Sina Weibo announced to launch video advertising in the first half of 2016 as it seeks new revenue sources to maintain robust growth. The new advertising will appear in the users’ Weibo news feed with geographic and demographic targeting options. Video ads would display less than 10 seconds and will automatically play under Wi-Fi environment.
Large brand advertisers can buy video advertising by CPM and small and medium-sized companies can enjoy a lower minimum bid price especially for the e-commerce companies. However, the required bid price will be much higher than the current Weibo advertising price.
Monthly active users of Weibo reached 222 million as of September 2015 and 85% from mobile, an increase of 33% compared to the same period last year.
Weibo reported a trial of video ads in a small scale and plans to carry out in a national range in the first half of 2016.
Currently the most popular advertising channel on Weibo is self-serving social ads. A bit similar to Facebook ads, advertisers have flexible targeting and budget options. At Incitez, we managed Weibo campaigns on Weibo across publication, travel, finance and education industries; some like publication and finance achieved tremendous success with satisfying ROI.
Also read: China Social Media Users Insights in 2015
