Advertising plays a large role in any countries economy. China is no exception to this, however, when dealing with advertisement in a country which is so heavily censored by the Government, you must approach the subject with a bit of skepticism. Are Chinese companies allowed to advertise as they would like? Or are they under strict censorship and only permitted to release Government approved advertisement? Are foreign companies allowed to distribute and display advertisements in China, and are they under the same level of supervision from the Chinese Government.
Google, is one such company which is fighting the machine. In this NY Times article, we learn how Google is dissatisfied with the Chinese Government's censorship of Chinese users' search results however they "still wants access to the country's engineering talent and steadily growing on-line advertising and mobile phone markets." The article continues...''We made a strong decision that we wish to remain in China,'' Schmidt said. ''We like the business opportunities there. With a consumer base of huge economic potential, who would not want to make every effort possible to remain a presence in such a place. At this point in time, Google's presence in China for the future remains unknown.
With the consumer base in China becoming ever more "internet enabled" and mobile, we are seeing a solid shift from traditional advertising to digital advertising. In this article, the writer states "that China's digital advertising market will grow by 15
percent in 2010, with performance marketing dominating the industry." What does that mean exactly? "Well, as recently as three years ago people had virtually no knowledge of digital marketing - buying a banner on Sina was considered digital marketing," the author states.
Today, as search companies and social networking sites are becoming ever more popular the advertising trends in China are going to need to adapt themselves to such. Mobile devices are also playing a large part in this trend, enabling an advertiser to reach it's target audience virtually anywhere and everywhere.