As more and more users are going “mobile” in their digital lifestyle, adapting to the shifting trend accordingly is increasingly important. (image: Kobizmedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) – In a strategic business move, Korea’s No. 1 web search engine has introduced a brand new image-oriented search ads platform, which the company said is well suited to the rising number of mobile users.
Naver Corp., Korea’s biggest online portal, announced it has strengthened its mobile search ads, pushing further into the increasingly important mobile-driven search advertisement market.
As part of this move, Naver launched last month Fashion Square, a search-responsive ads service on mobile platform. When you type a particular keyword, say, handbag, in your small screen on a smartphone or tablet PC, the keyword-related images will be displayed on the top of the screen — alluring enough user interface to attract the user to click the likable image on the spot.
When your favorite image site appears in the process, you are likely to click the image which links to a full-sized image on your mobile screen in a pop-up and this will guide you to the homepage of the maker for the “products clicked” which apparently the advertisement sponsor to the search engine portal.
In case you want more products related to your keyword, you could do so by “swiping” the displayed image to the left. In this way, much more related products portfolio will be available. Paper, Facebook’s news curation mobile application, also adopted this swipe-type UI, echoing its edge in the mobile UI, best optimized environment in searching on any mobile devices.
Screen shot image of Naver’s Fashion Square
Behind Naver’s focusing on image-oriented ads platform lies the inevitable ‘limit’ to the mobile platform: the number of advertising list on mobile screen should be limited due to the small screen size.
Search-driven advertising profit constitutes a core part of Naver’s overall income. In the era of predominant desktop computer platforms, the company was not worried over the availability of advertising list on its platform.
But time has changed. As more and more users are going “mobile” in their digital lifestyle, adapting to the shifting trend accordingly is increasingly important.
The Korean Internet giant has good reason to go mobile in search ads business. The company posted net profit of 128.9 billion won (US$126 million) for the three months ended March 31, an 18-percent decline from the same period last year. However it witnessed overall sales – 24-percent rise over the previous year — has been driven by Line, Naver’s mobile messaging service.
Jerry M. Kim (jerrykim@koreabizwirecom)
Technology (Follow us @Technews_Korea)
