Is Weibo still relevant in 2026? Who it reaches and when it is worth the budget

Is Weibo still relevant? Look at the size first. Weibo (微博) had 561 million monthly users in June 2026. Xiaohongshu (小红书) says it has passed 400 million. But the bigger number hides how people use the app. They open Weibo to see what is happening right now. They research a purchase somewhere else, and they buy somewhere else again.

The useful question is narrower. Does your brand have moments the public will talk about?

Weibo vs Xiaohongshu	Weibo (微博)	Xiaohongshu (小红书)
Monthly users	561 million, June 2026	Over 400 million, May 2026
Users under 30	58.6%, October 2025	54.2%, October 2025
Tier-one and new tier-one	36.6%, October 2025	37.2%, October 2025
What people go there for	News, trends, and celebrities	Product research before buying
Best job for a brand	Launches, news, and public response	Search visibility and reviews

Weibo’s count comes from its quarterly results, Xiaohongshu’s from the platform itself. These are the latest figures each had published as of October 2026, and every one is sourced below and was checked twice.

Is Weibo still relevant? What it is for in 2026, and what it is not

The biggest change came in 2025. The home page of Weibo (微博) used to lead with posts from accounts you follow. Now it leads with what the system recommends.

Weibo switched to a new home page built around a recommendation feed in late July 2025. With that feed as its main channel, Weibo says, content can travel past the old follower relationships. Source: Weibo Q4 and full-year 2025 results, reported by Sina Tech (新浪科技), March 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2026-03-18/doc-inhrmayp7470775.shtml

That cuts both ways. A big follower count buys less than it used to. A strong post can reach people who have never heard of you (good news for a brand that arrives with no followers at all).

Advertisers are still paying for it.

Weibo’s advertising revenue reached 1.5 billion US dollars in 2025. Source: Weibo Q4 and full-year 2025 results, reported by Sina Tech (新浪科技), March 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2026-03-18/doc-inhrmayp7470775.shtml

Weibo’s ad revenue was 381 million US dollars in the second quarter of 2026, down 1%. Phone and game advertisers spent less, while internet services and car brands spent more. Source: The Paper (澎湃新闻), on 21st Century Business Herald (21财经), August 2026. https://m.21jingji.com/article/20260819/herald/aa73a001934288af9e21e49f5b527807.html

What Weibo is not: a research tool for shoppers, a store, or a place to keep customers. Shoppers do their homework on Xiaohongshu (小红书). They buy on Douyin (抖音) or the big e-commerce sites, and once they’re customers, brands keep them on WeChat (微信).

Who is still on Weibo: audience, age, and behavior

The audience is huge, and it is shrinking slowly.

Weibo (微博) had 561 million monthly active users and 254 million daily active users in June 2026. Source: Weibo Q2 2026 results, reported by Sina Finance (新浪财经), August 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/usstock/c/2026-08-19/doc-ininvwqk8304798.shtml

Weibo had 567 million monthly active users at the end of 2025. Source: Weibo Q4 and full-year 2025 results, reported by Sina Tech (新浪科技), March 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2026-03-18/doc-inhrmayp7470775.shtml

It skews young. It isn’t a big-city app, either: most of its users live outside China’s top-tier cities.

Users under 30 make up 58.6% of Weibo (微博) and 54.2% of Xiaohongshu (小红书). Users in tier-one and new tier-one cities make up 36.6% of Weibo and 37.2% of Xiaohongshu. Both figures are for October 2025. Source: QuestMobile, 2025 new media report, reported by 36Kr (36氪), December 2025. https://www.36kr.com/p/3597577937502473

Behavior matters more than age. People come to Weibo to find out what is going on, and more of them now ask the app directly.

Monthly users of Weibo’s AI search, Zhisou (智搜), passed 80 million in December 2025. Source: Weibo Q4 and full-year 2025 results, reported by Sina Tech (新浪科技), March 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2026-03-18/doc-inhrmayp7470775.shtml

Already running a Weibo account and watching reach slide? Check the dates first. If the drop started in the second half of 2025, the home page switch is a likely cause, and it isn’t your agency’s doing.

The three jobs Weibo still does best

The first is launch day. Posts on Weibo (微博) are public, so anyone can see them and repost them, reporters included. Weibo says AI model makers now treat it as their first stop.

Weibo says it has become the first-choice platform for AI model makers to launch products, explain the technology, and build word of mouth. Source: Weibo Q4 and full-year 2025 results, reported by Sina Tech (新浪科技), March 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2026-03-18/doc-inhrmayp7470775.shtml

That’s Weibo talking about itself. It does show who the platform is courting: companies with something new to announce.

Our work for the lighting brand iGuzzini used Weibo the same way.

“Weibo gave us broader reach. Campaign launches, design events, trending architecture content. It put the name in front of people who hadn’t been looking for a lighting brand.” Source: TheRedScroll, iGuzzini case study page, checked October 2026. https://www.theredscroll.com/work/iguzzini/

Public response comes next. Think of a delayed shipment, a rude store clerk, or an ad that lands badly. When that happens, Chinese users argue about it on Weibo, in the open. A clear answer from your verified account lands in the same feed as the complaint, where the people arguing can see it. That only works if someone reads the comments every day and can answer within hours.

