Analysis of Tik Tok Media Advertising in Q4 2019

The short video industry still has great potential in 2019. It has taken the lead in the battle for user time and has become the main growth point for the Internet time dividend. According to official data, the number of monthly active users of short videos is 821 million, and the active user penetration rate is as high as 72%. In the year-on-year increase in the total monthly usage time of users in June, the short video industry contributed 65% of the increase, far higher than other industries. The average monthly usage time of users is 22.3 hours.

Douyin, which is at the forefront of the short video trend, achieved a domestic DAU of 320 million in July this year, doubling the DAU of 150 million in July 2018, and its growth momentum remains strong. Douyin users are mostly young people with high education, high taste and high consumption. There are more female users, and more than 90% are young users under the age of 35. They are mainly distributed in first- and second-tier cities, and are rapidly expanding to third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities.

The large amount of traffic and high daily active time of users make Douyin a "holy land for planting grass". Douyin's sales model is also the core way for Douyin to realize its own commercial monetization in 2019. Based on the mobile advertising intelligence of Douyin during Q4 tracked by App Growing, we analyzed its advertising overview, App promotion rankings, Douyin store direct e-commerce analysis, key function updates, etc., to provide reference and reference for advertisers to place Douyin media.

1. Which industries are hot in Douyin investment, and what are the characteristics of advertising copy and material formats?

1-1 Increased investment in skin care, beauty, clothing, shoes and bags

App Growing advertising intelligence shows that the number of advertisements in the gaming and cultural entertainment industries on TikTok media gradually decreased from Q1 to Q4 of 2019, while the number of advertisements in the skin care and beauty, clothing and shoes and bags industries showed a strong trend from month to month . It is speculated that this is related to the growth of female users of the media, browsing preferences and shopping festivals, the promotion of products by big Vs, and the entry of merchants.

1-2 Q4 Tik Tok media head industry word cloud chart

We selected the advertising copywriting of the top 5 industries in terms of the number of advertisements placed by Douyin media in Q4, and sorted out the relevant word cloud chart as follows.

Advertising copy in the education and training industry often emphasizes the deadlines of various promotional activities, creating a sense of urgency that "can't be missed" and attracting users to learn more.

1-3 The ratio of horizontal and vertical video formats is nearly 1:9

As a short video media, vertical video material accounts for nearly 90% of Douyin’s media, while the ratio of horizontal and vertical video advertising formats in the TOP10 industries with the most advertising in Q4 is basically close to 1:9 .

2. In App delivery, which styles/categories are more popular, and which top advertisers are competing for the volume?

2-1 Heavy games such as Legend have a large investment

Heavy games such as legend, fairy tale, Three Kingdoms and war are heavily advertised in this media, with role-playing and action-adventure games accounting for a high proportion. It is speculated that the target group of game advertisements is mostly male users.

2-2 Shopping, entertainment and other application categories have strong investment

In the advertising of non-game apps, there is a strong focus on shopping, entertainment, reading, life and other applications that are in line with the daily usage preferences of young people.

2-3 Toutiao’s exclusive “I’m a Kung Fu Thief Six” has a strong advertising campaign this quarter

Based on the mobile advertising intelligence tracked by App Growing during Q4, the number of advertisements that directly led to app downloads accounted for 13.13%. We further sorted out the top 10 games and game apps with the most advertisements on Douyin media during the period as follows.

Xigua Video, Fanli and Qimao Free Novels were the key app advertisers on Douyin Media during Q4, and the top 10 non-game apps were mostly short video, shopping and reading apps. The styles of the top game apps are mainly casual and legendary . Toutiao's exclusive mobile game "I'm a Kung Fu Thief Six" has been launched vigorously this quarter.

3. Which app is the best at selling products on Douyin? What are the promotion strategies for hot-selling categories?

Based on App Growing data statistics, 22.08% of Douyin media advertisements during Q4 were direct e-commerce advertisements, which shows that direct e-commerce sales are the focus of its advertising.

3-1 There are many new products in the clothing, shoes and bags categories

This quarter, the categories with the largest number of new products in Douyin stores include clothing, shoes and bags, daily necessities, culture and entertainment, and catering and food . The number of new products in the clothing, shoes and bags category accounts for as much as 35.23% .

