Total paying users of Momo live video service and value-added service, without double counting the overlap and including 3.9 million paying users of a Tinder-like app Tantan, were 12.8 million for the second quarter of 2020, compared to 11.8 million for Q2 2019, which included 3.2 million paying users of Tantan.

Tantan has been accelerating the testing of its live video service since the middle of April, and live video service revenues from Tantan were 191.7 million (US$27.1 million) in Q2 2020.

Fake fans and manipulations on China social media

Momo Financial Results

Net revenues decreased by 6.8% year over year to RMB3,868.3 million (US$547.5 million) in Q2 of 2020.

Net income attributable to Momo Inc. decreased to RMB456.4 million (US$64.6 million) in Q2 of 2020 from RMB731.8 million in the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo Inc. (note 1) decreased to RMB669.8 million (US$94.8 million) in Q2 of 2020, from RMB1,242.5 million in the same period of 2019.

Diluted net income per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) was RMB2.11 (US$0.30) in Q2 of 2020, compared to RMB3.33 in the same period of 2019. Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS was RMB3.05 (US$0.43) in Q2 of 2020, compared to RMB5.60 in Q2 2019.

For the third quarter of 2020, Momo expects total net revenues to be between RMB3.7 billion to RMB3.8 billion, representing a decrease of 16.9% to 14.6% year over year.

Burberry launched its first luxury social retail store, empowered by WeChat

The total paying users of Momo’s live video service and value-added service, without double counting the overlap and including 4.2 million paying users of another app it acquired earlier Tantan, were 12.8 million for the first quarter of 2020, compared to 14.0 million for Q1 2019, which included 5.0 million paying users of Tantan.

Momo Financial Results in Q1 2020

Total net revenues were RMB3,594.1 million (US$507.6 million) in Q1 2020, a decrease of 3.5% from RMB3,722.9 million in Q1 2019.

Live video service revenues were RMB2,332.0 million (US$329.3 million) in Q1 2020, a decrease of 13% from RMB2,689.4 million during the same period of 2019, as a result of the impact of COVID-19 adversely affecting the sentiment of its paying users, especially among the top of the pyramid paying users.

Total value-added service revenues, mainly including virtual gift revenues and membership subscription revenues, were RMB1,175.8 million (US$166.0 million) in Q1 2020, an increase of 30% from RMB903.8 million in Q1 2019.

The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to the continued growth of the virtual gift business on the Momo application driven by more functions launched and more paying scenarios introduced to enhance the social experience of Momo users, and to a lesser extent, the increase in the membership subscription revenues of Tantan.

Mobile marketing revenues were RMB57.2 million (US$8.1 million) in Q1 2020, a decrease of 29% from RMB80.7 million during the same period of 2019. The decrease in mobile marketing revenues was primarily caused by the decreased demand from its advertising and marketing customers as well as its strategy to underweight the line in terms of resource allocation.

Mobile games revenues were RMB12.7 million (US$1.8 million) in Q1 2020, a decrease of 67% from RMB39.0 million in Q1 2019. The decrease in mobile game revenues was mainly due to the continued decrease in quarterly paying users of mobile games.

Net revenues from Momo segment decreased from RMB3,419.2 million in Q1 2019 to RMB3,202.1 million (US$452.2 million) in Q1 2020, primarily driven by the decrease in net revenues from live video service, partially offset by the increase in net revenues from value-added service.

Net revenues from Tantan segment increased from RMB295.3 million in Q1 2019 to RMB381.7 million (US$53.9 million) in Q1 2020, which was mainly due to the increase in the average revenues per paying user resulting from more features launched.

Cost and expenses

Cost and expenses were RMB3,026.1 million (US$427.4 million) in Q1 2020, a decrease of 10% from RMB3,349.4 million in Q1 2019.

The decrease was primarily attributable to:

• a decrease in share-based compensation expenses due to the related expense from the options granted to Tantan’s founders amount of RMB466.9 million as the related share options vested in Q1 2019 when the necessary performance conditions were satisfied;
• a decrease in revenue sharing with broadcasters related to its live video service. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in marketing and promotional expenses to attract users on Momo and Tantan.

Non-GAAP cost and expenses (note 1) were RMB2,819.2 million (US$398.1 million) in Q1 2020, an increase of 4% from RMB2,719.2 million during the same period of 2019.

Income from operations

Income from operations was RMB594.1 million (US$83.9 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB384.4 million during the same period of 2019.

Income from operations of Momo segment was RMB770.3 million (US$108.8 million) in Q1 2020, decreasing from RMB998.6 million in Q1 2019. Loss from operations of Tantan segment was RMB171.9 million (US$24.3 million) in Q1 2020, compared to loss from operations of RMB604.6 million in Q1 2019.

Non-GAAP income from operations (note 1) was RMB801.0 million (US$113.1 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB1,014.7 million during the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP income from operations of Momo segment was RMB903.1 million (US$127.5 million) in Q1 2020, decreasing from RMB1,098.9 million in Q1 2019. Non-GAAP loss from operations of Tantan segment was RMB100.4 million (US$14.2 million) in Q1 2020, compared to non-GAAP loss from operations of RMB77.1 million in Q1 2019.

Income tax expenses

Income tax expenses were RMB162.9 million (US$23.0 million) in Q1 2020, decreasing from RMB163.7 million in Q1 2019.

Net income

Net income was RMB537.7 million (US$75.9 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB286.6 million during the same period of 2019.

Net income from Momo segment was RMB707.1 million (US$99.9 million) in Q1 2020, decreasing from RMB893.9 million in Q1 2019. Net loss from Tantan segment was RMB165.1 million (US$23.3 million) in Q1 2020, compared to a net loss of RMB597.7 million in Q1 2019.

Non-GAAP net income (note 1) was RMB735.1 million (US$103.8 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB907.5 million during the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP net income from Momo segment was RMB839.9 million (US$118.6 million) in Q1 2020, decreasing from RMB994.2 million in Q1 2019. Non-GAAP net loss of Tantan segment was RMB103.2 million (US$14.6 million) in Q1 2020, compared to non-GAAP net loss of RMB79.6 million in Q1 2019.

Net income attributable to Momo Inc. was RMB538.9 million (US$76.1 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB289.3 million during the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP net income (note 1) attributable to Momo Inc. was RMB736.3 million (US$104.0 million) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB910.3 million during the same period of 2019.

Diluted net income per ADS was RMB2.46 (US$0.35) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB1.36 in Q1 2019. Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS (note 1) was RMB3.34 (US$0.47) in Q1 2020, compared to RMB4.15 in Q1 2019.

Cash and cash flow

As of March 31, 2020, Momo’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits totaled RMB15,467.2 million (US$2,184.4 million), compared to RMB14,925.3 million as of December 31, 2019. Net cash provided by operating activities in Q1 2020 was RMB543.5 million (US$76.8 million), compared to RMB1,175.9 million in Q1 2019.

For the second quarter of 2020, Momo expects total net revenues to be between RMB3.8 billion to RMB3.9 billion, representing a decrease of 8.5% to 6.1% year over year.

Total paying users of Momo’s live streaming service and value-added service, without double counting the overlap and including 4.5 million paying users of Tantan, were 13.8 million for Q4 2019, compared to 13.0 million for Q4 2018, which included 3.9 million paying users of Tantan.

Momo Highlights for Q4 2019

• Net revenues increased by 22% year over year to RMB4,687.9 million (US$673.4 million)
• Net income attributable to Momo Inc. increased to RMB1,055.9 million (US$151.7 million) from RMB660.8 million in Q4 2018.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo increased to RMB1,252.5 million (US$179.9 million), from RMB887.4 million in Q4 2018.
• Diluted net income per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) was RMB4.74 (US$0.68), compared to RMB3.04 in Q4 2018.
• Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS was RMB5.61 (US$0.81), compared to RMB4.05 in Q4 2018.

Momo Highlights for Full Year 2019

• Net revenues increased 27% year over year to RMB17,015.1 million (US$2,444.1 million) for the full year of 2019.
• Net income attributable to Momo was RMB2,970.9 million (US$426.7 million), compared with RMB2,815.8 million for 2018.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo was RMB4,493.3 million (US$645.4 million), compared with RMB3,462.1 million for 2018.
• Diluted net income per ADS was RMB13.52 (US$1.94), compared with RMB13.18 for 2018.
• Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS was RMB20.26 (US$2.91), compared with RMB16.17 for 2018

Check out Tencent’s social platforms here.

In 2019, mobile continues to lead China internet. The top mobile apps in China by total MAUs are still led by WeChat, Alipay, QQ, Taobao, iQiyi, and Tencent Video while TikTok continues fast growth and ranks the 7th. Tencent has the highest internet user penetration of 97.3% in China in September 2019, followed by Alibaba, Baidu, and ByteDance. Find a comparison of the four here.

Leading Chinese internet companies are building their own mini-program ecosystem; Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s Alipay, and Baidu’s smart program in the leading positions. ByteDance’s also building on its own ecosystem on TikTok and Toutiao.

China has issued new regulations banning online video and audio providers from using artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality technologies to create fake news and content.

The shipment of China’s smartphone market was about 98.9 million units in Q3 2019, down 3.6% year-on-year. Huawei leads China’s smartphone market in Q3 2019 with 41.5 million units in shipment, an increase of 64.6% YoY. Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Apple rank the second to the fifth.

Awareness of Chinese brands in international markets has declined over the past three years. The “Brand Power” of leading Chinese brands is up 15% year-on-year, compared with 5% growth last year. “Brand Power” is rising fastest in Japan, France, and Spain, representing emerging hubs of growth, according to the BrandZ™ Top 50 Chinese Brand Builders 2019 report.

Alibaba has been crowned the most valuable brand in China for the first time in the annual BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands ranking, having grown its brand value by 59% year-on-year to US$141 billion.

