BEIJING: Baidu said here the other day that online search revenue allocated to its partners this year will surge above 40 percent from a year ago to 12 billion yuan (US$1.93 billion) and that over half of the revenue will come from mobile businesses.
“We will continue to upgrade our technology offerings to allow advertisers to easily target their audience by placing their ads on our union members’ websites and smartphone applications,” Deng Mingsheng, general manager of the business development at Baidu Union, said at a Baidu Union member forum yesterday.
Baidu partners with smaller website owners to display online advertising of its advertisers on these websites, and share the advertising income generated by the advertisements with the members of Baidu Union.
On average a Baidu Union member gets about 70 to 80 percent of ad income from Baidu, China’s largest search engine operator.
“Baidu will continue to serve as a tool to connect Internet users with services both online and offline, and we’ll work with partners to build a more healthy ecosystem instead of seeking a controlling stake in Internet startups,” Chairman and CEO Robin Li said.
Baidu will raise the amount of financial subsidy to 500 million yuan this year for small website owners and their employees.
It has also launched a US$1 billion collaboration fund with venture capital partners to support mobile Internet startups.
In the first quarter this year, about 50.2 percent of Baidu’s overall revenue came from mobile businesses due to a quick growth in mobile traffic.
