Data from app tracker Analysys Qianfan shows that as of the third quarter of 2020, the number of mobile internet users in China reached 1.031 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 1.48% and a slight increase of 0.39%.
According to the last 3 years data, the growth rate of mobile internet users slowed down significantly, the mobile digital life has become a norm, which can be described as having fully entered the era of inventory. Although the internet user growth slowed, vertical apps still maintained growth, especially social e-commerce, audio, games, and other industry. These apps are the top 3 in user activity, and there is a lot of space for future growth. According to the data, as of September 2020, the coverage time of vertical apps accounts for 26.4% of users, more than 1/4 of the overall market, the traffic proportion is considerable, which is worth the market’s attention.
User profile analysis of vertical apps traffic
Data shows that vertical applications such as games, tools, and information have an average user size of 300 to 400 million, as do video, reading, lifestyle, and travel.
The game industry has a high proportion of young users, and the label of leisure and entertainment is significant
The utility category has a high proportion of men, and the consumption concept is more mature and focused
The users of the reading category are mainly young men, preferring e-commerce, travel, and other fields
The video category is dominated by young women, with users under 35-years old accounting for more than 70%
The information industry is dominated by middle-aged male users who pay equal attention to lifestyle and business needs
Users under the age of 30-years old in the lifestyle service industry account for more than 50%, with a wide range of hobbies and interests
Music industry users are younger, preferring live streaming and education development.
The users in the e-commerce industry are widely distributed and their preferences are diversified
The users in the travel industry are mainly male, mostly young urban white-collar workers
Most advertisers, such as education, finance and FMCG, are willing to work with more vertical apps to improve their conversion rates and reach the deeper target, user groups. Brand advertisers are also demanding a combination of capabilities for vertical apps, including targeting, marketing tools, user tagging, and creative planning.
FMCG industry favours creative and data analysis tools
Education industry favours creative tools
Automobile industry favours strong consolidation capabilities
Local advertisers prefer analytics tools
The marketing value of vertical apps
Vertical apps are an important channel for users to obtain information and typically have a wealth of user information, so they can help advertisers match and target groups, promote transformation and achieve precision marketing.
Data show that users of vertical apps actively overlap and complement each other within 24 hours, covering multiple periods and scenarios. Massive vertical applications can help advertisers to reach users' decision-making process. At the same time, relying on the rich advertising forms of digital marketing, accurate delivery can be carried out in combination with users and scenarios. By intersecting user groups, hobbies, and intentions from different industries, multi-dimensional access to users can be achieved through integrated channels and unified precipitation of user data can be achieved. 65.2% of surveyed users indicated that under specific consumption scenarios, they have a high click-through rate for advertisements that can match their own needs.
Also, the vertical app advertising platform can fully solve the advertising demand, with its technology, data, marketing strategy, advertising form, and other comprehensive advantages, the integration of advertising resources to help advertisers to obtain high-quality vertical application advertising space. After data accumulation, the operation model is used to accurately target users and improve the conversion rate and ROI; At the same time with different marketing tools, improve the efficiency of advertisers' advertising.
You can download the complete report (in Chinese) here. Contact Us to understand the context and how to apply this to deliver better marketing campaigns.