The total value of the Top 100 Most Valuable Chinese Brands increased by 30% to US$889.7 billion, the highest annual rise since the ranking launched in the year 2011.

By 2030, 58% of Chinese households are expected to be in or above the mass-affluent class, exceeding today’s 55% South Korean share according to McKinsey. Urban Chinese consumers’ spending profile converges with their counterparts’ spending profile in cities around the world.

Top articles on Chinese consumers include:

• Men’s beauty market in China looks to be more promising
• Chinese post-95s spent 80% more buying overseas
• Consumption habits of China’s post-90s generation
• 22 FMCG companies reaching over 100 million urban Chinese households in 2019
• China Generation Z overview 2019

Digital Media

Vlog has become the new theme of user growth competition on several video platforms in China. Vlog can be regarded as a kind of “video log” with popular themes of travel, food, pets and etc. Its production is relatively simple, the creator uses the camera to record what he sees and thinks in his daily life, and then through later editing, with music, text or stickers, can produce a Vlog.

China’s search engine companies’ revenue is estimated to reach 158.08 billion yuan (US$22.98 bn) in 2019 and 183.17 billion yuan (US$26.63 bn) next year. But Baidu fell to the third by digital advertising revenues following Alibaba and ByteDance.

Tencent launched several different social ads formats including the Nearby Ads for SME retailers on WeChat Moments.

China Social Media

As of Q3 2019, WeChat’s monthly active users reached 1.15 billion and Weibo’s were 497 million.

In 2019, the top rising social media is no doubt ByteDance’s short video leader TikTok. Short video penetration exceeded 70% in 2019 with 810 million active users in Sep.

WeChat launched its own version of “Facebook Stories”. WeChat launched two new sections -“Time Capsule” and “Top Stories”- and several news features for WeChat iOS 7.0 on December 21, 2018. That’s the biggest upgrade since version 6 four years ago and one big move into the short video market.

Xiaohongshu received most attention in 2018 but faced a rough year in 2019 with its app removed from every major app store” in July. It will launch live broadcasting feature next year. Read our latest insights on how Xiaohongshu successfully pivoted its growth and product strategies.

The most popular articles on social media:

1. Stories behind China’s super app WeChat, told by its founder
2. ByteDance: A Chinese Mobile App Factory
3. Audi used competitor Infiniti’s creative in a video ad on WeChat Moments
4. Top short video apps compared: Tik Tok vs. Kwai – Part 1 Platforms
5. China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

China E-commerce & Retail

Taobao, Tmall, and JD have the broadest user reach than other e-commerce platforms in China. Nevertheless, Pinduoduo is the only platform with more low education background users. Both Amazon and Dangdang are much less popular among users with middle school education or lower. Read our online shopper trends for 2019 here.

In 2019, Pinduoduo has beat JD and become the second-largest e-commerce platform in China. Meituan also did very well.

This year’s Tmall 618, there were hundreds of domestic and foreign brands whose sales exceeded last year’s Double 11, with the highest growth rate exceeding 40 times.

Alibaba set a new record of Double 11 in 2019 again with full-day sales on Tmall of 268.4 billion yuan (US$38 billion), the largest annual shopping festival in China. There were 299 brands who reached RMB 100 million in GMV, including Apple, Nike, Estee Lauder and Giorgio Armani. Find out the best-selling brands here.

The number of mobile payment users has reached a saturation point in 2019, and the growth is drawing to a close. The penetration rate is 95.1%. The annual transaction volume of third-party mobile payments reached 183.79 trillion Yuan, an increase of about 20.3% over the previous period. The annual number of transactions reached 1.17 trillion, an increase of about 12.8%.

Following the adoption and popularity of mobile payment, China supermarkets are growingly more intelligent with technologies such as face recognition, IA, AR, O2O, etc. WeChat recently shared a vision of its technology integration with supermarkets in the future.

Live Broadcast for E-Commerce

Live broadcasting has become an important channel for e-commerce sales in 2019 and will continue to grow. A total number of 81 live rooms on Taobao Live reached 100 million yuan sales; a total of 5 organizations broke 1 billion yuan sales. Taobao Live aims to deliver 500 billion yuan sales in the next three years.

Tencent launched a live broadcasting tool for WeChat Official Account (OA) in March 2019, currently supporting audio and video broadcast. Influencing WeChat OA can utilize their fanbase on WeChat, in combination with quality live broadcasts, to drive e-commerce sales.

Though still in the testing phase, Tencent Live integrates live streaming with its mini program. Brands can embed HTML5 based products on its mini program as an entry to its live streaming. Followers and fans can click to open Tencent Live to watch live streaming.

Kuaishou, also known as Kwai, announced its daily active live broadcasting users exceeded 100 million. 56% of Kuaishou anchors are post-90s.

Social E-commerce & Mini Programs

Social e-commerce GMV reached 626.85 billion yuan in 2018 with an increase of 255.8%. It’s expected to continue the fast growth and exceed 1.3 trillion yuan in 2019 and 2.86 trillion in 2021.

Social e-commerce in China has much higher conversion rates than traditional ones. Social e-commerce providers recharge their trust through social currency, which means that product recommendations from WeChat friends naturally have a social trust foundation.

The number of e-commerce transactions on WeChat mini-programs increased by 27 times year-on-year in the first half of 2019,

In Becky’s initial WeChat e-commerce mini-program launch in December 2017, the transactions exceeded one million yuan in 7 minutes and nearly 3 million yuan sales in 113 minutes according to WeChat Advertising. Since then, it has been able to maintain a million transactions in the first minute of new product launches. Read her story here.

Short Video for E-Commerce

TikTok signed a 7-billion yuan agreement with Taobao including 6 billion yuan ads and 1 billion yuan commission according to leaked news online. TikTok denied the accuracy of those numbers but the news got the attention of many in the e-commerce market.

During China’s mid-year shopping festival 618, active TikTok shopping cart user ratio exceeded 68%. The top 30 users referred over 400 million yuan worth of products sales.

Top articles in e-commerce and retail:

1. How Tmall played a vital role in China’slargest wool and textile enterprise
2. Taobao to enable farmers to find new markets and customers
3. Introduction to Xiaomi’s e-commerce platform Youpin
4. Alibaba’s Hema penetrating low-tier cities with Hema Mini supermarket
5. Huawei turning its smartphones to POS machines
6. China’s cross-border e-commerce users overview 2019

Chinese travelers

The total number of online travel agency (OTA) users in China reached 145.6 million. Tier-2 cities in total saw the most number of OTA users (56.68 million), followed by tier-3 group and tier-1.

On average an outbound Chinese tourist plans to spend US$6,706 traveling overseas in 2019, up 15% from 2018. Product quality became the second most important factor to consider when shopping abroad. 69% of outbound Chinese tourists made purchases on their mobile phones in 2018.

China’s emerging Gen-Y’s complete travel experience journey has five stages: dream, plan, book, experience, and share. Get an overview of emerging Gen-Ys’ power, how they re-shape China’s travel market, stages of their travel journey, and how to get ready here.

Sightseeing (around 50%) and vacation (over 40%) were the two main driving force for traveling. Self-guided travelers spend less compared with travelers with guided tours. Self-guided (free and easy trips) travelers spend more on transportation and accommodation than those with guided tours.

Top articles in tourism:

1. China Golden Week Tourism Trends & Insights 2019
2. The emerging Gen-Y for China’s travel market
3. Outbound Chinese tourists mobile payment usage 2019; average spend US$6,706
4. Rising outbound travelers from lower tier cities in China
5. China outbound tourism insights 2019

Annual subscribers can download McKinsey Consumer Trends Report 2020 here.

Momo, one of China’s top mobile social networking platform, announced total net revenues of RMB4,152.6 million (US$604.9 million) in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of 32% from RMB3,152.5 million in Q2 2018.

Monthly Active Users (“MAU”) on Momo application were 113.5 million in June 2019, compared to 108.0 million in June 2018.

Compare: Weibo MAU – 486 mm, WeChat – 1.13 bn, QQ – 808 mm

Total paying users of its live video service and value-added service, without double counting the overlap, including 3.2 million paying users of Tantan, were 11.8 million for Q2 2019, compared to 11.6 million for Q2 2018, which included 3.1 million paying users of Tantan in June 2018.

As of August 25, 2019, the number of paying users of Tantan was 4.1 million.

Its live video service revenues were RMB3,099.9 million (US$451.5 million) in Q2 2019, an increase of 18% from RMB2,620.9 million during Q2 2018. The growth in live video revenues was contributed by the increase in quarterly paying users, as well as the increase in average revenues per paying user per quarter.

Value-added service revenues mainly include virtual gift revenues and membership subscription revenues. The total value-added service revenues were RMB948.4 million (US$138.1 million) in Q2 2019, an increase of 169% from RMB352.6 million during the same period of 2018.

The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to the continued growth of the virtual gift business on the Momo application driven by more paying scenarios introduced to enhance the social experience of Momo users, and the consolidation of Tantan’s membership subscription revenues for the whole second quarter of 2019, compared to the single month of June 2018 in Q2 2018.

Mobile marketing revenues were RMB76.2 million (US$11.1 million) in Q2 2019, a decrease of 46% from RMB142.0 million during the same period of 2018. The decrease in mobile marketing revenues was due to the decrease in advertisement properties on Momo’s platform resulting from the suspension of certain user posting functions.

Mobile games revenues were RMB23.2 million (US$3.4 million) in Q2 2019, a decrease of 33% from RMB34.8 million in Q2 2018. The decrease in mobile game revenues was mainly due to the continued decrease in quarterly paying users of mobile games.

Net income attributable to Momo Inc. decreased to RMB731.8 million (US$106.6 million) in Q2 2019 from RMB750.2 million in the same period of 2018. Momo recognized a total share-based compensation expense of RMB482.5 million (US$70.3 million) in Q2 2019 including a share-based compensation expense of RMB323.7 million (US$47.1 million) regarding certain share options granted to the founders of Tantan Limited (“Tantan”), while the total share-based compensation expense recognized in the same period of 2018 was only RMB134.2 million.

