Asiacontent.com Ltd. has acquired Kinopia Corp., a Korean advertising firm, to penetrate into the the Korean online advertising market.
Kinopia, one of the leading online ad agencies in Korea, announced
October 7 that Hong Kong-based Asiacontent.com Ltd. (ACC) took a 100 percent stake in Kinopia.
With its acquisition of Kinopia, the Hong Kong firm, which was
established last May as an Internet-based company specializing in Internet content, ad service and e-commerce businesses targeting the Asian market, intends to launch its Korean operation in the field of media-lab and Internet
contents services through Kinopia, according to company officials.
For this, Kinopia has set up new business departments for the Internet content and advertising businesses. ACC plans to launch Korean language service of CNET, MTV Asia and E!online which ACC’s recent acquisition, Singapore’s Tricast, has rights to in Asia.
The move by ACC into the Korean advertising market is seen by industry observers as an attempt to strengthen its role as the regional joint venture partner with US Internet advertising giant, DoubleClick.
The DoubleClick brand is expected to make a debut in the Korean market this year, according to industry sources. This may be accomplished by ACC’s acquisition of Kinopia.
Kinopia, which was founded in 1995 as an
online ad agency, has been enjoying a rapid growth rate of over 100 percent annually and has a lot of online advertising clients including Hansol PCS, Samsung Electro-mechanics, Samsung Display Devices and Tong Yang Confectionery.
Industry analysts indicate that the domestic online advertising market is
expected to grow to a market of around 30 billion won (US$25 million) by
the end of this year, and competition between ad firms would further toughen
with ACC’s debut in Korea.
ACC/DoubleClick will be the third foreign Internet-based company that has advanced into the Korean advertising market after 24/7 Media and Real Media, which established their subsidiaries in May and June respectively.