China’s leading Search Engine, Baidu, yesterday launched an Olympic channel (2008.baidu.com) that combines everything about Olympics in one space (chats, videos, news, etc…). Having seen Sina.com and Sohu release their Olympic brand channels long ago, this is clearly a strategy to win the big buck from huge advertising sponsors.

Sohu’s CEO Zhang Chaoyang

Association with Olympics games is currently a big brand game in China, with many companies using Beijing 2008 logos illegally. Sina’s CEO, Cao Guowei, repeatedly made claims arguing against Sohu’s exclusive rights (as a web company) to 2008 brand association. Yet, Sohu still remains it priveleges and is currently the provider for the official olympic site: BOCOG.

Similar to Google’s recent development, Baidu is increasingly stepping out of its pure search engine presence into the world of portals. Makes one wonder whether perhaps the traditional advertising bucks just feel more comfortable been poured into flashing images on portals (as opposed to text ads under the search bar).

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