**Moderator:** Good morning, and welcome to our press conference. Today, we will be providing a comprehensive overview of the costs associated with advertising within the ecosystem of mini-programs, often referred to as "applets." This session aims to deliver objective and accurate information for businesses, marketers, and analysts seeking to understand the investment landscape for this rapidly growing digital channel. We have with us a panel of experts from digital advertising and market research. We will now open the floor for questions. **Reporter 1, from a Business Journal:** Thank you for having us. Let's start with the most fundamental question. What is the basic price range a company can expect to pay for an advertisement inside a popular mini-program? Is it comparable to traditional digital banner ads, or is it a premium product? **Expert 1, Digital Advertising Strategist:** Thank you for that question. It is crucial to understand from the outset that there is no single, universal price tag. The cost is highly dynamic and is determined by a real-time auction system, similar to other major programmatic advertising platforms. However, we can establish a spectrum. For a standard Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Cost-Per-View (CPV) ad within a moderately successful mini-program, brands might see costs ranging from a few cents to several dollars per engagement. For premium placements within top-tier mini-programs—such as those on WeChat with tens of millions of daily active users—the cost can be significantly higher, potentially reaching tens of dollars per click for highly competitive keywords or audience segments. To put it in perspective, it is not inherently more expensive than a prime placement on a major news website, but the unique, immersive nature of the mini-program environment can command a premium due to higher user engagement rates. **Reporter 2, from a Tech News Outlet:** Could you elaborate on the specific pricing models available? We hear terms like CPM, CPC, and oCPM. How do these function within the mini-program context, and which factors most directly influence the final cost under each model? **Expert 2, Ad Tech Specialist:** Absolutely. The primary pricing models are consistent with industry standards but are applied with specific nuances to the mini-program environment. First, **CPM (Cost Per Mille)**: This is the cost for a thousand impressions. Advertisers pay simply for their ad being displayed. CPM rates are influenced by the general popularity of the mini-program and the broad category of its users. A financial services mini-program will have a different baseline CPM than a gaming one. CPM can range from $1 to $15 per thousand impressions, depending on these factors. Second, **CPC (Cost Per Click)**: Here, the advertiser pays only when a user actively clicks on the ad. This is one of the most common models. The cost-per-click is directly driven by competition. If multiple companies are bidding for the same user demographic within the same mini-program, the CPC will rise. Keywords, user interests, and geographic location are critical levers here. Third, and most sophisticated, is **oCPM (Optimized CPM)**. This is a hybrid model where the advertiser sets a target cost for a specific action, such as a download, a form submission, or a purchase. The platform's algorithm then automatically bids in CPM auctions to acquire the users most likely to perform that desired action, all while trying to keep the average cost per action at the target level. This is often the most efficient model for performance-driven campaigns. The key factors influencing cost across all models are: * **Audience Targeting Granularity:** Targeting users in a specific city, with a high income, who have recently searched for luxury goods, will be far more expensive than a broad, demographic-only target. * **Mini-Program Category and Quality:** Advertising within a high-authority, official banking applet costs more than within a niche utility applet. * **Time and Seasonality:** Costs inflate during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday, Singles' Day, or Chinese New Year due to increased competition. * **Ad Placement:** A banner ad on a secondary page is cheaper than a full-screen interstitial ad that appears during a natural transition point in the user's journey. **Reporter 3, from a Marketing Magazine:** You mentioned targeting. How does the data environment within a "walled garden" like WeChat affect the cost and effectiveness of advertising compared to the open web? **Expert 1, Digital Advertising Strategist:** This is a critical differentiator. Platforms like WeChat are often described as "walled gardens" because they possess a vast and rich pool of first-party user data. Unlike the open web where cookies are used to track user behavior across sites, a platform like WeChat has direct, logged-in data on user identities, social connections, payment history, official accounts they follow, and their in-applet behavior. This allows for incredibly precise targeting. You can, for instance, target users who have previously interacted with your customer service chat, or who are friends with your existing high-value customers. This precision is a double-edged sword in terms of cost. On one hand, it can lead to higher Cost-Per-Click because you are bidding for a highly qualified, valuable audience that is difficult to reach elsewhere. The competition for these "golden" segments is fierce. On the other hand, the potential Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is often much higher because the ads are more relevant, leading to better conversion rates. You are effectively paying a premium for quality over quantity. The cost is justified by the superior outcome. **Reporter 4, from an E-commerce Blog:** For a small to medium-sized business with a limited budget, is advertising in mini-programs a viable option? Are there lower-cost entry points or strategies they should consider? **Expert 2, Ad Tech Specialist:** It is absolutely viable, but it requires a strategic approach. The auction-based system does not inherently lock out smaller players; it just means they must be smarter with their bids. Instead of competing for the most expensive, broad keywords in the most popular mini-programs, SMEs should focus on: 1. **Hyper-Niche Targeting:** Identify a very specific, perhaps geographically limited, audience segment with less competition. The cost to reach 1,000 highly specific users might be lower and more effective than a generic reach of 10,000. 2. **Leveraging oCPM:** Using the oCPM model with a clear, measurable action (like adding a product to a cart) allows the platform's AI to optimize their limited budget for results, rather than just for clicks or views. 3. **Focus on Owned Media First:** The most cost-effective strategy is to use the mini-program's inherent shareability. Creating a compelling product or offer that encourages organic sharing among users in group chats or moments is essentially free advertising. Paid ads can then be used to amplify these successful organic campaigns. 4. **Testing with Small Budgets:** The platforms allow for campaigns with daily budgets as low as $50 or equivalent. An SME can run small A/B tests on different ad creatives, targeting parameters, and mini-program placements to find a cost-effective formula before scaling up. **Reporter 5, from an Industry Analyst Firm:** Looking forward, what trends do you foresee that could impact the cost of mini-program advertising? Will it become more or less expensive? **Expert 1, Digital Advertising Strategist:** We anticipate a continued upward pressure on costs in the short to medium term. The reason is simple: demand is surging as more brands recognize the high engagement and conversion potential of mini-programs, while the supply of premium advertising inventory, though growing, is finite. However, several trends will shape this trajectory: * **Advancement of AI and Automation:** As oCPM and similar AI-driven models become more sophisticated and widespread, the *efficiency* of ad spend will improve. Brands may pay a higher CPC, but if the conversion rate is also higher, the effective cost-per-acquisition might remain stable or even decrease. * **New Ad Formats:** The introduction of more interactive and immersive ad formats, such as playable ads or augmented reality experiences within mini-programs, will create new, premium inventory. These will command higher prices but offer novel ways to engage users. * **Increased Measurement and Transparency:** As the industry matures, there will be a greater demand for independent verification and cross-platform measurement. This could lead to more justified pricing and could benefit advertisers by ensuring they are paying for real value. * **Platform Diversification:** While WeChat is the dominant player, other super-apps are developing their own robust mini-program ecosystems. This increased competition among platforms could, in the long run, provide more options for advertisers and potentially moderate price inflation. In conclusion, the cost to watch an advertisement in a mini-program is not a fixed number but a variable investment shaped by a complex interplay of auction dynamics, targeting precision, platform-specific data, and campaign objectives. For advertisers, the key is to move beyond thinking purely about cost and to focus on the value—the unparalleled access to an engaged, logged-in user within a seamless transactional environment. The future of this advertising channel will be defined not by who spends the most, but by who leverages the unique attributes of mini-programs most intelligently to achieve their business goals. **Moderator:** That concludes our scheduled time for today. Thank you to our panel of experts and to all the reporters for your insightful questions.
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