StatCounter data shows Baidu’s market share was 76.05% in China search engines market in April 2017, followed by Shenma (8.78%), 360 Search (7.87%), Sogou (3.31%), and Google (1.84%).

Baidu is more dominant in China’s mobile search market with over 82% market share, followed by Shenma (13.79%) according to StatCounter.

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Shenma search was a co-founded mobile search engine by UCWeb and Alibaba in 2013; and, Alibaba acquired UCWeb in 2014.

Lenovo was ranked the most powerful Chinese export brand by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown, followed by Huawei, Alibaba, Elex and Xiaomi.

Update: Check out the latest ranking of top China brands here.

The “BrandZ™ Top 30 Chinese Global Brand Builders” 2017 ranking lists the Chinese brands that have most successfully established a presence in overseas markets.

1. Lenovo
2. Huawei (among world’s top growing brand in 2016)
3. Alibaba (also ranked the world’s 2nd most valuable retail brand)
4. Elex
5. Xiaomi (Apple and Xiaomi are found most relevant to the lives of China’s Gen-Y and Gen-Z consumers )
6. Air China
7. Haier
8. Anker
9. Cheetah Mobile
10. Hisense
11. GO Launcher
12. OnePlus
13. dji
14. China Eastern
15. ZTE
16. FunPlus
17. Qihoo 360
18. TCL
19. Tap4Fun
20. I Got Games
21. Youzu
22. Ourpalm
23. GearBest
24. China Southern Airlines
25. LightInTheBox
26. Oppo
27. Vivo
28. Ninebot
29. Tencent
30. Great Wall

The awareness gap between Chinese brands and other brands is narrower in France, Germany, Australia, and Spain.

Related: China is a relatively “brand content friendly” market

Also read: Top Chinese Brands

The number of mobile search users in China reached 628 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 1.29% QoQ according to iiMedia Research.

Baidu still led mobile search market in China with 44.5% usage ratio, followed by Shenma (sm.cn; 20.8%), Sogou (16.2%), 360 (11.8%). Shenma search is a joint venture set up by Alibaba and UC in 2013.

66.8% China online users conducted mobile search on mobile browsers; 24.6% on mobile search apps according to iiMedia. 35.3% and 33.9% users are interested in voice search and image search respectively.

The total number of person-trips in China travel market reached 4.12 billion with total tourism revenues of over 4 trillion yuan.

Search engines contribute over 60% of traffic to online travel platforms and OTA websites according to Qihoo 360. Most travel related searches are related to domestic travel destinations with outbound destinations rising rapidly.

Also read: Millennials account for 73% of outbound tourists in China

Total revenues of all Chinese search engine companies reached 80.76 billion (US$12.48 billion) in 2015 with an increase of 34.7% according to iResearch.

China’s search engine advertising revenues totaled 68.26 billion yuan (US$10.55 billion) in 2015, an increase of 32.2% YoY.

Baidu continued to dominate China search engine market with over 80% market share by advertising revenues, followed by Google China (9.2%), Qihoo 360 (4.9%) and Sogou (4%). Qihoo 360 has been growing fast, whose revenues were still behind Sogou at the end of Q2 2015.

Qihoo 360 announced the launch in Hong Kong of Shangyi on 31 March 2016, which is a set of integrated data and marketing analytics tools designed to help local and overseas marketers and advertisers identify the unique characteristics of Chinese netizens in order to optimize their marketing strategies and enhance business growth.

Read more: China’s Mobile Search Market Insights

Qihoo 360 announced the launch in Hong Kong of Shangyi on 31 March 2016, which is a set of integrated data and marketing analytics tools designed to help local and overseas marketers and advertisers identify the unique characteristics of Chinese netizens in order to optimize their marketing strategies and enhance business growth.

Through understanding the behavior of Chinese netizens, and analyzing the insights obtained, Qihoo 360 Shangyi will help brands provide over 700 million Internet users in China with more effective brand experiences, and grasp the opportunities in the China market through both mobile and desktop devices.

China is one of the fastest-growing Internet search engine markets in the world. Market size reached RMB56 billion in the third quarter of 2015, representing an increase of about 40% year-over-year, with search engine marketing accounting for more than 30%, at RMB22 billion. According to a recent iResearch market survey, the market is expected to continue to expand rapidly, reaching RMB168 billion in 2018. With this surging trend, companies from around the world are looking to connect more effectively with customers in China. And with the big data analytics services offered by Shangyi, companies can now target the right audience more effectively, and understand their behavioral patterns and habits, so as to adjust their marketing strategies whenever appropriate.

said Mr. David Ip, Global Business Advisor of Qihoo 360 Technology Co., Ltd.

Shangyi is Qihoo 360’s first marketing analytics tool backed by the big data generated from Qihoo 360’s more than 1.6 billion users, helping companies develop intelligent marketing and promotion strategies. Shangyi’s core competitive edges include:

• offers in-depth data mining technology and multi-platform data processing capability collected from Qihoo 360’s big data pool
• consolidates multiple data sources, and offers data analytical reports in terms of search and browsing behavior, demographics and geographical segmentation
• meets multiple needs of marketing analytics – targeting audiences in multiple ways, and supporting a variety of analytical approaches

There is a huge variety of consumer preferences and behavioral patterns among Chinese netizens in different regions and demographic segments, which can be a real hurdle for overseas companies entering the China market. Qihoo 360 enjoys a leading position in China’s Internet industry. Its brand effect and comprehensive big data resources provide an optimized channel for overseas companies, helping them to make the right business decisions and achieve better operational efficiency when targeting audiences within particular regions, user groups and behavioral segments,

added Mr. David Ip.

