Toutiao Releases 2019 Health Big Data Report Highlighting Rising Insomnia Among Youth
On November 30, the latest data released at the 2019 Toutiao Algorithmic Health Conference showed that health-related content on the Toutiao platform had garnered 54 billion views over the past year. “Insomnia” appeared for the first time on the list of the “Top 10 Most Concerned Diseases,” while “doctor” became the most popular keyword and group in Toutiao’s health sector, with 5.55 billion views.
Li Qiumeng, Operations Director of the Pan-Lifestyle Center at Toutiao, Shares “Big Data on Chinese People’s Health Concerns in 2019”
The conference, themed “Making Health More Data-Driven,” not only released big data on Chinese people’s health concerns from the Toutiao platform in 2019, but also invited Mr. Li Guangfu, a national first-class actor of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre and known for his role as Zheng Xipo, the labor union chairman in the TV series “In the Name of the People,” to share insights on health and wellness. In the afternoon, a special 2019 Sponge Speech Health Session titled “If the Body Could Speak” was held, featuring five guests including Professor Chen Jingyu, Director of the National Lung Transplant Quality Control Center, who each “spoke for” different organs such as the lungs, stomach, and heart, decoding the body’s signals.
Data shows that in 2019, approximately 35 million people browsed health-related content on Jinri Toutiao (Toutiao) daily, with the number of views for health information reaching 54 billion, a 60.7% increase from 2018 and nearly 11.5 times that of 2015. The latest data indicates that the health literacy level among urban and rural residents in China has increased by 17.06%, with the greatest improvement seen in basic knowledge and conceptual literacy, which rose by 30.52%. This demonstrates a positive correlation between attention to popular science health knowledge and improvements in health literacy.
Approximately 35 million people browse health-related content on Jinri Toutiao every day.
In fact, it was not only the number of views that increased, but also the high-frequency interactions by netizens, which totaled 1.1 billion engagements. Among these, health-related content received over 720 million saves, a 50% increase from 2018; over 320 million likes, representing the fastest growth at 461%; and 86 million comments, an increase of 139%.
Data on health-related engagement from the Toutiao platform also reveals that post-95s aged 18–23 showed the most significant increase in health interest, reaching 46.9%, a growth rate higher than the 44.5% observed among individuals over 50. Behaviors such as “drinking three cups of milk tea by day and secretly dieting by night” or “starting efforts to preserve youthfulness despite being at an age keen on clubbing” are jokingly referred to as “punk wellness,” which has already become one of the mainstream consumption trends today.
Post-95s Show Markedly Increased Health Awareness
Surprisingly, tobacco control emerged as the top topic that internet users were most eager to discuss in 2019, followed closely by organic food, hospital examinations, a boy with leukemia, childbirth, celebrity deaths, blood donation, muscle cramps, ear cleaning, and coronary stents.
China has a vast number of smokers, making tobacco control a crucial strategy for health promotion. The latest data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) shows that in 2018, the smoking prevalence among individuals aged 15 and above was 26.6%, with 50.5% among men and 2.1% among women. This figure remains significantly higher than the tobacco control target set forth in the “Healthy China 2030” Planning Outline, which aims to reduce the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above to 20% by 2030. Over the past year, heated public debates have focused on issues such as whether celebrities should be allowed to smoke, whether adults have the freedom to smoke, and the health hazards of smoking, propelling the longstanding issue of tobacco control to the forefront of public discourse.
Among the “Top 10 Most Followed Diseases” recently released by Toutiao, “insomnia” emerged as a newcomer, ranking seventh with an impressive 350 million views. The top three spots remain dominated by the “usual suspects”: cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. The remaining conditions on the list include gout, HIV/AIDS, gastric disorders, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, and liver disease.
