The undisputed leader in eyeball retention, Yahoo Japan has remained Japan's number one trafficked Web site every year. With around 10 million unique visits per month, Yahoo Japan has a 75 percent audience reach versus Yahoo in the US with a 50 percent audience reach. It went public on Japan's OTC market in November 1997 and will likely move over to the Nasdaq Japan market.
Advertising accounts for three-quarters of Yahoo Japan's revenues.
Online advertising expenditures are projected to continue surging over the next few years. In the face of soaring demand, major portals have been raising their fees for advertising. Pretax profit margins run a healthy 41 percent. The company forecasts FY2000 pretax profit to jump 160 percent due to growth in advertising revenue. However, in a sign that advertisers are also demanding better results, Yahoo Japan began offering demographic-based banner ad targeting, whereby ad content would automatically change according to users' age and gender.