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SPH Websites Win 29 Hitwise Awards

By Seow Tein Hee - on 26 Aug 2010, 10:07am

SPH Websites Win 29 Hitwise Awards

Singapore, 26 August 2010 - News and lifestyle websites of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) took 29 awards in the Hitwise Top 10 Rankings in the first half of 2010, with AsiaOne.com, Zaobao.com, ST701.com, HardwareZone.com and STOMP taking the number one spot in their respective categories.

Seven of AsiaOne's verticals were ranked among the top 10 in their respective categories. In particular, AsiaOne's soshiok.com and health.asiaone.com continue to maintain their number one positions since 2008, dominating the Food and Beverage (Lifestyle and Reference) and the Health and Medical (Information) categories respectively.

Other AsiaOne verticals that did well include its business section, which was ranked second in the Business and Finance (Stocks and Shares) category and third in the Business and Finance (Business Information) category. In addition, its divaasia.com clinched the No. 3 spot for Lifestyle (Women's Sites) and DigitalOne.com also scored third in the News and Media (IT Media) category.

Mr Adrian Tay, Editor of AsiaOne, said: "AsiaOne is continually reinventing itself and trying to connect with its readers by packaging content that will enrich their lives. The awards are another indication that our formula to provide news and lifestyle content is resonating with our readers."

Maintaining its number one position was Zaobao.com in the News and Media (Print) category. The online version of SPH Chinese flagship daily Lianhe Zaobao also won 4 other awards.

Mr Zheng Wei, Online Editor of Zaobao.com, said: "We have managed to do more with less this year. By integrating with Lianhe Zaobao’s news team better, we are able to give faster and more comprehensive news reports real time. These awards again proved that our print editors and journalists are able to adapt to our multi-platform publishing environment very well."

ST701.com once again reigned supreme in the Shopping and Classifieds (Classifieds) category. On ST701.com’s continued success, Ms Elsie Chua, Executive Vice-President, CATS Classified of SPH's Marketing Division, said: "ST701 is committed to provide the best online marketplace for jobs, cars, properties and shops. We recently redeveloped our jobs and spree shopping sites and have to constantly innovate so as to better serve our users. We thank our users for their support in helping us achieve this number one position in online shopping and classifieds."

HardwareZone.com and its forum (forums.hardwarezone.com.sg), by SPH Magazines, an SPH subsidiary, did well in four categories – in particular, it was ranked first in Computers and Internet (Hardware), News and Media (IT Media), and second in Computers and Internet (Social Networking & Forums).

Mr Vijay Anand, Editor of HardwareZone.com, said: "HardwareZone's website revamp earlier this year focused on enhancing the consumer's user experience in getting relevant information quickly. From the awards we've garnered, we're pleased to know that our revamp was a success, and this has further reaffirmed our position as the leading technology media portal in this region. We will continue to innovate and introduce the right tools and information to our readers. This will ensure that HardwareZone.com remains as an indispensable source of knowledge for them.”

SPH’s citizen journalism portal STOMP scored five awards, including being named top in the Business and Finance (Legal) category, second in the News and Media (Print) category and third for Lifestyle (Blogs and Personal Websites).

Mr Chew V Ming, Editor of STOMP, said: “The awards are an affirmation of STOMP’s reach into the hearts and minds of Singaporeans, with its winning offering of citizen journalism stories and innovative social networking features. STOMP is not just a website, it is now part of the Singaporean lexicon and social media-scape."

In other results, The Straits Times RazorTV, Singapore's hyper-local video news channel, was the second most popular video website in the Entertainment (Multimedia) category, and straitstimes.com was ranked 3rd in the News and Media (Print) category.

The Hitwise Awards, given out twice a year, recognises the 10 most popular websites across 160 categories. The awards are based on popularity according to the market share of user visits a website receives compared to other websites in their industry.

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