China Internet Watch

China’s mobile search market overview 2020

CIW Team — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 01:00:57 +0000

The number of mobile search users grew to 705 million in 2019 in China, according to a Chinese research company iiMedia.

Baidu has the largest market share reaching over 70% mobile users in China, followed by Shenma and Sogou.

The actual spending on search advertisements in China was 1.13 times higher than the budget. Over 40% of advertisers spent over 50,000 yuan on search engine ads in 2019.

Close to 30% of China's mobile search users often searched for products on search engines in 2019.

The top searched for products on mobile search are Apparel & Bags, Food & Beverage, and Living commodities.

The acceptance to advertisements on search engines in China is high as close to 60% find SEM ads "quite acceptable" or "completely acceptable".

China advertising spend forecast by channels 2020-2021; mobile a key driver for growth...

Already subscribed? Sign in.

Don't Miss Out.

Invest with as little as one bottle of water per week.

Join other top analysts and business executives and navigate the unique market with China Internet Watch.

View subscription options »

Cancel at any time

China search engine market share in Apr 2017

CIW Team — Mon, 15 May 2017 03:00:50 +0000

StatCounter data shows Baidu’s market share was 76.05% in China search engines market in April 2017, followed by Shenma (8.78%), 360 Search (7.87%), Sogou (3.31%), and Google (1.84%).

Baidu is more dominant in China’s mobile search market with over 82% market share, followed by Shenma (13.79%) according to StatCounter.

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Shenma search was a co-founded mobile search engine by UCWeb and Alibaba in 2013; and, Alibaba acquired UCWeb in 2014.

China’s mobile search market overview Q3 2016

CIW Team — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 08:00:18 +0000

The number of mobile search users in China reached 628 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 1.29% QoQ according to iiMedia Research.

Baidu still led mobile search market in China with 44.5% usage ratio, followed by Shenma (sm.cn; 20.8%), Sogou (16.2%), 360 (11.8%). Shenma search is a joint venture set up by Alibaba and UC in 2013.

66.8% China online users conducted mobile search on mobile browsers; 24.6% on mobile search apps according to iiMedia. 35.3% and 33.9% users are interested in voice search and image search respectively.

China’s Mobile Search Market Insights in Q3 2015

CIW Team — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The number of China mobile search engine users reached 590 million in Q3 2015 and the ratio of lower educated users have increased.

China mobile search engine users reached 590 million, a YoY increase of 19.9% and QoQ increase of 3.9% according to iiMedia Research.

The penetration rate of smartphone search users in China reached 88.3%.

With high penetration of smartphones and different mobile categories of apps among the young generation, 26 years old to 35 years old users account for 56.8% of the total, followed by users between 18 to 25 years old (16.5%).

Junior high school and college graduates account for the majority of mobile search engines users. Junior high school students account for 26.3%; and users of primary school and below 10.4%. Mobile search users with low education are gradually increasing, due to the growing popularity of smartphones, integrated functions of the mobile search and simpler operation.

About 76.5% users search on mobile phones every day, of which 65.0% of users search once to five times each day and 21.7% search six to ten times.

Search engines on the mobile end help users get whatever they need any time and any place which provides convenience. Increasing functions and interfaces of the mobile search engine are also main factors for many users. Mobile web browser remains the primary search entry point as adopted by 58.8% mobile search users.

Most users have a specific brand preference when searching on mobile. Baidu still has the largest share, accounting for 44.1%; Shenma, with strong traffic from UC browser, accounts for 17.4%, followed by Easou, Sogou and Haosou. About 40.7% users wouldn’t use other search engines.

71.6% users search for news through smartphones. Local affairs, novels, websites, Question & Answer are also frequently-searched content.

Scanning the QR code to search for information is a widely used mobile search method that 56.8% of users used once due to high accuracy and convenience. 32.1% of users still search by inputting words.

Ads, less optimized websites, slow network and low integration between search words and search content are major existing problems against better user experience.

The rapid development of China mobile search engine industry has formed a relatively complete industrial structure. The popularity of smartphones and technology further promotes the development of mobile search market. How to meet the needs of individual users and properly manage ads placement become main problems of mobile search engine providers.

Also read: China Mobile Apps Market Insights in H1 2015