E-commerce brand Ebates and online travel website Hotels.com have both deployed Qihoo 360’s search engine marketing solutions to drive their brand exposure and awareness, and boost traffic on their websites.

Ms. Catherine Lu, Vice President, Marketing, Ebates Inc. Greater China, said, “As one of Mainland China’s Internet giants, Qihoo 360 played a crucial role in our entrance and expansion in the China market. Through Qihoo 360’s search platform,

Ebates has successfully gained brand awareness and accelerated its sales in China according to Ms. Catherine Lu, Vice President, Marketing, Ebates Inc. Greater China. They believe that Shangyi will offer global brands more in-depth and effective marketing data by analyzing users’ search behavior and geographic and demographic segmentation.

Hotels.com are also pleased that they have successfully driven their brand awareness and business expansion through Qihoo 360’s search platform. Hotels.com increased orders by 50% year-on-year.

Contact us here if you’d like to open a Qihoo 360 SEM account.

Also read: Weibo Search Users Insights 2015

Qihoo reported revenues of US$438.3 million in Q2 2015, an increase of 37.9% from U$317.9 million in the second quarter of 2014 and 14.0% from US$384.4 million in the first quarter of 2015. Net income attributable to Qihoo 360 was US$81.4 million, compared to US$39.1 million in the second quarter of 2014 and US$53.0 million in the prior quarter. The strong year-over-year growth was due to the continued solid performance in Qihoo’s online advertising.

Operating income of Qihoo was US$81.1 million, compared to US$43.9 million in the second quarter of 2014 and US$75.9 million in the prior quarter. Non-GAAP operating income was US$108.9 million, compared to US$69.7 million in the second quarter of 2014 and US$96.5 million in the prior quarter. Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products and services reached 514 million in June 2015, compared to 496 million in June 2014, among which the number of monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC browsers was 388 million with user penetration of 73.0%.

In this Quarter, Qihoo launched 360 Auto Guard (automobile data recorder) and a new generation of 360 Kids Guard, which were well received by users. Total smartphone users of Qihoo 360’s primary mobile security product reached a record high of 799 million in June 2015, compared to 641 million in June 2014. Qihoo was expected to expand its services and brand influence from online to offline and from virtual to real settings through the marketing of smart hardware and smartphones which started to take pre-orders on September 1, 2015.

Qihoo’s Second Quarter 2015 Highlights

• Revenues were US$438.3 million, a 37.9% increase from US$317.9 million in the second quarter of 2014.
• Net income attributable to Qihoo 360 was US$81.4 million, compared to US$39.1 million in the second quarter of 2014.
• Net cash generated from operations in the second quarter of 2015 was US$128.8 million.
• Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products and services reached 514 million in June 2015.
• Monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC browsers was 388 million and user penetration was 73.0% in June 2015.
• Total smartphone users of Qihoo 360’s primary mobile security product reached 799 million in June 2015.

Also read: China Top Smartphone Brands in H1 2015

Qihoo 360 started its smart furniture strategy and it planned to invest ten billion yuan to cooperate with over 100 companies. 360 will integrate cloud service, big data platform, online marketing platform, app development with open chipset to create a complete smart furniture ecosystem according to Zhou Hongyi, president of 360 in March 2015.

The official website for 360 smart furnitures, Home.360.cn is already online; companies can apply to join in. Users can know about 360 smart furnitures’ latest news and details on official website.

According to the latest news, brands like Haier, Boss, Aux, CIM, Dongdong Sound had joined in 360 smart furniture strategy which indicates 360 made another great step since its success in safe router, smart camera, children smart watch and portable Wi-fi.

Related: Qihoo 360 MAUs Exceeded 500M in Dec 2014

At the end of 2014, 360 established a joint venture company with Coolpad, worth US$400 million. It is expected to design, produce and sell mobile phone and other mobile terminal devices.

Some insiders believed that 360’s strategy of smart furniture is similar to Xiaomi’s role in smart furniture market in China. However, some people point out that 360’s strategy did not include television, fridge, and other kinds of big home appliance. 360 is now still making efforts to cover more appliance.

Xiaomi is ranked the most innovative Chinese company (35th globally) in 2014 according to BCG’s 2014 global innovation survey.

Also read: China Wearable Smart Device Insights 2014

In Q4 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.26 billion (US$2.63 billion) with an increase of 3.7% from the third quarter. In 2014, total transaction value exceeded RMB57.14 billion (US$9.25 billion) with an increase of 45.2% YoY according to data of EnfoDesk.

According to EnfoDesk, Baidu accounted for 79.48% market share, ranking top by revenue (including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels), followed by Google China (11.91%) and Sogou(5.54%) in Q4 2014 in China.

Including the revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu represented 77.3% market share; while Google China represented 10.29% in Q4 in China search engine market.

Excluding the revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.9% market share, followed by Sogou (6.3%) and Google China (4.34%) in Q4 2014. The market share structure was different from Q3 2014 in search engine market. See the difference here.

In 2014, China search engine market was performing well. EnfoDesk believed that the growth result from advertisers’ contribution to search market advertising, as well as mobile search market’s rapid development.

