China Digital Digest - July 2022: Exploring the Chinese Social Media Landscape

ClickInsights has come up with the July edition of China’s Digital Digest in association with wai social. The report takes a look 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. ByteDance Might Join the VR Space

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance might join the virtual reality space as it aims to invest heavily in VR-related content. This might come on the top of over 40 job listings that have popped up for Pico, the Chinese VR headset maker that ByteDance acquired last year.

2. Douyin and TikTok Rake in $277M in May Revenue

TikTok and its sister app for mainland China, Douyin, have earned over $277 million from the App Store and Google Play. The amount is 1.6 times higher than what they earned in May last year. This has helped it maintain its status as the top global non-game mobile app in terms of revenue. While 47.5% of the revenue came from China, 17.7% came from the U.S., the second-largest TikTok market. Saudi Arabia, which is TikTok’s third-largest market, contributed 4% of the revenue.

3. Tencent Tells Staff That Promotions Won’t Necessarily Lead to Pay Raise

In what might seem like a major disappointment to some of its employees, Tencent, the Chinese IT and entertainment conglomerate, has announced that not all promotions might lead to immediate pay raise. The company said that other factors like contributions to the company and how competitive the current salary is will be taken into consideration to make decisions regarding the appraisals. The move has come after several rounds of layoffs across the company due to the economic downturn.

4. Weibo Experiences a Surge of $427M in Advertising Revenue in the First Quarter of 2022

Weibo’s total revenue hit $485M in the first quarter of 2022, which marked a 6% year-over-year increase. The revenue from value-added services was $57.5M, which is a decrease of 17% year-over-year. The revenue from advertising marked a 10% year-over-year increase reaching $427M.

5. JD.com to Try its Hand at Food Delivery Business

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is looking to develop a food delivery business. Under the arrangement, merchants will operate through the JD Daojia app while the DADA Group is to be made responsible for delivery logistics. The business, which hasn’t been launched yet, will reportedly first operate in pilot cities such as Zhengzhou. The venture is being promoted by the food and beverage business department of JD Tongcheng. The new department, which was established by JD.com on June 7, currently employs about 10 people.

6. Bilibili’s Revenue and Users Grew in the First Quarter While Net Losses Widen

According to Bilibili’s financial report for the first quarter of 2022, the company has registered an increase in revenue to CNY 5 billion, which is a 29.5% year-over-year increase. The firm’s fastest-growing vertical was advertising as its revenues reached CNY 1 billion, representing a 46% jump compared to the same period last year. Revenue from value-added businesses reached CNY 2 billion due to the growth of live-streaming and membership fees. Nonetheless, the firm’s gaming and e-commerce businesses experienced a slowdown and only increased by 16% year-on-year.

7. Pinduoduo Launches a Browser Version of Its Ecommerce Platform

Chinese e-commerce app Pinduoduo has launched its web browser version. The new web version requires users to log in via their mobile phone number before purchasing or accessing more features. Currently, web version users can’t group shop, one of the main features of Pinduoduo.

Wrapping Up

The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it 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 the July report, click here.