Benjamin Li
Jun 5, 2012

China search underdog Sogou.com calls creative pitch

BEIJING - 4A agencies have been invited by China's search engine site Sogou.com to attend a creative pitch.

China search underdog Sogou.com calls creative pitch

A 4A agency source told Campaign Asia-Pacific that the client issued the invitiation a week ago.

The search engine portal, a subsidiary of Sohu.com, which can search text, images, music, and maps. It was launched in August 2004.

Last August, Sohu sold 16 per cent of Sogou to Alibaba Group, parent company of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com. Another 16 per cent was sold to a fund invested by Sohu chairman Charles Zhang, leaving Sohu holding the remaining 68 per cent.

According to iResearch China, search engine revenues reached US$860 million (RMB5.50 billion) in Q1 2012, 68.2 per cent higher than the same period last year. However, Baidu dominates in the market, with 77.6 per cent share, followed by Google with 17.8 per cent and Sogou a distant third with 2.7 per cent.

 

Last summer,  Baidu formed a partnership with Microsoft to provide English-language search results in China. Baidu has also released a traditional-Chinese search service, fueling speculation that it has plans to enter the Taiwan market.

 

Source:
Campaign China

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