In August 2018, Tantan Limited granted 3,578,205 share options to its founders. The share options included a performance condition in which the founders have the right to receive fully vested options immediately upon achieving certain performance condition. During Q2 2019, the performance condition was met and accordingly, Momo recognized a share-based compensation expense of RMB323.7 million (US$47.1 million) related to those options.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo Inc. (note 1) increased to RMB1,242.5 million (US$181.0 million) in Q2 2019, from RMB893.2 million in the same period of 2018. Diluted net income per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) was RMB3.33 (US$0.49) in Q2 2019, compared to RMB3.55 in the same period of 2018.

Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS (note 1) was RMB5.60 (US$0.82) in Q2 2019, compared to RMB4.22 in the same period of 2018.

For the third quarter of 2019, Momo expects total net revenues to be between RMB4.25 billion to RMB4.35 billion, representing an increase of 17% to 19% year over year.

China social e-commerce market to reach 1.3 tn yuan in 2019 and 2.86 tn in 2021

Live video broadcasting has proven to be a fun, engaging way to connect with followers and grow the audience. 78% of online viewers are watching video on Facebook Live as of 2018. In China, live streaming has stepped up the game and become a useful tool to drive e-commerce traffic and sales.

Audiences are quite active in live streaming in China, which makes it a good channel for marketing. 50.5% of them would make comments, over 40% of them would like it, reward hosts (free-to-play), and share videos to others, according to a study by iResearch.

86% of users thought positively about live streaming marketing. Among them, those younger than 24 years are more likely to be attracted by new products release and buyer’s sharing.

In 2018, Taobao’s live broadcasting platform Taobao Live delivered more than 100 billion yuan sales of products, a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 400% according to Alibaba.

A total number of 81 live rooms on Taobao Live reached 100 million yuan sales; a total of 5 organizations broke 1 billion yuan sales. Taobao Live aims to deliver 500 billion yuan sales in the next three years.

80% of the broadcasters are female. The number of Taobao Live broadcasters with a monthly income of over one million yuan has exceeded 100 people.

Meet Viya, a top broadcaster on Taobao Live

Viya used to be a small star in the entertainment industry. She, born in the “fashion family”, circled back to the apparel industry while working as a model and operating offline apparel stores. In 2011, she saw the business opportunity and closed all offline stores and moved to the Taobao platform.

Her fifth year on Taobao, 2015, had a total sales of over 10 million yuan on Double 11 but suffered a net loss of three million yuan.

In May 2016, Viya started the first live broadcast on Taobao. She managed to close 20 thousand sales orders by one live broadcast in the second month.

And, her live broadcast on October 10, 2017, made her a top sales girl.

This very broadcast helped drive 70 million yuan (US$10.6 million) sales to a Taobao store who has zero followers. It started at 7 pm until 40 minutes past midnight and attracted over 1.53 million viewers with 12.3 million likes.

She broke her record in last year’s Tmall Double 11 with over 300 million yuan in sales.

Live video broadcasting is now a critical part of a successful e-commerce operation on Alibaba’s e-commerce ecosystem. Many stores have hired a team of broadcasters with many simultaneous broadcasts of different products.

There is now a group of online shoppers who don’t check out the product details pages. They just watch live video broadcast and place orders.

Said Mr. Zheng during my interview with him, an e-commerce business owner in south China.

Related: Top 20 Chinese video mobile apps in overseas market

E-Commerce Live Broadcasting in WeChat Ecosystem

Tencent launched a live broadcasting tool for WeChat Official Account (OA) in March 2019, currently supporting audio and video broadcast. Influencing WeChat OA can utilize their fanbase on WeChat, in combination with quality live broadcasts, to drive e-commerce sales.

A fashion digital media Ta Du (She Reads) did a live broadcast e-commerce show in April for two hours. It attracted 11,951 viewers and received 1,228 orders with a conversion rate of 18.32% according to 36Kr.

This broadcast utilized both a mobile app and a WeChat mini-program. It started from the mobile app to generate a mini-program card or embeddable code for an official account article. Users can click on that to book, watch, and interact.

Tencent Live serves WeChat’s Official Account. The mobile app can be used to create and operate live broadcasting while the mini-program client serves users for booking, watching, and interacting with the live video broadcasts.

It’s in testing and not available yet in the App Store. WeChat Official Account (OA) owners can get the app download link from Tencent Live Assistant WeChat OA and apply for an account before being able to test it. With about 1.1 billion monthly active users, WeChat could be potentially a massive platform for e-commerce sellers.

Related: How to use live streaming for successful marketing in China in 2018

Other e-commerce live video broadcasting platforms

Some other leading e-commerce platforms in China run their own live video broadcasting channels as well, including Jingdong, Vipshop, Mogujie, etc.

Seeing over 500 million live broadcasting users in China, businesses can also utilize independent popular live video broadcasting platforms and social media to drive brand awareness and product promotions.

Tik Tok has been testing e-commerce integration for over a year, starting from a Taobao e-commerce traffic driver to building its e-commerce ecosystem.

Kuaishou, another top short video platform in China, has integrated with multiple e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Tmall, Youzan, etc. Sellers can drive the traffic directly to the online store and complete the purchase.

Others you could consider include Weibo Live, Momo, Douyu, YY, etc.

If you haven’t started, you should focus on one platform, build your success, and expand from there. Different platforms could have very different demographic users; so, make sure you conduct your research and identify the channels with users meeting your audience profiles.

E-Commerce Live Broadcasting

Live video broadcasting for e-commerce is now a game for professional operations. Broadcasters are carefully tested, selected and trained with a mix of celebrities, Taobao owners, and the professionally trained.

Alibaba recently launched a tool to enable broadcasters to select products from 12 pools of 5 industry categories and about 130 thousand products. Broadcasters can either broadcast anywhere after receiving a product sample or visit the Taobao with additional services.

It appears easier than it actually is when it comes to driving e-commerce sales with live video broadcasting. Merchants must figure out the whole process including personas analysis, products selection, post-sales service, delivery, logistics, etc.

Delivering quality products with a relatively lower price is the key. You need to develop demographic and psychographic profiles of your fans to select the right product. Another critical factor for a successful live broadcast is the content.

Live video broadcasting is a valuable channel that consumer brands should tap on. Working with one of the influencer broadcasters whose fans match the same profile of your audience is a quick way to get started. Alternatively, you can outsource to companies who specialize in this area.

5 consumption trends of post-90s on Tmall Global

Momo, a popular mobile social networking platform in China, saw 113.3 million monthly active users in December 2018, compared with 99.1 million in December 2017. Its total paying users of live video service and value-added service, excluding the overlapping and including 3.9 million paying users of Tantan, were 13.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with 7.8 million in Q4 2017.

Related: Weibo monthly active users grew to 462 million in Dec 2018, 93% on mobile

In 2018, Momo’s net revenues increased by 51% year-on-year to 13,408.4 million yuan (US$1,950.2 million), primarily driven by the significant increase in net revenues from live video service and value-added service. Non-GAAP net income was 3,462.1 million yuan (US$503.5 million), compared with 2,483.1 million yuan in the prior year period.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, its net revenues were 3,843.9 million yuan (US$559.1 million), an increase of 50% year-on-year.

• live video service revenues were 2,959.2 million yuan (US$430.4 million), an increase of 36% year-on-year;
• value-added service revenues that mainly include membership subscription revenues and virtual gift revenues surged by 272% year-on-year to 722.4 million yuan (US$105.1 million);
• mobile marketing revenues were 122.1 million yuan (US$17.8 million), a decrease of 15% year-on-year.
• mobile games revenues were 25.5 million yuan (US$3.7 million), a decrease of 44% year-on-year;
• revenues from other services primarily consisted of revenues from Phanta City, a TV variety show co-produced by Momo.

Cost and expenses were 3,195.7 million yuan (US$464.8 million), an increase of 65% year-on-year.

China’s top mobile apps in social media

Monthly active users of Momo reached 110.5 million in September 2018, compared with 94.4 million the prior year period, according to its unaudited financial results. Total paying users of Momo’s live video service and value-added services, including 3.6 million paying users of Tantan, were 12.5 million for Q3 2018, an increase of 71.23% year-on-year.  

Total net revenues were $536.0 million in Q3 2018, an increase of 51% year-on-year.

• Live video service revenues were $406.9 million, an increase of 34% year-on-year.
• Value-added service revenues were $84.2 million, an increase of 221% year-on-year. That was mainly from membership subscription revenues and virtual gift revenues.
• Mobile marketing revenues were $17.2 million, a decrease of 1% year-on-year.
• Mobile games revenues were $4.1 million, a decrease of 49% year-on-year.

Net income attributable to Momo was $85.2 million in Q3 2018, compared with $79.1 million the prior year period.

Weibo MAU increased to 446M in Q3 2018, 93% mobile

Continue to read: Top social networking mobile apps in China

Momo, one of the top mobile social networking platform in China, announced total net revenues of $494.3 million in Q2 2018 with an increase of 58% YoY, according to its unaudited financial results.

Net income attributable to Momo increased to $117.8 million in the second quarter of 2018 from $60.8 million in the same period last year. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo increased 90% to $140.2 million from $73.8 million in Q2 2017.

Live video service revenues continued its growth momentum and the total live video service revenues were $411.0 million in Q2 2018 (83% of total), an increase of 58% from $259.4 million during Q2 2017. The rapid growth in live video revenues was contributed by the increase in the quarterly paying users, which was 4.6 million for Q2 2018, as well as, the increase in the average revenues per paying user per quarter.

Momo’s Monthly Active Users (“MAU”) were 108.0 million in June 2018, compared to 91.3 million in June 2017. Total paying users of its live video service and value-added service, including 3.1 million paying users of Tantan in June 2018, were 11.6 million for Q2 2018, compared to 7.1 million in Q2 2017.

