China is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital ad markets — set to grow from roughly US$141 billion in 2025 to US$267 billion by 20301. Yet most brands that enter hit the same wall: they can’t actually see who their customer is.
In China, the data required to identify and target the right audience is scattered across disconnected platforms. That gap is China’s biggest audience data problem. Here’s what it is, why it’s tougher in China than anywhere else, and how EternityX’s ID Space closes it.
What is China’s biggest audience data problem?
In one line: China’s biggest audience data problem is fragmentation. Your customer’s data is scattered across platforms that don’t connect, sits on China’s own separate identity system, and is bound by strict local privacy rules — so you never get a single, clear picture of who they are.
Three things make it painful:
- Walled gardens. Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance together capture the majority of China’s digital ad spend, and each keeps its first-party data behind its own walls. WeChat, Douyin, and Taobao don’t share audiences — so one customer shows up as three unconnected strangers.
- A separate identity system. China doesn’t run on the global cookie and device-ID stack. The most valuable signals sit with local data owners, and there’s no default way to stitch them into a single profile.
- Strict privacy law. The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) governs how personal data is collected and used, with penalties up to 5% of annual turnover or RMB 50 million.2 Compliant data sourcing is mandatory, not optional.
The result is rising costs and wasted spend. In China, average customer acquisition costs rose 30%-50% year-on-year in 2024 alone3. Layer on the global decline of third-party cookies — 60% of marketers now plan to adopt identity resolution to replace cookie-based targeting4 — and the conclusion is clear: the brands that win in China are the ones that can connect data to action.
What is ID Space?
ID Space is EternityX’s AI-powered audience platform, built specifically for the Chinese market. It turns fragmented data into ready-to-target Chinese audiences, then sends them straight into your campaigns — bringing identity, intelligence, and activation together in one place. ID Space promises: from raw data to campaign-ready audiences in minutes, not days.
How ID Space solves the problem
- One clear view of your customer
ID Space brings scattered signals together — drawing on trusted China data partners such as JD, iFlytek, and MingData — to build one unified, easy-to-read profile of each customer. No third-party cookies required. You finally see the whole person instead of a dozen disconnected fragments.
- Build audiences just by describing them
Speak the brief, and ID Space does the rest. Instead of wrestling with tag systems, you describe your target audience in plain language and the AI builds a precise segment in seconds. Deep consumer insight is now open to every marketer — not just the planning or data team — with no technical jargon required.
- Reach the right people — including ones others can’t
ID Space reads behaviour across platforms to spot intent early, so you can reach people before they decide. It turns data into real personas — you know who to target and why. And through its proprietary segments, it unlocks exclusive high-value audiences that traditional DMPs struggle to reach, such as Chinese expats, outbound travellers, high-net-worth individuals, and luxury shoppers. Prefer to build your own? Create an audience from scratch or expand a lookalike from your own seed list — your audience, your rules.
- From strategy to live campaign in one flow
Finished audiences push in one click into PilotX, EternityX’s media-buying platform, or into other ad platforms — no walled garden in the way. The whole journey stays connected: define your strategy, let AI build the segment, activate, and keep optimising as results come in.
ID Space vs. native platform targeting
| Native platform audiences | ID Space | |
|---|---|---|
| View of the customer | Siloed — one platform at a time | Unified cross-platform profile |
| Identity resolution | Cookie / platform-dependent | Cookie-free, proprietary resolution |
| Audience building | Manual tag combinations | Plain-language, AI-generated in seconds |
| Cross-platform retargeting | Limited or none | Yes — incl. exclusive XHS retargeting |
| Activation | Per-platform manual setup |
One-click to PilotX / third-party DSPs |
ID Space vs. native platform targeting
| The old way | With ID Space | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | A separate silo on every platform | One unified customer view |
| Getting set up | Cookies and manual tag-building | Cookie-free — just describe it in plain language |
| Who can run it | Specialist data or planning teams | Any marketer, no technical skills |
| Audiences you can reach | Standard platform segments | Plus exclusive high-value segments (expats, travellers, HNWIs, luxury) |
| Going live | Separate setup on each platform | One click to PilotX or other platforms |
Does it work?
In recent EternityX campaigns, ID Space audience packages delivered 2–4x higher click-through rates than native platform audiences and general placements.
(EternityX internal benchmark data; results vary by campaign and category.)
Getting started
ID Space runs as SaaS with a simple four-step onboarding: activate your account, explore insights, build your audiences with our team, and deliver your campaign. For website brands, going live is as easy as adding a single line of code.
Start free. Every new client gets a complimentary trial account with five free Audience-to-Insight runs — enough to build your first custom audience in plain language and see the difference before you commit.
1 Source: Yahoo! Finance.
2 Source: ICLG.
3 Source: Sina Finance.
4 Source: eMarketers.
About EternityX Marketing Technology
At EternityX, we equip brands and businesses to master the realm of Chinese audiences through the Power of Three—PilotX, NaviX, and MediaX. These cutting-edge, AI-powered solutions enable precision targeting, providing data-driven insights that allow companies to connect with profitable audiences in key markets and beyond.
With 12,000+ successful cross-border campaigns for more than 1,000 brands, EternityX helps brands unlock growth, deepen audience connections, and drive long-term success. Our expertise bridges the gap between East and West, ensuring that brands can thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Learn more about us https://www.eternityx.com.
Frequently asked questions
What is ID Space?
An AI-powered audience platform built for China. It pulls scattered data into one clear customer view and turns it into ready-to-target audiences you can launch straight away.
How is it different from targeting within a single platform like WeChat or Douyin?
Those tools only see their own walled garden. ID Space brings signals together across platforms and trusted data partners into a single profile, then lets you activate everywhere.
Is ID Space compliant with China’s privacy law (PIPL)?
Yes. ID Space sources signals through trusted, compliant local data partners — such as JD, iFlytek, and MingData — in line with China’s data regulations.
Do I need technical skills or a data team?
No. You describe the audience you want in plain language and the AI builds it, so any marketer can run it without training.
Can I use my own first-party data?
Yes. ID Space is designed to activate and enrich your first-party data, and it keeps getting sharper as the AI learns from it over time.
What kinds of audiences can I reach?
Everything from broad interest and behaviour segments to exclusive high-value groups that are hard to reach elsewhere — Chinese expats, outbound travellers, high-net-worth individuals, and luxury shoppers.
As Founder and CEO of EternityX Marketing Technology, Charlene is a pioneering leader in the digital marketing landscape, dedicated to driving growth and innovation. Her role encompasses overseeing the strategic direction of the company, with a strong emphasis on connecting brands to the Chinese market and enhancing their engagement with diverse audiences. Charlene’s unique expertise in digital business allows her to identify key opportunities and efficiently allocate resources, ensuring that brands not only thrive but also build authentic connections with their target markets.