In December 2014, for the first time Baidu search revenue from mobile surpassed PC. Baidu expects mobile’s monetization rate to trend up throughout year 2015.

Also read: China Mobile Search Trend 2015

Qihoo 360 Technology revenues were $431.2 million in Q4 2014, a 94.6% increase from Q4 2013. Its net income attributable to Qihoo 360 was $76.8 million, compared to $16.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products and services reached a record 509 million in December 2014, compared to 475 million in December 2013. 360’s PC-based products reached 96.1% user penetration in December 2014, up 94.6% YoY.

Monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC browsers with 68.1% user penetration reached 361 million in December 2014, compared to 354 million in December 2013.

Average daily unique visitors to the 360 Personal Start-up Page and its sub-pages were 132 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to 119 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Average daily clicks on Qihoo 360’s Personal Start-up Page and its sub-pages were approximately 685 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to 681 million in the fourth quarter of 2013

Total smartphone users of Qihoo 360’s primary mobile security product, 360 Mobile Safe, reached a record 744 million in December 2014, compared to 467 million in December 2013.

Qihoo 360 Technology’s annual revenues in 2014 were $1,390.7 million, representing an increase of 107.2% from $671.1 million in 2013. The robust growth was driven by solid performance in both online advertising and Internet value-added services, mainly due to the strong ramp-up in search and mobile monetization.

Also read: China Mobile Payment Exceeded $3 Trillion in 2014

Qihoo 360 launched its new search brand “Haosou” this week. Haosou.com is online now and its previous search engine domain so.com is now redirecting traffic to haosou.com.

360 changed its search engine brand name and its logo trying to help users easily remember and understand. One insider believed that Haosou is more applicable in mobile internet market and Haosou could be sub-brand of Qihoo 360 which can make it an independent search brand.

Qi Xiangdong also said that Haosou.com can provide more opportunities for 360 search business, which made 360 search business adapt to mobile internet’s development.

According to China Mobile gateway traffic data recently leaked on Weibo, Shen Ma Search (m.sm.cn) was the second largest mobile search engine in June after Baidu. 360 Search had a target of gaining a market share of 35% by the end of 2014, which seemed achievable if the CNZZ data is solid.

Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014. The revenue from mobile search increased RMB5.53 billion ($0.9 billion) representing 59.9% of total growth from same period of prior year.

“Sou” in Chinese means search while “Hao” means good; Haosou brand’s own explanation is that, it’s a good search engine and does not do bad things seeming to insinuate scams that the leading search engine Baidu faced in the past year.

Qihoo 360 Technology has launched its own ad network in July 2014 which at the moment is more an affiliate network for its own products as it pays when a conversion is counted.

Also read: China Mobile Search User Behaviors in H1 2014

Qihoo 360 launched free call app on 23 Dec 2014 according to latest news on dianhua.360.com, which is developed by 360 Safe Contact team. This free call app is another choice for users in addition to Yixin’s free call offer, WeChat free call apps and so on.

360 Free Call can realize “one-party online”, which indicates it only needs the calling party to install such app to realize free calls. WeChat launched WeChat Contacts app offering free calls in November 2014 which requires both parties to install the app. In comparison, 360 app is more competitive in the market.

Calling people with 360’s app may not be completely free in the future but currently 360 gives away 99,999 minutes’ free calls for the first 100,000 users who call to phone users who do not download 360 free call app.

Also read: Qihoo 360 Revenues Doubled, 495M MAUs in Q3 2014

Navigation websites are similar to directory websites, listing websites by categories and making it easier for users to find what they need. It’s set as homepage or entry page to internet access by many internet users in China. Let’s take a look at some insights of navigation websites in China.

In July 2014, navigation websites had daily user coverage of 150 million with growth rate of 56.3%, ranking the most popular online application in China according to data from iResearch.

China top 3 navigation websites by MAUs in October were Hao.360.cn, Hao123.cn and 123.Sougou.com according to data from EnfoDesk.

Page views of Hao123.cn exceeded 2,909 million in October, ranking top among China navigation websites, followed by Hao.360.cn and 2345.com.

Besides, Hao123.cn had longest visiting time among China navigation websites in October.

In terms of visits, Hao.360.cn had the most visits among China navigation websites, followed by Hao123.cn and 2345.com in October 2014.

Most Chinese people who use navigation service on the internet were satisfied with popular navigation websites in China according to research of EnfoDesk.

Male users accounted for 74.4% of total navigation website users in China.

Users whose income were between 2,000 and 3,999 yuan accounted for 27.86% of total users, which were the major ones in October 2014.

China navigation website users who were in east China represented 36.62% of total users, followed by north and south China.

Users who had bachelor degree used navigation websites more than other users with different education background in October 2014.

China navigation website users favored social news on desktop, which accounted for 80.13%.

Leisure games accounted for 63.4% of all the favored games by Chinese people, ranking top, followed by role play and chess & cards games.

Online videos like movie, hot trend video and TV drama were the most popular ones favored by Chinese users in 2014.

Hao123.cn, Hao.360.cn and 2345.com are known by Chinese people and they visited these navigation websites within half a year in 2014.

Chinese users tend to visit navigation website with installed browser, which represented 60.73% in 2014.

Clothing, bags & luggage, digital product and book & video were top 3 categories of products purchased via navigation websites by Chinese users on desktop in 2014.

