TOUTIAO
Introduction:
Another popular platform that is used in China is the AI-based news aggregator called Jinri Toutiao. Its usage of AI technology to deliver personalized news to its users makes it a popular platform amongst young people in China. In this article we hope to provide an introduction to the basics of Toutiao and how it could be useful in marketing towards China.
Jinri Toutiao is an AI-based news aggregator, similar to Flipboard. Toutiao is extremely popular among young people because its news collections align with personal interests, as opposed to general news apps. Although relatively unknown in the Western world, Toutiao is growing into one of China’s most influential apps. Toutiao is installed on over 240 million devices per month on average, making it the top news app in China. Because of its sheer reach, some even believe it could be part of the next generation of Chinese tech giants, challenging current leaders like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
Toutiao shows users an endless feed of news and videos selected by artificial intelligence, personalized according to a user’s location, interests, reading history, click history, search history, and even phone model. Toutiao’s strict adherence to personalized content over general news shows in its user surveys as well — compared to WeChat and Weibo, Toutiao users tend to use the app for longer sessions.
Additionally, Toutiao is a distributing hub for online creators, with its articles and videos coming from more than 1.1 million publisher accounts. Traditional news media, government institutions and companies publish news regularly on Toutiao, as well as smaller sites and individual users being able to submit their own postings. To incentivize a constant flow of new material, content creators receive a percentage of Toutiao’s ad revenue, with the platform also rewarding them for hitting certain targets.
It is reported that Toutiao had an average 140 million daily active users by the end of 2018. Users spend around 76 minutes on Toutiao per day on average, double that of the BBC app. Toutiao has more male users than female users, accounting for 60% and 40% respectively. More than 85% all of them are young people under 30 years old, and are mostly from first or second tier cities. In addition, 41.3% of them have bachelor degrees or are college students, and 37.8% are freelancers or business owners. Since 2018, Toutiao has also struck a deal with Buzzfeed to distribute its content in China, offering new ways for western content to reach Chinese netizens.
Capitalizing on a familiar interface to today’s young adults, Toutiao has integrated Weibo’s main design: a news feed, a system of shares/comments/likes, and “hot news”. Particularly for advertising graduate and certificate programs, marketing through Toutiao is effective because its user base tends to be more educated, wealthier, and at an age where graduate education is on their minds. People use Toutiao to learn, read, and discover things about the world, beyond playful 140 character tidbits. Perhaps most easily likened to LinkedIn boosts, Toutiao marketing reaches users when they’re feeling productive and thinking about their futures.
Overall, when thinking of marketing any type of content towards Chinese users, optimizing it to appear in Toutiao is vital for bringing original visitors to your website. Toutiao is a continually growing company, and its foothold on Buzzfeed is only the beginning. Making your content available on Toutiao also sets you apart from the competition that continues to use only Google and word-of-mouth to generate leads. As more and more Chinese come to the United States as international students, creating optimal, Chinese international student-centered Toutiao content becomes more and more relevant.