Sina’s Mobile Troubles Continue

From the Q4 conference call transcript on SeekingAlpha:
— The mobile value-added service revenue grew 3% sequentially, but declined 31% year-on-year in Q4 to $24.8 million. The sequential growth rate was lower than our original projection, mainly due to a lower than expected sequential SMS growth rate of 4%.
— The challenges facing mobile SPs, including SINA in China mainly pertain to three areas: high content costs, less effective promotion distribution channels, and lack of differentiation in product offerings. Those three factors result in lower revenue and high costs for our mobile business in general.
— We have become more relying upon direct TV advertising to acquire new monthly subscribers for our SMS product, as other means of promotion have become less effective. However, the return on TV advertising in the second half of the fourth quarter was lower than we had expected.

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