The mobile division of Chinese Central Television (CCTV) has selected mobile advertising firm 3rd Space to deliver mobile advertising across its mobile portal, and its iPhone and Android apps, writes Eva McGarr.
There are approximately 850m mobile users in China. CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster, attracts around 10m unique visitors per day to its free-to-view mobile portal, while its iPhone app has been downloaded 3m times.
The CCTV portal and associated apps are the primary destination for mobile users looking for news, business updates, weather, TV and sport in China. CCTV is currently undertaking a major upgrade of its mobile offerings, designed to integrate with the portal offerings of the three Chinese mobile network operators. 
“Our agreement with CCTV positions 3rd Space as a leading company in the mobile advertising industry in China,” says 3rd Space CEO, Warwick Hill. “We are working with a number of global brands to create innovative and engaging customer acquisition and retention strategies in China’s growing digital economy.”
China’s Ministry of Information has forecast that over 150m smartphones will be sold in China during 2011 alone. 38 per cent of Chinese mobile subscribers already use their phones to access the internet, compared to 27 per cent of American mobile subscribers, according to Nielsen. Last year, Juniper Research predicted that China and the Far East will remain the largest regional market for mobile ad spend with revenues reaching over $2.1bn (£1.3bn) by 2012.
