to compete with global advertisers as well as local players. With this ever growing competitive
landscape, the cost of user acquisition will continue rising, meaning creative optimization will
become more and more important.
Agencies
51www.appsflyer.com

3. How can Yodo1 help global gaming developers in China?
Since its establishment in 2012, Yodo1 has helped over 100 app developers launch their product
in China, including Rodeo Stampede - Sky Zoo Safari, Ski Safari, Crossy Road, Transformer:
Earth Wars and other globally successful products. Yodo1 provides comprehensive services
for global app developers in the following fields:
1) Deep culture-localization for products: Make your product look just like a local product, so
Chinese players can enjoy an authentic experience.
2) Long-term localized operations and promotions: For different products, Yodo1 will design
multiple promotion and operation plans, helping each product gain exposure within the right
target audience.
3) Build a strong brand for new products: We have the connections and experience to build
successful brands for gaming apps. Some examples include Rodeo Stampede - Sky Zoo Safari,
Ski Safari, and Crossy Road - All games with more than 10 million users, and strong brand images.
4) Rich monetization methods: Yodo1 has established deep partnerships with domestic Chinese
ad platforms as well as global ones. We design effective monetization methods with a tailored
user experience according to each product's characteristics, including ad monetization, 3rd
party payment channels, telecom operator payment, etc.
5). Assisting foreign products pass the China Bureau’s examination: With the development of
the Chinese game market, government regulation has become more extensive. Yodo1 can
help global app developers gain a better understanding of local regulations and prepare for
them in advance, in order to pass the examination and get faster approvals.
ADVERTISERSAgencies
52www.appsflyer.com

4. What is the biggest challenge for overseas gaming developers tap into China?
Cultural difference. Not all products that enjoyed success overseas can duplicate their success
in China mainly due to the cultural differences. Overcoming the cultural difference is the
biggest prerequisite for success in China.
5. For Yodo1, why work with a third party measurement provider? What does Yodo1
ecosystem?
We have many third-party service partners, since we believe every aspect of the process should
be handled by a professional in each respective field. We need a professional and reliable
partner who can provide accurate, efficient, stable and safe services to support us, as the cost
of user acquisition has become higher and higher and the mobile market has become more
and more complicated.
Agencies
53www.appsflyer.com

Shani Rosenfelder
Shani is the content & mobile insights lead at AppsFlyer. He
has over 10 years of experience in key content and marketing
roles across a variety of leading online companies and startups.
Combining creativity, analytical prowess and a strategic mindset,
Shani is passionate about building a brand’s reputation and
visibility through innovative, content-driven projects. You can
follow him on LinkedIn.
Vicky Mao
Vicky leads AppsFlyer’s Partner Development team in China
and is responsible for joint ventures and relationships with top
partners in the region. She is an expert in the Chinese mobile
market with 7+ years of domestic and global experience.
Vicky is dedicated to bringing overseas advertisers into
China, leading them to success by maximizing the market’s
potential. You can follow her on LinkedIn.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
MOBILE ATTRIBUTION?
VISITUS
AUTHORS
54www.appsflyer.com

55www.appsflyer.com
KEY OFFERINGS FROM
TOP MEDIA SOURCES
Appendix

56www.appsflyer.com

Bytedance
57www.appsflyer.com
Advertisers can reach hundreds millions of mobile internet users.
Average time spent per user surpsses 76 minutes daily.
The world's leading technology and algorithms built to deliver
the highest conversion rate at the lowest price.
Key Features:
SCALE
ENGAGED USERS
ACCURATE, SMART AND EFFECTIVE
Bytedance is a personalized recommendation engine based on data mining
technology. The company provides valuable, personalized news for users,
in addition to new services for connecting people and information. It is
one of the fastest growing companies in China’s domestic mobile market.
Contact Info:
ad@toutiao.com

58www.appsflyer.com
Top clients:
BAIDU (NASDAQ: BIDU) IS THE WORLD’S LARGEST
CHINESE SEARCH ENGINE AND WEBSITE.
OUR MISSION IS TO USE TECHNOLOGY
- PARTICULARLY AI -
TO SIMPLIFY OUR COMPLEX WORLD.
Contact Info:
baiyics@baidu.com
Tel: (+86 10)5992 8888
100,000+advertisers across all verticals

59www.appsflyer.com

60www.appsflyer.com

61www.appsflyer.com
across PC, mobile devices
and smart hardware800 MILLION USERS
impressions per day
across all screen30 BILLION companies
served1 MILLION
Covering all scenarios for a highly effective brand recognition process: By leveraging the
scale of the company’s cross-screen resources, we can help clients to build brand awareness
in a one-stop-shop.
Creative content to boost marketing value: Creation of scenario-based, relevant and interactive
ads built to deliver better performance that can meet the client’s marketing goals.
Closed marketing loop driven by big data to deliver enhanced accuracy: Connecting users
across screens via multi-dimensional big data tools to ensure precision and cost effectiveness.
Experts in smart hardware marketing: Smart hardware (Internet of Things) is the new future
of digital marketing, creating brand new marketing scenarios. The AI of 360 Ads can predict
potential user needs, and then impact their consumption decisions.
Superior customized service: we care about our client’s brand image, build a customized
marketing plan and modify promotion strategies dynamically to constantly increase ROI.
360 Ads is a premium cross-screen advertising solution built on advanced behavioral big data and
artificial intelligence engines. The company operates in the Chinese domestic market, providing a
highly efficient, one-stop marketing solution for its clients.
KEY FEATURES
Contact Info:
lilinyang@360.cn
phone: 4000360360
website: http://e.360.cn

62www.appsflyer.com

63www.appsflyer.com
Yodo1 was established in November 2011 and committed to discover and high-quality
games to promote them in China and around the world. Yodo1 is the only Chinese
distributor with the global distribution capability and the most popular Chinese
games are recommended by Apple appstore in China.
Yodo1 is a global games publisher based in Beijing, with studios in Shanghai, Nanjing,
and Tokyo. What we lack in air quality we make up for in great games. We're proud
to have launched a handful of awesome titles, such as: League of Stickmen, Crossy
Road, OMG: TD!, Cavemania, and Alpha Zero.
TOP CLIENTS
Contact Info:
bd@yodo1.com
Zeptolab TransformersDefiant
Development
Crazy Zoo Crossy Road

64www.appsflyer.com
Top Clients:
MOMO(NASDAQ:MOMO)isanmobilevideosocialapplication,whichiscurrently
the largest social entertainment platform in China. Advertisers can delivery ads
based on the users' locations, age, gender, interesting etc. And our video ads
form provides a cooler and more interesting mobile ads experience for users.
Our users are younger, and have strong purchasing power. More than 4.1 million in-app
purchase users. According to the latest data of QuestMobile, 73% MOMO users are under
30, which is good for advertisers to tap into Chinese young people market.
MOMO Ads platform is fully integrated with third party tracking company, and advertising
monitoring data is completely transparent. Advertisers can optimize campaigns and UA
strategy according to the effect of intelligent analysis.
According to advertisers' promotion needs, MOMO can provide a variety of directional and
hundreds of behavioral interest tags for users, and accurately target customers based on
the location.
Contact Info:
phone: 400-804-3300
mail: ad@immomo.com
SYSTEM ADVANTAGES
TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES
USERS ADVANTAGES

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