Also read: China Top Automobile Websites in Q3 2014

Qihoo 360 Technology reported revenues of $376.4 million, a 100.3% increase from $187.9 million in the third quarter of 2013.

Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products and services reached 495 million in September 2014, compared to 465 million in September 2013. User penetration of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products was 94% in September 2014, compared to 94% in September 2013.

Total smartphone users of Qihoo 360’s primary mobile security product, 360 Mobile Safe, reached a record of 673 million in September 2014, compared to 408 million in September 2013. In addition, Qihoo 360’s Android-based app store, 360 Mobile Assistant, continues to lead the market with the largest Android app distribution market share.

Monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC browsers were 357 million in September 2014, compared to 342 million in September 2013. User penetration of Qihoo 360’s PC browsers was 68% in September 2014, compared to 69% in September 2013.

Average daily unique visitors to the 360 Personal Start-up Page and its sub-pages were 129 million in the third quarter of 2014, compared to 126 million in the third quarter of 2013. Average daily clicks on Qihoo 360’s Personal Start-up Page and its sub-pages were approximately 723 million in the third quarter of 2014, compared to 681 million in the third quarter of 2013.

360 Search (so.com) takes 30% of PC search traffic share and continue to gain more according to Qihoo 360 Technology. And, 360 have started to allocate significantly more resources to support product development for and market penetration of their mobile search.

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.45 billion ($2.67 billion) with increase of 11.7% quarter on quarter and 50.6% year on year according to data from iResearch. Read more here.

For the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company expects revenues to be between $410 million and $415 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 85% to 87% and quarter-over-quarter increase of 9% to 10%.

Find out more companies’ performance in Q3 2014 here.

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.45 billion ($2.67 billion) with increase of 11.7% quarter on quarter and 50.6% year on year according to data from iResearch.

China search engine market was keeping its stable growth in consecutive three quarters in 2014 and it is still performing well. In Q3 2014, Baidu accounted for 82.2% market share in China search engine market by revenue, ranking top, followed by Google China, Sougou and 360 search.

Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014. The revenue from mobile search increased RMB5.53 billion ($0.9 billion) representing 59.9% of total growth from same period of prior year.

Sogou’s search and others revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were US$98 million, up 88% YoY and 16% QoQ, mainly due to increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click according to Sohu’s released financial results for Q3 2014.

As shown above, according another Chinese research company Analysis’s EnfoDesk data, Baidu accounted for 79.45% market share by revenue in Q3 2014 including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels, ranking top, followed by Google China (12.04%) and Sougou (including Soso) (5.53%) in Q3 2014 in China.

Including revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu had 77.31% market share, followed by Google China (10.41%) and Sougou (8.27%).

Excluding revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.63% market share by revenue, followed by Sougou (6.24%) and Google China (4.78%) in Q3 2014.

Google China’s market share was decreasing continuously as it only accounted for 4.78% in China search engine providers market by revenue not counting revenue from overseas.

Sogou cooperated with social platform to strengthen its status in Q3 2014. It provided mobile search service on Wechat official platform and had access to hundreds of Wechat official accounts to establish database.

Also read: China Mobile Search User Behaviors in H1 2014

Interbrand, a brand consultancy company, released its 2014 Best China Brands report last week. Tencent claims the #1 position with China Mobile dropping to #2.

Eight brands entered the report this year, including Alibaba Group (#3), Huawei (#13), PICC (#20), Chow Tai Fook (#22), JD.Com (#25), 360 (#41), DEEJ (#48), Lao Feng Xiang (#50). In light of digital and mobile technology transforming the global marketplace, there appears to be increasing similarities between this year’s top Chinese brands and those brands recognized on the world stage.

“Brands across geographies have reached a pivotal point in terms of their development,” said Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s Global Chief Executive Officer. “They are entering what Interbrand has defined as the Age of You—and they are working to develop truly personalized and curated experiences around the individual consumer that this forthcoming age demands. Brands from all categories and sectors are getting “smarter” – with products and devices working in concert with one another, across supply chains and in tandem with our own individual data sets.”

The brand valuation methodology used for Best China Brands is the same methodology Interbrand uses to determine its annual Best Global Brands ranking. Interbrand examines three key aspects that contribute to a brand’s value:

• The financial performance of the branded product and service
• The role the brand plays in influencing customer choice
• The strength the brand has to command a premium price or secure earnings for the company.

The 2014 Best China Brands illustrate that those brands that have embedded technology and mobile applications throughout their core offerings have performed the strongest. Meanwhile, brands from more traditional industries demonstrated great potential as well. Overall, the total brand value of this year’s 50 Best China Brands increased 22 percent when compared to the total value of the 50 Best China Brands in 2013, representing the largest increase in the table’s overall brand value since the inception of Best China Brands. The strong performance of China’s Internet brands marks the end of an era for the financial services and telecommunication brands that had previously dominated the Best China Brands ranking.

With eight new brands making an appearance, the Best China Brands ranking has become more diversified and, consequently, Interbrand has been able to identify the following emerging trends:

The new ecosystem is cultivating the growth of super brands.

