WeChat trials paywall for verified accounts to allow users to monetise content
Chinese social platform WeChat is planning to put up paywalls for officially verified accounts on its platform to allow users to monetise their content.
WeChat is the most popular app in China with over 1 billion monthly active users in 2018.
Users with verified accounts can charge readers either for selected original content or all posts from 1 yuan to 208 yuan (15 cents to US$30). No revenue will go to WeChat during the trial period, according to The South China Morning Post.
For a start, the Tencent-owned platform said the paywall feature would be limited to a number of bloggers who have published at least three original pieces of content without violations of community rules for three months.
According to Statista, Internet companies in China spent about 21.7% of their online advertising budget on the WeChat official account advertising in the first half of 2019.
WeChat is the most popular app in China with over 1 billion monthly active users in 2018. Its unique e-commerce design has become ideal for brands to boost sales.
The latest report by Brand Finance found that WeChat is the world’s fastest-growing brand, after clocking up 1540% 5-year brand value growth (75% CAGR).