Baidu, a Chinese-language search provider, generated the equivalent of $118.6 million during first-quarter 2009, up 41% from first-quarter 2008’s level. Its net income amounted to around $26.5 million, a 23.5% gain from first-quarter 2008. The quarter ended March 31.
These figures represent a dip from fourth-quarter 2008’s levels, a phenomenon the company attributed to seasonal slowdowns associated with the Chinese New Year.
The company reported more than 185,000 active online marketing customers (including its paid search function) during first-quarter 2009, a 14.9% gain from first-quarter 2008 but a 6.1% decrease from fourth-quarter 2008.
During an earnings call, CEO Robin Li described China’s Internet industry as “only just emerging” and added “We have and will continue to benefit from user growth and the growing appreciation of performance-based search engine marketing.”
While Baidu is maintaining its classic search engine, it has introduce Phoenix Nest, a version that gives paid-search clients more choices of key words, expanded opportunity to manage their marketing budgets, and more data points useful for analyzing search results.
Business-to-consumer firms, which tend to be more mature clients, are driving Phoenix Nest growth, Li said.
“They understand better how search marketing works and they understand better how to measure the ROI,” Li added.
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