China’s AIGC-interested users, or internet users who are active followers of AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) on social media, appear to spend more time (160.5 hours per month) in the digital space, compared to typical netizens (146 hours each month), as per the latest statistics in April from Quest Mobile, a Beijing-based big data intelligence service.
The occurrence reflects the ongoing global AI-momentum sparked by the birth of ChatGPT last November and was further fanned by the release of Chinese rivals including ERINE chatbot created by Baidu and Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen.
The report is based on user data collected in February from major Chinese social media platforms including WeChat, Weibo (China’s answer to Twitter), Xiaohongshu (China’s lifestyle-sharing platform), Douyin (Chinese TikTok) and its rival Kuaishou and China’s YouTube equivalent Bilibili. It found that men are the backbone of AIGC consumers, making up 55.6% of the total users who are interested in this content, with post-90s and post-00s dwelling in Tier-1 and new Tier-1 cities making up the majority.
These tech-savvy users are also more likely to show interest in fields such as fitness, travel, and ACG (Animation, Comics and Games) subcultures. Meanwhile, the AIGC-interested group appears to be more enthusiastic in trying out different apps, reporting an average of 36.7 apps used in the surveyed month, compared to 25.9 apps from ordinary internet users.
Douyin was seen to be the space favoured by AIGC-followers, recording the highest TGI at 167 in the observed period. TGI, or Target Group Index, is a measure of how much more likely members of the target group are to use or consume a particular service or product compared to the average consumer. Music and other video streaming platforms such as Kugou Music and QQ Music, iQiyi and Tencent Videos are among the top online destinations drawing in Chinese AIGC enthusiasts.
In addition to traditional options, emerging AI-based inventions such as StyleArt, an AI drawing application is also gaining traction, hitting 2.9 million monthly active users as of November 2022. While Yijian AI Drawing, a mini-program embedded in Tencent’s super messaging app WeChat is reported to have amassed more than 1.1 million users within 43 days and garnered over 4.4 million monthly active users as of last November.
This shows that the AIGC fever provides another avenue for China’s digital growth. By understanding the online behaviours of its AIGC chasers, market players in the wider sector can leverage the global phenomenon to better engage with China’s shrewd demographics.
