China Media Buying: How to run Paid ads Campaign in China?

What We Buy

One media team across every major Chinese channel

China has no single ad auction. Baidu, Tencent (WeChat), ByteDance (Douyin), Xiaohongshu, and Weibo each run their own ad platforms, accounts, and rules. Most brands end up with a separate reseller per channel and no shared view of what actually drove a sale. We remove that gap: we hold the plan, run the accounts, and report cost per result across all of them so you can move budget to whatever is working this week.

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Media planning & channel mix

We decide where your budget belongs before we spend a cent of it.

Every plan starts with your objective, margin, and audience, not with a platform we happen to like. We map your target buyer to the channels they actually use, then split budget between search intent (Baidu) and discovery demand (Douyin, Xiaohongshu, WeChat) based on where you sit in the funnel.

The output is a written media plan: channels, monthly budgets, expected cost ranges, and the metric each channel is accountable for. We are honest when a channel is not the fit. If your product has no search demand yet, we will not push Baidu paid search until interest exists.

The plan is a working document. We revisit allocation monthly against real cost-per-result data rather than locking a full-year split on day one.

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Baidu paid search & feed

Search intent capture on China's leading search engine.

Baidu remains the default search engine for most Chinese desktop and mobile users (StatCounter, 2025). For brands with existing demand, paid search is often the highest-intent channel in the mix: people are actively looking for what you sell.

We run Baidu paid search, Baidu feed, and branded-zone placements, with landing pages localized for a Chinese ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). We handle the account verification and business licensing that Baidu requires before a foreign brand can advertise.

Baidu is the buying layer we most often pair with content, so search results show credible pages rather than a bare ad. See our dedicated <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/baidu-advertising/">Baidu advertising</a> and <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/seo-china/">China SEO</a> services for the channel detail.

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WeChat advertising

Moments, account, and Mini Program ads inside the super-app.

WeChat reported roughly 1.4 billion monthly active users (Tencent, 2025), and for many brands it is where the relationship lives after the first click: official account, private traffic, and re-marketing.

We buy WeChat Moments ads, banner placements, and Mini Program traffic, then connect them to your CRM and follower base so paid spend builds an owned audience instead of renting attention once.

WeChat rewards patience over volume. We treat it as a mid- and lower-funnel channel and set expectations accordingly. Full channel detail is on our <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/wechat-advertising-agency/">WeChat advertising agency</a> page.

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Douyin & short-video ads

Feed and in-stream buying on China's largest short-video app.

Douyin (China's TikTok) reported around 766 million monthly active users (Statista, 2024) and is a demand-creation engine: people discover products they were not searching for. It suits visual, impulse, and lifestyle categories best.

We run in-feed video ads, TopView placements, and creator-seeded content, and we pair paid spend with short-form creative built for the platform rather than repurposed TV cuts. Weak creative is the most common reason Douyin budgets underperform, so production quality is part of the buy, not an afterthought.

See our <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/douyin-tiktok-agency/">Douyin and TikTok agency</a> page and our <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/video-agency-china/">China video production</a> service for how we build the assets.

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Xiaohongshu & KOL amplification

Paid reach behind trusted voices and reviews.

Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) is a search-and-review platform for beauty, fashion, wellness, travel, and premium goods. Chinese buyers check it before purchase the way Western buyers check Google reviews. Paid buying here works best layered on top of organic credibility.

We combine Xiaohongshu paid placements with KOL (Key Opinion Leader, an influencer) and KOC (Key Opinion Consumer, a smaller everyday reviewer) collaborations, so ads amplify content people already trust rather than shouting into a feed.

Channel detail lives on our <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/xiaohongshu-agency-china/">Xiaohongshu agency</a> and <a href="https://marketingtochina.com/kol-marketing-chinese-bloggers-influencers-web-celebrities/">KOL marketing</a> pages.

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Creative & landing-page localization

Assets built for Chinese platforms, not translated from English.

A media buy is only as good as the creative it carries. We produce localized banners, short video, and landing pages in Simplified Chinese, tuned to each platform's format, aspect ratio, and cultural cues.

Landing pages are hosted for fast loading inside China and built to convert a Chinese visitor: local payment logos, WeChat and QR entry points, and trust signals that matter to a domestic buyer.

We test creative continuously. Two or three variants per channel, with losers cut fast, is how we keep cost per result falling instead of drifting up.

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Cross-channel attribution & reporting

One view of cost per lead and sale across every platform.

The core reason this planning and buying layer exists is measurement. Each Chinese ad platform reports its own numbers in its own dashboard, usually in Chinese. Left alone, you cannot tell which channel actually earned the sale.

