China’s latest published Internet Development Status Report highlighted further growth yet again in the number of Chinese netizens. China has officially surpassed the 800 million mark, with an internet penetration rate of 57.7%.
The first half of 2018 sees an incremental increase in newly connected at 3.8 %, as compared to end-2017. While the proportion of wired internet keeps falling to 48.9% and 34.5% for desktop and laptop users respectively, the number of new mobile internet users increases by 4.7% to 35.09 million in H1 2018.
What’s noteworthy, is that those who access the internet through smart TVs, now stand at 29.7%, speaking to a prosperous smart TV market in China over the past few years.
Takeaways
– China sets a new record of 802 internet users
– A penetration rate of 57.7% suggests room for growth in China’s rural and lower-tier cities, where internet penetration rates are only at 36.5% as opposed to 72.7% in the urban Chinese cities
– Social media, mobile payments and other apps will continue to grow in importance as 98.3% of internet users access the internet via their mobile
– online news (82.7%), online shopping (71%), food delivery (43.6%), mobile payment (71%), living streaming (53%), bike sharing (30.6%) and ride-hailing (taxi excluded) (37.3%) still see strong user growth in 18H1
Editor: Ben Jiang