China claims 1% share of web ads market (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-05-21 10:06
China's Internet economy, though boasting the world's second largest
population of netizens, remains underdeveloped, as shown in a meager one-percent
share the nation claims on the global web advertisement market.
By late April 2004, there were about 79.5 million netizens in China, second
only to the netizen number in the United States, according to data provided by
the China Internet Network Information Center, CNNIC.
A recent market survey conducted by Shanghai iResearch Co Ltd, the first
market research firm specializing in network media and marketing on the Chinese
mainland, discovered that in 2003 China's market for Internet ads amounted to
1.08 billion yuan (US$130.12 million) worth, a rise of 120 percent over the
previous year.
Despite the fast growth, China accounted for only one percent of the global
web ads market, which was valued at US$11.5 billion for last year, the
Shanghai-based market investigator said.
The thin share of ads market, which is another indicator of an Internet
economy, signified the underdevelopment of China's web business as a whole, the
company added.
In 2004 China's Internet ads market would grow at an annual rate of 67
percent, yet against a 91-percent growth for the global market, which would
value at approximately US$22 billion this year, predicted Yang Weiqing, general
manager of the Shanghai iResearch.
The underdevelopment of China's web economy was also embodied in the share of
only two percent it claimed in the total ads revenues on the mainland, the firm
said.
Centralized distribution of customers and small size of ads spending by each
customers were ascribable to the lackluster of the ads market in China,
according to the firm.
Last year the IT (information technology) sector accounted for a majority of
25 percent of China's web ads customers, followed by the telecom service,
communications, property development and Internet service
sectors.