We consolidate spend, leads, and conversions into a single monthly report in English, with cost per result by channel and clear recommendations on where to shift budget next. Attribution here means tracing a result back to the channel that drove it, as far as each platform's data allows.

Honest caveat: China's walled gardens limit deterministic cross-platform tracking. We are transparent about what is measured directly versus modeled, and we never present an estimate as a hard number.

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Budget management & optimization

Weekly reallocation so money follows performance.

We manage the day-to-day: bids, pacing, audience refresh, and creative rotation across every active channel. Nothing runs on autopilot for a month while budget leaks.

Each week we review cost per result by channel and move spend toward what is converting. A plan that looked right in January rarely survives contact with real Chinese buyers, and that is fine, provided someone is watching and reacting.

You get a named team, English-language communication, and a clear line of sight into where your budget went and what it returned.

How We Work

From audit to reallocation in four steps

A repeatable loop, not a one-off campaign. We plan, launch, measure, and move budget, then run the loop again the next month.

01

1. Audit & media plan

We review your goals, margins, category, and any existing China presence, then research where your buyers actually spend attention. You receive a written media plan with channels, budgets, expected cost ranges, and the metric each channel owns.

02

2. Account setup & creative

We handle the business verification and licensing each platform demands from foreign advertisers, then build localized landing pages, banners, and short video. Nothing goes live until tracking and assets are ready.

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3. Launch & optimize

Campaigns go live across the agreed channels. We manage bids, pacing, audiences, and creative daily, and cut underperforming variants fast so cost per result trends down.

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4. Report & reallocate

Every month you get one English report with cost per result by channel and a clear recommendation on where to shift budget. We reallocate, then run the loop again.

Why A Buying Layer

China has no single ad platform, so someone has to own the whole plan

The problem with one reseller per channel

Most foreign brands enter China channel by channel: a Baidu reseller here, a WeChat agency there, a Douyin partner later. Each optimizes its own dashboard and its own metric. None of them can tell you which channel earned the customer, because none of them sees the others. Budget ends up allocated by whoever argues loudest, not by what converts.

What the buying layer does instead

We sit above the individual channels as the planning, buying, and attribution layer. We decide the channel mix, run the accounts, and consolidate results into one view. When Douyin is cheaper per lead than Baidu this month, we can actually see it and move the money. That is the difference between buying media and just placing ads.

Search intent versus discovery demand

The single most useful split in China media is intent versus discovery. Baidu paid search captures people already looking for you. Douyin and Xiaohongshu create demand among people who were not. Most brands need both, weighted by where their category sits. We set that weighting deliberately and revisit it with data.

Where this fits your wider China strategy

Paid media rarely works alone. It performs best alongside credible content, a working China-hosted website, and a route to purchase, whether that is cross-border or domestic e-commerce. Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) lets you sell to Chinese consumers without a local entity. We plan media with that full journey in view, not as an isolated ad spend.

1.4B

WeChat monthly active users (Tencent, 2025)

766M

Douyin monthly active users in China (Statista, 2024)

80%+

of China media ad spend is digital (eMarketer, 2025)

1,500+

brand launches GMA has supported

When a buying layer is worth it

If you run only one Chinese channel, a single-channel agency may be enough. The buying layer pays off once you are active on two or more platforms and need one honest view of cost per result across them. If you are still deciding which single channel to test first, tell us your product and budget and we will point you to the right starting point, even if that is a single-channel service rather than this one.

Compare Approaches

Cross-channel buying vs a single reseller vs in-house

Feature	GMA cross-channel buying	Single-platform reseller	Building it in-house
Channel scope	Baidu, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Weibo in one plan	Usually a single platform	Whatever your team has time to learn
Attribution	Cost per result compared across channels	Platform-native metrics only	Fragmented and manual
Account & licensing	Foreign-brand verification handled for each platform	Varies by provider	Often blocked without a China entity
Language of reporting	English, one consolidated report	Frequently Chinese-only	Depends on internal skills
Creative	Localized copy, banners, and short video included	Media only, creative usually extra	Depends on in-house capability
Optimization cadence	Weekly reallocation across channels	Within one channel only	Ad hoc
Best fit	Brands running two or more Chinese channels	Brands committed to one platform	Teams with a Mandarin media buyer on staff

Selected Work

How we approach different mandates

Consumer beauty & skincare

Discovery-led launch for a new-to-China brand

A premium skincare brand with no China awareness needed demand created before search would ever fire. The strategic principle: lead with discovery channels (Xiaohongshu and Douyin) and KOC seeding to build credibility, then layer Baidu paid search only once branded search volume appeared. Media budget followed proof of interest, not a fixed calendar.

