The advertising industry in China is a dynamic, rapidly evolving market, with an emphasis on digital, data, and deep integration with e-commerce. The world's second-largest ad market after the United States was valued at about 1.06 billion yuan in 2024. While traditional printing and broadcasting advertising channels continue to shrink, outdoor and internet ads have been thriving. The expansion is mainly driven by rapid technological advancement and a mobile-savvy population in the country.
Traditional advertising
Advertisers in China
have reduced ad spending on traditional media in recent years. This decline is particularly distinct in
newspaper advertising. Between 2013 and 2023, newspaper ad revenue fell from 42.5 billion yuan to an estimation of under three billion yuan. Magazine advertising is also on the wane. In comparison, traditional broadcast ads still maintain a considerable market share. Television has been the most favorable advertising medium, especially among
pharmaceuticals, food, and beverages brands.
OOH advertising
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, particularly subway ads, is an effective offline-to-online (O2O) marketing medium. The metro advertisements in China often include QR codes, which direct consumers to the brand’s WeChat page. Another common advertising format in subways in China: zoetrope, a digital imaging system installed in metro tunnels. Passengers can see a series of moving images inside the train on the window, which looks like a 15-second video. With these technology changes,
OOH ad spending would very likely surpass 100 billion yuan in China by 2026.
Online advertising
In a country with the largest online community in the world, the internet has gained a higher market share in the Chinese ad market. Social marketing, short-form videos, live streaming, and retail media have been booming. In 2024,
the market size of mobile advertising totaled at 476 billion yuan. WeChat, the most popular app in the country, plays a major role in brand promotion. Its Mini Programs provides advanced features to consumers, such as e-commerce and task management. With its significant market penetration and conversion rates,
WeChat would probably remain as the most important channel for online advertising in the next few years. However, it is worth noting that ad frauds are more prevalent in China than other countries. In 2023, about a quarter of
the digital ad traffic in China was fake or invalid, with
FMCG and tech advertisers suffering the most.
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