MySpace China aims to double its number of visitors and registered users this year, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

“We plan to increase our coverage to 20 million people this year,” Chief Executive Officer Luo Chuan said in an interview in Shanghai. So far, MySpace has about 3.9 million registered users in China, he added.

News Corp. launched MySpace China in April 2007, an aim to enter the market projected to have almost as many online users as the total U.S. population by the end of 2008, according to Bloomberg.

Companies including Nike Inc. and Apple Inc. are increasing their Internet marketing spending in China, which boosts the country's online ad sales from 16.6 billion yuan this year to 34.3 billion yuan (US$5 billion) by 2010, according to CLSA Ltd.

“MySpace isn't profitable yet and we have set up our sales teams this year to attract more advertisements targeting the mass market,” Luo said.

Wendi Deng, wife of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, took lead for the MySpace China Web site. Shareholders also include IDG Technology Venture Investment and China Broadband Capital Partners. Luo refused to say how many stakes each party holds in the venture, according to Bloomberg.

News Corp. acquired MySpace for $580 million in 2005. The social networking site may generate over half its revenue from outside the U.S. by 2012, according to Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe last October.