Belinda Wang is something of a mystery. Even in China’s close-knit internet community, the second-in-command at online giant Sohu is not well known outside of work. That may partly be because her career has developed in the shadow of Sohu’s charismatic founder Charles Zhang. It may also be because, in a very male industry, she is a rare example of a female senior executive.
Yet she should not be underestimated. As co-president and chief marketing officer at Sohu, she is one of the key executives behind one of China’s most successful online businesses. And as the driver of Sohu’s Olympics sponsorship deal, she is very much in the spotlight at the moment.
It’s been a big year for the portal. In the second quarter it posted US$102 million in revenue, up 162 per cent year on year (of China’s listed internet firms, only Tencent and Baidu have also managed quarterly revenues above $100 million). Ad revenues rose 53 per cent in the period, largely on the back of its Olympics sponsorship, signed for an undisclosed (though doubtless hefty) sum in 2005. Sohu has been able to present itself to advertisers as the key online destination for Chinese Olympic fans.
In person, Wang admits she is a “quiet girl”, preferring home life to the world of work. A business-like demeanour only breaks into an animated smile when she talks about her one-year-old daughter Yue-Yue (happiness in Mandarin). “She is my happiness,” she gushes.
Yet when it comes to her job, she’s hardly a wallflower - one colleague describes her as a “proactive career woman”. Her big break came in 1999, when Zhang, a former colleague at Internet Securities, told her he had a promising idea for an internet portal. After nearly a decade of climbing the ladder, Wang admits she followed him without regrets. “I was not so nervous following Charles, as he is a person who we thought would achieve success,” she said. “Sometimes we call ourselves jeung yo (comrades) because we fight together. At Sohu, it’s very close, like a family.”
Since the portal launched in 2000, it has grown to provide search, networking and entertainment resources. Like many Chinese portals, it has expanded into the lucrative gaming sector. But the focus for Wang has been the Olympic partnership. Sohu has
invested more than $14.5 million into broadening awareness of Sohu.com as “the portal of choice for the Olympic games”, and the company claims to have made back its investment already in Olympics-related adspend.
Sohu has gone to great lengths to provide original material at a time when exclusive information on the internet is hard to find. For example, Sohu’s reporters were the only ones on board the Olympic helicopter bearing the torch, and it is the only online source to issue results real-time at the Games (“60 seconds faster than other websites,” a Sohu presentation boasts). Its reporters can interview gold medallists straight after their triumph, and the portal has exclusive access to the Olympic 2008 logo, mascots and anthem.
It has not, however, been plain sailing. On a personal level, Wang admits the months of planning have taken their toll. One of her passions is travel - France, Germany and Italy are her favourite destinations - yet she has postponed her trips to focus on work.
There have been major issues for Sohu too. Earlier this year, it emerged its Olympics deal did not cover online video, a sector that has boomed since the contract was signed. The portal recently had to purchase separate rights from CCTV to broadcast online footage from the Games. “We had the confidence in ourselves [that CCTV would choose Sohu as a partner] and, historically, we have had a very good strategic partnership with CCTV,” Wang says.
Where she will not comment is on attempts by Sohu’s rivals to outflank it. CCTV has been selling online video rights to anyone willing to pay, and portals Sina, NetEase and Tencent have combined to offer their own Olympics viewing services. The prize for all these portals is traffic against which they can sell ads to Olympic audiences. With an estimated 32 million Chinese consumers watching the opening ceremony online, the rewards for the portals that get it right should be significant.
Many in China’s media industry believe the wide availability of online footage has undermined the value of Sohu’s status as official internet partner. One of the key marketing lessons from the Beijing Games has been how hard it is to prevent ambush marketing on the internet. Wang admits that guarding online rights and paying for exclusivity may become obsolete by 2010, when the Winter Games go to Vancouver. But she is unrepentant about Sohu’s involvement this time. “We cherish the opportunity we have now,” she adds. “Based on our 2008 experiences, we have a lot to offer in future Olympics.”
Belinda Wang’s CV
2008 Co-president and chief marketing officer, Sohu.com
2005 Senior vice-president, Sohu.com
2001 Senior manager of sales and marketing department,Sohu.com
1999 Sales manager, Internet Securities
1995 Marketing analyst, Motorola
1993 Instructor, foreign language department, China Industrial and Commercial University