The total brand value of Internet brands has increased from 11 percent to 24 percent compared to last year, making the industry the second most valuable after the financial services industry. TAB (Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu), in particular, are either cooperating with or surpassing traditional industries in changing how consumers live, work, learn, and connect with each other and the world at large. Since the second half of 2012, TAB has acquired and invested in a wide-range of companies, including those representing the following sectors and industries: financial services, entertainment, education, and healthcare. As a result, these leading brands are creating entirely new brand ecosystems aimed at improving customer convenience and overall quality of life for all.

Mobile Internet, the Internet of Things, and Big Data have equipped brands with the power to change the word.

Mobile Internet, the Internet of Things, and Big Data not only provide opportunities for revolutionizing and changing traditional industries and Internet brands, but have also created greater synergy as a result of cross-platform collaborations—propelling the transformation and progress of society on a larger scale. Huawei, Lenovo, Haier, Gree and Midea particularly stand out, as they continue to actively explore and develop the concept of “smart city” and “smart home.”

Banking and Telecom industries call for transformation—a test of foresight and innovative capability.

The growth rate of the banking industry (12 brands earned positions on this year’s Best China Brands ranking) continues to slow down with the top four banks garnering less than 5 percent growth in brand value. Both state-owned and private commercial banks face greater challenges and more competitive pressure than ever before and are urgently in need of a “second transformation.” Those banking brands that possess foresight and innovative capabilities have undergone transformation either on their own or by collaborating with another brand—and have maintained their double-digit growth as a result. The business of voice calls and text messages for the Chinese telecom industry continues to decline under the proliferation of Mobile Internet. Facing numerous difficulties, Chinese telecom brands have implemented a series of actions to accelerate transformation. Only time will tell if such actions are too little too late or have the desired impact.

In addition to the trends outlined above, the significant movement amongst the 2014 Best China Brands also reflects four key challenges that Chinese enterprises face in the age of mobile Internet:

Revisit the concept of the age of Mobile Internet

Many Chinese enterprises lack a deep understanding of brand strategy and digital strategy. Their knowledge of ‘digital’ is limited to brand communication channels (online ads, official Wechat and Weibo) and e-commerce channels. Chinese enterprises need to adjust their mindset in both strategies to executional levels in the Age of Mobile Internet.

Emphasize a brand’s authenticity and differentiation.

Building a brand requires the coordination of all departments. A marketing department could be responsible for brand communication, but if no other departments, including sales and operations for example, do not support the corresponding brand experience, it would result in an inconsistent brand experience for the users, thereby reducing the brand’s level of authenticity, Differentiation is the perceived difference and uniqueness of the brand vis-à-vis the competitors. Without clear brand differentiation, brands can only compete on price. A brand’s core competency has shifted from technological capability to the ability to influence customers and consumers. If a brand were to build on its authenticity and differentiate itself from out inside out, it holds greater potential to bring greater value to its brand.

Clarify the direction of brand development.

Compared to great international brands, Chinese brands have a tendency to lack a clear brand vision. A clear brand vision can give a brand depth and bring it to life, garnering recognition and loyalty from the public. In contrast, those organizations lacking clear brand vision can only compete on price and thereby must work all the harder to remain relevant in today’s rapidly-changing Chinese and global marketplaces.

“Imaginative” becomes a key challenge for Chinese brands.

Today, Chinese enterprises need to think about how to create new brand experiences with their consumers instead of simply answering consumers’ current needs. Therefore, Chinese organizations need to inject a tremendous amount of imagination into their brands and into the experiences they build around those brands.

“The reason why Chinese brands face so many challenges and are operationally big, while fundamentally weak, lies in the gap of authenticity, relevance and differentiation compared to world’s most influential and powerful global brands,” said James Wang, General Manager of Interbrand Beijing. “Many Chinese enterprises are still in the early stages of brand development, or what Interbrand calls the Age of Identity. However, with every great challenge there lies a great opportunity.”

Yao Chen Gang, General Manager of Interbrand Shanghai also noted, “The Age of Mobile Internet brings great opportunity for Chinese brands to outpace competitors. The annual shipments of Chinese 4G smartphones can surpass a hundred million. Based on the economic value brought by Mobile Internet, the scale of China will likely be 3 to 4 times of the United States in the future. In this age, brand owners should clarify the brand’s vision, infuse creativity and imagination, create a well-rounded brand experience and co-create value together with consumers. With Huawei becoming the first Chinese brand to enter the Best Global Brands ranking, we look forward to seeing many more Chinese brands earn a top position in the near future.

Click here to read the report in Chinese (PDF).

Stats of Top Selling Brands on Taobao/Tmall in 18 Categories in Sep 2014

In Q2 2014, the number of China app distribution exceeded 25.5 billion with an increase of 8.9% from prior quarter. Baidu  league still ranked the top with a market share of 41.7%. Tencent’s market share increased to 20.1%, by 3.5% from Q1 2014.

Related: 13 Charts of China Mobile Internet User Insights

EnfoDesk believed that, China mobile app distribution market is developing steadily with stable increase of smartphone users and Internet users in China. Compared with mobile app distribution market in Q1 which was an off season, total distribution had begun to rise.

Check out these 7 Charts on China Mobile Shopping App Market.

Chinese marketers are now adjusting their strategy in mobile app distribution market. They would not only increase users on channels but also work on users’ needs to improve their experience and strengthen liability. It is estimated that the competition in China mobile app distribution market will be more fierce.

Also read: China Mobile App Market Report: Download Sources, Favorite Free & Paid Apps

Huawei’s file management mobile app exceeded 10 million MAUs in July in china according to Enfodesk, becoming the most popular file manager for Android by total MAUs.

