On-line Ads Destined for Rosy Future

BEIJING, August 8 (Xinhua) -- Fueled by an increasing number of the Internet users, on-line advertising is expected to have a glorious future in China, reported today's China Daily's weekend edition, Business Weekly.

"Although on-line advertising appeared in China only four years ago, it has great market potential," said Li Fangwu, director of the information center of the China Advertising Association (CAA).

CAA reports indicate China's Internet advertising was valued at 20 million yuan (about 2.4 million U.S. dollars) last year.

Li said this can be mainly attributed to the increasing popularity of the Internet on the Chinese market.
Sources from China National Network Information Center (CNNIC) indicate that by the end of 1998, there were 2.1 million Internet surfers in China, twice the figure in 1997.

By the end of June this year, the figure has increased to four million.

"The advent of on-line advertising has enriched the variety of advertising forms along with television, radio, newspapers, magazines," he said.

At the beginning of the 1980s, most customers preferred to advertise in major central governmental newspapers because of their large circulation and identifiable reader groups.

"However, as the market gradually matured, many businessmen choose to advertise in places where they felt they would have a greater market potential for their products," said Li.

He said that compared with other forms of advertising such as TV ads and newspaper ads, Internet advertising has many advantages and huge possibilities.

On-line advertising is more effective, he said, with well- designed three-dimensional pictures and bountiful relevant information.

Meanwhile, Internet advertising can provide precise feedback for advertising enterprises, because computers may be used to easily record a web surfer's search patterns.

"However, compared with developed countries, on-line advertising in China is still in its infancy," Li said.
In 1998, sales of global on-line advertising were two billion U. S. dollars, 100 percent more than in 1997.

In many developed countries, such as the United States, Internet advertising is earning more than three billion U.S. dollars a year.

It is difficult to clearly define Internet advertising in China because many enterprises are using the Internet to introduce themselves and their products. Controversy remains whether this should be regarded as advertising.
At present, Internet ads in China are mainly banners and icons.

Problems affecting the industry include a lack of unified standards for billing for Internet advertising, he added.
Industry analysts believe it would be a good idea to form authoritative advertising companies specializing in offering customers Internet advertising services.

"Given the rapid development of China's Internet and the sustainable economy, market potential is huge and overwhelming," Li said.

Experts from within the circle predict that by the end of 1999, China will have more than five million Internet surfers, and the figure is expected to surpass ten million by 2000.