China's H2 2018 Internet User Base Reaches 829 Mln
CNNIC, 2/28/19
China's internet user base reached 829 mln in H2 2018, up nearly 27 mln from the end of H1 2018, among which the mobile internet user base was approximately 817 mln, up over 29 mln from the end of H1 2018, according to data in the China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC) newly released H2 2018 State of the Chinese Internet Report. Internet penetration reached 59.6% in H2 2018, up 1.9 percentage points from the end of H1 2018 and up 3.8 percentage points from the end of 2017. In contrast, internet penetration in the USA reached 84.1% in 2018, according to figures from third-party statistics firm Statista.
"Mobile internet users" refers to users accessing the internet via mobile handsets.
The proportion of China's internet users accessing the internet through mobile handsets increased to 98.6% during H2 2018, up 0.3 percentage points from the end of H1 2018, while 48.0% accessed the internet via desktop computers, 35.9% accessed using laptops, 29.8% via tablets, and 31.1% via smart TV sets.
As of the end of H2 2018, China had 8,946,570 Mbps of international Internet gateway bandwidth, up 22.2% YoY.
During the year, internet service categories that enjoyed particularly strong user growth included online short video (which was not even listed among the top service categories in CNNIC's H2 2017 report, but in H2 2018 reached 648 mln users and 78.2% penetration), online car hire (40.9% YoY), online education (29.7% YoY), and online take-out delivery (18.2% YoY). Online gaming continued to record double-digit annual user growth in 2018, but due to a freeze on monetization approvals for new games from March to December, ended up recording slightly negative user growth between H1 and H2 2018 (in H1 2018, the freeze had more limited impact on user growth, as many of China's larger gaming companies already had a stockpile of approved games available for gradual release, but after these ran out, negative impact increased).
The following are the percentages of total internet users in China who accessed various online service categories in H2 2018:
Top Online Applications by Number of Users - H2 2018
| Application | Users (Mln) | Penetration | HoH User Growth | YoY User Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instant Messaging | 791.7 | 95.6% | 4.7% | 9.9% |
| Search | 681.3 | 82.2% | 3.7% | 6.5% |
| News | 674.7 | 81.4% | 1.8% | 4.3% |
| Short Video | 648.0 | 78.2% | N/A | N/A |
| Video | 612.0 | 73.9% | 0.5% | 5.7% |
| Shopping | 610.1 | 73.6% | 7.2% | 14.4% |
| Payment | 600.4 | 72.5% | 5.5% | 13.0% |
| Music | 575.6 | 69.5% | 3.7% | 5.0% |
| Gaming | 483.8 | 58.4% | -0.3% | 9.6% |
| Literature | 432.0 | 52.1% | 6.4% | 14.4% |
| Banking | 419.8 | 50.7% | 0.6% | 5.2% |
| Travel Booking | 410.0 | 49.5% | 4.4% | 9.1% |
| Online Take-out Delivery | 406.0 | 49.0% | 11.6% | 18.2% |
| Online Live Broadcasting | 396.8 | 47.9% | -6.7% | -6.0% |
| Microblog | 350.6 | 42.3% | 3.9% | 10.9% |
| Car Hire | 332.8 | 40.2% | 11.4% | 40.9% |
| Taxi Booking | 329.9 | 39.8% | -4.7% | 15.1% |
| Education | 201.2 | 24.3% | 17.1% | 29.7% |
| Internet Wealth Management | 151.4 | 18.3% | -10.2% | 17.5% |
The following are the percentages of total mobile internet users in China who accessed various categories of mobile service in H2 2018, and is a sub-set of the table above:
Top Mobile Service Categories by Number of Users - H2 2018
| Application | Users (Mln) | Penetration | HoH User Growth | YoY User Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Instant Messaging | 780.3 | 95.5% | 4.0% | 12.5% |
| Mobile Search | 654.0 | 80.0% | 2.6% | 4.8% |
| Mobile News | 652.9 | 79.9% | 3.4% | 5.4% |
| Mobile Shopping | 591.9 | 72.5% | 6.2% | 17.1% |
| Mobile Video | 589.6 | 72.2% | 2.0% | 7.5% |
| Mobile Payment | 583.4 | 71.4% | 3.1% | 10.7% |
| Mobile Music | 553.0 | 67.7% | 5.7% | 8.1% |
| Mobile Games | 458.8 | 56.2% | 0.1% | 12.7% |
| Mobile Literature | 410.2 | 50.2% | 7.8% | 19.4% |
| Mobile Online Travel | 400.3 | 49.0% | 11.6% | 17.9% |
| Mobile Take-Out Delivery | 397.1 | 48.6% | 15.6% | 23.2% |
| Mobile Online Education | 194.2 | 23.8% | 36.5% | 63.3% |
Keywords: online short video online video e-commerce online payment online music online gaming online literature online banking online travel food O2O interactive video car hire app taxi booking app financial services mobile information service online information service mobile education Internet mobile literature penetration mobile video online education instant messaging mobile payment mobile music mobile search CNNIC Internet users mobile Internet mobile internet users m-commerce online search mobile IM microblogging mobile gaming live streaming national statistics
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