The focus on new media and and peer-to-peer (P2P) Internet TV in China as a major distribution channel for the Beijing Olympics is unprecedented. Creating an online network will showcase digital media as a versatile platform in providing advertisers lower-cost options to target new markets in Asia, and offer internet operators the potential of gaining significant online advertising income.
The global reach of an international event like the Olympics will act as a catalyst in generating more online converts and pose an opportunity for Asia’s digital agencies to convince their clients to make the leap from traditional media.
Tencent Holdings, an integrated internet portal which operates China’s leading instant messaging service QQ, has partnered with popular online media companies, Nasdaq-listed Sina and Netease to secure online broadcasting rights from CCTV and to provide video on demand services for the Summer Olympics. State-run CCTV is the sole official Olympics internet and mobile platform within China.
Popular P2P video-sharing platform providers – PPLive.com, UUsee.com and PPS.tv have also been authorized to provide coverage of the Olympics. According to AC Nielsen, PPLive.com has over 100 million registered worldwide users and average monthly page views of PPLive totaled over 450 million.
In addition, as broadcasters compete to beef up their content services to attract more users online, this will also open up lucrative business opportunities for the mobile devices and internet industry in China.
Three Chinese internet trailblazers made their debut on the Forbes Billionaires list in 2008 – Ma Huateng from Tencent, Robin Li of NASDAQ-listed search engine Baidu and Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma. The latter has embarked on a mission to grab the lion’s share of online ads in 3-5 years.
According to Nielsen Online, total online ad spending for 2007 in China was RMB 9.4 billion (1.3 billion USD). Total online advertising in China is expected to grow 58.5% from last year, to hit RMB 12.2 billion (1.76 billion USD) in 2008, according to the Data Center of China Internet. eMarketer expects that China’s online advertising will hit RMB 29.2 billion (4.9 billion USD) in 2012.
Whether the Olympics is viewed purely as an international sporting event, or netizens are blogging to boycott the event; one thing is for sure. The internet will be transformed into a buzzing hotbed of activities in August. Plug in.
