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.

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