"Insomnia" Ranks Seventh Among the Top 10 Most-Watched Diseases of the Year
“Using the most expensive facial masks, taking the most costly health supplements, ordering the cheapest takeout, and staying up the latest” has become an accurate reflection of the lives of many young people today. Data shows that over 200 million people in China suffer from sleep problems or sleep disorders, with insomnia being the most common. Post-90s generations have become the main force purchasing sleep-aid products. Meanwhile, a report released by the Chinese Sleep Research Society in 2018 found that more than 60% of severe insomnia patients were born after 1990. Professor Ye Jingying, Chairperson of the Sleep Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, shared on her Toutiao account of the same name that young people generally do not pay enough attention to sleep. Sleeping less than six hours per day for more than four days a week constitutes frequent late-night staying-up. Frequent late nights may make people “less intelligent and less attractive,” with the most serious consequence being a weakened immune system, which subsequently reduces the body’s ability to combat tumors.
“Doctor” Tops the List of Annual Health Buzzwords
“Doctor” topped this year’s list of the “Top 10 Most-Watched Health Buzzwords,” with a staggering 5.55 billion views, making it the most-watched term and group in the health sector on Toutiao. It was followed by food, cancer, patients, blood vessels, diabetes, nutrition, liver, blood sugar, and traditional Chinese medicine.
So, how many content creators are driving massive readership? Mr. Hong Fei, General Manager of the Content Ecosystem at Jinri Toutiao, stated that health-related accounts on Jinri Toutiao have experienced rapid growth, reaching 63,000 in 2019—1.3 times and 15.3 times the figures for 2018 and 2015, respectively. These 63,000 creators have invigorated the health content ecosystem, producing a cumulative total of 3.949 million pieces of content over the past year, with nearly 32,000 viral articles achieving over 100,000 views each.
Hong Fei, General Manager of the Content Ecosystem at Toutiao, Delivers On-Site Remarks
To promote the creation of premium health content, Toutiao launched the “Qingfeng Initiative” at the 2018 Suanjian Health Conference. To date, the initiative has engaged over 10,000 creators, with topic views exceeding 6.39 billion and 1.86 million discussions. Among the 100 carefully selected “Health Truth Ambassadors,” 43 have become contracted authors on Toutiao, producing more than 14,000 articles debunking health rumors over the past year.
“Health Knowledge Popularization Campaign” ranks first among the 15 initiatives proposed in the “Healthy China Action (2019–2030),” and medical professionals are undoubtedly the best candidates for health science popularization. In 2019, Toutiao provided doctors with support in traffic exposure and intellectual property (IP) building, mainly including the following aspects:
First, we launched the "Remarkable Hospitals" initiative. At its core, this project aims to build the most influential science communication brands for hospitals with high brand prestige, strong technical expertise, and robust capabilities in public health education. To date, 104 hospitals, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, have joined the collaboration, with over 1,400 physicians participating and more than 140,000 pieces of content produced.
Second, we have formed strong partnerships with authoritative institutions. In August, Toutiao entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Health Times titled “Renowned National Doctors on Toutiao,” through which 110 distinguished physicians, including Academician Zhang Boli and Professor Ling Feng, joined the platform. For this year’s World Heart Day, World Mental Health Day, United Nations Diabetes Day, and Men’s Health Day, Toutiao collaborated respectively with the Chinese Cardiovascular Health Alliance, the National Center for Mental Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Diabetes Society of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Chinese Society of Sexual Medicine. More than 330 experts, including Academicians Ge Junbo and Lu Lin, as well as Professors Huo Yong, Zhu Dalong, and Jiang Hui, joined Toutiao to provide authoritative science-based health education to users. The related collaborative topics each garnered over 100 million views.
Third, multiple doctor-focused columns have been launched. In September, the Toutiao Health and Toutiao Video production teams jointly introduced the short-video program “Dear Doctor,” featuring over 50 physicians from tertiary hospitals who provided expert answers, with more than 2,000 videos published. In addition, the branded micro-interview series “Top Doctors on Toutiao,” designed for prominent specialists, has attracted 25 experts to participate, averaging over 1.26 million views per episode.
