Google received a strong revenue growth of over 60% in China last year to US$3 billion. It led Google to expand its advertising sales team there, according to the report from The Information.

ByteDance who spent over US$300 million on overseas adverting to promote Tik Tok was reported to be one of Google’s biggest advertisements buyers. Alibaba was one of them who also spent a lot for Alipay and cloud computing business.

Also read: 71.1% Weibo’s Miaopai users have a high purchasing power

Google also tries to attract small-sized enterprises besides the big ones. Its advertising team working to serve small-sized customers increased by two-fold to around 200 persons in the past year.

Currently, Google has over 20 advertising centers in China where advertisers are able to see how their ads perform in the search, e-mail, and other platforms of Google. Be it a technology giant or small companies, considering the sluggish user growth, they make the same choice to seek new revenue sources from the global market. Thus, some global advertising platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon have become their best choice to promote products and services overseas.

Facebook generated US$26.49 billion in ads sales from the US and Canada market. By comparison, revenue derived from advertising sales in China was between US$5 billion and US$7 billion.

The large advertising expenses got paid as Tik Tok taking the first spot of the top 20 most downloaded video/live streaming apps list in January 2019 with nearly 75 million downloads from App Store and Google Play overseas. The figure roughly summed that of the players ranked from the second to the eighth position, according to the data from Sensor Tower.

Top brands in China by advertising spend in 2018

Not long after Facebook’s Hangzhou subsidiary launch, Google was reported to be planning a launch of a censored search engine in China. A poll was created on Weibo asking “if Google returns to China, which will you choose between Google and Baidu?”. 72.8% voted for Google.

Google released its first WeChat Mini-Programs “Guess My Sketch” in July 2018, which went viral on WeChat Moments for a while.

Later on August 6, the state-run People’s Daily posted an article on its Twitter and Facebook accounts that Google is welcome to return to the mainland China but it must comply with local laws.

Robin Li Yanhong, chairman and CEO of Baidu, commented on his WeChat Moments that Baidu has the confidence to defeat Google again if it returns.

China has seen the internet being developed at an unprecedented speed, with the number of mobile internet users more than doubled, from 303 million in 2010 to over 800 million in 2018. Baidu has kept the leading position in the search engines market for years.

While Google kept taking over 90% shares of global search market for years running, with Baidu only took less than 2%.

It’s a big challenge and question mark whether Google makes its search engine available in China again. Its workers are already protesting its censored search engine plans for China. And, Google is not close to launching a search product in China according to its CEO.

A survey might not tell what will really happen if Google did return to China with a search product. But the poll on Weibo by Sina Jiangsu account has been deleted.

Find out Mobile Search Engine Market in China

Google and Jingdong will explore joint development of retail solutions to enable helpful, personalized and frictionless shopping experiences in several regions including Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe. JD.com is to join Google Shopping and offer a curated selection of high-quality products to consumers across multiple regions.

JD.com and Google announced today that Google will invest $550 million in cash in JD.com as part of a strategic partnership.

Google and JD plan to collaborate on a range of strategic initiatives, including joint development of retail solutions in a range of regions around the world, including Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe.

By applying JD’s supply chain and logistics expertise and Google’s technology strengths, the two companies aim to explore the creation of next-generation retail infrastructure solutions, with the goal of offering helpful, personalized and frictionless shopping experiences. JD also plans to make a selection of high-quality products available for sale through Google Shopping in multiple regions.

Under the agreements, Google will receive 27,106,948 newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares at an issue price of $20.29 per share, equivalent to $40.58 per ADS, based on the volume-weighted average trading price over the prior 10 trading days.

China e-commerce market snapshot 2018

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.

Related: China is expected to invest up to twice as much as the US in another five years

China search engines market totaled 18.76 billion yuan (US$2.72 bn) in Q1 2017, with a decrease of 8.6% compared to Q4 2016 and an increase of 5.3% YoY.

Baidu still leads China’s search engine market in Q1 2017 with 75.88% market share by total revenues (including overseas revenues and channel revenues), followed by Google China (10.24%) and Sogou (8.41%).

