BEIJING, April 19 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Xinhua Finance Media ("XFMedia"; Nasdaq: XFML), China's leading financial and entertainment media company targeting China's high net worth demographic, announced that its Advertising Group has substantially expanded its billboard media assets to outdoor billboards in the Beijing area, reaching an agreement to exclusively sell advertising onto 2,000 new billboards in strategic locations throughout the city.
The agreement for XFMedia's Advertising Group to handle advertising sales onto the billboards was signed with Beijing Shiji Lingfei Advertising Company Limited, which gained license approval by the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce under the Beijing Municipal Government in March. The first batch of 500 billboards will go into service in May 2007, with all 2,000 billboards expected to be in place by the end of this year.
Xinhua Finance Media COO Mr. Zhu Shan said the new Beijing billboard initiative is an important part of XFMedia's Advertising Group growth strategy.
"Outdoor advertising accounts for a growing proportion of media spending in China, and offers stable advertising revenues," Mr. Zhu said. "We expect outdoor media advertising to be an important area of revenue growth for Xinhua Finance Media in the coming years."
Under the five-year contract, XFMedia's Advertising Group has the exclusive right for advertising sales onto the 2,000 outdoor billboards all over Beijing. Under the agreement, the billboards will carry AIDS Prevention public announcements along with commercial advertising, and XFMedia will have significant input into the choice of locations for the billboards.
XFMedia's Advertising Group handles nationwide advertising for television, newspapers, magazines, online and outdoor media, among which XFMedia possesses exclusive rights to on-campus billboards in select Shanghai universities, as well as advertising for radio stations in Beijing and Shanghai. The Advertising Group designs, produces and places advertising for both in-house and outside clients.
About Xinhua Finance Media Limited
Xinhua Finance Media ("XFMedia"; Nasdaq: XFML) is China's leading financial and entertainment media company targeting high net worth individuals nationwide. The company reaches its target audience via TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and other distribution channels. Through its five synergistic business groups, Advertising, Broadcasting, Print, Production and Research, XFMedia offers a total solution empowering clients at every stage of the media process and keeping people connected and entertained.
Headquartered in Beijing, the company has offices and affiliates in major cities of China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.xinhuafinancemedia.com .
Xinhua Finance Media is a subsidiary of Xinhua Finance Limited ("XFL"; TSE Mothers: 9399), China's premier financial information and media service provider. XFL owns 36.9% of the equity and 85.4% of the voting rights of XFMedia through its holding of class B common shares, which have ten votes per share. The investing public, the company's China partners, executives and staff own class A common shares in the company with one vote per share. The dual-class common share structure was created to accommodate the regulatory landscape of China's media sector.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," ‘‘confident'' and similar statements. Among other things, expectations about the Chinese advertising market and quotations from management in this announcement contain forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about XFMedia's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties are risks outlined in XFMedia's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its registration statement on Form F-1. All information provided in this press release is as of April 19, 2007, and XFMedia undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
