Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. TikTok, Universal Music Group Seal New ‘Multidimensional’ Licensing Deal
TikTok is bringing back many of the world’s most popular recording artists – including Taylor Swift, BTS and Drake – under a new licensing deal with Universal Music Group (UMG), even as the hit short video platform faces a sell-or-ban ultimatum from the United States government.
ByteDance-owned TikTok and UMG have signed in Los Angeles what they describe as a “multidimensional licensing agreement” that would deliver significant industry-leading benefits for UMG’s global family of artists, songwriters, and labels. The new pact showed the lengths taken by both parties to resolve their issues and an acrimonious dispute, which led UMG to pull its vast music catalog from the short video app earlier this year.
2. TikTok Announces Expanded Premium Ad Placement Options
TikTok has announced an update to its premium ad placement option, with brands using its top-end “Pulse” ads now set to have more publisher content to place their ads alongside.
TikTok’s Pulse offering enables big brands to maximize their ad placement in the app, by ensuring that their promotions appear adjacent to some of the most popular content from premium publishers and creators. According to a study published by TikTok earlier this year, when ads are served next to trending content, viewers see the ad as more relevant and more favorable, driving higher purchase intent (+9%). And now, Pulse advertisers will have more options, with TikTok signing up Paramount Global and the National Hockey League (NHL) to its suite of placements for Pulse promotions.
3. TikTok to Showcase AANHPI Creators and Brands This Heritage Month
TikTok has announced a new line-up of special event programming, as well as a showcase of top AANHPI creators, to help promote and share the event with its user community.
Firstly, TikTok says that it will be showcasing AANHPI musicians in the app via the sounds page. That’ll provide more exposure for culturally-aligned creators, which could help to boost interest and diversity via TikTok music. TikTok also says that it’ll be shining a spotlight on “inspiring, diverse AANHPI creators and brands who are using TikTok to celebrate AANHPI heritage and uniquely grow their businesses.” TikTok will also encourage users to shop from AANHPI brands, as part of its #ShopAPI TikTok Shop hashtag challenge. Which isn’t really a challenge, as such, you just spend money with the highlighted businesses. But it’s another means to promote specific sellers in the app.
4. TikTok Announces Ticket Sales Partnership With CTS Eventim
TikTok has taken another step to enhance its connection with the music industry, through an expanded in-stream ticket sales partnership with European ticket giant CTS EVENTIM.
Now, creators on TikTok will be able to display ticket sales links when they post a video, by selecting from the events listed in the CTS EVENTIM database. Once a link has been added, viewers will then be able to tap through to the CTS EVENTIM website to make a purchase direct from the app. The deal builds on TikTok’s in-app ticket purchasing options, with TikTok also announcing an expanded ticket sales partnership with Ticketmaster in December last year. That gives the app significant linkage to both European and U.S. events, which will help artists better link their TikTok fans to their live shows.
5. Foreigners Spend 700% More on Alipay in China Over Labour Day Holiday
Inbound tourist spending through the mobile payment app Alipay surged during the Labour Day holiday in China this year, according to the app’s owner Ant Group, as overseas tourists slowly return to the country after the pandemic.
Spending that international travelers made with Alipay during the Labour Day “golden week” across mainland China jumped 700 percent year on year, Ant said in a statement. The app benefited from an increased number of international tourists brought in by China’s new visa-free entry policies, the company said. The number of visitors – from 15 countries across Europe and Southeast Asia included in China’s visa exemption scheme – who used Alipay during the holiday was up fourfold this year, according to Ant.
Wrapping Up
The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.
To delve deeper into the findings of our latest report, click here.
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