(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| [Internet Ad] Taiwan's Internet Ad Market to Triple by 2000
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November 16, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Spending on Internet advertisements in
Taiwan is likely to triple annually over the next two years.
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YamWeb Co., a Taipei-based Web site in Chinese and English, estimates
that Taiwan's Internet advertisement market will enjoy an expansion
from US$3 million in 1998 to US$27 million in 2000.
Total expenditures on Internet advertisements exceeded US$1 million in
1997, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by the Market
Intelligence Center (MIC) of the semi-governmental Institute for Information
Industry (III).
Almost 90 percent of the spending was directed to the top five local
entry-point Web sites.
With more than 2.4 million people in Taiwan having access to cyberspace
-- more than 10 percent of Taiwan's population of 21 million -- the
Internet reaches a readership as large as many well-known Chinese-language
publications and electronic media.
A few years ago, people with a passageway to the Net tended to be white-collar
professionals with higher-than-average incomes, said J.J. Chen, chief
executive officer of YamWeb. The spectrum of users is widening to include
college and high-school students, retirees and small-business owners,
Chen also noted.
With more entry-point Web sites entering the fray, "the Internet medium
is likely to secure 1 percent of the total US$2.7 billion ad spending
in Taiwan in 2000," Chen said.
The top two Web-ad carrier Web sites in Taiwan are PC Home Net Family
and China Times Electronics Daily. The former enjoys an estimated 1998
Web-ad revenue of US$800,000.
Recently, advertising clients are putting more attention on the quality
of Internet advertising and scope of reach, Chen said.
Manufacturers of electronic products have found e-commerce convenient
and cost-effective. While Taiwan accounts for about 80 percent of PC
motherboards made worldwide, local board manufacturers are also courting
individual DIY customers.
As Taiwan's Internet population is expanding rapidly, "such DIY buyers
know all about computers, and the Internet is a very efficient way to
reach them at an affordable cost," said T.S. Wang, marketing manager
at Taipei-based Giga-Byte Technologies Co.
Giga-Byte Technologies is only one of many local vendors that are extending
their product exposure channels from conventional press and electronic
media to the Internet.
However, Y.S. Liu, general manager of China Times Electronics Daily,
holds a more conservative view than Chen.
Because many Chinese-language entry-point sites have their servers or
headquarters in the United States, the sales revenue does not really
belong to Taiwan-based firms. "If we deduct that income, Taiwan's 1998
revenue will barely reach the US$3 million mark," Liu said.
More consumer product vendors are pushing their advertising agencies
to produce Web ads for the first time, and many securities firms are
opening new Internet windows for electronic transactions due to popular
demand, Chen noted.
According to an MIC report, Web ad revenue in 1998 will come primarily
from the financial industry, especially vendors of mutual funds and
providers of stock market-related services.
(Charlene Huang, Asia BizTech Correspondent)
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