Baidu’s market share is the highest at 83.93% if excluding overseas revenues and channel revenues.

Baidu had less active online marketing customers in Q1 2017, representing a 23.2% decrease from Q1 2016. But, its revenues per online marketing customer saw a 26.8% increase from Q1 2016.

China’s Mobile Search Market in Q1 2017

Baidu has 78.2% share of China’s mobile search market by the total number of mobile search queries in the first quarter of 2017, followed by Sogou and Easou.

Baidu is making efforts in China’s rising news feed advertising market, promoting a “search + recommend” model to advertisers. The news feed ad is displayed after every six news items on Baidu mobile.

Easou is a technology company based in Shenzhen; and, it focuses on mobile search and a fiction mobile app.

The top 10 Android app stores by total user coverage in China in December 2016 according to TalkingData are:

1. 360 Mobile Assistant
2. Tencent’s App Store
3. Baidu Mobile Assistant
4. Xiaomi App Store
5. OPPO App Store
6. Xiaomi Games Center
7. Huawei App Store
8. Google Play
9. Vivo Games Store
10. Vivo App Store

In comparison, another research company iiMedia data showed that the top 3 app stores by total number of active users in Q4 2016 were 360 Mobile Assistant (42.4%), Tencent App Store (34.8%), Baidu Mobile Assistant (25.1%), Wandoujia+PP Assistant (21.2%).

China has surpassed the United States as the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue earning over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016.

Download E-Book for details: Mobile Trend in China 2017 (CIW Premium members only)

Interbrand recently released their 2016 ranking of the Global Top Brands; Apple ranks first with $178,119 million brand value, followed by Google, Coca Cola, Microsoft, and Toyota.

Technology is, not surprisingly, the most dominant sector, with four brands in Top 10: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung. It also features some of the Top Growing Brands, with Facebook (+48%) as the Top Growing Brand in 2016, followed by Adobe (21%), Huawei (18%), Samsung (14%) and SAP (+13%), and number 2 ranked Google at (+11%).

Google Play is expected to launch its China app store in March 2016, which will likely be a separate and independent version of Google Play.

Related: Does Google Play Stand A Chance in China?

Google will launch a Chinese version of the service. However, the new accounts will not link to the international version. Google Play supports Alipay instead of Paypal to cater to Chinese users.

The number of app downloads on Google Play was 100% more than that on Apple App Store in 2015 with about 40 percentage points increase compared to 2014 according to App Annie. Google Play gained more market share in 2015.

App users were more willing to spend money on apps in 2015. Although downloads of Google Play were far more than Apple App Store, revenues of Apple App Store were 75% higher than Google Play.

Users of iOS system seemed to spend more on apps. China’s market accounted for about 30% of Apple overall revenues in 2015. Google hopes to drive more paid service users through Google Play Chinese version.

Google recently released job postings on on LinkedIn to employ up to 60 people in Beijing and Shanghai. Launching a Google Play could extend the benefits for Google to Android based smart devices and games requiring Google services to play in China.

Smartphone vendor HTC is said to manufacture Google Nexus series of smartphones on behalf of Google in China and will launch one to support all telcos networks in the future.

China’s consumers are used to download free mobile apps from fixed app stores on smartphones or third-party app stores and 3.1 million smartphones have installed foreign applications .

Also read: China’s Post-95s Mobile App User Insights 2015

Active users of China’s third-party mobile application stores reached 436 million in the third quarter of 2015 increasing 1.87% compared to the previous quarter according to iiMedia.

Competition among app stores in China tended to intensify among major providers and many small and medium sized app stores managed to compete for users based on special advantages.

The number of active users of the third-party app stores increased by 1.87% to 436 million in the third quarter of 2015.

Third-party app stores (such as 360 Mobile Guard) accounted for 54.4% market share in Q3 2015, followed by smartphone vendor app stores(such as Xiaomi App Store), mobile OS app stores, and telecoms network app stores.