B2B & industrial

Intent capture for a considered-purchase seller

A B2B manufacturer with long sales cycles and genuine existing search demand. The strategic principle: concentrate budget on Baidu search intent and a credible localized landing experience rather than broad social reach, and measure on qualified enquiries, not impressions. Discovery channels stayed a small test line, not the core spend.

Retail & e-commerce

Full-funnel mix feeding a marketplace store

A consumer brand selling through a domestic marketplace needed paid media to move product, not just build awareness. The strategic principle: split budget between discovery (Douyin, Xiaohongshu) and intent (Baidu), route everything to the store, and reallocate weekly toward the channel with the lowest cost per order. Attribution was tied back to sales wherever platform data allowed.

FAQ

China media buying, answered

Still weighing it up?

The questions we hear most from brands deciding how to run paid media in China. If yours is not here, ask us directly and we will give you a straight answer, including when the honest one is that you do not need this service yet.

Ask Us Directly

What does a media buying agency in China actually do?

It plans, buys, and measures paid advertising across Chinese platforms. In practice that means deciding your channel mix, setting up and verifying ad accounts, producing localized creative, running the campaigns day to day, and reporting cost per result. Our role is to own the whole plan across Baidu, WeChat, Douyin, and more, rather than optimizing one channel in isolation.

Why not just hire one agency per channel?

You can, and if you only run one channel that may be enough. The problem appears with two or more: each single-channel provider sees only its own numbers, so no one can tell you which channel earned the customer or where to move budget. The buying layer exists to hold that cross-channel view. When you are on multiple platforms, it usually pays for itself in better allocation.

Which channel should we start with?

It depends on your category and whether demand already exists. If people are searching for what you sell, Baidu paid search is often the highest-intent start. If you need to create demand for a new or visual product, Douyin and Xiaohongshu tend to work better first. We will recommend the honest starting point for your case, even if that is a single channel rather than a full mix.

Do we need a Chinese business entity to advertise?

Not always. Some platforms require a local entity, others accept foreign advertisers with the right verification and licensing, and cross-border e-commerce (selling to Chinese consumers without a local entity) is a valid route for many brands. We handle the platform verification each channel demands and advise on what your specific situation requires.

How is performance measured across so many platforms?

We consolidate spend, leads, and conversions into one monthly English report with cost per result by channel. Be aware that China's platforms are walled gardens, so deterministic cross-platform tracking has limits. We are transparent about what is measured directly versus modeled, and we never present an estimate as a hard number.

What budget do we need to make this worthwhile?

It varies too much by category, channel, and goal for a single figure to be honest. Rather than quote a number here, we will build a media plan sized to your objective and show the expected cost ranges per channel before you commit. If your budget is better spent on one channel for now, we will tell you.

Can you produce the creative, or do we supply it?

We produce it. Localized banners, short video, and Chinese-language landing pages are part of the buy, because a media plan is only as strong as the creative it carries. If you have existing assets, we will adapt them to each platform's format rather than run cuts that were built for Western channels.

How does paid media fit with SEO, content, and e-commerce?

Paid media performs best alongside credible content, a China-hosted website, and a clear route to purchase. We plan campaigns with that full journey in view and connect to our wider services, from China SEO to e-commerce, so ads land people somewhere that actually converts rather than a dead end.

Why GMA

The Agency Behind Your China Strategy

GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency) is a bicultural China marketing agency founded by Olivier Verot and Philip Qian, with a team based in Shanghai. For 14+ years we have worked inside the Chinese market, and we have supported the launch of more than 1,500 brands across Baidu, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and the wider ecosystem. That range is the point: media buying in China only works when someone understands how the channels connect, not just how one of them runs.

Our team pairs Western strategic thinking with local operational fluency. Chinese specialists run the platforms and the creative in-market, while your account is managed and reported in clear English. You get the on-the-ground execution China demands without losing the transparency and communication foreign brands need.

We take positions and we are honest about fit. If a channel is wrong for you, we say so. If you need one platform rather than a full cross-channel mix, we will point you there. The goal is your cost per result trending down, not our invoice trending up.

Since 2012 Established

1500+ Projects

50+ Specialists

Ready to put your China budget behind performance?

Tell us your product, your goal, and roughly what you can spend. We will come back with a media plan: the right channels, expected cost ranges, and what each channel will be accountable for. No jargon, no pressure, and an English report you can actually read.

Get in Touch

contact@marketingtochina.com

Room 1008, Jingu Central Building, Shanghai

+86 62310520

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Media Buying Agency in China