A Beginner's Guide to Native Advertising on Chinese Douyin

Since its inception, native advertising has continuously evolved and redefined itself in the market. As the marketing landscape and technological capabilities advance, so do the formats and content of native ads. The essence of native advertising lies in its non-standardized, adaptable nature that blends into user experience, making it more acceptable to audiences.

With the rise of short videos and live streaming, user preferences for advertising have shifted. At the same time, businesses are adopting more精细化 (precise) operational strategies. Against this backdrop, the definition of native advertising is undergoing another transformation.

Firstly, users are increasingly seeking high-value information. Therefore, beyond preserving user experience, native ads must also deliver effective and meaningful content.

Secondly, the concept of advertising scenarios continues to expand. From ads that mimic organic content to those integrated with platform ecosystems, product features, and situational contexts—this iteration of native advertising meets advertisers’ deeper needs and is gaining significant attention.

1. Understand Douyin Native Ads and Seize Advertising Opportunities

Douyin native ads are delivered through authentic Douyin accounts. They blend promotional content with account management, providing users with valuable information through native formats, content, and scenarios. Compared to non-native ads, native advertising enables synergy between paid and organic traffic.

By leveraging account-based promotion, advertisers can not only direct users to landing pages but also integrate multi-touchpoint conversion components such as profile pages, direct messages, live streams, and short videos. This multi-dimensional, multi-path advantage makes native ads highly effective for volume-driven campaigns and easier to incorporate into long-term brand building.

2. Upgraded Traffic Mechanism: Integrating Marketing and Operations

With the newly upgraded traffic mechanism, the traffic pool for native ads has been further expanded. High-quality short videos and live streams with visible profile pages can now enter an additional traffic pool, gaining bonus exposure and attracting more user attention. The new mechanism already applies to live streaming scenarios, and advertisers can view detailed “bonus traffic” data in live analytics reports. By 2024, it will fully cover both live and short video scenarios.

3. Three Simple Steps to Launch Your Campaign

Native advertising on Douyin can cover four major business scenarios: app promotion, lead generation, e-commerce store promotion, and live stream promotion. It also supports multiple conversion objectives. Here are some tips for launching your campaign:

• Short video scenarios: Focus on “binding–promoting–attaching” to speed up approval and gain more traffic.

• Live streaming scenarios: Optimize live room content and interaction metrics to enhance audience reach.

4. Secrets to High-Quality Content for Better Performance

High-quality content is key to attracting user attention and maximizing bonus traffic in native advertising. Based on extensive historical data, the secret to producing top-performing creatives lies in: drawing from real-life scenarios, incorporating diverse topics, and adopting video styles such as storytelling,真人出镜 (real-person narration), and product showcases. Short yet substantial, universally relatable content tends to perform best.