Overture South Korea

Launching 1st half 2003

[IanTurner]

It looks like Overture is going to launch in South Korea in the next few months. Could be a good market to be in given the ranking of many Korean sites in Alexa and the broadband penetration in South Korea.

[lazerzubb]

Very Interesting, especially since it looks like people in japan are paying a lot for PPC.

[Woz]

Excellent find Ian, what was your source. I went hunting and found a press release on USAtoday [stocks.usatoday.com]. Do you have ano more info?

It will certainly open the Asia Market up a bit more.

Onya
Woz

[IanTurner]

Source was Overture.com News

[corporate-ir.net...]

[GrendelKhan TSU]

I have no idea how I missed out on this forum! (first time here) I am in Korea and follow the industry closely. As such, that you can be sure my info is creditable and exclusive.

Overture is set to launch in March (originally set for May). They have a 3 year exclusive with Daum....but so far all the other major engines have balked (ie. it is NOT certain they think it was a good move on Daum's part, much less theirs).

Google has also formerly submitted competing proposals for Korean portal partnership deals. And google is growing in popularity as a quality search engine.

Last, most significantly, a Korean PPC search engine already exists in Korea (!). Its newish, but has a growing affiliate network, strong local ties, and has an existing "big name" advertisers (important in a conglomerate dominated country). No english version is available as of yet, though they have a english version link. (coming soon?) Why it has not approached the major portals is anyone's guess.

Thus, we know:
-Koreans are insanely wired and VERY quick to adopt new internet technology. (I can back that up with specifics if ya'll are interested. :)) So, it will certainly be a good market, IMO.

-Overture's past enjoyment of first-mover advantage in foreign markets will NOT apply as it historical has (given that Overture is still in its development phase, it should be interesting to see how this effects--if at all--Overture's launch).

-Overture's world recognized "name brand" will NOT be as influential a factor in the notoriously nationalist Korean market. Koreans like Korean things and Korean companies. Further, recent anti-american sentiment surrounding a American military "scandal" can't help.

(As such, it is generally accepted that Yahoo is the ONLY successful major foreign internet company in Korea. And its "only" third in the Korean search biz. Locally grown Daum and Naver are favored.)

Hmm....that about covers the threads I saw on South Korea. Does anyone know how Overture actually cuts its affiliate deals in Japan (heck, ANYWHERE for that matter)? Should be an interesting preview into their strategy in Korea, as Korea and Japan share many similiar market traits. I hear they are losing steam in Japan (heresay) and that they almost "giving money away" to sign the top tier Korean portals. Taking a loss to grab market share I imagine. But that means they have to make it up by grabbing up as many "minor" affiliates as possible. Bit risky if ask me. But hey, its Overture, I assume they know what they are doing. ;)

thoughts?

--GK in ROK.

PS. Great forum! :D

[GrendelKhan TSU]

new word on the street is April for Overture launch.

As of now, for the Korean PPC market:

www.zingu.com (active. korean only, english version coming)
www.overture.com (April 2003 launch)
www.google.com (May/June launch? <<unconfirmed)