China's major Internet portals, including Sohu, Sina and Tom, have registered huge profits in the last month from advertising revenues during the World Cup.

Early statistics show that advertising profits accounted for about half of the total revenues of the major websites during the period of the tournament, yesterday's Shanghai Securities News reported.

Related advertisements ensured Sohu a profit of about 50 million yuan (US$6.2 million), the newspaper cited Zhang Chaoyang, board chairman of Sohu, as saying.

Chen Tong, with Sina, said the number of advertisers for the World Cup on the website reached about 100.

Without releasing details of its advertisement revenue, Tom said the World Cup has brought the company a huge income.

Before the World Cup, US marketing information servicing company AC Nielsen predicted that World Cup-related advertising in China was expected to reap 150 million yuan (US$18 million).

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)