SINA Corp, which runs the most popular portal in China, reported a 23 percent increase in first quarter net income as advertisers spent more on the portal to market their products to Chinese consumers.

Earnings in the quarter totaled US$8.6 million. Revenue rose 10 percent to US$51.3 million, mainly driven by growth of its advertising sales, the Shanghai-based company said yesterday.

"Our online advertising revenues in the first quarter continued to be strong, with our advertising revenues in China having grown over 45 percent year on year for the fourth consecutive quarter," said Charles Chao, Sina's chief executive officer.

Advertising revenues of Sina.com in the quarter totaled US$31.8 million, a jump of 43 percent from a year ago. Its ad sales in China hit US$30.9 million in the period, an increase of 45 percent.

In contrast, non-advertising revenue in the first quarter fell 20 percent from the same period last year to US$19.5 million, with sales of mobile value-added services like short messages and interactive voice response down as the company withdrew from the wireless sector after the nation's mobile carrier imposed tougher rules on wireless service providers.

Sina forecasts sales for the second quarter to range from US$58 million to US$60 million, with advertising contributing between US$40 million and US$41 million.

China's increasing number of Web users has been fuelling the growth in Internet-related businesses like search and online advertising.

The country added 26 million netizens last year, bringing the Web population to 137 million by the end of last year, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Source:佚名