Baidu desire to settle the 40 million CCTV sponsored auction portal?

Chinese Internet search giant Baidu (Baidu.com Inc) in the first quarter advertising spend up to RMB 4,000 million (about 5.6 million U.S. dollars), most of which to the Chinese Central Television. Baidu Internet critics questioned the money spent for this in favor of CCTV.

April 27 results in Baidu conference call after the announcement, Baidu's chief financial officer Li Xin Xi confirmed the data. Li Xin Xi said the company will increase this cost as a marketing-related expenses.

April 30 start, one entitled "Baidu executives exposed material: CCTV 4,000 million of our revenue," the post on the Internet in China, then was widely reproduced in various websites and forums. (Baidu and China Central Television last Friday did not return requests for comment.)

The background of which is: last November, the central television broadcast a series of critical reports Baidu PPC operations. Exposure of a news program that Baidu is not a license from the medical company money, allow these companies to advertise on their networks. Reported that these companies more money to pay their names in the search results page appears, the higher the ranking. These reports led to Baidu's shares plummeted more than 25% of the day, Baidu was forced to re-design of its search results in response to criticism.

In January of this year, Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li CCTV Spring Festival Gala in appearance, this is a universal concern in the annual event. Robin Li total number of Internet users statistics of television appearances in eight. At the same time, Baidu also purchased the 15-second ad before the Spring Festival Evening Gala Dinner in a comic dialogue programs are also referred to Baidu. Since then, the media and the public are beginning to speculate on CCTV Baidu how much was spent in advertising.

There is no evidence of Baidu's advertising policy on CCTV have any effect, but the image of Robin Li has been very famous in China. But this shows the public that China is a complex relationship between the two media giants interest.

The heated topic in the online discussion. 1 users online in Phoenix, said two months ago (CCTV) is also immoral to blame the profit model, with the spoils of an instant start.

Internet users also quipped, Robin Li were darken in the Spring Festival Gala day 8, total 5 million each, a good big one face ah!

Late last month, Baidu announced first quarter net profit of 181.1 million yuan (about 2,650 million U.S. dollars), up 24% from a year earlier.

From "The Wall Street Journal," May 11