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Traffic Changes of Digital Media in 2021Q4

群邑智库 · 公众号 · · 2021-12-22 18:00

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This year, several government agencies, such as the Cyberspace Administration of China and Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, strengthened the regulation on digital media, and major Internet companies continue to promote the layout of the low-tier market. Consumers‘ media behavior has changed. The fourth quarter ushered in the National Day holiday and Double 11 festival. The first quarter of next year will usher in the Spring Festival holiday and the Beijing Winter Olympics. How will digital media traffic change under the epidemic prevention and control? In this issue of Media Express, GroupM Knowledge will analyze traffic changes of digital media in 2021Q4 and predict digital media traffic in 2022Q1.

Key takeaways are as below：

Changes in the media market

Policies affected the traffic of game media to further decline and K9 Apps which can provide homework help were temporarily removed: Since the Cyberspace Administration of China set time constraints for juvenile media gamers, active users and daily average usage time decreased significantly from July to October this year. Homework help apps have been temporarily removed from the market due to the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China’s enhanced regulation on digital media and the country’s “double reduction” policy.
Major Internet companies continue to promote the layout of the low-tier markets: “Lite” edition Apps caused the increase of users in low-tier markets: The bonus of traffic in high-tier cities has almost saturated. Major companies were heading to explore potential users in low-tier markets by launching “lite” edition Apps. Lite edition of Douyin and Kuaishou Apps acquired more than 190 million users this October.

The influence of festivals and competitions on media traffic

Double 11 festival promoted a mild increase in traffic and turnover on head e-commerce platforms: Traffic during Tmall’s promotion week illustrated a 0.3% growth than the traffic during the week of the pre-order period. (Last year possessed a 33.8% growth). During JD’s promotion week, traffic possessed a 27.2% increase than its traffic during the week of the pre-order period. (Last year gained a 61.6% increase). Both platforms gained a milder increase in traffic compared to last year.
More consumers were willing to travel during National Day. Road trip promoted an increase of traffic on navigation digital media: After Didi was removed due to illegal personal information collection activities, several integrated navigation service providers, which offer car-hailing services, gained significant growth in traffic in Q4, such as Amap.
People who choose to stay local during Spring Festival may reappear. In-home shopping and local services platforms may be pushed to the spotlight again.
Migu and Yangshipin may gain a mild traffic peak due to Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022.

The head aggregation effect of traffic was intensified. Besides considering long video, the top three digital media services took up 90% share within their category. Douyin Lite APP won the top three position within the short video category. E-commerce platforms’ daily average traffic gained a moderate growth.

Changes in the media market

Policies affected the traffic of game media to further decline and K9 Apps which can provide homework help were temporarily removed

To prevent underage gamers from addicting to media games, the government published a policy that all media game companies were allowed to offer only one-hour service (8 pm to 9 pm) to juveniles during Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays. Due to the policy, game medias’ monthly active user and daily average usage time declined significantly from July to October. On the other side, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China announced rigid regulations on digital media and the "double reduction" policy. According to the announcement, K9 education Apps should be suspended until the local educational executive department gives clearance to K9 education agencies. Apps already passed the permission were also removed temporarily. Homework help apps were removed from the market temporarily.

Major Internet companies continue to promote the layout of the low-tier markets. “Lite” edition Apps caused the increase of users in low-tier markets

The bonus of traffic in high-tier cities has almost saturated. Major companies were heading to explore potential users in low-tier markets by launching “Lite” edition Apps. In July last year, Kuaishou Lite APP surpassed Watermelon Video with 135 million monthly active user and ranked third in the short video media. In January of this year, Douyin Lite APP surpassed Watermelon Video with 139 million monthly active users and ranked fourth in the short video media. Now Kuaishou Lite APP and Douyin Lite APP rank third and fourth respectively on the short video media, second only to their parent platforms (Douyin and Kuaishou).

Tmall launched Taote and JD.com launched Jingxi and JD Lite in lower-tier markets. Currently, the number of Taote monthly active users is 151 million, an increase of 88% year-on-year in October last year, ranking fourth in e-commerce media, second only to Taobao, JD.com and Pinduoduo. From the city distribution, the number of Taote’s users in third-tier and lower cities has increased by 3.75% year-on-year.

The influence of festivals on media traffic

Double 11 festival promoted a mild increase in traffic and turnover on head e-commerce platforms

"Double 11" promotion was a significant event during Q4. Tmall and JD's turnover was climbing, while the speed of the growth maintained gentle. Traffic during Tmall’s promotion week illustrated a 0.3% growth than the traffic during the week of the pre-order period. During JD’s promotion week, traffic possessed a 27.2% increase than its traffic during the week of the pre-order period. Both platforms gained a milder increase in traffic compared to last year.

More consumers were willing to travel during National Day. Road trip promoted an increase of traffic on integrated navigation digital media

During Labor Day, National Day, and under the influence of the epidemic, more consumers chose to take a road trip. Navigation media gained a moderate growth on traffic. After Didi was removed due to illegal personal information collection activities, several integrated navigation service providers, which offer car-hailing services, gained significant growth in traffic in Q4, such as Amap.

People who choose to stay local during Spring Festival may reappear. In-home shopping and local services platforms may be pushed to the spotlight again

Recently, Covid cases sparked in different regions of China. Several provincial governments have already suggested that the public should avoid inter-province travel during New Year’s Day and advised the public to stay local during Spring Festival. Consequently, people who choose to stay local during Spring Festival may reappear. In 2021’s Spring Festival, in-home shopping, on-site service, and suburban visit grabbed attention. Dazhongdianping and Meituan, two representatives of integrated O2O platforms, and Amap and Halo Global, two representatives of local travel platforms, all possessed a notable growth in traffic contrast to 2020. Due to the change of consumer behavior, as people were used to storing foods and drinks, Hema and Dingdong Shopping, two representatives of fresh e-commerce platforms, also gained considerable growth on traffic.

Migu and Yangshipin may gain a mild traffic peak due to Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022

Migu was permitted to broadcast content of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. Kuaishou and Tencent gained permission to create short video content related to the game. Reference to the Olympic Games held in Tokyo this year, in the coming Beijing Olympic Winter Games, Migu and Yangshipin's traffic will rise. However, the long-tail effect is not ideal after the game. Kuaishou and Tencent Video will have a moderate increase in traffic because of their tremendous user scale.

Data Source: Quest Mobile, iResearch

Wen Zhu

GMK analyst

Fan of pan-entertainment culture

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