China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Momo announced its net revenues totaled US$435.1 million in Q1 2018, an increase of 64% from Q1 2017. Net income attributable to Momo Inc. increased by 59.6% to $129.9 million in Q1 2018 from $81.2 million in Q1 2017.

Momo obtained 103.3 million monthly active users in March 2018. Among which, total paying users of live video service and value-added service, without double counting the overlap, were 8.1 million.

Revenues from live video service totaled US$371.5 million, an increase of 74.8% from US$212.6 million in Q1 2017. The rapid growth in live video revenues was contributed by the increase in the quarterly paying users, which was 4.4 million for Q1 2018, as well as, the increase in the average revenues per paying user per quarter.

Value-added service revenues mainly include membership subscription revenues and virtual gift revenues. The revenues of total value-added service grew by 62% year-on-year to US$37.0 million in Q1 2018. Total paying users of our value-added service were 5.1 million.

Mobile marketing contributed US$18.7 million to total revenues in Q1 2018, a 5% increase year-on-year. While revenues derived from mobile games down by 43% from Q1 2017, which was $6.6 million in Q1 2018.

Momo closed the acquisition of 100% equity stake Tantan Limited in May by borrowing US$300 million bank loan from the domestic commercial bank.

By Q2 2018, the company expects total net revenues to be US$470.0 million and US$485.0 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 51% to 55%.

China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Read more: WeChat Mini-Programs status report 2018

Momo, one of the top social networking mobile app, monthly active users (“MAU”) reached 91.3 million in June 2017, compared to 74.8 million in June 2016 according to its financial results.

Its user growth was driven by the expansion of the video content ecosystem. The usage of short video service has reached new milestones and revenues from live video service have hit new record highs.

Momo’s total paying users of its value-added service were 4.5 million and 3.2 million as of June 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Its net revenues increased 215% year over year to $312.2 million. Net income attributable to Momo Inc. increased to $60.8 million in the second quarter of 2017 from $15.4 million in the same period last year.

Live video service continued its momentum and generated revenues of $259.4 million in Q2 2017. The rapid growth in live video revenues was largely contributed by the increase in the quarterly paying users, which was 4.1 million for the second quarter of 2017, and to a lesser extent, the increase in the average revenues per paying user per quarter.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo Inc. (Note 1) increased 218% to $73.8 million in Q2 2017 from $23.2 million in Q2 2016.

WeChat MAU grew 19.5% to 963M; QQ down to 850M in Q2 2017

Kantar’s social media report has found that Chinese respondents are generally happy with changes brought by social media. People born in 1990s (post-90s) showed more caution against negative impacts of social media. 

WeChat continues its dominance, however, its growth has largely slowed down. Weibo is making a comeback, many new and old social media platforms are managing to find value developing niche user groups.

Growth of Social Media Platforms in China

While usage penetration and daily active user base keep increasing among all WeChat users, its popularity among 18 to 25 years old had a slight decrease according to Kantar’s research.

Weibo penetration rate had a significant increase, and its influence among younger generation rose.

QQ penetration rate remains unchanged, but usage is increasing among younger users.

Old age groups represent the social media growth hotspots.

“Makeup before leaving home” has been accepted by more female social media users in China. Chinese social media users aren’t necessarily always on the go: they prefer to stay home if nothing special is going on. Inner beauty has a greater recognition among them, and they are more increasingly ready to join charitable causes.

Social Media is Everywhere

Social media not only refers to applications like WeChat, Weibo, QQ and Momo, but also includes thsoe with social functions in video, news, e-commerce, etc.

Mango TV, the video app launched by Hunan Satellite TV Station, is expanding quickly among the young users.

Mobile news app Toutiao grows rapidly

The most recognized positive feature of social media is to help people keep track of friends and family members, followed by following trending topics and learning new knowledge.

Female users feel social media is helpful in making purchasing decisions, relieving pressure and enhancing self-confidence.

Younger generations see social media as an important way of relieving stress. Older generations use it for effectively communicating with friends and family members.

Social media also creates negative impacts in China:

Younger social media users in China are more aware of negative impact brought by social media who are more cautious against impulsiveness, loss of concentration, negative values online, and etc.  90% have taken actions to control the damage, and self-discipline was the most chosen path.

Around 40% of the 90s respondents said they turned off social media app notification.

More than 95% users admit they pay attention to the level of personal information they share on social media according to the survey by Kantar.

Most social media users selectively pay attention to social ads, dominated by Tencent and Weibo. The most important factor is whether it is “humorous and interesting”. The second most important factor is the ads’ relevance with the audience.

Chinese consumers want ad (in all formats) with humor, music and interesting stories.

Most users feel social ads are quite relevant to them.

WeChat is the most satisfying app. Life service reviewing apps/sites, such as Dianping and Ctrip, ranked second at 81.7, followed by social functions on e-commerce platforms (81.2).

WeChat stands out in both usage rate and user ratings; and, dating social networks haven’t made an impact in China yet.

Weibo received particularly positive scores by younger generations: the younger the users are, the higher score they’d give Weibo. The post-90s gave it 79.3 score. Weibo’s monthly penetration rate grew by 3.7 percentage points in April from a year ago to 35.7%. While the penetration rate among the 18-25 age group jumped 13.7 percentage points to 45.9%.

Post-80s users give the highest rating for dating social networks, probably because it is most in demand among them due to their life stage (generally, marriage is a pressing and sometimes depressing issue in China when one reaches a certain age).

Social function within video/live streaming platform is popular among post-80s and post-90s.

Social function within news apps gets a score of 79.7, and are preferred by users in tier-1 cities in China.

China social ads market totaled 6.73 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2017 with an increase of 46.4% YoY or -6.5% QoQ according to data from Analysis.

Tencent dominates China’s social ads market with 59% market share in Q1 2017, followed by Weibo, and Momo. Tencent’s digital assets for social ads include WeChat, QQ, and QZone. WeChat MAU reached 938 million in Q1 2017; QQ 861 million; and, QZone 632 million.

Weibo had a strong first quarter in 2007 with 67% YoY growth in revenues to $199.2 million; its monthly active users increased to 340 million. Tencent and Weibo combined account for over 80% of China’s social advertisements market.

China online advertising market overview Q1 2017

One of the leading social app, Momo reported total net revenues of $265.2 million in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 421% from $50.9 million in Q1 2016.

Momo’s live video broadcasting, launched in Q3 2015, generated revenues of $212.6 million in Q1 2017, accounting for 80.2% of its total net revenues. The rapid growth in live video revenues was mainly because of the increase in paying users. Paying users of live video service for Q1 2017 reached 4.1 million.

Its total value-added service revenues were $22.9 million in Q1 2017, an increase of 54% from $14.9 million during the same period of 2016, primarily driven by:

• the increase of virtual gift service revenues
• the increase of membership subscription revenues as a result of the increase in average revenues per paying user, as more members bought our premium VIP package
• the increase in the total number of members.

Momo saw $17.9 million in mobile marketing revenues in Q1 2017, an increase of 45% from $12.4 million in Q1 2016. The growth in mobile marketing business was driven by an increase in effective cost per mille (eCPM) of its news feed advertising service.

Mobile games revenues reached $11.6 million in Q1 2017, an increase of 56% from $7.4 million during Q1 2016.  Net income attributable to Momo Inc. was $81.2 million in Q1 2017, compared to $7.1 million during the same period last year.

Momo’s monthly active users were 85.2 million in March 2017, compared to 72.3 million in March 2016. Its VIP members increased to 3.6 million in Q1 2017 from 3.2 million in Q1 2016.

Every 60 seconds on China social media

Weibo had a strong first quarter in 2007 with 67% YoY growth of revenues to $199.2 million; its monthly active users increased to 340 million.

Weibo’s net revenues totaled $199.2 million, an increase of 67% year-over-year, exceeding Weibo’s guidance between $185 million and $190 million.

Advertising and marketing revenues were $169.3 million, an increase of 71% YoY accounting for 85% of Weibo’s total net revenues in Q1 2017.

Net income attributable to Weibo was $46.9 million, an increase of 561% YoY, and diluted net income per share was $0.21, compared to $0.03 for the same period last year.

Weibo’s monthly active users grew from 313 million in Q4 2016 and reached 340 million in March 2017, an increase of 30% YoY or 8.6% QoQ, 91% of which were mobile users. The average daily active users in March 2017 was 154 million, an increase of 28% YoY.

Weibo recently starts testing a new feature called Weibo Stories, similar to Facebook Stories in the hope of capturing more short video market in China.

China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Total net revenues of mobile social app Momo were $246.1 million in Q4 2016, an increase of 524% from $39.5 million in Q4 2015.

Its live video service, launched in Q3 2015, generated revenues of $194.8 million in Q4 2016 due to the increase in paying users of live video service. Paying users of Momo live video service for Q4 2016 reached 3.5 million.

Value-added service revenues, mainly including membership subscription revenues and virtual gift
revenues, were $19.1 million in Q4 2016, an increase of 31% from $14.6 million during the same period of 2015. Momo members grew to 3.5 million in 2016 from 2.9 million in 2015.

Mobile marketing and mobile games revenues were $19.7 million and $11.3 million in Q4 2016 respectively, an increase of 29% and 45%.

Related: China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Net revenues of Momo for the full year of 2016 were $553.1 million, an increase of 313% from $134.0 million in the same period of 2015, primarily driven by live video service, mobile marketing business, and value-added service.

Income from operations was $88.4 million in Q4 2016, compared to $3.5 million during the same period last year. Net income attributable to Momo Inc. was $83.8 million in Q4 2016, compared to $6.1 million during the same period last year.

Net income attributable to Momo Inc. was $145.3 million for the full year of 2016, compared with $13.7 million in 2015.

