The number of professional Weibo vertical publishers (mostly individual authors), who are often called We-media owners, reached 2.3 million covering 47 sectors as of November 2015 in China. The number of top authors, each of whom received average monthly article views of more than 100,000, reached 253,000 as of 30 November 2015.
Top authors in total gained more than 200 million yuan (US$31.06 million) revenues from Weibo. Over 200 authors gained 28 million yuan (US$4.35 million) revenues from paid views in less than six months since launched on Weibo. “Donations” after viewing articles reached 44 million yuan and advertising shared profit was 128 million.
Weibo has become the largest content production and consumption platform in China. Advertising revenues on Weibo reached 128 million yuan as of November 2015. Verified individual accounts on Weibo had a relatively large impact on the public. As of November Weibo vertical authors reached 2.3 million, the number doubled compared to the same period last year.
Authors with average monthly article views of over 100,000 reached 253,000 this year. Monthly active users of Weibo reached 222 million in Q3 2015. Weibo users on average released 11 posts per day and the average views of per post amounted to 9800 times growing 83% compared to the same period last year. Overall posts on Weibo have increased 64% YoY by November 2015.
The number of top authors in 10 sectors each has exceeded 5,000 people which led an active content consumption on Weibo. Top authors in the stock area reached over 6,000 people with an icnrease of 70% YoY as of November 2015, and the average views increased by 89% YoY. Average daily comments on per post in the stock trading sector on Weibo reached 300,000 with nearly eight million active investors making Weibo become the most rapid discussion and transaction reference platform in China.
Top authors gained more than 200 million revenues from Weibo. Fans rewards brought over 44 million yuan (US$6.83 milliom) for them and over 200 authors gained 28 million yuan revenue from paid-article only in less than six months after paid-reading services launched on Weibo.
To support posts shifting toward more long posts and videos, Weibo is increasing the efforts to reward the authors in vertical areas next year from brand values, consumer values and commercial values according to the vice president of Weibo.
Weibo has made several optimization to the publishing features. “Headline article” will be online by the end of December which can present a long article shown in a more eye-catching way in the content feeds. Content editing and article loading are optimized for better experience.
Headline articles can be used on PC, mobile client as well as mobile apps. Weibo will promote Weibo Note App as an external and independent tool for publishing long articles. Weibo will also be open to more third-party publishing tools. In addition, Weibo will launch single paid-article features.
Weibo also announced the launch of a joint video broadcast product with Miaopai where users can interact with the anthors. This product is also designed for user rewards and paid views which will further broaden the commercial values for vertical authors.
Weibo will work to increase the exposure of authors through marketing methods and business tools according to the vice president of Weibo. Revenues of authors will be expected to reach over 400 million yuan in 2016.
Also read: China Social Media Users Insights in 2015