CREATION: Hongkong.com to boost ad revenue by moving away from new economy

<p>Hongkong.com is to raise advertising revenue by repositioning the </p><p>company from a dotcom to an old economy business through acquisitions of </p><p>traditional media corporations worldwide. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Rudy Chan, chief executive officer of hongkong.com, told CReATION the </p><p>company would seek to acquire brick and mortar businesses, which would </p><p>allow it to offer a cross platform channel to advertisers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said the decision to acquire Miller Freeman Asia's travel and tourism </p><p>print publications was based on this new formation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Chan said: "We are essentially looking to fulfill customer </p><p>demand. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It has now become important to link online and offline businesses. More </p><p>and more of our advertisers are asking for cross platform </p><p>advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It is more effective. In five to 10 years there won't be any such thing </p><p>as an Internet company because what we'll see is a combination (of </p><p>business models) ... And we have to move quickly because the market is </p><p>not so kind anymore." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said hongkong.com, which has US$500 million in cash, expected </p><p>further acquisitions to be announced in the near future, but declined to </p><p>give details. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He also forecast an increase in ecommerce revenue from less than 10 per </p><p>cent to 30 per cent following potential acquisitions of traditional </p><p>businesses in the next three years. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said hongkong.com's next goal would be to establish and retain a </p><p>wider user base on the Web through online promotions and </p><p>advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He further noted advertising would have to evolve to comprise media from </p><p>the old and new economy for effective marketing campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"There is some misconception at the moment about the online advertising </p><p>industry. As it was mostly driven by the dotcoms, which are now in </p><p>trouble, it has an impact on the overall ad spending ... At the moment </p><p>all ad dollars are going to the big portals. These aren't going to close </p><p>down and this is where people are doing most of the advertising so I </p><p>think the future of the industry will be strong," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Findings from the Nielsen//NetRatings BannerTrack service ranked </p><p>hongkong.com as the second leading online advertiser in Hong Kong after </p><p>Next Media Interactive. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Banner ads on the site, which has a user base of 1.2 million, achieved </p><p>more than 37.7 million impressions in September, with a unique audience </p><p>number of 420,016. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>