In July 2014, Huawei file management app’s monthly active users (MAU) went up to 10.215 million, ranking top in China mobile file manager apps, followed by ES File Browser, 360 and Root Explorer according to data from Enfodesk.

In July, File Manager had highest monthly growth rate of 47.8% among top 7 apps in China as shown above, while total MAUs of Root Explorer, 360 and X-Plore decreased a lot from prior month in 2014.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. revenues were $317.9 million in the second quarter of 2014, a 109.6% increase from $151.7 million in the second quarter of 2013 according to Qihoo 360 unaudited financial results.

Total monthly active users of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products and services reached a record of 496 million in June 2014, compared to 461 million in June 2013. User penetration of Qihoo 360’s PC-based products was 93.9% in June 2014, compared to 96% in June 2013.

Total smartphone users of Qihoo 360’s primary mobile security product reached a record of 641 million in June 2014, compared to 338 million in June 2013.

We delivered another quarter of strong growth and solid operational metrics,

said Mr. Hongyi Zhou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Qihoo 360.

As we maintain our leadership position in key PC-related product categories, we are making a significant transition to the ever more-important mobile Internet market. The number of Chinese smartphone users of our key mobile security product, 360 Mobile Safe, reached 641 million in the second quarter, further strengthening our indisputable leadership position in Internet security in China. In addition, our Android-based app store, 360 Mobile Assistant, continues to lead the market with the largest Android app distribution market share. We intend to continue to invest significant resources in the fast-growing mobile Internet market for the foreseeable future.

A few days ago, our share of Internet search traffic reached over 30% according to third-party data, achieving our year-end target four months ahead of schedule. As we continue to claim higher market share in PC search, we intend to allocate significantly more resources to support product development and market penetration of our mobile search. Through continued product improvement and technological innovation, we believe we are in an excellent position to further grow our share of China’s search market in both PC and mobile traffic and revenue.

For the third quarter of 2014, Qihoo 360 expects revenues to be between $360 million and $365 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 92% to 94% and quarter-over-quarter increase of 13% to 15%.

Find performance of other China internet companies in Q2 2014 here.

Source: 360.cn

Total revenue in Chinese search engine market reached RMB14.73 billion with a QoQ increase of 26.8% and YoY growth of 58.5%, 39.5% of which were contributed by mobile.

Chinese Search Engine Market Share by Revenue

Baidu has 81.7% share of China’s search engine market by revenue in the second quarter of 2014, followed by Google (10.9%), Sogou (3.8%), and 360 Search (2.6%) according to data from iResearch.

Qihoo 360 Technology has launched its own ad network which at the moment is more  an affiliate network for its own products as it pays when a conversion is counted.

360 ad network currently promotes five products of its own:

• 360 security protection
• 360 anti-virus
• 360 browser
• 360 software pack
• 360 navigation

360 Navigation is the only one not based on pay per conversion but per thousand  unique impressions (or CPM; the same IP is counted once per day).

As the network expands and matures, 360 will likely add in more products from other advertisers.

Qihoo 360 has intensified its competition with Tencent and Baidu during the past few years. It launched its own 360 Search service in August 2012 all of a sudden and it now has a usage rate and market share of 28% this Jun according to CNZZ.

CNZZ, a well known internet data service provider in China and part of Alimama (which is under Alibaba Group), released its finding on China search engine usage. It shows that Qihoo 360 search now has a usage rate and market share of 28% this Jun.

360 Search has a target of gaining a market share of 35% by the end of 2014, which seems achievable if the CNZZ finding is solid.

360?s single day market share on the first day of June surpassed 16%; it achieved a market share of 24% within the first year after launch.

In Q1 2014, China search engine market reached 11.16 billion yuan. Also find out China mobile search performance in 2013 here.

China smartphone users go to Apple’s Appstore is for iOS device apps download; but, for Android phone users, Google Play is not in play. Instead, there are quite a number of app stores for Android phone apps download. I’m sharing a few top ones in the race based on Analysis international’s data for the first quarter of this year.

Baidu, Qihoo 360 and Tencent are the top three leagues leading the race distributing about 86% mobile apps, followed by Wandoujia and other relatively small app distribution channels.

Baidu and associated platforms: 41%

• Android Market, owned by Baidu, apk.hiapk.com
• Baidu Mobile Assistant, shouji.baidu.com
• 91 Mobile Assistant, zs.91.com (Baidu paid $1.9 billion to buy 91 Wireless last year)
• Baidu Mobile Browser, wuxian.baidu.com/browser/
• Baidu search

360 and its associated platforms: 28%

• 360 Mobile Assistant, zhushou.360.cn
• 360 search
• 360 mobile security, shouji.360.cn
• 360 mobile browser, mse.360.cn

Tencent and its associated channels: 17%

• Tencent’s app store, sj.qq.com
• QQ browser
• Soso search
• Wechat

There are many users in China downloading apps on PC and that’s probably why search plays a role in app distributions.

Last week, Weibo announced premium publisher program called WeMedia to encourage more unique and quality content creation on Weibo.

We just found that Qihoo 360’s Wemedia platform is now fully integrated with Weibo WeMedia, who previously also pulls content from Wechat. 360 WeMedia homepage features Technology and Finance, education, culture, featured posts, popular articles and top influencers. All sections are links to corresponding Weibo article page.

