Tech convention provides windows on perceptions of China

Covering disruptive technologies and feeling the pulse of the consumer electronics industry is somewhat mind-blowing.

Each year, my take from CES in Las Vegas — the world's leading consumer electronics trade show — refines my knowledge about how the rest of the world interprets China and how those countries will apply that interpretation to market practice.

Prior to my trip last week, I received an email from Ventura, California-based ad tech company The Trade Desk, checking whether one of its recent market-research findings would interest me.

The company offers a self-service, cloud-based platform for ad buyers who can create, manage and optimize data-driven digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices.

Partnering with Forbes Insights, The Trade Desk interviewed more than 200 chief marketing officers across global companies with over $500 million in annual revenue each, to find out how they are going to prioritize marketing strategies and continue to drive their businesses in 2019.

According to the report, which the team released in November, 80 percent of the surveyed CMOs, or 160 out of 200, confirmed that they will increase their marketing investments in China over the next 12 to 18 months.

Susan Vobejda, CMO of The Trade Desk, said there are more than 772 million internet-connected consumers in China, and over 400 million have grown into the middle class, "which represents a massive opportunity for multinational brands looking to attract new audiences".

Therefore, it's a natural choice for CMOs at the most innovative brands to expand a global customer base and tap into a new source of revenue by digitally accessing and engaging the potential audience in the world's second-largest economy.

The Trade Desk understands well the importance and necessity of locating the right partners, and through the partnership, ultimately an inroad into the China market.

Also in November, the company signed agreements with China's three major internet companies — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent — to take a shortcut to approaching Chinese clients.

The agreements — with Baidu's Exchange Services and iQIYI, Baidu's video streaming service; Tencent Social Ads; and Youku, Alibaba's video streaming service — will enable The Trade Desk's participating clients to use the platform to reach Chinese consumers directly.

The Trade Desk's programmatic buying platform (after the establishment of a partnership with Chinese social media giants) helps brands and their agencies expand advertising campaigns into multiple markets, said Vobejda, who added, "We can navigate the important and complex Chinese market and deliver brand messages to engaged, digital-first audiences."

Vobejda's optimism is genuine and solid.

In January 2018, the China Internet Network Information Center released a comprehensive report on China's internet development and user composition. It reveled that the number of internet users in China reached 772 million as of the end of 2017, with internet penetration of 55.8 percent. Meanwhile, 753 million Chinese are reported to be mobile internet users, accounting for 97.5 percent of the total online population in China.

According to incomplete statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission in March, China currently has about 400 million individuals out of its nearly total 1.4 billion population who are middle-income earners. The number is still on rise.

Benson Ho, chief data strategy officer at Tencent Social Ads, said that through the integration with The Trade Desk, "innovative global brands can more effectively reach and engage with China's valuable audience".

China would be a particular focus, said Trade Desk founder and CEO Jeff Green. He usually would spend half of his time traveling in China, trying to get familiar with its market and economy landscape.

Green expands operations of his company by setting footprints beyond the North American headquarters and strengthening the presence in Europe and Asia Pacific, where "China would be a particular focus".

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com