Advertisers upbeat on China's macroeconomic situation

Domestic advertisers' overall confidence on China's macroeconomic situation remained stable from a year ago with a score of 6.8 points on a 10-point scale, according to a nationwide study.

As much as 70 percent of advertisers would increase or maintain the amount of advertising budget this year, and the portion of those who plan to cut spending remained the same from a year earlier, a joint survey by CTR Research and the Advertising Institute at the Communication University of China showed.

Advertisers' overall industry outlook took a score of 7.4 points.

The advertising market is taking a bumpy road toward recovery with a year-on-year drop of 4.5 percent in the first quarter this year, Zhao Mei, general manager of CTR Research, said.

"Companies have taken a more cautious attitude towards ad budgets, which reflect the overall market sentiment and macroeconomic background," she added.

New territory

Around one third of ad budgets would be allocated to new product launches and 23 percent of brands hope to increase overseas marketing spending, according to the study, which tracked about 300 local and international advertisers.

Food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, electronic appliances and daily groceries remain the top segments and their overall ad budgets have remained stable in the post-pandemic period.

Private domain field traffic has been essential for brands to establish direct link with customers, the survey also showed.

Nearly 56 percent of advertisers hoped to increase spending on their official social media accounts and digital platforms, with short video sites and social networking communities their preferred platforms.

More than one third of Chinese advertisers have already adopted artificial intelligence tools and AI-created content which they believe could be beneficial for higher efficiency.

Over half of them, however, are worried about possible privacy leaks and compromising business information due to the AI tools.