Executive Summary

China’s ad market is slowing down due to regulatory constraints and a hobbled economy, but it will still produce $166.13 billion in spending this year—making China No. 2 among the countries we track, behind only the US. New digital stars like ByteDance’s Douyin are well positioned to claim share.

3 KEY QUESTIONS THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER

1. What are the 2022 figures for total ad spending, digital ad spending, and mobile ad spending in China?
2. How has China’s regulatory crackdown on data privacy changed the outlook for the largest ad publishers?
3. How high will Douyin rise in the ad revenue rankings, particularly in comparison with Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent?

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? Our latest forecasts for total media ad spending, digital ad spending, traditional media ad spending, mobile ad spending, display ad spending, and search ad spending in China. Plus, company-level forecasts for China’s largest digital advertisers.

KEY STAT: In 2022, 81.5% of total media ad spending in China will go to digital. No other country in the world focuses on digital to such an extent (the UK will be No. 2 in this regard, at 77.2%). However, the 11.5% spending growth rate will be China’s lowest since we began tracking it.