Qihoo 360 (360 Mobile Guard), Tencent (Myapp) and Baidu (Baidu Mobile Assistant) dominate China’s third-party app store market. Market structure of third-party mobile app stores remained stable in the third quarter this year compared to the previous several quarters. However, Google Play, who may enter China by the end of this year according to Forbes, is predicted to change the current market structure in China.

Research data of iiMedia showed that nearly two-thirds smartphone users knew Google Play but users who had once used it were less than one-fifth. With Google exiting Mainland China market, many apps couldn’t be used unless being accessed via VPN.

Among users who had used Google Play, 60.9% used to download official and original applications, 34.8% believed that domestic application stores sometimes couldn’t meet their needs, and 30.4% could download apps which were unavailable in other stores. Fast updates speed and little junk plugins were also advantages of Google Play.

Only 10.7% mobile internet users don’t support Google Play entering China according to iiMedia and 60.8% are optimistic about the future of Google Play in China’s market. Overall, China’s mobile phone users are acceptable on Google Play while whether it can achieve breakthroughs remains a question mark.

38.5% users won’t download Google Playand 24.6% will download based on feedback of others. However, 24.6% will immediately download and use when Google Play is available in China.

Quality is an important reason to attract China’s mobile app store users. Among users who may use Google Play in the future, 42.7% hope to download official and original apps, 33.3% will try to use a foreign app store, and 28.0% will use the app store for fast app update speed.

Also read: China’s Mobile Internet Insights Q1-Q3 2015

China’s search engine market in Q2 2015 reached 19.22 billion yuan (US$3.09 billion), with an increase of 25.9% QoQ and 36.9% YoY according to Analysis Research.

In Q2 2015, Baidu accounted for 79.81% of the overall market share by revenues which excluded channels revenue; Google China 10.89%, Sogou 6.34%, and the others 2.96%.

Also read: China Online Retail Exceeded $265B in H1 2015

In June 2015, Google Global still ranked the top by market share of 70.8% in the world’s search engine market with an increase of 2.26% from the previous month. Bing and Yahoo ranked the 2nd and 3rd. Compared with market structure in May, it had some difference in June’s search engine market.

Compared with Baidu’s market share in May, in June, it was replaced by Bing, ranking the 4th. Baidu’s market share decreased from 10.18% to 7.52% in June 2015.

Also read: Baidu, Sogou among Top 5 Biggest Search Engines in the World

According to ZenithOptimedia’s new report Top Thirty Global Media Owners 2015, Baidu is now the fourteenth-largest media owner in the world growing 43% YoY. In the Top 30 list, Google ranked on top, followed by Walt Disney and Comcast.

Baidu and Sohu ranked the second and fourth respectively in the world’s top 5 biggest search engines by revenue in 2014.

Related: China Top 10 Online Advertising Media in 2014

CCTV, China’s national state television company, accounts for about a quarter of China’s television ad market ranking the 20th largest media owner.

Mobile: Almost 1/3 of Online Video Ad Revenue in China in Q1 2015

eMarketer estimated that in 2015, the total spend of digital advertising in the world will exceed US$170.85 billion according to its report released on 31 March 2015. Baidu and Sohu ranked the second and fourth respectively in the top 5 biggest search engines by revenue in 2014.

According to eMarketer’s estimation, in 2015, search engine ad spend will be US$81.59 billion with an increase of 16.2% from last year. And in 2019, search engine ad’s annual growth will be nearly 10% and its transaction value will exceed US$130.58 billion.

Among all the internet companies worldwide, Google still dominates the search engine advertising market. In 2015, its search engine ad business value is expected to be over US$44.46 billion with an increase od 15.7%. It represented 54.5% market share worldwide.

Benefited from Google’s exit from China, Baidu will account for 8.8% market share in 2015, which is increased by 1.2% from 2014. In 2014, Baidu’s mobile revenue surpassed PC in December. 

Baidu has a better understanding of China market. Browser is a strategic product for internet big players like Baidu and other internet companies. Baidu offers easier way for China internet users to access Google.

