BEIJING (AFP)--Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) has launched an advertising platform in China in an attempt to grab market share from rival Google Inc. (GOOG), which has been wrangling with Beijing over censorsip, state media said Wednesday.
The U.S. Internet titan's adCenter will target Chinese exporters wanting to advertise overseas, said Anderson Liu, general manager of Microsoft's domestic joint venture MSN China.
"It's time to join the market and let Chinese advertisers have more choices," Liu was quoted by the China Daily as saying.
AdCenter helps businesses place advertisements online, on places such as Microsoft's Bing search engine.
Microsoft hopes revenue from the pay-per-click ads will account for half of MSN China's business in the future, Liu said, without providing further details.
In July, Google parted ways with two Chinese advertisers following its standoff with Beijing over censorsip and cyberattacks the U.S. search giant claims originated in China.
Google cut ties with Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network, two major advertising agencies that worked in eastern and northwestern China, the China Daily said, citing Marsa Wang, Google China spokeswoman.
In January, Google said it wouldn't buckle to Chinese government pressure to censor its content, and threatened to pull out of the country entirely.
It later effectively shut down its Chinese site google.cn, re-routing mainland users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong.
In March, a group of 27 Chinese advertising agencies sent Google a letter calling for talks over compensation for possible business losses amid the censorsip wrangle.
Google's share of China's online market fell to 24.2% in the three months to June, from 30.9% in the first quarter, research firm Analysys International said in a recent report.
------
Comment: sure sounds like MS could use Blinkx's tech... Only problem is I think they're (that is, Blinkx) barred from using the technology they licensed from Autonomy in China.
Maybe MS should just have done with it and take over both Autonomy and Blinkx. Might cost 'em $10bn for the two, but not very high price for leapfrogging Google in what will soon be the world's largest market...
US$ 10b? only a 45% premium to Au. market cap and Blinkx for free? that's not gonna happen.
ReplyDeletegotta work on your math skills!
MB
OK, so $12bn or $14bn. MS is sitting on a cashpile of c$40bn earning nothing with interest rates so low. They'd be much better off using it to buy technology to enhance their position...
ReplyDelete