1.
The China Digital Marketing Trends Report is a collaboration between Miaozhen Systems,
AdMaster and the GDMS. Attracting brand advertisers, agencies, media, marketing technology
companies, and more members of the digital marketing production chain to participate, the report
aims to help brand advertisers and other industry members accurately evaluate marketing trends
and achieve higher ROI in the coming year. A barometer of the China digital marketing industry,
this series of reports has been ongoing for the last four years. These highly valuable references
have become must-have marketing handbooks for advertisers, media, agencies, and more.

2.
Digital Marketing1
• Budget growth slows: Digital advertising budgets will grow 14% on average in 2020, slower compared to the past 3 years.
• Most attention paid to social marketing: In 2020, social marketing and private traffic pools will be the forms of digital marketing most
worthy of attention. Video ads and social e-commerce come in second.
• Mobile marketing budget continues to grow: Digital marketing budgets continue the trend of moving toward mobile. Social media
platforms and short-form video platforms will be the focus of mobile growth.
• More attention paid to marketing AI: Marketing AI will be the digital marketing technology advertisers are most interested in following,
followed by Marketing data platform , marketing automation technologies.
Social Marketing2
• Within social marketing, KOL Marketing remains a focus. Short-form video/livestreaming increase in popularity. WeChat Official Account
management and social e-commerce are less popular than in 2019.
Content Marketing3
• Advertisers will focus on self-produced videos/micro films, web variety, and TV variety. Self-produced videos/micro films and sports
events see a surge in popularity.
Invalid Traffic (IVT)4
• Advertisers consider poor ad viewability to have the most impact on traffic quality, followed by bot-inflated traffic and brand safety. Ad
measurement and IVT filtration services will be the primary methods of reducing IVT.

3.
Digital marketing budgets to grow 14% on average in 2020,
Down from the past 3 years and showing a slowdown for the first time
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How will the amount of your company’s digital marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice)
2017 2018 2019 2020
+17%
+18%
+20%
+14%

4.
Nearly 60% of advertisers will increase their digital marketing
spending by <10%, a quarter more than last year. Nearly 30%
of advertisers will not change their digital marketing spending
amount from last year.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How will the amount of your company’s digital marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice)
6%
12%
22%
25%
29%
5%
12%
17%
37%
13% 14%
7%
Up 50% or more Up 30%-49% Up 10%-29% Up <10% Same as 2019 Down from 2019
2020
2019
59%(vs.34%)

5.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: Which forms of digital marketing do you think will be the most important to follow in 2020? (Note: In this survey, “digital marketing” refers to all forms of
digital marketing, not including paid content promotion; social marketing; and content marketing) (Multiple choice)
70%
62%
47% 46%
36% 34% 32% 29%
22% 18% 15% 13%
Advertisers’ digital marketing focus shifts:
Social marketing and private traffic pools to be the most
important forms of digital marketing to follow in 2020;
Video ads and social media e-commerce rank second

6.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: In the following sectors, how will the amount of your company’s marketing spending change in compared to 2019? (Multiple choice)
9%
75%
21%
17%
42%
23%
29%
35%
35%
2%
8%
6%
14%
1%
42%
41%
PC
Mobile
New TV
Other
(IoT/VR/AR)
Net growth:
+73%
Net growth: -
26%
Note: net growth = increase% - decrease%
Net growth:
+13%
Net growth:
+11%
PC: Only 9% to increase digital marketing spending;
Mobile: 75% of advertisers to increase digital marketing spending;
New TV: same amount of advertisers to increase or not change spending
as the amount of advertisers to decrease spending or not spend

7.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: On PC, which kinds of media will your company primarily choose to advertise on in 2020? (Multiple choice)
57% 55%
42%
37%
34%
22%
49% 50%
37%
28% 30%
20%
Social media Search engines Video sites E-commerce sites Vertical sites Portal sites
2020
2019
On PC, social media surpasses search engines to become
advertisers’ most valued advertising channel; A higher
percentage of advertisers choose video websites than in 2019

8.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: On mobile, which kinds of media will your company primarily choose to advertise on in 2020? (Multiple choice)
83%
70%
43% 40%
35%
22%
15%
69%
50%
37% 37%
28% 24%
15%
Social media
platforms
Video platforms E-commerce
platforms
Vertical platforms Mobile search Mobile news O2O platforms
2020
2019
68%
16%
Short-form
video platforms
Long-form video
platforms
系列 1
On mobile, social media and video platforms remain the
focus of advertisers; Among video platforms, short-form videos
are most valued—68% of advertisers see them as their focus

9.
Social marketing spending to grow by 15% on average,
Showing a similar slowdown as overall digital marketing
compared to the past 2 years
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How will the amount of your company’s social marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice)
2018 2019 2020
+21%
+15%
+21%