Then there’s the celebrity moment. Weibo is built for fandom. It even runs its own verification route for celebrity fan clubs.

Weibo’s institution verification covers official celebrity support groups, celebrity fan clubs, and celebrity studios, alongside sports teams and museums. Source: Weibo customer service (微博客服), institution verification, updated August 2026. https://kefu.weibo.com/faqdetail?id=20074

And Weibo is selling that hard to advertisers.

Celebrity marketing was one of the priorities Weibo kept pushing in the second quarter of 2026. Source: The Paper (澎湃新闻), on 21st Century Business Herald (21财经), August 2026. https://m.21jingji.com/article/20260819/herald/aa73a001934288af9e21e49f5b527807.html

Job	Why Weibo does it best	If you skip Weibo, use	What you give up
Launch day	Public posts travel past followers	Douyin (抖音) video, Xiaohongshu (小红书) reviews	A public place where news gets picked up
Public response	Open threads where the argument runs	A WeChat (微信) Official Account statement	Your answer next to the complaint
Celebrity tie-in	Verified fan clubs and star accounts	A Douyin live session with the star	Fans reposting on your behalf

How Weibo hot search actually works

Hot search (热搜) is the trending list on Weibo (微博). The short version: a brand can earn a place, buy a labeled ad slot, or rise through a topic list. It can’t buy a rank. The help center gives the basics.

Weibo ranks its hot search list on search heat and on how many people join the topic discussion. It also weighs how people interact with posts on the results page. Source: Weibo customer service (微博客服), hot search ranking rules, updated March 2026. https://kefu.weibo.com/faqdetail?id=20023

The real-time hot search list updates every minute and ranks keywords by short-term search volume. Weibo monitors it for manipulation. Source: Weibo customer service (微博客服), real-time hot search rules, updated October 2024. https://kefu.weibo.com/faqdetail?id=20020

The full rulebook dates from 2021. The help center page above still links to it.

Under the 2021 rules, heat is search heat plus discussion heat plus spread heat, multiplied by the interaction rate. It is recalculated every minute, and the top 50 are shown. Two ad slots sit outside the ranking, under the third and sixth entries, and commercial ads carry a 商 label. Source: Weibo hot search rules, reported by The Paper (澎湃新闻), August 2021. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_14166759

The law backs the rule.

China’s algorithm rules bar platforms from manipulating rankings or controlling hot search to sway online opinion. Source: Cyberspace Administration of China (国家互联网信息办公室), algorithmic recommendation rules (互联网信息服务算法推荐管理规定), article 14, in force March 2022. https://www.cac.gov.cn/2022-01/04/c_1642894606364259.htm

Late in 2025, Weibo reshaped the top of the list. “Vertical” here means the topic lists it runs for subjects such as sports, tech, and anime, comics, and games.

In November 2025, Weibo split the top ten into three groups, public affairs, vertical topics, and entertainment, at about 30% each. Hot topics from vertical lists such as sports and tech can now qualify for the top ten. Source: Xinhua (新华网), November 2025. http://www.news.cn/tech/20251129/5cee901ca12643bda875ee04d323b5a6/c.html

From January to March 2026, entertainment took 31% of the main list, social topics 31%, and vertical topics 38%. Weibo removed about 40 misleading entries a day. Source: Weibo Q1 2026 hot search report, reported by Cover News (封面新闻), May 2026. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2026-05-21/doc-inhysaik9066055.shtml

The 商 on those two ad slots means commercial, so readers can tell them apart.

Anyone selling a guaranteed organic ranking is selling something the rules forbid.

Campaign bursts or always-on: where the Weibo budget should go

Hot search covers the big moments. The harder budget question is what you pay for between them.

Our view, based on how the new feed hands out reach: a light always-on base plus a few funded bursts suits most foreign brands.

The base is a verified account, steady posts, and someone reading the comments in Chinese every day. The bursts are your launches and events, plus any celebrity tie-in. That is where the paid boosts, the KOL posts, and any hot search slot belong.

Say you open a store in Shanghai in March and launch a new product line in September. That’s two bursts. In between, the account posts a few times a week and answers every comment.

The recommendation feed is why. Reach now depends more on how a post performs than on who follows you. A strong burst finds people who have never seen your account. A routine post that nobody engages with goes almost nowhere.

Plan	What runs	It fits when	Watch out for
Always-on only	Daily posts and comment replies	You have news every week	Little reach between moments
Bursts only	Nothing between campaigns	You launch once a year	An empty account when people look
Base plus bursts	Light posting, monitoring, campaigns	You have a few real moments	Needs a calendar of real moments

If you post every day and get nothing back, your agency may be doing exactly what the plan asked. In that case, change the plan first.

