China’s Explosion in Weibo and E-Commerce Usage, Across the Social Divides [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Market research firm Synovate has some new insights into Chinese netizens usage of the web – how it differs between poorer and richer cities, that more people than ever in China go online on their mobiles, how e-commerce has exploded even in less prosperous cities, and that the internet has (for the first time) surpassed television in terms of engagement levels.

It’s a part of Synovate’s Media Atlas China study, which surveyed 66,000 consumers across 88 ‘tier one’ to ‘tier five’ cities and rural areas across mainland China. Before we get to the meat on the bones, we have to gnaw at the gristle of what exactly constitutes these levels of cities.

So here’s a quick primer on China’s cities:

The tier one megacities are the likes of Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, while tier two cities are wealthy provincial capitals like Hangzhou, and Nanjing. Tier three urban areas have a moderate GDP level and are pretty large; then tier four and five cities are noticeably smaller and poorer, but very numerous. All those 645 cities together comprise China’s urban spread, and account for just over 611 million of its populace.

More Fun Than TV

The study found something of a milestone in the internet’s growth in China:

The latest index shows internet overtook all other media as the most engaging. It has the highest engagement score of 77, followed by television with an index score of 73, and mobile with the score of 68.

That greater preference for the web is even more pronounced in China’s largest cities: