On February 3rd, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 47th 《Statistical Report on China's Internet Development》, indicating that as of December 2020, the number of netizens in China reached 989 million.
This represents an increase of 85.4 million since March 2020, with an Internet penetration rate of 70.4%, an increase of 5.9 percentage points compared to March 2020. If this growth rate continues, the number of Chinese netizens will exceed 1 billion in the first half of 2021.
Concurrently, the number of mobile netizens reached 986 million, accounting for 99.7% of the total netizen population, an increase of 88.85 million compared to the same period in 2020.
As of December 2020, the Internet penetration rate in urban areas of China was 79.8%, while the Internet penetration rate in rural areas reached 55.9%.
This is a 9.7% increase compared to the same period in 2020. At the same time, the gap in Internet penetration rates between urban and rural areas has narrowed by 6.4%.
This demonstrates that the rapid development of lower-tier cities is bringing a new wave of traffic to the Chinese Internet market.
With major Internet companies focusing on lower-tier cities, there have also been significant changes in the age distribution of netizens:
As of December 2020, the proportions of netizens aged 20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 were 17.8%, 20.5%, and 18.8% respectively, higher than other age groups.
The proportion of netizens aged 50 and above increased from 16.9% in March 2020 to 26.3%. The middle-aged and elderly population is becoming more familiar with and accustomed to the Internet.
Concurrently, there have also been changes in the personal income of netizens:
Netizens with a monthly income between 2001-5000 RMB account for 32.7%; the netizen group with a monthly income above 5000 RMB accounts for 29.3%; nearly 15% of netizens have a monthly income below 1000 RMB.
In summary, the Internet market is beginning to shift towards lower-tier cities, an aging demographic, and lower-income users. Internet marketing strategies are increasingly focusing on differentiated demographics and brand persona development.
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