Momo’s monthly active users (“MAU”) reached 81.1 million in December 2016, compared to 69.8 million in December 2015.

Also read: Introduction to Momo App

The monthly active users of China mobile internet exceeded one billion units devices in 2016 according to QuestMobile.

Android active devices exceeded 746 million units in December 2016 from 620 million in Jan 2016 while iOS ones dropped from 286 mn in Jan 2016 to 276 mn in Dec 2016.

66 mobile apps in China each has over 50 million monthly active users in Dec 2016; 146 apps bewteen 10 million and 50 million.

Both Android and iOS apps have increased total monthly usage time in Dec 2016, with an increase of 34% and 20% respectively YoY.

Each age group has increased app usage duration per device over the past two years.

WeChat active users reached 856.39 million in Dec 2016, an increase of 23% YoY ranking the number one app by total number of active users. The next apps in the top ten include QQ, Taobao, Alipay, Tencent Video, iQiyi, Baidu Mobile, Weibo, and Sogou Input.

WeChat also ranks first by DAU/MAU ratio (76%), followed by QQ (57.6%), Sogou Input (52.2%), Baidu Input (50.5%), and 360 Mobile Security (42.6%).

A WeChat user has the highest average monthly usage duration (1,967 minutes), followed by Toutiao (news app; 955 mins), QQ (865 mins), Netease News (636 mins), UC Browser (610 mins), etc.

Tencent Video was the most downloaded app in Dec 2016 (6.19 million downloads), followed by Alipay (5.86 mn), QQ (5.72 mn) and WeChat (5.44 mn).

Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku are the top 3 online video apps by total MAUs in China in 2016.

Weibo was ranked the top social networking mobile app in 2016 by QuestMobile with over 341 million MAUs, followed by QZone (92m) and Momo (70m).

Top mobile shopping apps last year in China by total MAUs include Taobao (430.7m), Jingdong (152.7m), VIPShop (59.1m), Tmall (49.3m), Suning (28.9m), and etc.

Top 15 airlines and hotels apps are all local apps except Booking (9th) and Airbnb (14th).

In app stores category, Tencent’s Yingyongbao ranks on top with over 184 million MAUs, followed by Baidu Mobile Assistant (161m), 360 Mobile Assistant (113m), Xiaomi App Store (91.5m), Huawei App Store (87.8m), OPPO Software Store (75.6m), Vivo App Store (53.5m), and etc.

WeChat unveiled “WeChat Data Report” at the 2017 WeChat Workshop Pro Edition event in China. Let’s take a look at some WeChat data.

WeChat has driven information consumption of 174.3 billion yuan (US$25.3 bn) in 2016, an increase of 26.2%. It accounted for 4.54% of total information consumption in 2016.

WeChat monthly active users, including Weixin, reached 963 million in Q2 2017, representing YoY growth of 19.5%.

Its daily logged in users reached 768 million in Q4 2016. About half WeChat users use WeChat for at least 90 minutes a day.

WeChat saw over 10 million Official Accounts and 200,000 third-party developers in 2016. Enterprise WeChat has 31 million users. On average, each WeChat users is connected with 194 friends, 2.4 times as many as it was two years ago.

61.4% WeChat users will access WeChat Moments every time they launch WeChat app to follow friends’s latest status updates. Over 50% use WeChat for over 1.5 hours every day; over one-third over 4 hours per day.

Total messages sent on WeChat per day increased by 67% in 2016. A typical WeChat user sent 74 messages per day.

Users make 100 million calls per day on WeChat, up 180% YoY. Monthly active senior users’ (55 years of age or older) voice messages on WeChat accounted for more than 22%; the use of audio and video calls per month totaled 82 minutes, higher than other age groups.

Proportions of WeChat Moments posts with original content are 73% among youth users and 65% among typical users.

The top holiday overseas destinations by Chinese travelers are U.S.A., Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

A typical WeChat user sends 28 red packets (hongbao) on average.

80% users use WeChat to interact with friends, which is the top usage of WeChat. Check out more usage data here.

Tencent’s WeChat team started offering video ads in its social networking section Moments with a minimum CPM of 180 yuan (US$27.7) for Beijing and Shanghai targeting in April 2016. The minimum buy of WeChat Moments advertisement is further reduced from 200,000 yuan (US$30,418) to 50,000 yuan (US$7605) in an attempt to attract more small and medium companies.

It launched coupon ads on Moments in May 2016, local ads in Sept, and native ads in August, ad exchange in October 2016.

Many brands have signed up WeChat official accounts to make it a channel to communicate with target audience according to a report from Lvyouquan. 80% official accounts published posts on working days. 36% posts are published on Wednesday and Friday.

Over 40% official accounts published posts between 4pm and 7pm to attract readers who would skim through WeChat in buses or subways after coming off work at 6pm or 7pm. Read more on WeChat official accounts here.

“Interests and hobbies” is the top category (41.1%) of information that WeChat users follow on Official Accounts, followed by news (36.1%) and career related (20.3%).

The proportion of WeChat online shoppers doubled in 2016 with 31%. Users who shop on JD.com via WeChat account for 32%, slightly more than that of other shoppers on WeChat.

The number of offline retail stores, including Starbucks, integrated with WeChat Payment has exceeded 300,000. Over 200 million users have linked their bank ATM cards with WeChat, which allows auto-deduction from the corresponding bank account while they make payment using WeChat.

Tencent’s mobile payment sees over 600 million monthly active users including WeChat Pay, connecting over one million retail stores.

Related Post: China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Check out our Top 10 most-read articles published in 2016.

1. China Top 100 E-Commerce Companies

China Internet Magazine released a list of top 100 e-commerce companies in China in Q3 2015, led by Taobao, Tmall and Jingdong. Read more »

2. Top 30 Chinese Cities by GDP

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 67.6708 trillion yuan (US$10.2872 trillion) with an increase of 6.9% YoY in 2015. The growth rate hit a record low since 1990 according to National Bureau of Statistics.

Check out the list of top 30 »

3. China Consumer Trends in 2016

Both traditional retail brands and start-ups are striving to convert consumers’ interests into a sustainable business in 2016. Customers want to see and experience the world at all times. China is entering “she-economy”. More people are realizing the importance of healthy lifestyle according to Mintel.

Read more »

4. China Became Largest E-commerce Market in 2015

China’s e-commerce retail sales are expected to increase by 42.1% to US$672.01 billion, accounting for over 40% of the global e-commerce retail sales in 2015 estimated by eMarketer. The e-commerce market in 2018 is expected to reach US$1.57 trillion according to eMarketer. China has become the world’s largest e-commerce market.

View China retail e-commerce and mobile commerce trend 2014-2019 »

5. China Search Engine Market Overview & Forecast

Total revenues of all Chinese search engine companies reached 80.76 billion (US$12.48 billion) in 2015 with an increase of 34.7% according to iResearch.

Read more on China search engine market total and advertising revenues 2012-2018e »

6. Top 6 China Mobile Social Networking Apps

China’s top 6 mobile social apps by the total number of monthly reached users in Q4 2015 are WeChat/Weixin (535 million), QQ (496 million), Momo (56.9 million), Aliwangwang (27.4 million), Yixin (14.4 million), and DDChong (8.83 million; formerly called Laiwang).

Read more »

7. China OTA Market Overview

Transaction values of all Chinese travel agencies reached about 365.29 billion yuan (US$55.88 billion) and the online reached about 73.55 billion yuan (US$11.25 billion) in 2015 according to ctcnn.com. Read more »

8. The Rise of Tencent Empire »

9. Rise of the China Outbound Tourism »

10. The Largest Online Shopping Day in China

This year, it takes Tmall less than 7 minutes to reach RMB 10 billion in sales while it took 12 minutes and 28 seconds to reach the same level of sales in 2015.

Check out detailed stats on Singles Day online sales here »

Momo, one of the top mobile social networking app in China, had Monthly Active Users (“MAU”) of 77.4 million in September 2016, compared to 73.0 million in September 2015 according to its unaudited financial results.

Momo’s net revenues increased 319% year over year to $157.0 million. And, its net income attributable to Momo Inc. increased to $39.0 million in the third quarter 2016 from a net loss of $0.8 million in the same period last year.

Momo launched “Moments”, an interactive short video service in August 2016. Live broadcasting business continued to gain traction and boosted the acceleration in revenue and profit growth of Momo. The rapid growth in live video revenues is mainly because of the increase in paying users of live video service. Paying users of live video service for the third quarter of 2016 reached 2.6 million.

Membership subscription revenues were $18.1 million in the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 13% YoY. Momo VIP members were 3.4 million and 3.3 million as of September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

For the fourth quarter of 2016, the Company expects total net revenues to be between $185 million and $190 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 369% to 381%.

Momo, one of the leading mobile social networking app in China, reported increased net revenues of 222% year over year to $99.0 million in Q2 2016 though its monthly active users were down to 74.8 million in June 2016 from 78.4 million in June 2015.

Momo’s net income increased 804% to $15.4 million in the second quarter 2016 from $1.7 million in the same period last year.

Live video feature on Momo ($57.9 million), together with mobile marketing ($16.6 million), drove a 222% year over year growth in our total revenues, reaching $99 million for the second quarter.

Membership subscription revenues were $15.6 million in the second quarter of 2016, an increase of 5% from $14.8 million during the same period of 2015.

Mobile games revenues were $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2016, a decrease of 3% from $7.7 million during the second quarter of 2015. The decrease in game revenues was mainly due to a lesser number of popular games were available on Momo’s platform according to its announced financial results.

Momo’s Performance Highlights for H1 2016

• Net revenues increased 163% year over year to $149.9 million
• Net income attributable to Momo Inc. was $22.5 million
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to Momo Inc. (note 1) was $35.9 million
• Diluted net income per ADS was $0.11

China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo

Momo has the largest ratio of male users, accounting for 61.8%, while the female users of Weibo are majority (50.5%).

