Youku Tudou Content Chief Opens ATF Conference

SINGAPORE: Sunny Xiangyang Zhu, chief content officer of China’s dominant online video company, Youku Tudou, revealed plans to up spending on in-house productions and co-pros, as well as increase its lineup of licensed international content, as the ATF pre-market conference kicked off in Singapore today.

China’s leading Internet TV company—reflecting the 2012 merger of Youku and Tudou—reaches 400 million unique viewers every month.

The merger, Zhu said via a translator, has been beneficial, with the company turning a profit in Q4 for the first time. Youku.com targets a broader mainstream audience, he said, while Tudou is focused on a younger demo.

Original content, in the form of in-house productions as well as co-pros and user-generated video, is a key growth area, Zhu noted. In 2014, the company plans to invest RMB300 million ($49 million) in those three areas.

In addition, he said, “We are increasing our cooperation with overseas companies to carry more licensed content.” Acquisitions have largely been American and British dramas and entertainment shows, Korean dramas and Japanese anime. These will remain key components of the two services, but Zhu told me in an interview after his keynote that he is keen to experiment with content from elsewhere.

Looking ahead, “The biggest challenge we face is revenue, revenue and revenue. The challenge is to monetize [our] traffic.”

To boost revenues, Youku Tudou will drive its multiscreen strategy, so that users can access the service on multiple devices. Mobile viewing has already eclipsed PC usage, he said.

The company is also looking at “fee-based content as well as interactive entertainment.”

Zhu also discussed Youku Tudou’s involvement in the anti-piracy alliance announced last month, targeting Baidu, among other companies accused of copyright infringement. “We are trying to ensure that the market has a fair competitive environment. This is not just to protect Youku and Tudou. It is also to protect the content creators as well as the content owners.”