(Feb 25, 2014) When Youku was launched in 2006, it was called a Youtube clone. Seven years later Youku has become China’s leading online video hosting service and boasts of 14 million unique daily users. Interestingly, according to Alexa rankings, it is now the second-largest online video site in the world (Youtube is, of course, the biggest with 1 billion unique monthly visitors). While Youtube focused on content uploaded by users, Youku initially chose to distribute TV shows and movies: its library contains more than 4,500 movie titles, 2,700 television serial dramas and over 900 variety shows.
Determined to lead the next phase of online video development in China, Youku acquired its main competitor, the youth-centric online video portal Tudou in August 2012. Back then, Victor Koo, CEO of Youku, said the goal was to represent a “differentiated leader in the online video market in China with the largest user base, most comprehensive content library, most advanced bandwidth infrastructure and strongest monetization capability within the sector”.
The two entities—Youku and Tudou—are run in parallel under a dual platform strategy aimed at retaining users of both their distinctive audiences. On top of that, they do share a unified advertising system that ensures more efficient marketing coverage and ads reach.
Read more at Ent Group