China Digital
Sina Weibo’s The Place To Be
Sina’s advertising revenue has reached 30 Million USD according to its Q2 finance report. This shows a 209% year-on-year increase and contributes to 80% of Sina Weibo’s total revenue of 37.7 Million USD. Although Sina Weibo banked in with net loss as a result of a 27.1 Million USD one-off charge, Weibo’s advertising revenue has helped to cushion the impact by outperforming projections made by the company. Final revenue for Q2 was 120.6 Million USD a year-on-year increase of 17%. As we know in April 2013 Alibaba acquired 18% of Weibo’s share capital through a 586 Million USD investment. Weibo’s benefits from this venture are already bearing their heads. By the end of Q2 the number of active users on Weibo had increased by 8.3% since March, the overall number standing at 54 Million users. Also increasing is the time users are spending on Weibo on their mobile phones, Sina reports the amount grew by 14.5%, no wonder advertising revenue is growing. Looking further in to 2013 we can only watch to see the influence and impact Alibaba will bring on Sina’s mobile revenue in Q3 and 4.
ina Source: China Internet Watch
China Digital
Baidu To Save Renren
It seems Baidu is going to save the day for social network Renren’s failing group buy subsidiary Nuomi. According to reports the search engine giant is expected to announced today confirming what has until now been speculation, Baidu is to invest somewhere between $300-500 Million in to the group buy platform. Assuming reports are accurate this investment will offer a saving hand to Renren offering the cash that Nuomi desperately needs to move forward from its current state of continuous losses. As for past interest by Baidu regarding the purchase of Dianping platform, this new investment will most likely mean the end of such attempts. The question on everyone’s minds is what Baidu plans to do with Nuomi, but the chances are letting thw platform lose anymore money is not on the cards, thus signaling the possible emergence of a reformed B2C e-commerce platform in the near future.
Source: Tech In Asia
China Digital
QR Codes Revolutionize The Consumer Journey
QR codes have long played a large role in the Chinese market with usage levels much higher than overseas, and this continues to grow as the functions applied by web applications constantly extend the service QR codes can offer to consumers. The perfect example of this can be seen through Wochacha and WeChat. Popular QR code price comparison app Wochacha’s CEO stated at the 2013 China Internet Conference this week, that the app has hit 140 Million users in China. The app is highly popular in second tier and below. This app’s features now not only include the flagship price comparison function but also allow consumers to purchase directly through the QR codes on products where partnerships between Wochacha and a company exist, opening up yet another channel for sellers to use to engage consumers. Wochacha attributes its key competency to be a result of focused pricing data collection and thus superior a data set, hence the company says they are not threatened by other QR code giants. Another display of how QR code usage is being transformed is seen through the newest version of WeChat QR code scanner which now offers, English to Chinese translation from hard copy goods and street view among already exsisting function. Tencent CEO Pony Ma has said that he believes QR codes were the most effective tool at connecting the online and offline world in 2012. QR codes are transforming the consumer journey creating the path to purchase point, sharing and O2O links possible from any different angle, an exciting prospect for digi-gurus, more and more channels to extend the reach of operations within.
Source: Tech Node