Reference News Network, January 15 report: The Reference News Agency's Reference Think Tank recently released the "Monthly Analysis Report on the Overseas Communication Power of China's Top 100 Enterprises (December 2025)". This report monitors Chinese enterprises in fields such as technology, finance, energy, automotive, pharmaceuticals, aviation, and consumer electronics, with a monitoring cycle of December 2025. The main dimensions monitored are overseas communication level, overseas influence, and overseas reputation. It evaluates and interprets these main dimensions from many aspects, including the number of articles published, the number of mainstream media reports, the number of reporting media, the range of covered countries, language, likes, shares, comments, and public sentiment tone of online posts.
During this monitoring period, the total number of effective reports by foreign media about Chinese enterprises was approximately 40,384 articles, involving 40 languages, and at least 1,774 foreign media mentioned Chinese enterprises in their reports. Except for the total number of effective reports slightly decreasing compared to the previous monitoring period, the other two indicators remained basically consistent with the previous monitoring period.
The report shows that the Chinese enterprises with higher overseas communication power in December 2025 were Huawei, Xiaomi, Tencent, DJI, CGN, and Lenovo, while BYD, BAIC, Haier, and CNPC also had relatively high attention levels. Overall, the tone of the reports was relatively neutral.
Overall Situation of the Overseas Communication Power of the Top 100 Chinese Enterprises
Compared to the previous monitoring period, the industries represented by relatively outstanding enterprises expanded during this monitoring period, mainly covering the technology, finance, energy, home appliances, automotive, and real estate sectors.
Overseas Communication Power Index of the Top 100 Chinese Enterprises
Overseas Influence Index of the Top 100 Chinese Enterprises
Overseas Reputation Index of the Top 100 Chinese Enterprises
One, Current Situation of Traditional Media Communication
(1) Foreign media explore new understanding of "Made in China," raising the overseas media attention of emerging Chinese manufacturing companies
The overseas media attention index is an important indicator of the overall public opinion heat of Chinese enterprises overseas, and also one of the main dimensions reflecting the enterprise's influence. The number of foreign media covering Chinese enterprises is an important indicator to assess the breadth and length of the dissemination range and dissemination chain of reports on Chinese enterprises, which is closely related to the international communication ability of Chinese enterprises.
Overseas Media Attention Index
Number of Foreign Media Covering Chinese Enterprises
During this monitoring period, some foreign media have new interpretations of "Made in China". Among them, some Chinese enterprises that performed relatively well in the overseas media attention index and the number of foreign media covering Chinese enterprises were specifically mentioned.
For example, the Spanish website Zhihua Classroom reported: "The 'origin label' reflects the economic strength of each era. Each country formed its own unique identity after the industrial revolution, especially China, which has been producing brands, designs, and technologies for Western countries for decades. Now, China is rapidly promoting its own technologies and innovations in multiple industries through emerging brands." The report stated that companies like BYD, Huawei, DJI, CATL, or Xiaomi are not just manufacturing products but leading the entire industry. The report believes that China is no longer just the world's factory but has become one of the global centers of product innovation. These "Made in China" are closely related to application technologies, advanced manufacturing, hardware innovation, clean energy and electric vehicles, as well as digital integration and artificial intelligence.
(2) Chinese automobile enterprises' sales in Europe once again triggered large-scale public opinion
The overseas media coverage index and overseas media reach index are important indicators measuring the international communication capability and effectiveness of enterprises, as well as key indicators reflecting the extent of overseas media's attention to enterprises.
Overseas Media Coverage Index
Overseas Media Reach Index
During this monitoring period, the attention of foreign media towards the layout of Chinese automobile enterprises in Europe increased. The relevant enterprises performed well in the above indicators.
On the issue level, some foreign media focused on the sales of Chinese automobile enterprises in Europe. For example, the UK Daily Telegraph website noted that the sales of Chinese cars in Europe almost doubled. The report said: "According to data from an automotive industry analysis company, the sales of Chinese cars in Europe increased to 509,700 units in the first nine months of 2025, up 91% from 266,600 units in 2024. Sales of companies such as BYD, Zheye, Dongfeng, and Chery (which owns the JAECOO and Omoda brands) all saw significant growth."
The UK Guardian website also reported that Chinese enterprises have entered the European market in large numbers. Despite the high tariffs imposed by Brussels last year, companies like BYD have been steadily increasing their share of the electric vehicle market.
Two, Current Situation of Social Media Communication
(1) Focus on sports topics, combining online and offline communication
The overseas media attention index and the number of shares are important indicators to evaluate the outreach effect of Chinese enterprises on overseas social media. During this monitoring period, Chinese technology enterprises, such as Lenovo, showed relatively outstanding performance in the overseas media attention index, highlighting the effectiveness of their strategy of "focusing on sports topics and combining online and offline communication."
