VIDEO: Yahoo still leads in emerging markets, to capture feature-phone market

“We’re number one in Vietnam, leading in Taiwan and in Hong Kong with 124 million unique users across Asia-Pacific,” Yahoo’s Asia-Pacific vice-president of marketing Jeff Han tells Campaign.

Yahoo’s focus and popularity in these markets, continues Han, lies in its status as a “premier digital media company” focusing on content creation. “It’s what we’re good at. For example, Lady Gaga created a video for us promoting her concert in Indonesia,” said Han. Interviews with Taiwanese celebrities and coverage of India’s cricket games also drew millions to the Yahoo site.

These emerging markets represent a huge opportunity for Yahoo. “Over 10 million Vietnamese will go online in the next two years and with a population of 90 million, the room for growth is tremendous,” said Han.

While globally, Yahoo’s users may skew towards a more mature online crowd, in Asia where it leads, internet users are generally young. “Asia is generally young – about 60% of the population is under 35,” noted Han.

Yahoo is also the leader in display advertising. It’s USP for advertisers, ‘Science, Art and Scale’ (SAS), which was introduced by its CEO Carol Bartz last year in a corporate pitch at the 4A Transformation Conference, is aimed at encompassing the spectrum of its offerings.  According to Bartz, science enables the internet company to target ads better, art lies in creating engaging content, and scale is Yahoo’s ability to serve up advertising to 600 million unique visitors every month.

Currently, Han’s challenge is the Southeast Asian market where only 1-2 per cent of its advertising budget is spent on digital. “How do we present ourselves in terms of SAS to advertisers there? That’s an opportunity and challenge going forward,” said Han.

Another opportunity Yahoo intends to grab are Southeast Asia and India’s feature-phone users. “Unlike North Asians, who are predominantly smartphone users, they’re on feature phones. How do we reach them? What services can we provide?” asked Han. “How we capture that market will be key.”