| Alibaba Passes Google in China Online Ads Research firms have already noted how Google’s slide in China’s online search market has been good for the company’s Chinese rival, Baidu. Now it appears Google may have given up ground to another Chinese internet giant: Alibaba Group. 
In a breakdown of Chinese online advertising market share, Beijing research firm Analysys International says Alibaba has overtaken Google for second place behind Baidu thanks in large part to its online shopping unit Taobao. Alibaba now owns a 9.3% market share and the number two spot in China’s online ad market, according to Analysys International (Word doc). Meanwhile, Analysys says, Google’s share fell 2 percentage points from the second quarter, when it held the number-two spot, to 8.9% in the third quarter. Google also narrowly missed falling another rank. Internet portal operator Sina, in fourth place, had an 8.89% share that put it 0.01 percentage points behind Google, according to Analysys. Baidu ranked first by a wide margin, with a 30.1% share putting it more than 20 percentage points ahead of the nearest competitor. The loss of advertising market share marks a steady erosion of Google’s presence in China since the company relocated its mainland China search service to Hong Kong in March, citing frustrations over hacking and censorship. Both Google and Alibaba declined to comment. Analysys analyst Li Zhi said it’s too early to predict how the fourth-quarter figures will look, but that Sina would surpass Google if things continued at their previous pace. “Google needs to make a quick response by redoubling its efforts in direct ad sales and cooperating with ad agents,” she said in the research note. Analysys data also show Baidu’s share of revenue in China’s online search market rose to 73% in the third quarter, up three percentage points from the previous quarter, while Google’s share fell 2.6 percentage points to 21.6%. |
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