We Media, or “zi mei ti” in Chinese, refers to individuals and a group of individuals who are independent with large number of followers or fans on Chinese social media creating quality and unique content on certain topics. These are often influencers in China.

According to CNZZ, Baidu search engine market share by volume accounted for 63.55%, ranking the first. Baidu search engine market share had been gradually encroached by its competitors. Baidu search engine market share by volume dropped monthly by 0.31% in November. 360, however, its search engine market share by volume increased by 1% to 21.84%, ranking the second. Followed by Sogou and Google.

Except for Baidu, 360 and Sogou, other search engines’ market share all fell below 3%. Google only accounted for 1.66%, Microsoft Bing accounted for 0.56%.

In November, only 360, Sogou and Youdao had a growth in market share. 360 had the biggest growth monthly, almost by 1%. Sogou grew by 0.78% monthly. While, Soso had the biggest drop in November, decreasing by 1.4%. After the integration of Sogou and Soso, they both experienced different developing tracks. Whether the merge would enable the new Sogou to compete with 360 and Baidu, we will wait and see.

Baidu acquired 91 Wireless with USD 1.9 billion, and Qihoo 360’s Leidian search which targets mobile users launched on July 18, merely two days after Baidu’s new acquisition. Besides, Wandoujia (known as SnapPea overseas) and AppChina also laid emphasis on app search.

 Chinese App Search is Maturing

Baidu CEO Robin Li said on July 25, Baidu’s main strategies were mobile search, mobile app distribution, LBS ( Location Based Service ) and mobile video. Baidu’s acquisition of 91 Wireless, the biggest in China internet industry for 19 years, showed its resolution in entering mobile search market.

Baidu mobile search hasn’t found a good business model for a long time. Because mobile screen size is limited, mobile advertising revenue is too small to sustain. Although Baidu occupied the biggest market share on mobile search, the output/input was quite small. Now, a good business model is presented to Baidu, which is to use mobile search to distribute apps.

However, Qihoo 360’s Leidian search tries to compete with Baidu. Leidian Search is a combination of search and app store, and it allows users to download from PC to install on mobile. It offers users a platform to search for apps,games, ebooks, music, wallpaper and ringtones. The resource comes from 360 mobile app store, Wandoujia and an online music website, duomi.

Wandoujia and AppChina both intend on developing mobile app search. The app search market is maturing and competition would get more and more intense.

Why App Search Comes Late

Mobile App Store has developed for years, why does internet giants begin app search until now?

“Search always comes later than other business models, ” said by Sougou CEO Wang Xiaochuan, “If other business models are not mature and cannot make money, neither will search.” This explains why internet giants didn’t start app search in the past few years.

Mobile app search report released by Baidu in March showed the number of apps was about 500 thousand, close to the number of websites in 2004. As for mobile search, it is matured in comparison with web search. It also found out mobile app YoY growth rate was 465% in 2013, mobile search needs was growing. However, companies which had mastered mobile search techniques were rare, and lack of qualified technicians also limited its development.

In conclusion, mobile app search market is promising.

App Store Value is Decreasing

In contrast to app search promising future, app store value is decreasing. Lots of app stores emerged since Apple Store became a hit in China.

First, although the number of apps is growing, spammy apps also increase fast. Two thirds of total Apple Store apps are spam, as much as 579 thousand.

Second, most users never use an app after download it. Accordint to a report from Baidu, average “Native App” number increased 5, but average daily app using number decreased 0.9 in Q1 2013. The time spent on frequently used apps occupied 85% in Q1 2013.

App store value’s decrease doesn’t mean users needs are statisfied. The fact is, users always cannot find the app they want in the store. App search is yet to be developed.

Hitwise report showed that Baidu and Qihoo’s 360 continued eating away other search engines market share. Baidu dominated the market with 73% share, and Qihoo’s 360 followed with approximately 15.5% in June 2013.

360’s search share mainly came from its own browser and navigation bar, making up 82% of total share. 18% came from so.com and other partner channels.

China search engine Marketreached 9.28 billion yuan(1.5 billion USD) in Q2 2013, with a QoQ growth of 25.1% and a year-on-year growth of 35.3%, according to statistics released by iResearch.

China search engine market growth in Q2 was driven by three factors. First, due to seasonal factor, after the Chinese Spring Festival, search traffic was growing. Second, the number of search advertisers and ARPU  increased. Third, Qihoo’s 360 search quickly commercialized. However, the sluggish macroeconomics, saturated traffic in desktops, and mobile search revenue realization was troubling the search engine market.

Baidu dominated market with 81.4% share in Q2, followed by Google China with 13.1%. Sogou was 3.3%, and Soso 1.3%. 360 only occupied 0.8% in market share by revenue in Q2.

iResearch recently released its China Internet Data Report in Q2 2013, giving us a glimpse of China internet performance in Q2.

Online Markets and Online Advertising

As you can tell from the chart above, Mobile won over PC devices on internet segment markets growth, such as shopping, searching, marketing(searching excluded) and game. Online shopping and searching on mobile devices both had a YoY growth as high as 181%, out performed PC devices which only had 39% and 28.6% YoY growth.

Chinese online advertising had a relatively stable market structure, Baidu and Taobao were the two giant in online ads market. Baidu’s revenue from advertising in Q2 reached 7.56 billion yuan(1.23 billion USD), followed by Taobao with 5.61 billion yuan(909 million USD).