Chinese influencer platforms: Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu

Fake fans and manipulations on China social media

Social application market develops rapidly, satisfying users’ various needs such as communication, entertainment, interests, and work. Instant messaging and social networking are the top two most popular features of social applications in China.

Instant messaging had for the highest usage rate of 90.7% according to CNNIC, followed by social networking (60.7%), and photo/video networking (45.4%). Online community ranks fourth most popular feature with 32.2%.

Users between 20-29 years old represent the largest age group in China social media, followed by those 19 year-old and below, and 20-29 y-o.

Users who have junior high education account for 35.8%, followed by senior high/technical secondary/technical school education (31.3%).

About one-third of social media users in China has a monthly income of between 3,000 to 5,000 yuan, representing the largest income group of China social media users, followed by 2,001-3,000 yuan (17.8%) and 5,001-8,000 yuan (17%).

Enterprise company employees form the biggest profession group of China social application users (31%), followed by freelancers (15.7%) and professional technicists (13.7%).

Over one-third (36.9%) of China mobile social media users’ has a daily average online duration of over 6 hours.

QQ and WeChat are two leading platforms in terms of instant messaging app usage rate, accounting for 90.3% and 81.6% respectively.

Mobile instant messaging apps QQ (75.8%), WeChat (69.1%), and Momo (7.3%) are top 3  by usage rate.

Baidu Tieba ranks top among China’s online communities with almost half (45.7%) social media users.

2.9% social media users in China use Maimai as their professional social networking application, ranking top and followed by LinkedIn China’s app.

Interacting with friends is the top purpose for people to use social applications (72.2%) in China, followed by following trending news in time (64.3%), following interesting content (59%), getting useful knowledge and help (58.3%), and sharing useful knowledge (54.8%).

Watching videos and listening to the music is the most frequent used feature by China social media users.

Contacts in social applications are mainly friends in real life (87.3%), classmates (85.3%), colleagues (81.2%), and families/relatives (79.7%).

China social media users are quite active with more than 63% accessing to social applications on a daily basis.

Also read: Mobile social app Momo benefiting from China’s booming live broadcasting business

Momo, one of the top mobile social networking apps in China and gone public in 2014, had monthly active users of 72.3 million in Q1 2016 from 78.1 mn in Q1 2015. However, its net revenues increased by 93% year over year to $50.9 million. Momo mobile marketing revenue continued its strong momentum, growing more than 100% year over year.

Joining the live broadcasting trend of many Chinese internet companies, momo launched this business late last year. It further opened up the service to allow every individual user to broadcast live anytime, anywhere with his or her mobile device or PC.

In April 2016, Momo introduced a major update, where live broadcasting is featured as a separate tab on its mobile app, and launched a standalone application called ‘Hani’ for live broadcasting business to grow more independently.

Also read: China Social Media Users Insights in 2015

China’s top 6 mobile social apps by the total number of monthly reached users in Q4 2015 are WeChat/Weixin (535 million), QQ (496 million), Momo (56.9 million), Aliwangwang (27.4 million), Yixin (14.4 million), and DDChong (8.83 million; formerly called Laiwang).

You can download this ebook on Box.com or Baidu Cloud.

Continue reading China Social Media Users Insights in 2015 or check out China social media marketing trends here.

With the development of mobile internet and smartphones, users’ spending habits tend to transform to the mobile end. Companies utilized WeChat official accounts to promote products and brand. Most countries hope to reach potential consumers through WeChat OA according to WEMCB research.

China smartphone users were 519 million in 2014 accounting for about 30% of global smartphone users. The number is expected to climb to 574 million in 2015 and maintain a steady growth in the following three years.

The number of WeChat monthly active users reached 650 million as of Q3 2015. 93% citizens in tier-1 cities use WeChat where the market tend to saturate. However, WeChat users in tier-2 and tier-3 cities are expected to increase largely in the following several years.

Traditional adverting methods such as TV, newspaper and magazine are gradually replaced by new advertising methods. The growth rate of traditional media advertising has been declining and it dropped to -1.7% in 2014. However, online advertising market especially mobile advertising has maintained a strong momentum.

Social networks achieve further development in 2015. Weibo and Momo were listed early 2015 and a total number of social apps were more than 2,000 as of Q1 2015.

Among the top 5 most active social apps in May 2015, WeChat, QQ, and Momo are instant messaging apps. With users of 650 million, WeChat is the most active social app in China in 2015.

Due to large information flow and high active rate, social messaging apps attract more advertising input from advertisers in China in 2015, followed by video apps and e-commerce apps.

WeChat official accounts have exceeded 10 million in 2015 covering 400 million active users and linking companies and consumers together on the open platform. 29% WeChat OA users follow we media, 25% follow authorized media, 19% follow companies and merchants and 6% follow marketing accounts in 2015.

53% companies have invested in WeChat OA for advertising and marketing and 2% have put over 500,000 yuan on the platform. Through funds in OA, companies hope to reach potential consumers and publish product news. 45.3% companies project to transform to O2O through OA.

Among companies who have utilized WeChat OA for marketing, 20.5% have used for one year to two years. 45.2% companies have used WeChat OA for less than half year which means more companies promote through OA this year.

Companies have utilized related services to better serve for their projects. 73.1% companies open basic functions of WeChat official accounts such as official websites, H5 and customer service; 62.0% utilize active plug-ins to interact with consumers; 38.9% employ e-commerce related services such as coupons, group buying, catering, Q2Q and mobile payment; 18.9% exploit WeChat hardware such as iBeacon and Wi-Fi.

WeChat OA users mainly hope to get news and ease daily life through utilizing OA. Some 14% even want to get useful knowledge from OA. Considering for users habit, 9am to 11am and 6pm to 10pm are peak time for marketers to publish posts.

67% WeChat users shop on average of at least one good on WeChat in each month higher than 36% of Facebook. 45.6% WeChat official accounts are cosmetics in H1 2015 which means cosmetic brands pay more attention to WeChat marketing. 21.4% are food brands with 11.1 percentage points lower compared with the same period last year.

WeChat satisfies consumer demands including social communication, entertainment, O2O, news, e-commerce, finance, lifestyle and a series of services. WeChat increased City urban heat map service and friend-shared coupons and daily active users surged to 64% from 49% this year.

The penetration rate of WeChat is 76.9% in China in 2015 with the active rate of 64.4%. 55.2% WeChat users open over 10 times on average each day and use more than 10 minutes in total. 62.7% users have more than 50 friends. WeChat promote as high as 11 billion yuan consumption according to WEMCB.

Also read: The Value of WeChat Official Accounts

In 2014, Tencent’s mobile revenue reached 22.171 billion yuan (US$3.571 billion) with popularization of WeChat. Now WeChat and Weibo are the two most active mobile apps in China. WeChat is a relatively new app compared with Weibo, but it far surpassed weibo in the number of users and monthly usage.

WeChat has become an important part of China mobile users’ life, and it has influenced their daily life from many aspects. It can take the role as an instant messeger and social networking platform. People can communicate with others whenever they like, and share with friends what they did, what they like, what is interesting…WeChat Official Accounts contribute a lot in this process.

WeChat official accounts integrate closely with friends circle; 20% WeChat users read news or messages through Official Accounts while 80% others would read in Moments. When shared more frequently, it would be read more. According to iReseach, 6 messages/articles were read by WeChat users on average per day; 4% WeChat users even read 20 and more per day.

Official Accounts take the role as connecting-to-all, people could connect with news, companies or services by following Official Accounts (including service accounts, subscription accounts) or Enterprise Accounts.

Nearly half of WeChat official accounts users had 6 to 15 official accounts. Most users regard it as a useful tool, and they can use it according to their own interests. 88.9% users are willing to recommend Official Accounts to their friends or families, and almost 99% users will follow more official accounts.

WeChat are gradually improving itself; new features allow users to pay for goods, taxes, services, and connect with computers, videos and etc in an easier way. For example, translation of WeChat Moments posts, fast sending photos while in chat, and importing chat history to new photos. In China, almost 330 million people on average use WeChat every month, of which WeChat Official Account users have taken up 79.3%. With the development of mobile internet and convenient mobile equipment, users spend more time on WeChat surfing or communicating. Advertisers could seize this opportunity to popularize their products.

Automotive advertising is active on the platform of WeChat. Recently, many automobile advertisements have appeared on WeChat, users’ comments and sharing could help them reach more users. WeChat Traffic, an official acount of WeChat, which can provide instant search of road traffic, vehicle violation inquiry, traffic cameras and so on, has become a typical platform for automotive advertising. Here are some comparisons between WeChat Traffic and other automotive information applications.

WeChat Traffic and other Official Accounts have accumulated a large number of car owners who want to change or buy a new car.

Nearly 80% car owners pre-order car insurance through WeChat Traffic, far more than other accounts or apps. Nearly 70% of WeChat traffic users are male, and 93% of them are 25 years old or above. High education users make up of 78%, higher than others.

With new development and improvement in WeChat, more users would be attracted to WeChat and official accounts, which could be a good opportunity for advertisers.

Read more: How WeChat Drives Viral Marketing of Local Specialities

With rapid development of mobile internet, mobile and social features will play more and more important role. Among all the mobile apps in China in July 2015, social platforms like WeChat and QQ ranked first with the monthly average users of 556.48 million and 424.28 million respectively.

Among the top 20 mobile apps, those owned by Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and 360 took the majority, especially Tencent. WeChat, QQ, QQ browser, Tencent Video, QQ Music, Tencent News, WeSync and WeSecure took up 40% of top 10 mobile apps. WeChat was the most active social platform with the monthly average users of 556.48 million; Baidu App was the most active mobile search engine with the monthly average users of 190.03 million. In the mobile video market, Tencent, iQIYI and Youku led the market, with fierce competition and close gap of MAUs (monthly active users); and see the top 20 mobile apps in July 2015 below.

