China to Tencent: WeChat Moments ads appear too frequently

57.7 per cent of users saw WeChat's first ad in their friend circles; 34.4 per cent did not see any ad. 7.9 per cent of users said they do not scroll through their news feed at all. This still reflects the popularity of the Moments feature among 468 million monthly active users of WeChat.

Users have been mentally prepared for WeChat in-feed ads. In fact, more than half of the respondents were not surprised about the launch. After all, such ads have already appeared in other social media products like QQ and Sina Weibo.

Advertising frequency was the most problematic, according to 51.5 per cent of respondents. Ranked second is the inability to complain about bad or unpleasant advertising. Compared to objections about advertising "not being smart/intuitive enough", which needs long-term investment as a solution, the frequency and content of advertising are actually easier problems to solve.

Data show that 42.5 per cent of users want to be shielded from bad ads, and so demand more interactive advertising that includes the option to hide or report ads via "I'm not interested" buttons. Demands for personalised advertising are in second place (26 per cent). The third pool of people (18.6 per cent) prefer functional benefits from ads, such as virtual red-envelopes (meaning cold, hard cash). This result was a bit unexpected but understandable at the same time.

Specific preferences are laid out here. 23.8 per cent prefer ads relevant to their personal interests; 23.3 per cent prefer ads for promotional activities; 22.7 per cent prefer ads with coupons or vouchers; 18.5 per cent prefer ads from leading brands; 13.1 per cent prefer ads with O2O elements; 12.7 per cent prefer ads promoting WeChat official accounts