Baidu released its latest financial report today. According to the report, Baidu and Alibaba occupy the top two positions in China's online advertising market, with Baidu capturing 30.5% of the Chinese internet advertising operator market share, Alibaba taking 17.4%, and Google China holding 6.5%. Sohu (NASDAQ code: SOHU) also released its unaudited financial results for Q4 and the full year ending December 31, 2011 on Monday. On January 22, according to foreign media reports, a new report from market research company eMarketer indicates that US online advertising expenditure is expected to grow by 23.3% this year, reaching $39.5 billion, surpassing the total expenditure on print advertising in newspapers and magazines.
In terms of news, the gross profit margin of Tudou was only 4% due to bandwidth costs and copyright fees. Since its first round of financing in 2008, OpenEye Data has been favored by investors, attracting investments from Israel’s renowned investment institution Infinity and an additional investment from IDG. Product innovation is another highlight: BidExpert is China's leading keyword expert, providing keyword solutions for search engine advertisers like Wuhan Tianan Hospital, significantly enhancing advertising effectiveness, website traffic, and conversion rates while reducing advertising costs.
Other highlights include Baidu setting new quarterly records with rapid growth in large clients; DCCI reporting that 73% of Weibo users visit portals for first-hand information; and eMarketer predicting that American network ad spending will exceed print ad spending this year. In addition, it was reported that the price of ads on e-commerce navigation sites dropped by 50% this year after rising tenfold last year.
According to DCCI data, the domestic internet advertising market size reached 51.19 billion yuan in 2011, growing by 57.3% compared to the previous year, with expectations to reach 79.09 billion yuan in 2012. Qihoo 360 reported a net profit of $15 million in Q4 last year, as online ad prices declined, with navigation websites seeing a 50% drop and portal sites showing nominal increases but actual decreases.
Lastly, OpenEye Data announced the completion of its Series B financing round, with investors expressing strong confidence in its future. The prominence of "Weibo" in China's internet landscape from 2009 to 2011 cannot be overlooked, with user numbers growing from zero to 300 million in just over two years, making it the fastest-growing internet application platform domestically.