China: Axel Springer launches Chinese Auto Bild site

Posted by Alisa Zykova on October 28, 2008 at 9:58 AM

Prominent German newspaper publisher Axel Springer announced that it was expanding its digital initiative by launching www.autobild.com.cn, a Chinese version of its automobile magazine Auto Bild. The company said it will continue to venture into the global Internet market, Publicitas wrote.

The site will include the magazine's local and international content as well as Web 2.0 community features, individual profiles, blogs, forums and image and video galleries. The portal will encourage user interaction and entertainment, according to Publicitas.

"The successful internationalization strategy of the Auto Bild Group has now also been extended to the digital sector. Auto Bild is launching in China, a country with strong growth prospects although it is already the second-largest automobile market in the world", said Auto Bild & Sports Bild Publishing Director Dr. Hans Hamer.

Autobild.de had 930,000 unique users in the second part of 2008. From August to September, the site's visits increased by 12 percent to 4.7 million. Its year-on-year growth in online visits amounted to 39 percent. Auto Bild has 40 million readers worldwide.

Source: Publicitas