San Francisco, CA, May, 12, 2010 – Skai, a global leader in online marketing optimization technology, announced that it has successfully integrated China’s leading search engine, Baidu, into its technology platform, enabling online marketers to optimize paid search campaigns within the world’s largest internet audience. Through this integration, marketers can now better manage their paid search campaigns on Baidu.com and increase return from their search marketing budgets.
Baidu is the search engine of choice for the Chinese market with over 70% market share of the 298 million users online according to the Chinese research firm iResearch. With room for tremendous growth, the region’s online penetration is reported at only 23 percent by the China Internet Network Information. Steep increases in online purchasing, trading and browsing over the last three years has created a boom in e-tail activity, making China a popular destination for online and traditional brands and putting Baidu in a favorable position to continue its market dominance.
“China has just passed the US as the country with the largest Internet population in the world,” said Yoav Izhar-Prato, CEO of Skai. “As the leading search engine in the country, visibility on Baidu has become critical for local and international advertisers reaching out to China. We are proud to empower their paid search campaigns by providing better decision making tools and increasing cost efficiency.”
Skai offers multinational companies deep functionality to expand their reach into global markets. With capabilities such as in-line language translation, auto-currency conversion and 8 global offices providing local service and support, companies can significantly drive revenues globally.
First to take advantage of the integration is Ctrip, the largest travel service provider in China, who has selected Skai to automate and optimize its paid search campaigns. Ctrip has implemented KENSHOO™ Search to simplify campaign management, synchronize on-line ads with real time inventory updates, and to track activity across multiple search engines and channels including social media sites.
“Besides enabling significant labor savings due to the automation of campaign management tasks , Skai has reduced our paid search costs by ensuring we only advertise hotel rooms that are available”, said Gordon Choi with Ctrip. “In addition, the ability to track every click that has led to a sale ensures that we include all the relevant keywords, and bid the optimal price for each one. Due to the sheer volume of items we advertise using paid search across multiple channels like Baidu and Google, this level of precision has resulted in significant cost savings and higher sales conversions.”
Travel agencies have to cope with massive inventories that rapidly change while dealing with highly price sensitive clients,” said Andrey Shirben, Partner and VP Apac with Skai. “We are proud to enable the management and optimization of highly dynamic ads across multiple channels to provide the best return on investment and to support future growth.”
Understanding the needs characteristic to the Chinese market, Skai has partnered with Beyond Media Global, with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China to provide Ctrip support and professional services. “China continues to be the largest growing online market in the world, and Ctrip is a highly innovative, fast growing player,” said Philip G Chiu with Beyond Media Global. “We are pleased to contribute to their reputation for innovation and phenomenal success.”
About Ctrip.com International, Ltd.
Ctrip.com International, Ltd. is a leading travel service provider of hotel accommodations, airline tickets and packaged-tours in China. Ctrip aggregates information on hotels and flights and enables customers to make informed and cost-effective hotel and flight bookings. Ctrip targets primarily business and leisure travelers in China. Since its inception in 1999, Ctrip has experienced substantial growth and become one of the best-known travel brands in China.
About Skai
Skai is the provider of KENSHOO™ Search, the end-to-end online marketing platform which automates the process of building and optimizing cross channel search campaigns for advertisers and agencies. Skai’s automation and optimization technology is being used on five continents, in dozens of languages and across all major channels including Baidu, Bing, Google, Yahoo, Yandex, and Facebook. Customers include Omnicom, Zappos, Expedia, LivingDirect, Hitwise, TextBooks.com, iREP, LinkShare, and many more. Skai is backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. www.skai.io.
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