Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent to expand their revenue from paid digital content and targeted ad campaigns
‘Traffic engagement paves the way for long-term growth opportunities in performance-based advertising,’ analyst says
Chinese internet titans Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings are expected to see paid digital content and targeted advertising become their next big growth engines over the next few years, according to industry analysts.
Those include paid subscription to digital entertainment like online video and music, as well as so-called performance-based advertising campaigns which are personalised and targeted at consumers.
Tsang Chi, the head of Asia internet research at HSBC, said the number of paying digital content subscribers is on the rise in mainland China, providing a huge commercial opportunity for the country’s top three internet players.
“Compared to these companies’ 200 to 300 million monthly active users [with their content services], paid subscribers are really just a fraction of their potential market ... You can see how the economics of their [content] business could improve a lot,” he said.
