Rumor: Weibo Tests Independent Blogger Ads
Lieyunwang.com, 4/02/14
According to an insider at Chinese internet company Sina's (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogging platform, Weibo will soon launch an ad revenue sharing program for independent bloggers on the platform. The company has quietly begun closed beta testing of the program, with ads already being placed on independent bloggers' Weibo posts. The advertising program is currently limited to the Weibo mobile client. It is not yet clear if ads will later be featured on the PC version of Weibo.
Advertisements are placed between the main text of a Weibo post and the below comment box. When users click on ads, they are directed to the official Weibo feed of the paid advertiser.
According to the source, during the closed beta testing stage, users are taken to the advertiser's main Weibo page. In the future, users might be taken to a product page, or even a purchase page.
The ads do not appear in users' personal Weibo feeds, and can only be viewed when the user enters an independent blogger's Weibo page.
The current round of closed beta testing is invite-only, according to an independent blogger participating in the testing. Blogger ad revenue is based on number of impressions, but Weibo also offers a cost-per-click model, according to the blogger.
Keywords: wireless Sina microblogging Weibo revenue share mobile advertising