Overseas Media Attention Index
Shares
In specific operations, Lenovo combined the company's brand influence with F1 events, enhancing brand influence through offline exposure and online promotion. For example, on December 6, 2025, Lenovo posted a video on its X platform account saying: "The outcome of the whole season depends on the final race. Every decision matters - whether on the track or through technical support. @F1, see you next season, we will bring faster speeds, more innovations, and more exciting moments shaping F1." In the video, Lenovo's brand presence on the F1 track was clearly visible. As of the statistics date, the post had 2.8 million views and 865 likes.
Screenshot of the relevant post
(2) Pursuing a better life as the main theme, triggering audience resonance
The overseas image index and the overseas media evaluation index are important indicators closely related to the overseas image reputation of enterprises. During this monitoring period, vivo performed well in the above indices, highlighting the effectiveness of its communication strategy of "taking the pursuit of a better life as the main theme and triggering audience resonance."
Overseas Image Index
Overseas Media Evaluation Index
In specific operations, vivo combined its product features with people's aspirations for a better life to plan content. On December 16, 2025, vivo posted a video on its photo wall account made up of a series of beautiful photos and captioned it: "A moment, a frame, a scene, are you ready to join the creator's world? Let's take another shot with #vivoVISIONplus." As of the statistics date, the video had over 7.17 million views and received 355,000 likes.
Screenshot of the relevant post
(3) Slight decrease in the number of covered languages, technology companies still maintain advantages
In December 2025, the number of languages used in posts by Chinese enterprises on overseas social media platforms was 73, slightly less than the previous monitoring period (77). In the top-performing enterprises, technology companies still maintained their advantage. Additionally, companies in communications, semiconductors, and finance also performed quite well.
Specifically, in the ranking of this dimension, the top ten enterprises included Huawei, Xiaomi, and Tencent as the "first-tier group", with the overall number of covered languages slightly increasing compared to the previous monitoring period. China Telecom, HiSilicon Semiconductor, China Gold, Poly Group, and China Bank formed the "second-tier group". Overall, the number of covered languages in the "second-tier group" significantly increased compared to the previous monitoring period.
Number of Covered Languages
Three, Research Notes
The "Monthly Analysis Report on the Overseas Communication Power of China's Top 100 Enterprises" primarily evaluates the communication effects of Chinese enterprises in overseas mainstream media and social media, with three primary dimensions: overseas communication level, overseas influence, and overseas reputation. Among them, the overseas communication level has two secondary indicators: the media attention index and the overseas media attention index, including the number of overseas media articles published, the number of countries covered by overseas media, the number of languages covered by overseas media, the number of overseas media outlets, the number of mainstream media articles published, likes, comments, shares, and the number of languages covered by social media as tertiary indicators.
The overseas influence has two secondary indicators: the media coverage index and the media reach index, including the number of overseas media reprints (references), the number of reprinted media outlets, the proportion of countries covered by reprints relative to overseas countries, the mainstream media reach, and the media reach as tertiary indicators.
The overseas reputation also has two secondary indicators: the overseas image index and the overseas media evaluation index, including the number of positive public opinion articles reprinted (referenced), the number of positive public opinion articles reprinted (referenced) by overseas mainstream media, the number of positive public opinion articles published by overseas media, the proportion of positive public opinion articles published by overseas media to the total number of articles, the number of positive posts, and the proportion of positive posts to all posts as tertiary indicators.
This report derives research conclusions by weighting and normalizing the data of various dimensions and indicators. It should be noted that the selection of quantitative analysis indicators, model building, and parameter settings necessarily carry a certain degree of subjectivity. Different indicator selections and parameter settings may lead to different quantitative results. The purpose of using quantitative analysis in the report is to more accurately display the specific situation of the overseas communication attention of Chinese enterprises. The analytical conclusions do not have a "ranking" result but serve as a reference for external parties.
Four, About Us
The "Monthly Analysis Report on the Overseas Communication Power of China's Top 100 Enterprises" by Reference Think Tank relies on the overseas public opinion big data database and information monitoring system of Reference News, covering sources in multiple major languages such as English, Russian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Arabic. It covers thousands of overseas media outlets and major overseas social media platforms, and calculates based on the public opinion data of 100 Chinese enterprises (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) with high overseas attention. The report will assess changes in the overseas media attention of each enterprise on a monthly basis.
Reference Think Tank was established in May 2020 and is a member unit of the Xinhua News Agency's National High-level Think Tank. It is also the think tank platform of Reference News. It has rich overseas public opinion resources and an industry-leading team of overseas public opinion analysts. Through the empowerment of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, it regularly releases reports on corporate international communication and overseas public opinion analysis. Since 2021, Reference Think Tank has continuously published the "Analysis Report on the Overseas Communication Power of Chinese Enterprises," providing diagnostic and advisory services for Chinese enterprises to enhance their international communication and build soft power.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7595765543198687785/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.