At the conference, Jinri Toutiao and Science Popularization China New Media signed a strategic cooperation agreement to fully leverage the authoritative science popularization resources of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the intelligent recommendation engine of Jinri Toutiao, thereby generating synergistic health communication effects greater than the sum of their individual contributions (1+1>2).
Toutiao Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Kepu China New Media
Mr. Zheng Kai, Deputy Director of the Department of Science Popularization of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), stated that Toutiao provides support in terms of needs, data, and case studies for health science popularization efforts. He expressed hope that close collaboration between the two parties would help deliver content from “Science China” to a broader user base, enabling the public to conveniently access scientific, authoritative, and standardized health information. Mr. Hong Fei, General Manager of Toutiao’s Content Ecosystem, remarked, “We look forward to collaborating with Science China and other authoritative institutions and organizations through more diverse formats and higher-quality content, empowering health with data and jointly amplifying the strongest voice for health science popularization in Healthy China.”
Ms. Li Qiumeng, Operations Director of the Pan-Lifestyle Center at Toutiao, stated that in 2020, both parties will engage in deep cooperation in the following areas: first, the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) expert panel will conduct scientific evaluations and certifications of highly popular health-related content on Toutiao; second, new models for debunking health rumors will be explored; and third, a joint science popularization expert team will be established, along with training programs to enhance science communication capabilities.
“In the coming year, we will adopt multiple measures to build a healthy and positive ecosystem for health-related content,” stated Ms. Li Qiumeng. First, we will refine and enhance our health channel by developing high-quality disease-specific topic pages based on premium content and collaborating with authoritative institutions on medical term search functionalities, in addition to our existing partnership with Science Popularization China. Second, we will join forces with authoritative academic organizations, such as societies and associations, to create online-offline synergy for science popularization campaigns tied to specific disease awareness days. The effectiveness of this model has been validated through our collaborations with organizations like the Chinese Diabetes Society of the Chinese Medical Association and the National Center for Mental Health at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, demonstrating significant value in public health education and social impact. Third, we aim to establish a coalition of 100 MCN (Multi-Channel Network) teams. Currently, there are 50 MCNs operating in the health sector on Toutiao, with a combined follower growth nearing ten million. In the new year, Toutiao will support the collective development of 100 MCNs through platform training, dedicated operational support, and traffic incentives.
Targeting health content creators, Toutiao launched a comprehensive “support package” in 2020, with the flagship “Super Doctor Program” unveiled at the conference being a major highlight. Ms. Li Qiumeng stated that the program is expected to allocate over 50 million units of traffic resources to provide comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and personalized IP building for 100 health content creators through measures such as traffic support, content refinement, and monetization assistance. Providing exclusive operational services and recommendations via official account matrices for 10,000 high-quality creators constitutes another key component of this “support package.” In addition, several branded programs, including Dear Doctor and Top Doctors on Toutiao, will continue to empower health content creators.
On-site sharing by Liu Miao, Associate Chief Physician in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital and author of the Toutiao account “Miao Ge Story Hour”
Liu Miao, an associate chief physician in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital and creator of the Toutiao account “Miao Ge’s Story Club,” stated in his presentation titled “The Path to One Million Followers for Slash-Doctor IPs in the New Media Era” that new media serves as a valuable tool for medical professionals to build their personal brands. He suggested that doctors creating popular science content should adhere to the “Eight Haves”: substantive content, practical utility, entertainment value, structured approach, timely opportunities, emotional resonance, meaningfulness, and idealistic passion. Hu Yang, an associate chief physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital and creator of a Toutiao account, who has amassed 500 million views in less than three years, believes that the ultimate significance of popular science education is to empower every individual to become the primary person responsible for their own health, with physicians naturally serving as the core advocates of this concept. While the number of patients a doctor can see in outpatient clinics is limited, a single popular science article can easily reach thousands or even tens of thousands of readers.