3-2 The price range for Douyin Store products is within 150 yuan

Within 50 yuan, 50-100 yuan and 100-150 yuan are the key pricing ranges for new products in Douyin store in Q4. It is speculated that the low pricing of this channel is related to the fact that there are more clothing, shoes and bags, daily necessities, cultural entertainment, and catering and food products this quarter.

3-3 Analysis of the top 1000 best-selling products in Douyin Store

In November, what are the hot-selling products in Douyin stores and what is the sales trend? For hot-selling products, should we focus on hard advertising through information flow, or should we use a comprehensive promotion method that combines both hard and soft advertising? This section analyzes the top 1000 best-selling products in Douyin Store in November (i.e. the top 1000 products with new sales in the Douyin Store channel during November), hoping to provide some reference for everyone.

1) The monthly sales of the top 1,000 best-selling products in Douyin stores exceeded 1.5K

Based on the data tracked by the direct e-commerce version of App Growing, the sales statistics of the top 1,000 best-selling products in Douyin stores are as follows.

2) Fruits are very popular, accounting for 15.4% of the total number of products

Among the top 1,000 best-selling products in November, 15.4% were fruit products, far exceeding other subcategories. The lowest unit price of fruits is mainly in the range of 9.9-30 yuan , and the highest price is mainly in the range of 25-60 yuan . As can be seen from the names of the products, fruits are mainly sold in four packages of 3 jin, 5 jin, 8 jin and 10 jin .

In terms of specific categories, apples, peaches and oranges were the main products sold in November, and sales of yacon also performed well this month.

3) More than 60% of the products are recommended by mid-level and top influencers

In addition to placing information flow ads on Bytedance, an important way to attract traffic to Douyin stores is through recommendations from sales experts (Douyin users who have opened shopping carts). Based on comprehensive statistics from CCSight and App Growing’s direct e-commerce version , more than 60% of Douyin Store’s top 1,000 best-selling products in November were recommended by mid- to high-level sales influencers , and the number of recommended influencers ranged from 1 to 255.

4) A book on eloquence skills topped the best-selling list, with monthly sales of over 100,000 and recommendations from over 200 experts

A book on public speaking skills that topped the best-selling list in November has been recommended by more than 200 influencers in November, and the cumulative number of people who have purchased it is nearly 1,000. This shows how much importance the merchant attaches to influencers' recommendations.

-<Screenshot from CCSight ccsight.cn official website>-

Note: The sales volume valuation comes from CCSight combining daily video interaction data, daily product sales data and other data. CCSight estimates the daily sales brought by video promotion through an exclusive algorithm, and then obtains the estimated sales value of the videos collected to date.

4. How will the updates to Douyin’s key features affect advertisers?

4-1 Adjustment of the shopping cart jump page to reshape the competitive landscape of product promotion

Before adjustment: Click the shopping cart to go directly to the product details page, and users can place an order directly

After adjustment: Click on the shopping cart to jump to the information page of the same product. At the top of the page is the product video and corresponding picture carousel, and below are other related promotional videos of the same product , arranged in descending order according to the number of likes . Scroll down again to see similar recommendations of the product . This move undoubtedly brings a better shopping environment for consumers, but it is indeed a big challenge for some merchants and influencers.

4-2 Adjust the product collection page to optimize the shopping experience

An "Add to Wishlist" button has been added to the shopping cart page. The shopping assistant page supports viewing five major categories: "Wishlist", "My Footprints", "Follow", "Recommendations", "Outfits", "Beauty", and "Food". Products are displayed in the form of video streams, and monthly sales are displayed in the lower right corner, similar to Taobao's product recommendation page.

4-3 The landing page component is adjusted to the comment area and will be implemented from January 1, 2020

Adjust the video landing page component. After implementation, a short link will appear in the comment area . Clicking the landing page component will jump to the relevant conversion page. This major adjustment will have a certain impact on advertising conversion rates. It is recommended that advertisers do not follow their previous practices of large-scale advertising in the initial stage of adjustment, but conduct small-scale tests first to decide on their advertising strategies.

Author: AG Dragon Brother

Source: App Growing