vol.115：China's Great Ad Collapse

Major Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu have recently seen a significant decline in advertising revenue, leading some experts to suggest that traditional internet ads are becoming obsolete. While economic downturns and regulatory shifts in the education and gaming sectors played a role, a more fundamental change is the rise of DIY advertising. Modern retailers are increasingly bypassing agencies to produce their own low-cost, high-impact short-form videos using smartphones. These self-made advertisements are distributed directly through social media and e-commerce platforms, allowing companies to capture precise marketing data without paying traditional placement fees. Because these platforms align ads with the active intent of the user, the need for expensive, high-production branding is being replaced by practical, conversion-focused content. This evolution indicates that while the advertising industry is not disappearing, it is shifting toward a decentralized model where internal teams manage the entire creative and analytical process.