The minimum buy of WeChat Moments advertisement is further reduced from 200,000 yuan (US$30,418) to 50,000 yuan (US$7605) in an attempt to attract more small and medium companies.
Monthly active users (“MAUs”) of WeChat, including Chinese version Weixin, reached 762 million in Q1 2016 according to the latest Tencent financial results. And, Tencent reported total revenues of RMB31,995 million (USD4,952 million) in Q1 2016, an increase of 43% over the first quarter of 2015.
Related: Unwritten rules of Weibo and WeChat Feed Stream
In addition to the reduced minimum budget requirement, WeChat also launched two different formats for advertising on its social networking stream Moments: video and coupon ads.
The latest WeChat Moments video ad allowed companies to display their ads through video. Video ad charged 180 yuan on CPM basis in core cities, 120 yuan in key cities, and 60 yuan in ordinary cities.
| Functions and Permissions | 50K Yuan | 1M Yuan | 5M Yuan |
| Display ads | 1 image | 1,3,4 image | 1,3,4,6 images |
| Video ads | / | Short video within 6 seconds; Long video within 300 seconds; |
Short video within 6 seconds; Long video within 300 seconds; |
| Go to URL of “View Details” | OA text with images and message; Template H5; |
OA text with images and message; Template H5; Customized H5 within two pages; |
OA text with images and message; Template H5; Customized H5 within six pages; |
WeChat Moments display ads consisted of profile image and title of the advertiser, promotion message, ad image, external link, and engagement. Customers could click “View Details” to go to the set URL and the URL could be of a certain post of WeChat official account or a H5 page. Feed ads were displayed the fifth from top and would disappear to the users who were not engaged within six hours.
Related: Weibo to Offer Video Advertising in H1 2016
WeChat Video Ads
Core cities (2) in China included Beijing and Shanghai; major cities (35) included Tianjin, Chongqing, Harbin, Shenyang, Xi’an, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanjing, Chengdu, Hangzhou and other provincial capital cities and active cities in China; common cities were cities except core cities and major cities in China.
| Geo-targeting regions | Display ads | Video ads |
| Core cities | 150 yuan/thousand exposures | 180 yuan/thousand exposures |
| Major cities | 100 yuan/thousand exposures | 120 yuan/thousand exposures |
| Common cities | 50 yuan/thousand exposures | 60 yuan/thousand exposures |
WeChat Moments video ads consisted of profile image and title of the advertiser, promotion message, video, and engagement. The video ad would display in less than 6 seconds unless users click to see the complete version. WeChat Moments video ads has had no external link yet.
WeChat Moments ads could target customers by age, gender, region, smartphone operation system, networks, and interests. 14 industries have been allowed to buy Moments ads including apparel, household appliances, internet service providers, personal products, retail and entertainment, education, home decorations, foods and beverage, transportation, IT, consumer products and digital products, finance, operator, and real estate.
Related free download from Incitez: WeChat Marketing Guide
Also read: China Social Media Users Insights in 2015