10.
6%
12%
27% 26%
24%
5%6%
12%
22%
25%
29%
5%
Up 50% or more Up 30%-49% Up 10%-29% Up <10% Same as 2019 Down from 2019
Social marketing spending
Digital marketing spending
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How will the amount of your company’s digital marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice) Q: How will the amount of your
company’s social marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice)
Digital
marketing to
grow 14% on
average
Social
marketing to
grow 15% on
average
71%(vs.65%)
71% of advertisers to increase their social marketing budgets;
The growth rate of social marketing budget is higher than that of
digital marketing budget; spending trends consistent with the digital
marketing forms they consider important to follow

11.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How will the amount of your company’s social marketing spending change in 2020 compared to 2019? (Single choice)
6%
12%
27% 26%
24%
5%
7%
21%
31%
22%
13%
6%
Up 50% or more Up 30%-49% Up 10%-29% Up <10% Same as 2019 Down from 2019
2020
2019
The percentage of advertisers who will grow their social
marketing budget by 30%-49% plunges from last year;
Nearly a quarter of advertisers’ social marketing budgets
remain unchanged from 2019

12.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: What will your company’s social marketing focus on in 2020? (Multiple choice)
Note: No research data is available for community management/private traffic in 2019, hence graph shows “null”.
Null
KOL marketing remains a focus for advertisers; popularity of
short-form videos and livestreaming increases; over half of
advertisers see community management and private traffic pools
as focuses; WeChat Official Account management draws less
focus compared to last year
63%
53% 53% 52%
46%
63%
66%
47% 47%
KOL marketing Wechat office account
management
Short-form
videos/livesteaming
Community
management/private
traffic
Social CRM
2020
2019

13.
53% of advertisers will focus on self-produced videos/micro
films for content marketing; significantly more interest in
sports events than last year
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: Where do you expect to spend on content marketing in 2020? (Multiple choice)
53%
38% 37%
26%
22%
16% 15%
4%
37%
34%
28%
12%
21%
16%
10% 7%
Self-produced
videos/micro films
Web variety shows TV variety shows Sports events TV series Web series Films Web feature films
2020
2019

14.
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221, sample size of digital marketing professionals n=434
Q: Where do you expect to spend on content marketing in 2020? (Multiple choice)
53%
38% 37%
26%
22%
18% 16% 15%
4%
47%
43% 41%
25% 23% 23% 22%
17%
9%
Self-produced
videos/micro
films
Web variety
shows
TV variety shows Sports events TV series Gaming/e-sports Web series Films Web feature films
Advertisers
Digital marketing professionals
Compared to advertisers, digital marketing professionals are
less focused on self-produced videos/micro films Than on web
variety shows, gaming/e-sports, web series, and web feature
films

15.
Advertisers see poor ad viewability as making the largest impact
to traffic quality; Mainly use ad measurement and IVT filtration
services to reduce IVT
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: How strongly do you think the following issues impact traffic quality? Please rank by importance from 1-4 (1 is most important, 4 is least) by clicking in order on the
options. (Multiple choice)
Q: Which methods has your company used to minimize damages caused by IVT? (Multiple choice)
42%
26%
23%
10%
Ad viewability
Bot-inflated traffic
Brand safety
Passing off poor traffic as
good
No methods taken
Other
Using ad measurement and IVT
filtration services
Establishing IVT requirements for
payment in their contract
Creating traffic evaluation standards
based on the state of the industry
Using SDK measurement and urging
media to increase traffic transparency
Using
programmatic IVT
filtration services
56%
42%
39%
36%
23%
1%
14%

16.
Marketing AI will be the digital marketing technology
garnering most advertiser interest; The Marketing data platform,
marketing automation, and data collection technology closely follow
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08, 2019
Data source: China Digital Marketing Trends 2020 online survey, sample size of advertisers n=221
Q: Which digital marketing technologies do you think will be closely followed and popular in 2020? (Multiple choice)
71%
55% 53%
46%
33% 31% 26% 25%
18%
8%
Marketing AI Marketing data
platform
Marketing
automation
Data collection
technology
Data
governance and
compliance
Digital retail Walled garden
tools
Marketing
blockchain
Programmatic
buying
Privatization of
existing
technologies

17.
The use of data and report by AdMaster and Miaozhen System shall not violate any laws and regulations and infringe legitimate rights and interests of any third party. Any recital and quoting of such data and report shall be
expressed the source is derived from AdMaster and Miaozhen . Unless written consent by AdMaster and Miaozhen , such data and report under this Agreement cannot be resell/provided to any third party (except the end client).
T
www.miaozhen.com∣ www.admaster.com.cn
Marketing@miaozhen.com ∣ Marketing@admaster.com.cn

18.
Study method: online survey
51%
15%
14%
7%
7%
2%1%3%
Advertisers/brands Media buyers/agencies
Marketing/advertising tech companies Consulting/research firms
Media BATT
Hardware manufacturers Other
Composition of
sample
Survey period: Oct 16, 2019–Nov 08,
2019
Study participants: digital marketing
professionals
Total sample size: 434, 221 of which were
advertisers