Baidu: Phoenix Nest Transition Could Take Years
Sina Tech, 9/18/09
Shen Haoyu, VP of commercial operations for Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), has said that Baidu still does not have a timetable for completing the transition from the old Paid Search Ranking (i.e. Baidu Classic) advertising system to the new Phoenix Nest system. Once more than half of Baidu's advertising clients migrate to the new Phoenix Nest platform, Baidu will continue removing keywords from the old system, although Shen added that it will take some time before the Phoenix Nest system carries the same volume of ad spend as Baidu Classic.
Last Friday, a Baidu executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that in the short term, Baidu cannot close the old system since enterprise clients require more time to become accustomed to Phoenix Nest, and estimated that time required to completely replace the old system would "be measured in years."
Shen said that Baidu is in the process of expanding its C2C and B2C e-commerce platform YouA, and hopes to forge strategic partnerships with other e-commerce platforms.
Shen added that Baidu is unlikely to follow in Google's footsteps and double the size of its sales force. Baidu's sales team currently has approximately 3,600 employees.
Editor's Note: For more background information on this topic, please see "Baidu Shifts 800,000 Keywords to Phoenix Nest" MD 9/08/09 issue.
Keywords: Shen Haoyu online advertising Internet Phoenix Nest Baidu BIDU online search
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