Sina Weibo has secured a deal with Nielsen that will create a digital measurement ratings standard in China.
China’s Twitter-like social media service Sina Weibo will use Neilsen data to gauge marketing effectiveness on the platform, which has more than 200 million users.
The partnership with Sina Weibo aims to help advertisers understand the accuracy of their campaigns and how they are reaching people who are interested in their products.
The digital ad ratings could be particularly useful for foreign companies trying to connect with China’s massive social media audience.
Recent research indicates that expenditures on digital advertising covering a range of Internet outlets have surpassed the amount spent on traditional media, like print publications and television in China.
The agreement comes one year after Nielsen teamed up with Tencent, which runs the widely popular WeChat platform, which has more than 600 million active users.
Sina Weibo attracts about 30 per cent penetration of the online population in China, with about 100 million messages being posted per day.
Del Levin, vice-president of Nielsen China, said: “In the age of precision marketing, where the use of data management platforms and programmatic trading is on the rise, marketers are demanding more than traditional demographics and are increasingly segmenting consumers based on their online behavior.”
The two businesses will now work together, alongside another Chinese digital firm Tencent, to build out a standard, with the end aim being to help advertisers more accurately measure ROI, particularly on mobile.
“The difference of mobile internet marketing is the accurate recognition for the user’s identity and interests, and can help brands interact with users online deeply, so as to enhance the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and advertising ROI. Weibo’s partnership with Nielsen is in a wish to establish metrics that can help enterprises’ transition to mobile internet,” said Wang Yajuan, vice-president of Sina Weibo.