Overture's sponsored searches debuts in HK

"Search engine marketing is burgeoning on a global scale. Overture's Sponsored Search solution will accelerate this development and unleash enormous market potential," said Yahoo Hong Kong general manager Alfred Tsoi. A Nielsen//Netratings report in December 2004 indicated that search is currently the top application on the internet, with more than 1.9 million users actively conducting searches each month. According to Michael Zung, managing director of OneXeno Hong Kong, Yahoo has traditionally held around 60 per cent of the search traffic in Hong Kong, Google around 30 per cent and MSN around 10 per cent. He also noted that paid search is now a large revenue driver in Hong Kong and China. Both markets are expected to be key growth areas due to the high number of broadband users and the maturing ecommerce environment. Tsoi added that online and search engine advertising was also becoming an increasingly important component in marketers' media mix. Microsoft has also launched its own search engine with MSN Search, but faces tough competition as rivals such as Google have had a long-term presence in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, local Chinese search engines such as Baidu and 3721 are increasingly popular with mainland Chinese and in Taiwan. Zung also noted that there was a high level of uncertainty surrounding the question of how successful MSN's Search would be. "As Yahoo has the advantage of having the audience already there and Google has a strong reputation for results, I'm not really sure how MSN can take a significant share from either," he said. Asia is fast becoming the hub for search engine marketing services. Australian search engine marketing technology company Decide Interactive has announced that it has been rebranded as 24/7 Search after it was acquired by 24/7 Real Media in August 2004.The company also has definite Asian expansion plans with an existing office in Korea and having just opened its Tokyo office this month. James O'Toole, VP, marketing and product development for 24/7 Search, commented that the Asian market was perceived to be a key growth area and that over the next two years, 24/7 Search would be targeting the most cost-effective markets in the region.