Digital Tribes
Exploring the Passions and Motivations of Chinese Netizens
With 1.3 billion people, 710 million of them mobile phone users and 338 million active Internet users, China’s digital scene is bigger, more complex and endlessly fragmented than any other online population.
To better understand this huge market, GroupM have looked at everything from gaming to social networks, online shopping to video sharing and entertainment – taking a close-up look at how the time consumers spend with digital media continues to grow exponentially year on year.
To do this, GroupM hosted focus groups and interviews with consumers aged 14-45 across nine different markets in China – from tier one cities like Beijing to tier three cities like Xuzhou and Shaoguan – asking them about their time spent online, most frequently used applications and platforms, need- and mood-states, and concurrent use of other media like TV and mobile.
By looking at how people responded to a set of 55 attitudinal statements, they were identified as being in one of seven typologies, different online personality types. These people all act and use the net in similar ways; they can only be in one typology, though they may move into another if their lifestyle and attitudes shift. Further depth was given by looking at how these typologies reacted to four main platforms or ‘passion areas’: online gaming; entertainment (downloads, online music/ video entertainment); social networking services (SNS) / chatting; and finally blogging/ BBS; online shopping is covered mostly in metro/capital cities.
Download the full report (pdf, 445Kb)