Also read: China Mobile App Advertising Market in 2014

An article called Why I Left Tencent to Sell Chaoshan Specialities received over 100,000 views within 6 hours since published on WeChat.

Xu Ruifeng, sitting in front of reporters, talked about the WeChat marketing and calmly said, “We expect more than 10 thousand (views)”. As a former marketing & PR senior manager at Tencent Group, Xu Ruifeng undoubtedly makes a quite successful PR for his own pioneering work. As he says, the current cumulative amount of reading is over 400 thousand.

The soaring amount of article views directly drove the in-store visits. Within two weeks after its opening, the customers cram into the store and occupy the only six tables and the number of the customers doubled at the weekend. Last weekend, the store issued 50 numbers for seats waiting.

Also read: Why Wechat Marketing Metrics Could All Be Lies

The number of monthly active users (“MAU”) on Momo was 78.1 million in March 2015, an increase of 83% YoY according to its press release.

Momo’s net revenues increased 383% YoY to $26.3 million, 49.4% of which ($13 million) were membership subscription revenues. Momo members reached 3.1 million as of March 31, 2015, up from 1.3 million as of March 31, 2014.

Mobile games revenues were $6.1 million in Q1 2015 (23.2% of total revenues), an increase of 212% from $2.0 million in Q1 2014. The growing number of active game players on Momo’s platform reached 6.2 million during Q1 2015.

Momo’s mobile marketing revenues were $6.0 million in Q1 2015. The growth was powered by its strategic co-operations with Alibaba and 58.com, and to a lesser degree, the increase in revenues from Momo’s proprietary marketing services.

Momo’s net revenues increased over 13 times YoY to $44.8 million in 2014 who applied to list their American depositary shares on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “MOMO.”

Momo platform includes Momo mobile application and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that are provided to users, customers and platform partners. Read more here.

Momo, a popular mobile social dating app in China now listed on NASDAQ, announced its unaudited financial results; and, its net revenues increased over 13 times year-on-year to $44.8 million in 2014.

Total net revenues were $18.6 million in Q4 2014, an increase of 702.3% from $2.3 million during the same quarter of 2013. Momo’s MAU grew by 106% year-over-year to 69.3 million in Q4 2014. Momo introduced games on their platform, started cooperation with 58.com and Alibaba, and recently launched  their “gifting” service that enables users to send gifts to other users.

Momo Fourth Quarter 2014 Highlights

In December 2014, Momo began cooperating with 58.com to provide Momo users with easy access to 58.com’s marketplaces through the Discover function on the Company’s platform from which the Company expects to generate marketing revenues.

In January 2015, Momo began cooperating with Alibaba to place its merchant’s targeted advertisements on the Momo’s Nearby People function through which the Company will share marketing revenues with Alibaba.

In January 2015, Momo launched gift store services that allow users to send gifts to each other. The Company cooperated with merchants on Alibaba’s marketplaces to deliver gifts through which it will share revenues with Alibaba.

• Net revenues were $18.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, a substantial increase of 702.3% from the same period last year.
• Net loss attributable to Momo Inc. was $2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to a net loss of $3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
• Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Momo Inc. (note 1) was $0.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $2.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
• Diluted loss per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) was $0.20 in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to a diluted loss per ADS of $0.14 in the fourth quarter of 2013. Each ADS represents two Class A ordinary shares.
• Non-GAAP diluted loss per ADS (note 1) was $0.16 in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to a non-GAAP diluted loss per ADS of $0.12 in the fourth quarter of 2013.
• Monthly Active Users (“MAU”)¹ increased by 105.6% to 69.3 million in December 2014 from December 2013.
• Total number of employees was 456 as of December 31, 2014, compared to 209 as of December 31, 2013.

Full Year 2014 Highlights

Net revenues for the full year 2014 were $44.8 million, an increase of 1,330.3% from $3.1 million in 2013, primarily driven by the significant increase in net revenues from membership subscription and mobile games.

• Net revenues increased over 13 times year-on-year to $44.8 million in 2014.
• Net loss attributable to Momo Inc. was $25.4 million in 2014.
• Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Momo Inc. (note 1) was $18.8 million in 2014.
• Diluted loss per ADS was $1.94 for the full year 2014.
• Non-GAAP diluted loss per ADS (note 1) was $1.80 for the full year 2014.

Also read: China’s Mobile Social App Momo Launched Ad Platform for Offline Retailers

Read more: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/?s=momo#ixzz3TZu9e7p3

Fortune magazine published 40 Under 40 list last month and Tang Yan (35 yeas old), who is founder and CEO of Momo getting listed on NASDAQ, ranking 24, is the only one from China.

It is said that the list of 40 under 40 is an annual rich list published by Fortune. Many elites from technology industry had been in the list, such as founder and CEO of Tencent, Ma Huateng (Pony), founder and CEO of Jingdong, Liu Qiangdong (Richard), and Wang Jun, dean of BGI( Bejing Genomics Institute).

This year, the top one on the list is CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, followed by founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook.Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, ranked top on list in 2013. This year, she ranks 6 and she is still the only female one with high rank.

Also read: Fortune 500 2014: Top Chinese Internet Companies

Momo, one of China’s top mobile social IM app, applied to list their American depositary shares on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “MOMO.”

According to Analysys International, Weixin, Mobile QQ and Momo ranked as the top three mobile social IM applications in China in terms of average MAUs, average DAUs and daily average length of usage per user in Q3 2014; and Momo ranked No. 2, after Weixin, in terms of the average number of times each user opens the application per day during the same period. It’s also one of top mobile social apps in China according to Nielsen.

Momo, founded in March 2011 by Tang Yan, Zhang Sichuan, Lei Xiaoliang and Li Zhiwei (most of whom are veterans of NetEase, and is based in Beijing), is a free location-based services instant messaging application for smartphones; it’s popular for making friends with nearby strangers. It was famous for being the app for getting laid and now Momo has been working hard to change that image.

Momo platform includes Momo mobile apps and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that are provided to users, customers and platform partners.

As of September 30, 2014, Momo’s total number of registered users reached 180.3 million (up 160.8% YoY) with 60.2 million MAUs (up 112.8% YoY) and 25.5 million average DAUs (up 140.6% YoY). Users has set up a total number of 4.5 million groups on Momo.

Momo had 2.3 million paid members as of September 30, 2014, representing an increase of 659.9% YoY. Momo users sent a daily average of 655.2 million one-to-one messages, representing a daily average of 26 one-to-one messages per DAU, in September 2014; 63.5% of these messages were exchanged among people who had already followed each other.

Momo generated 63.0% of their net revenues from membership subscription fees in the first half of 2014. Other sources of Momo’s revenue are from mobile games (32%), paid emoticons and mobile advertising services (5%). Their revenues more than quadrupled from US$3.1 million in the second half of 2013 to US$13.9 million in the first half of 2014. They had net losses of US$3.8 million, US$9.3 million and US$8.3 million in 2012, 2013 and the first half of 2014, respectively.

The Momo Platform

Momo platform includes Momo mobile application and a variety of related features, functionalities, tools and services that are provided to users, customers and platform partners.

The Momo mobile app, which is available on Android, iOS and Windows platforms, enables users to establish and expand their social relationships based on locations and interests. Momo offers a personal and lively way for users to discover people nearby. Momo features various location and interest-based features, such as Nearby Users, Groups, Message Board, Topics and Nearby Events, multi-media instant messaging tools, as well as popular mobile games. The various functions are connected with each other. For example, Nearby People function features links to nearby Groups and Nearby Events.

Nearby People. This function allows users to find out the approximate distance from each other in real time and is the primary tool through which users can establish and expand their social relationships. In September 2014, Momo users on average refreshed their own Nearby People lists 167.0 million times every day.

Once Momo mobile app is launched on a smartphone, the default page presents a curated list of nearby users with their profile pictures, precise distance from the nearby users and the time they last checked-in on Momo prominently displayed. The list of nearby people is by default ordered by proximity to the application users.

All users can customize the list by viewing nearby people by gender and a specific period of time within which the nearby people last checked in. Users can initiate contact with nearby users by sending greeting messages and selecting to follow their accounts in order to receive notifications on their status updates.

A user who receives a greeting message may then reply and choose to become a Momo friend of the initiator by also following such user. Users can adjust their privacy settings to avoid being seen by strangers or to appear invisible. Momo app also allows users to block other users and report inappropriate behaviors. Momo members may further filter the list of nearby users by age group, occupation, horoscope and whether the nearby person has linked his or her Momo account with other popular social network applications.

Momo push notifications  include status updates, greetings from nearby users, chat messages and location of Momo friends. The app will also notify users when their Momo friends come within close proximity. It also keeps users up-to-date on the latest postings in their groups, as well as groups that their Momo friends have joined.

User Profile. This function allows users to share basic personal information and interests and encourage interactions. To begin the Momo experience, after downloading and installing the application, each user is asked to fill out a profile featuring pictures and detailed personal information, such as name, age, horoscope, occupation, employer, school, relationship status, date of registration with Momo, groups and topics joined, interests, accounts at other social network applications, frequent places of appearance and a personal note.

Members can also post a voice recording as part of their profile. The profile page also contains a link to a chronologically arranged display of status updates, blogs and pictures posted by the user, allowing the user to share his or her experience and interest. Users viewed personal profile pages on Momo platform an average of 446.3 million times on a daily basis in September 2014.

Momo have developed a tiering system whereby each user is assigned one of six scores based primarily on his or her behavioral patterns, profile credibility, degree of engagement, and quality of interactions with other users. Each user can monitor the score on his or her profile page. A user can generally improve his or her tiering score by demonstrating a pattern of wholesome social behavioral, a credible social profile, active engagement and high quality interactions with other users.

Momo Groups. Momo App allows users to create and participate in location-based groups acrossresidential complexes, educational institutions and commercial buildings. Participation in location-based groups has been increasing among our users, as 44.7% of Momo DAUs in September 2014 have joined at least one group, up from 33.9% in September 2013.

