MEDIA-I: Finance sites cutting reliance on ad dollars

<p>HONG KONG: Online financial and investment websites in Hong Kong </p><p>are leveraging their growing popularity to charge for services. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Two of Hong Kong's leading financial information and market update </p><p>sites, e-finet.com and quamnet.com, are battling it out to realise the </p><p>value of their content instead of providing it free and relying on </p><p>advertising revenue to support their services. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>On July 1, quamnet.com changed its business model by charging fees for </p><p>services. Claiming 1.5 million page views a day, a spokesperson said </p><p>that subscribers are being charged HK$800 (US$102) for six </p><p>months use of QuamPlus, which includes real-time stock quotes, the </p><p>ability to monitor assets and an online investment advisory chat </p><p>capability. "In the past we provided content for free, but you can't </p><p>live for long like that even though ad revenues had been going up." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Ahead of quamnet.com's change, e-finet.com started chargingHK$418 </p><p>per month for its Finet Market Express (FME) service Its package coveres </p><p>live stock quotes and charts, company profiles and other market news and </p><p>information. It is also offering a cut-price Premier Package deal at </p><p>HK$99 for three months targeted at non-professionals as it turns </p><p>up the heat on rivals. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Our advertising was up by 20 per cent but the trend is changing," said </p><p>e-finet.com's project manager, business development, Jeannette Ma. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In May, Nielsen//NetRatings found that financial and investment sites </p><p>were particularly popular with males 35 or up in Hong Kong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Bill payment site ppshk.com led the way with 40.7 per cent, followed by </p><p>hsbc.com.hk (37.3 per cent) e-finet.com (37.1 per cent) and quamnet.com </p><p>(33.3 per cent). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Finance even beat sex into second place, with adult sites porncity.com </p><p>(31.1 per cent) and Japanesegirls.com (30.4 per cent) coming in fifth </p><p>and sixth. Of the top four sites in Hong Kong, e-finet.com and </p><p>quamnet.com were the stickiest, with visitors to these domains spending </p><p>on average 61 and 55 minutes respectively a month, viewing about163 </p><p>pages per person. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>International online finance sites E*Trade and Charles Schwab did not </p><p>feature on the list of top 10 sites, despite first quarter marketing </p><p>efforts. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>