China is now the second biggest search engine market, after the U.S. with a market size of US$14.9 billion. And China search engine advertising market’s growth rate will be 32.8%, which is twice than the average growth rate worldwide in 2015.

Also read: Top 6 Desktop Browsers in China in 2014

In Q4 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.26 billion (US$2.63 billion) with an increase of 3.7% from the third quarter. In 2014, total transaction value exceeded RMB57.14 billion (US$9.25 billion) with an increase of 45.2% YoY according to data of EnfoDesk.

According to EnfoDesk, Baidu accounted for 79.48% market share, ranking top by revenue (including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels), followed by Google China (11.91%) and Sogou(5.54%) in Q4 2014 in China.

Including the revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu represented 77.3% market share; while Google China represented 10.29% in Q4 in China search engine market.

Excluding the revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.9% market share, followed by Sogou (6.3%) and Google China (4.34%) in Q4 2014. The market share structure was different from Q3 2014 in search engine market. See the difference here.

In 2014, China search engine market was performing well. EnfoDesk believed that the growth result from advertisers’ contribution to search market advertising, as well as mobile search market’s rapid development.

In December 2014, for the first time Baidu search revenue from mobile surpassed PC. Baidu expects mobile’s monetization rate to trend up throughout year 2015.

Also read: China Mobile Search Trend 2015

eMarketer estimates that the net ad revenue of Baidu and Alibaba will account for 4.68% and 4.66% share of the worldwide digital ad market in 2014, ranking the third and fourth largest market share among the companies involved in eMarketer’s latest research.

According to eMarketer’s forecast, Tencent and Sina will collectively account for 1.21% of the worldwide digital ad market in 2014, and the total market share for these four leading China-based ad sellers will reach 10.55% in 2014.

Google and Facebook will remain as the top ad selling companies worldwide in 2014. However, Google’s net ad revenue share will decrease from 31.55% to 31.10%.

Meanwhile, in the global mobile internet ad market, the total mobile internet ad revenue is expected to be $40.20 billion in 2014.

Google and Facebook continue to dominate the global mobile ad market, they together representing nearly 60% share. Alibaba’s share of mobile internet ad dollars will increase from 1.6% in 2013 to 6.2% in 2014, while Baidu will nearly double its share from 2.6% to 5.1%.

At present, the US is leading the mobile internet advertising market, with advertisers spending nearly US$19 billion, followed by UK and Japan in 2014. eMarketer estimates that China’s mobile online display and search ad spend will exceed $2.83 billion in 2014; and, China mobile internet ad spend will exceed $12 billion in 2017.

Alibaba and Baidu have taken advantage of the rapid development of China mobile internet. China’s rapid growth in mobile internet advertising market mainly due to its large mobile user base and China’s booming economy.

Also read: China Mobile Internet Statistics 2014

Digital marketers who’s familiar with Google paid search, or PPC, may wonder how much it costs per click (CPC) on the dominating search engine in China, Baidu. Here is the a comparison of CPC in ten industries between this two search engine’s paid search service in China according to

Across most of the ten industries analyzed by Toms Insight, Baidu CPC is significantly higher than it is on Google. In our experience at Incitez, sometimes CPC could go beyond RMB100 in industries like plastic surgery. It makes sense as the market is huge and the competition is fierce.

Baidu reported total revenues of RMB11.986 billion ($1.932 billion) for Q2 2014; it has 81.7% share of China’s search engine market by revenue in Q2 according to iResearch.

Baidu Map, Gaode Map and Google Map are the top 3 mobile map apps by total number of reached users, according to EnfoDesk.

In terms of total number of app launch frequency and usage time, Baidu also dominates.

According to another Chinese research company iResearch’s first quarter data, Google Maps beat Gaode Maps in usage time in Q1 2014.

Baidu has integrated its mobile payment solution Baidu Wallet in its Maps app and it’s interesting to see how Baidu will utilize the popularity of Baidu Maps to get more mobile shopping market share.