Where can Chinese advertisers spend beyond the big three?
Six channel families: premium audio and podcasts, connected TV and streaming video, broadcaster inventory, creator and celebrity partnerships, retail media outside China, and curated programmatic deals. All exist and are willing to sell; the barrier is contracting, settlement and verification rather than availability.
It is worth separating two questions that are usually conflated. The first is whether suitable inventory exists for Chinese outbound advertisers, and the answer is unambiguously yes. The second is whether that inventory is buyable by a Chinese advertiser today, and the answer is mostly no — for reasons that have nothing to do with the media itself.
Channel by channel
Each family below is assessed on what it delivers for an outbound advertiser and what specifically stands in the way. The pattern that emerges is consistent: the channels best suited to brand building are the hardest to access, because relational selling requires a local counterparty.
Premium audio and podcasts
Audio is the most under-bought channel relative to its value for outbound brand building. It delivers attentive reach in an environment with limited competitive clutter, and podcast host endorsement carries transferable credibility in markets where a Chinese brand has none.
The precedent here is direct rather than theoretical: a member of Mammoth's founding team launched a global streaming audio platform's China export advertising business and scaled it materially within six months, which demonstrates that the demand exists once an access layer is built.
Connected TV and streaming video
CTV occupies a specific strategic position: television's brand impact with digital measurability. For an advertiser establishing legitimacy in a new market, appearing in a premium streaming environment does reputational work that social inventory cannot.
Access is the difficulty. Premium CTV is sold through direct relationships or curated programmatic deals, both requiring a contracting counterparty in the destination market.
Broadcaster inventory
Broadcaster environments offer scale and cultural legitimacy, and are frequently available at efficient pricing relative to their brand effect. They are also the most contractually conservative supply in the market, with the most rigorous requirements around counterparty, creative standards and payment terms.
Creator and celebrity partnerships
Creators solve a problem outbound advertisers have acutely: cultural fluency they cannot manufacture internally. A credible local creator translates a brand into a market's own idiom more effectively than adapted advertising.
This category also runs in the opposite direction. Endorsement structures bringing US talent to Chinese audiences are a distinct opportunity that very few operators are positioned to execute, which is part of Mammoth co-founder Jay Faires's remit.
Retail media outside China
Chinese advertisers are unusually well prepared for retail media, because China is its largest market. WPP Media data reported by Axios in June 2025 put China at 44.1% of global retail media spend, driven by Alibaba and JD.com. Chinese advertisers arrive internationally already understanding closed-loop commerce media.
dentsu forecasts retail media growing 14.1% in 2026, faster than any other digital channel, which makes it a natural bridge category rather than a new discipline to learn.
Curated programmatic deals
Programmatic is the lowest-friction route to premium supply, because it can transact inside platforms a trading desk already operates. dentsu forecasts more than 80% of digital investment transacting programmatically in 2026, and curated deals increasingly carry inventory that was previously direct-only.
Sources: WPP Media, via Axios, 10 June 2025 · dentsu, 3 December 2025
How hard is each channel to access?
Curated programmatic is the easiest to access because it transacts inside existing platforms. Broadcaster inventory is the hardest because its contracting and payment requirements are the most conservative. Premium audio offers the best combination of accessibility and brand value for a first move.
| Channel | What it delivers | Main barrier | Access difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curated programmatic | Premium supply inside existing desk workflows | Deal curation and supply relationships | Low |
| Premium audio | Attentive reach, host credibility, low clutter | Direct network relationships, contracting | Moderate |
| Retail media (ex-China) | Closed-loop commerce measurement | Retailer onboarding and entity requirements | Moderate |
| Creators and celebrity | Cultural fluency and local legitimacy | Talent representation relationships, rights | Moderate–high |
| Connected TV | TV brand impact with digital measurement | Direct or curated deals, local counterparty | High |
| Broadcaster inventory | Scale and cultural legitimacy | Conservative contracting, creative standards, payment terms | Highest |
Difficulty assessment reflects Mammoth's view of typical 2026 market conditions for a Chinese outbound advertiser without a local operating entity. Individual cases vary considerably.
Where should an advertiser start?
The practical sequence is to begin where access difficulty is lowest and brand value is already meaningful, which generally means curated programmatic first and premium audio close behind. Both produce evidence of effect that can justify the operational investment required for harder channels.
The mistake worth avoiding is beginning with the hardest channel because it is the most prestigious. Broadcaster inventory is genuinely valuable, and it is also the point at which an advertiser without established cross-border operations will encounter every barrier simultaneously.
The channels themselves are described from Mammoth's side in what we do, and the mechanics of actually transacting them in how Chinese brands buy global media.