Qihoo’s 360, Taobao and Sohu had pretty high QoQ growth rate.

E-Commerce

Online shopping was the driving power of E-Commerce, had the highest YoY growth rate of 45.3%. B2B was still the biggest part in E-Commerce, with 2 trillion yuan(324 billion USD) revenue in Q2 which was 80% of total E-Commerce revenue.

B2C grew twice faster than C2C in Q2 2013. B2C had a 77.4% of QoQ growth rate, while C2C QoQ growth rate was only 31.8%.

Mobile shopping had a strong growth trend in Q2, with 8.6% QoQ growth while shopping on PC dropped 91.4% compared to Q1, 2013.

Chinese online shopping markets were led by Tmall with 50.8% market share and Jingdong with 17.1% share, the competition in the second-tier B2C enterprises were tense.

Online Video Market

Online video providers’ revenue mainly came from advertising,with 75.28% share, during which video ads was the biggest. Besides, copyright licensing distribution occupied 8.61% share, and video value added service occupied 4.3%.

Third Party Payment Market

Alipay occupied 49% of China third party payment market, followed by Tenpay with 20% and Unionpay with 10%?

Alipay was the top app in China mobile third party payment with 66 million monthly users and 20.4% MoM increase rate. However, Bestpay, Lakala,cmpay and yeahka competed with each other fiercely in Q2 2013.

Mobile Internet Market

Mobile shopping surpassed mobile value added service in Q2, becoming the biggest mobile segment market with 38.5% share.

China online ad market in Q2, from iResearch data, reached 23.26 billion yuan (USD 3.8 billion), growing 17.4% compared to Q1 and YoY growth of 27.4%. China online ad market is entering to a steady growth stage.

In Q2, search, video, news and navigation monthly usage increased. NetEase, Taobao and eTao had more than 10% QoQ growth, Sina, Sohu and iFeng had more than 7% QoQ growth.

Search engine ads kept growing in Q2 with 36.4% online ad market share. Vertical search ads and brand banner ads dropped slightly compared to Q1, with 22.4% and 21.2% share. Video ads grow steadily with 6.7% share.

Baidu, Google and Sogou promote the grow of search engine ads, market new player Qihoo’s 360 will further push it. Vertical search ads is due to the fast growth of Taobao search, online shopping increase brings up vertical search ads. High quality video content, such as movies, TV dramas and shows boost video ads growth.

In China top 10 online ad market companies, Baidu was still the leader with 7.56 billion yuan in revenue. Taobao came to the second with 5.61 billion yuan. Taobao, Qihoo’s 360 and Sohu had grown by more than 40%.

Qihoo’s 360 main revenue comes from navigation, growing steadily. Qihoo’s search ads conversion keeps increasing. Taobao has lots of small business which provide growing need for advertisement.Sogou search engine and its video contributed to its revenue growth.

According to iResearch Q1 report, Baidu search engine market share is 80.6% (by revenue), growing steadily compared to 79.7% in last quarter. And Google shares 14.4%.

In Q1, China search engine market reached CNY7.41 billion (USD 1.21 billion), which had a year-on-year increase of 135%, but QoQ growth down by 6.8% mainly due to seasonal factors (Chinese Spring Festival) and the growing of mobile search.

For China web search requests market share in Q1 2013, Baidu remains the leader position,with 81.6% market share. Followed by 360, with 10.3%.

iResearch predicts Baidu’s market share would remain 81.2% in Q2, and 360 will increase by 0.8%.

Web analytics company CNZZ, acquired by Alibaba in 2011, showed that Qihoo’s 360 search engine market share by visits jumped from 10.59% at the beginning of 2013 to 15.18% in May.

360’s single day market share on the first day of June surpassed 16%. This is really a big achievement because 360 just entered the search engine market last August, and merely a week later, statistical analysis from Hitwise showed 360?s traffic share kept steadily around 10%.

China search engine market reached 7.78 billion yuan (USD 1.25 billion) in Q3 2012, with the QoQ growth of 13.5% and YoY growth of 44.1%. China’s search engine market growth is slowing down as the growth rate is lower than 50% for the very first time due to a few factors:

• Affected by the macroeconomic situation, advertisers reduced their advertising budget
• Fast-growing mobile search engine took some market share
• The launch of Qihoo 360 search engine took some search volume market share while having not yet started to contribute revenue to search market

Market Share Distribution Change

In Q3 2012, Baidu’s market share increased from 79.5% to 80.3% while Google suffered a decrease to only 14.6%.

For Google, who previously powered Qihoo 360 navigation and web browser search, also suffered from 360 search engine.

Qihoo 360, China’s biggest anti-virus vendor, launched a search engine “so.360.cn” on 16 August in public beta and soon became the second largest traffic source to many websites like chinaz.com and dxy.cn.

Since 20 August, Qihoo has replaced the default search engine with its own on its directory site hao.360.cn and its own browsers. Due to the popularity of Qihoo’s products like web browser, it’s definitely a threat to Baidu. Some influencers like Kingsoft CEO Fu Sheng claim that 360 Search now has about 10% of search market in China.

Baidu has started displaying a notice to users referred by 360 Search on its Q&A site Baidu Zhidao, alerting users to set Baidu as its homepage or add a shortcut on desktop.

Update: 360 is now using so.com.