Advertising in China: Get Discovered on Baidu with Video Search Ads
With the soaring popularity of short videos on Chinese platforms, Baidu—China’s #1 search engine boasting a 74% search market share—is rapidly gaining ground in the video sector.
And while Baidu has aggressively pushed out short-form knowledge videos on its properties like Baidu Baike (the Chinese answer to Wikipedia), its video ad formats—which garner higher click-through rates (CTR) than static images—are among the platform’s most valuable assets for advertisers.
So, to help you get started with Baidu’s video search ads, we’ve outlined the basics of its setup and specifications so that you can begin targeting the platform’s 550+ million-strong active userbase.
Baidu Video Ads: What You Need To Know
First and foremost, Baidu’s video ad settings can be found under the creative settings of your paid search account.
Video ads are supported at three levels:
- Account: The video ad format can feature any ads from your account.
- Campaign: The video ad format can feature on selected campaigns, and different videos can be used for different campaigns.
- Ad group: The video ad format can feature on selected ad groups, and different videos can be used for different ad groups.
To augment your video messaging, Baidu’s video depository even provides a variety of free, customizable videos and templates for you to choose from.
And before you begin producing your video ads, here are their specifications:
- Format: MP4, FLV, MOV, M3U8, 3GP, AVI, MPG, ASF, WMV, MKV, TS, WEBM, MXF
- Size: Equal to or less than (≤) 500MB
- Duration: Must be equal to or more than (≥) 6s
- Dimensions:
- Desktop: 16:9. Must be equal to or more than (≥) 1280×720 pixels.
- Mobile: 9:16 or 1:1. Must be equal to or more than (≥) 720×1280 and 800×800 pixels respectively.
Note: If your pre-existing video doesn’t fit these specifications, Baidu also has an in-built video editor that you can use to resize your video.
Baidu SERP (desktop): Video ad result for “电子元件” (electronic components)
Baidu SERP (mobile): Video ad result for “吸尘器” (vacuum cleaner)
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Given its growing advertising options and popularity among both desktop and mobile users, Baidu is unrivaled when it comes to targeting China’s massive and captive audience.
But before you do so, remember to familiarize yourself with China’s advertising policy and industry-specific rules.
