TOWONA Posts Strong 2009 Performance Results

USA - English

• USA - English

BEIJING, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- "We are happy to see that in the face of the challenging year 2009 TOWONA's operating income outpaced that of 2008. Despite the short-term downturn in the first half of 2009, ad spending staged a strong recovery in the second half, greatly bolstering the Group's performance. The strong financial results show that amid the fierce market competition, TOWONA is capable of overcoming negative impact and adverse factors to achieve fast and stable growth," said Professor Gareth Chang, board chairman and CEO of TOWONA, one of China's largest digital television advertising networks on bus transportation systems.

Meanwhile, TOWONA has continued to make moves in optimizing their advertising network on a regular basis. After successfully obtaining the advertising franchise in downtown Guangzhou, Chengdu and Harbin, TOWONA is now engaged in negotiations with Tianjin and other cities, including Beijing.

According to the financial results released by TOWONA in the annual meeting in Guangzhou, the total revenue surged 40.1% in 2009. Wherein, earnings from key accounts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou rose 197.6% YoY, taking up a growing proportion in the total revenue. And the quantity and quality of customers achieved a major leap. In particular, Q4 revenue soared 63.1% YoY, and 87.6% from that of Q3. Major shareholders of TOWONA showed approval and satisfaction of its healthy performance. Analysts see TOWONA's strong growth amid fluctuations in 2009 in the advertising market as a bright spot in the new media industry, which signifies that advertisers further endorse TOWONA's media value. The rise in the proportion taken up by cross- regional clients in the total revenue indicates that the Company's resource integration strategy has been producing a growing influence in 2009.

In 2008, TOWONA appointed Mr. Gareth Chang, an international media expert, as Chairman and CEO. Mr. Chang initiated changes in business strategy, solidified media resources, streamlined and improved the quality of the management team, resulting in greater operating company performance. To effectively improve the utilization of the national advertising network that spans 35 cities, and fully tap the potential of cross-regional clients, the senior management team led by Professor Chang took a host of moves to boost the key accounts sales centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and bring in top sales personnel from the traditional TV industry and overseas professionals, and built the 4A-level company management and professional service, obtaining remarkable effects. These moves effectively improved client satisfaction and sales to top clients, which have become the most important source of growth for TOWONA.

At the same time, TOWONA has a clear roadmap for resource optimization. That is, after gaining exclusivities in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, while adhering to cost control concept, the company continues to seek expansion aggressively to grab core resources in tier-1 cities, thereby paving the way for key accounts marketing. From October 2009 on, TOWONA has taken several historic steps in the strategic expansion, successfully signing exclusive contracts in Guangzhou, Chengdu and Harbin.

"Obtaining the advertising franchise in Guangzhou is an important part of our strategy, which meets the demands of large advertisers and is also a good example to become more competitive nationally," Prof. Chang stressed. It is learned that, as China's third largest city, Guangzhou has a super-large consumer market and mature consumer groups. Thus, it is a must-have for advertisers and 4A agents. At present, TOWONA has realized the full coverage of all busy business districts and CBD areas of Guangzhou to provide high- quality ad broadcasting opportunities for domestic and overseas advertisers, especially key accounts, at competitive prices.

Looking into 2010, following the expansion of public transport resources and consolidation of its position in the industry, TOWONA is full of confidence about its development. China expects the advertising revenue in 2010 to grow by 9.8% in China, and foresees that the advertising market will regain prosperity, which provides strong support for the bus-dependent television industry. Significant improvement in advertisers' recognition and the new national policies regarding traditional TV advertising also create opportunities for mobile TVs. Furthermore, major events including the Asian Games, World Expo 2010 and the World Cup will fuel the performance of bus- borne TV operators represented by TOWONA.

"TOWONA will benefit a lot from the recovery of the market and opportunities to arise in the future. Meanwhile, we will set an eye on the competition environment of the industry, so as to identify potential targets of mergers and acquisitions," Gareth Chang added finally.

About TOWONA Media

TOWONA Media Holding Company Limited operates one of the largest OOH advertising networks using real-time mobile digital television broadcasts to deliver content and advertising on mass transportation in China.

In January 2003, TOWONA Media was established in Xiamen. Since 2006, TOWONA has got capital injection from many top international venture companies.

In April 2006, TOWONA moved its headquarters to Beijing, composed of 5 core departments, namely, the Marketing center, Human Resources & Administration center, Finance center, Program centre and Operation center.

In July, 2008, TOWONA appointed Prof. Gareth Chang, renowned international media and technology business leader, as chairman and CEO, leading TOWONA media to be more customer focused and to value creation.

TOWONA owns many subsidiaries and representative offices throughout China. Its nationwide mobile TV advertising networks cover 35 Chinese major cities, available on over 80,000 buses and about 130,000 TV terminals, reaching hundreds of millions of urban residents every day.

    For more information, please contact:

     Harris Wong
     Tel:    +86-10-5927-0032
     Mobile: +86-138-1030-3290
     Email:  [email protected]
     Web:    http://www.towona.com

SOURCE TOWONA Media Holding Company Limited