Momo users viewed group profile pages on Momo platform an average of 49.3 million times on a daily basis in September 2014. Location-based groups are generally established around a certain topic of interest. Each group is given a shared Momo discussion page on which group members can discuss their common interests, post their photos and exchange messages. An average of 222.4 million messages in location-based groups were sent every day, representing a daily average of 208 messages sent per active group, in September 2014. A group in which users sent at least one message in the relevant period is considered an active group.

Momo users can create groups by first selecting a specific location around which the group is centered, which must be associated with a specific residential complex, educational institution or commercial building, and second, selecting a topic of interest for the group.

For example, a user can create a group for students at Peking University who are interested in photography. Momo limit the size of each group to 100 users in order to foster a closer, more engaged and interactive community. The maximum size of a particular group is determined by whether the group’s creator is a member and the activity level of the group, such as the frequency of messaging among users.

Momo app displays nearby groups created by users as ranked by proximity. A user must apply to join a nearby group, and membership admission is determined by the creator and managers of the group. In addition to the default distance-based listing of nearby groups, users are also able to search for groups using keywords. Momo also displays who among the people that a user has followed are members of a particular group.

Users can propose and organize offline events for the location-based groups. A separate page will be created for an event containing information about the activity such as type, venue and time, based on which group members can decide whether to join the event and confirm attendance. A list of confirmed attendees will be shown on the activity page as well.

Momo have established groups for mobile games players called Player Unions which provide users with increased opportunities to interact and foster closer social relationships.

Topics. Topics is another feature aimed at enabling users to discover other users with common interests. Topics present popular themes of interest to all users. Users who have joined a certain Topic, such as Fitness orPets, can post threads and interact with other users by replying to the threads. Users can view other users who have joined the same Topic, in the order of proximity. We also recommend popular Topics and threads to users based on their profiles. Users can also search for Topics that most interest them.

Message Board. An important entry point for users to interact with all other users nearby is our Message Board function. Message Board contains status updates, micro-blogs and photos posted by nearby users, facilitating connections between people in the same neighborhoods and among Momo friends. Users can comment on the postings made by others, which are arranged by proximity. Users posted a daily average of 16.4 million messages and comments on our Message Board in September 2014. On average, 71.0% of our DAUs viewed Message Board in September 2014.

Nearby Events. Momo publicize events taking place in various Chinese cities close to users, such as concerts, seminars, sport events, plays and exhibitions cooperating with leading event promoters and ticketing platforms in China to upload information about popular events onto Momo.

Event hosts can open a Momo account and promote their events on the platform by submitting a description of the event. Once Momo approves an event submission, it will appear on Nearby Events page. For highly popular events, Momo sales team will actively seek to partner with the hosts in order to promote Momo brand and potentially explore monetization opportunities.

Location Roaming. Users can view other Momo users through location roaming service in a randomly selected city around the world. For Momo paid members, the roaming function further allows them to actively select any location around the world and view a curated list of Momo users according to selected criteria. This function also allows travelers to get to know friends in a particular destination in advance.

Instant Messaging. Users can send text, emoticons, voice recordings, pictures and video messages to other users. Many of fun and trendy emoticons are inspired by characters in popular culture. One of the key features of Momo instant messaging function is that the dialogue window presents the distance between the two parties in real time. Senders can see whether their messages have been delivered to or read by the recipient.

The instant messaging feature also allows users to turn voice messages into text, share their location information and engage in multi-person group chats. Users can sync their chat histories with multiple devices. Momo have also embedded third-party applications in order to facilitate more interaction between users. Momo users sent a daily average of 655.2 million one-to-one messages, representing a daily average of 26 one-to-one messages per DAU, in September 2014.

Momo offer games developed by third-party developers and customized for the platform and user profile. Games on Momo platform are designed with a variety of themes, cultural characteristics and features to appeal to different segments of the game player community.

The games on Momo platform have rich social features and are developed to be enjoyed, shared and played among Momo friends. The users typically log into and play games with their Momo accounts. For example, in Momo’s popular mobile game Momo Craft (陌陌争霸), players compete with other Momo users for domination of castles in a fictitious kingdom. Such social features contribute to the high player stickiness of mobile games offered on our platform. As of September 30, 2014, games on Momo platform had been activated a total of 22.5 million times, with a total number of 16.1 million players.

Also read: The Rise of Mobile Social Media in China

Wechat was the most popular mobile app in China in September 2014 with 377.92 million monthly active users, followed by QQ (308.742 million) and Baidu (145.047 million) according to data from EnfoDesk.

The top 3 mobile apps in China remain the same from August. QQ Zone’s active users increased to 110.87 million which had an increase from August while QQ music had a little decrease in MAUs in September.

Top 100 Mobile Apps in China

Download a PDF copy here.
Also read: China Mobile App Distribution Channels Market Share

In June 2014, mobile Internet users exceeded 530 million, accounting for 83.4% of the total Internet users in China. More than 60% of China mobile users are using mobile social apps nowadays, which are indispensable mobile apps in China according to Nielsen.

Location based service (LBS) on mobile device provides much convenience in China’s O2O market. Strong social needs and LBS’s power stimulate interest-based social networking’s development in O2O market.

Over 90% of mobile social app users are using mobile social apps every day with an average of 1.5 hours per day. And over 70% use social apps during their leisure time. The peak usage period is between 8pm and 11pm as well as between 12pm and 1pm.

Location-based services (LBS) are a general class of computer program-level services that use location data to control features. Most mobile social apps in China have such features which can make social networking more convenient and popular for China mobile internet users.

China mobile Internet users use social apps to make friends who share the same interests. With LBS, they can be in touch online or offline. Popular social apps in China include Wechat, Momo, Weibo, Douban, which are easy to build interest- based social network to conduct offline events.

Total number of Weibo (Sina Weibo) mobile app’s active users was 67.53 million in August 2014, down by 10.95% according to Chinese research company EnfoDesk.

Momo users are the most enthusiastic ones about social events in China’s O2O Market and more than half Momo users often take part in online and offline social events for interest. Momo recently launched ad platform for retailer taking ride of this trend.

Also read: China’s Top Mobile Social Apps by Time Usage

Momo, one of China’s popular mobile social networking app, launched its advertising platform for off-line retailers.

Momo, founded in March 2011 by Tang Yan, Zhang Sichuan, Lei Xiaoliang and Li Zhiwei (most of whom are veterans of NetEase, and is based in Beijing), is a free location-based services instant messaging application for smartphones; it’s popular for making friends with nearby strangers.

Users, once launching the app, are able to see nearby strangers filtered by distance which will also be shown. As such, the offline retail businesses can definitely utilize the app to attract nearby traffic to their store especially if their store mainly target post-90s group.

The retailers don’t even need to know how to use a computer as they can complete the ad buying on their smartphone. It costs from RMB 10 cents for each reached user; Momo will estimate the total number of reached users and charge accordingly after retailers specify the geographic range and time period for the ad placement.

By end Jun 2014, Momo’s total number of registered users reached 148 million; with 52.43 million monthly active users.

According to Enfodesk, QQ got 325.71 million active users, ranked the first in mobile IM apps, followed by WeChat with 295.712 million. These two winner are both developed by Tencent,  beating the others by a long shot. Momo took the third place with 13.43 million active users. ChatOn and Wangxin ranked the fourth and fifth, respectively.

Enfodesk also released demographics of mobile IM users. The statistic suggested that share of male users was 23.38 points higher than female’s.Mobile IM users were predominant in below 35 age group, medium and low income groups.

In terms of occupation, workers/service workers were primary users. Public institution (including party and government office) leaders and staff also held an important position.

According to Baidu Mobile Internet Report in Q2 2013, Android daily active users grew steadily though QoQ increase rate dropped down, and it might hit 300 million by the end of 2013. In Q2, the number of Android increased new users was about 20 million, with a 10% QoQ increase.

In Q2 2013, social and Instant Messenger apps still had the most downloads, with a 103% increase compared to Q4 2012. Other apps with high download times were video, game, music  and safety guard. Wechat ranked first on the download times list, followed by QVOD and Temple Run. Momo had the largest download growth rate, iQiyi and Popstar ranked the second and third.

Users spent most time on reader, social and IM and video apps, while search and LBS had the fastest growth rate.

Frequency of browser dropped a little, other apps frequency remained and grew slightly.

Reader was still the most popular search keyword, but it dropped a little in Q2 2013. Life service, tool service, online shopping, healthcare, education and game were the top search keywords with an obvious growth in Q2 2013.

55% big PC websites had transferred their website resources to mobile devices. Only 41% middle websites mobilized their resources.

Big websites had 14% mobile alone resources, and middle websites had 8% mobile alone resources.

LBS, search tools and education had relative low mobilization rate.

Wechat monthly users surpassed Sina Weibo in Aug 2012, reached 82.9 million. It became the top social app in China. Weixin monthly users reached 158 million in May, 2013.

In the past 10 months, the growth of Weixin users rate was the top of all social apps, reached 90%. The user growth rates of other major social apps, such as Sina Weibo, Qzone and Renren were all below 50%. Except for MoMo’s growth rate kept above 50%. But the number of MoMo’s users was only about 15 million.

In the past 10 months, effective time spent on Weixin changed significantly, having reached 440 million hours monthly in May 2013, 2.5 times more than that of in Oct, 2012. Followed by Sina Weibo, effective time spent was about 130 million hours a month. While other social app effective time that user spent were all below 100 million hours a month.

Momo is launched in Aug 2011, with about 10 million users. And Momo added features like groups, message boards to attract more users.

Momo aims at location-based relationship maintenance, gathering people with the same interest. For example, Momo groups have exceeded 70 thousand, covering dating, topics of interest, entertainment and sports. And Momo would keep improving and satisfying the social needs of Mobile users.