On December 10, 2025, the third Going Global and Breaking Through closed-door co-creation meeting on social app growth concluded in Shenzhen. Jointly hosted by Youdao Ads and Agora, with Google participating as a special guest, the event explored global social product trends, AI creative production, and methodologies for growth through overseas advertising, offering brands practical ideas and professional guidance.
Jayden, Senior Business Manager for Overseas Apps at NetEase Youdao's Youdao Ads, shared a guide to scaling advertising for social apps overseas. Drawing on more than seven years of practical experience, he covered market and positioning fit, differentiated advertising strategies by product type, and innovative marketing approaches.
Jayden first emphasized the core principle of taking social apps overseas: product type must match the target market. He examined the characteristics and advertising approaches of four mainstream product categories.
-
One-to-one video chat: Real-time individual video interaction and immediate attraction are the main selling points, with India, Europe, and North America as key markets. These products with short monetization cycles call for a rapid approach: test attention-grabbing creatives quickly and drive immediate conversions to recover acquisition costs by the next day.
-
Live video chat: Combining streamer interaction, virtual gifts, mini-games, and other functions, these products focus on the Middle East and Southeast Asia. A recommended mix is 80% content from a livestream perspective and 20% dating-oriented test creatives, reflecting local entertainment and social needs.
-
Voice chat rooms: Built around multi-user audio interaction, these products emphasize retention and tiered conversion to paid use. Markets include the Middle East, Türkiye, Europe, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia. As long-term products, they require a test, scale, and stabilize cycle to develop user lifetime value or LTV.
-
Dating chat: These products emphasize genuine intentions to meet people, with Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia as core markets. Creatives should feature natural settings and two-way conversations, using emotional connection to encourage downloads and conversions.
For advertising strategy, Jayden argued that the business model determines the campaign approach. He divided products into those with short and long monetization cycles and proposed corresponding solutions.
-
Short-cycle products: Focus on strong first-day spending and high average revenue per user or ARPU. Quickly test creatives and media platforms, using high-impact content to drive immediate conversions.
-
Long-cycle products: Focus on LTV and long-term ROI, relying on retention and repeated payments. The full process moves from low-budget, multidimensional testing, through large-scale delivery of strong creatives, to regular creative iteration during stable operations.
Jayden shared reusable localization strategies based on regional preferences. European and North American markets favor Instagram-style narrative creatives and curvy, glamorous models. Southeast Asian audiences favor fresh-faced models and matchmaking-style content. In the Middle East, local KOLs speaking directly to camera can build trust and improve next-day retention and user lifetime value.
He also discussed innovative approaches such as AI avatars and creator portfolios. AI avatars enable creative production at scale with lower costs and greater efficiency. A mix of top-tier, mid-tier, and smaller creators can cover a broad range of audience segments. Distribution across platforms and repurposed edits help turn limited investment into substantial reach.
The closed-door session provided an effective forum for practitioners taking social products overseas. Youdao Ads received strong recognition for its practical experience and global service capabilities. It will continue sharing practical overseas marketing knowledge and helping more social products scale globally through customized solutions.
Scan the QR code to add the Youdao Ads assistant and grow with us.