Working with Weibo KOLs and the celebrity tier

Sponsored creator posts on Weibo (微博) run through Weirenwu (微任务), Weibo’s own marketplace. Creators set a price there, and Weibo approves it before brands can order.

Weibo treats a post as commercial if it tags a brand account or uses a brand hashtag. A link to another shopping site counts too, and so does a visible product or logo. Its system flags commercial posts automatically. Weirenwu is its marketplace for commercial content. Source: Weibo customer service (微博客服), commercial post rules, updated November 2024. https://kefu.weibo.com/faqdetail?id=21382

A paid post dressed up as a casual one is likely to be caught. Book through the marketplace and the deal is on the record. If an agency books creators for you, ask for the Weirenwu order and the live post link for each one.

Celebrities are a separate tier, with separate rules.

Celebrities may not endorse products they have not used. Nor may they endorse tobacco and e-cigarettes, after-school tutoring, medical services, drugs, medical devices, health food, or special medical formula food. Source: State Administration for Market Regulation, Cyberspace Administration of China, and five other regulators, endorsement guidance, November 2022. https://www.cac.gov.cn/2022-11/02/c_1669013796039375.htm

China’s internet regulator ordered all celebrity ranking lists canceled in August 2021. Source: Xinhua (新华网), August 2021. http://www.xinhuanet.com/2021-08/27/c_1127801497.htm

For a brand, that means two things. If you sell supplements or medical products, the celebrity route is closed. And because fan rankings are gone, judge a celebrity on real engagement and fit, not on a chart.

Weibo publishes no rate card for creators. Our KOL pricing guide explains how quotes are built.

When to skip Weibo entirely

Some brands should wait on Weibo (微博). Here’s the quick test.

Run Weibo if	Skip Weibo for now if
You have launches, events, or news a few times a year	Your news calendar is empty for months at a time
Your buyers follow celebrities, sports, games, or tech	Your buyers research quietly before they buy
Someone can answer comments in Chinese the same day	Nobody can watch the comments daily
Your category can use celebrities	You sell health food, medical products, or tutoring
WeChat and one discovery app already run well	Your budget covers one platform, so start with WeChat

Already on Weibo with little to say? You don’t have to delete anything. Keep the verified account, keep answering comments, and stop paying for daily posts nobody asked for.

B2B brands selling to buying committees can usually wait too. WeChat (微信) and WeCom (企业微信) carry that conversation. Our guide to choosing your first China platforms scores Weibo against the others in about five minutes.

What a Weibo program costs

A Weibo (微博) budget has four lines. Only one has a public platform price.

Enterprise Blue V (蓝V) verification costs 600 yuan per application, charged whether or not the account passes. Source: Weibo customer service (微博客服), verification fee FAQ, confirmed October 2026. https://kefu.weibo.com/faqdetail?id=20004

Cost line	Paid to	Public price	What moves it
Blue V verification	Weibo	600 yuan per application	A failed application is charged
Paid media and hot search	Weibo	No dated public rate card	Burst size, targeting, timing
KOL and celebrity posts	Creators, via Weirenwu	Each creator sets a price	Creator tier, format, category
Content and community work	Your agency or team	Ours is on our pricing page	Posting rhythm, reply hours

Weibo ad prices circulate online, but only on resellers’ pages, with no date and no platform source behind them. We don’t quote them.

Budget line by line instead. Ask for each line as a separate written quote, with media spend shown apart from fees. Then size each burst before you set the always-on budget.

The fourth line is ours to answer. TheRedScroll publishes its full rate card on our pricing page. Ad spend is billed separately, with no markup.

0 out of 37 agencies analyzed offer fixed-price packages. Source: TheRedScroll competitive analysis, April 2026. https://www.theredscroll.com/

Weibo questions brands ask

Is Weibo still used in China?

Very much so. Weibo (微博) had 561 million monthly users and 254 million daily users in June 2026, according to its second-quarter results. That is down from 567 million at the end of 2025, so the audience is shrinking slowly. People use it to follow the news and their favorite stars, and its AI search had more than 80 million monthly users by December 2025.

Should a foreign brand be on Weibo?

If you have launches, events, or celebrity tie-ins, yes. Weibo is where Chinese news and fan talk happen in public. If your buyers research quietly and you have little news, start with WeChat (微信) and Xiaohongshu (小红书) and add Weibo later. When you do join, budget for enterprise verification, which Weibo charges at 600 yuan per application.

How does Weibo hot search work?

Weibo ranks hot search on search heat, discussion, and interaction, and the real-time list updates every minute. Since November 2025, the top ten has been split roughly evenly between public affairs, vertical topics, and entertainment. Under Weibo’s 2021 rules, two labeled ad slots sit outside the ranking. China’s algorithm rules forbid platforms from manipulating the list.

Plan your Weibo year before you buy it

Book a call and bring your launch calendar for the next twelve months. We’ll tell you which moments are worth a Weibo burst, which ones aren’t, and what to run in between. Our Weibo agency page and our Weibo platform guide show how we work on Weibo.