While much of the world uses US-owned YouTube to watch and share videos, China has come up with their own answer in the form of Youku.com, a company that recently partnered with MySpace China.
The site looks similar to YouTube, showing a main video with different channels and featured videos on the site. Below the featured clip are statistics like views, number of comments, embed codes for both flash and html and the ability to go to full screen mode. There could be more features too, but my Chinese is a little bit rusty!
The site was launched in December 2006, with about 100 million videos being viewed daily. Considering there are 210 million web users in China alone (that's more than in the US), that view count isn't very high. Those are the numbers until now, chances are, the new partnership cool provide a boost in viewership.
The problem with region-specific social networks like Youku.com is that people aren't able to connect with a global network, and isn't that the beautiful of sites used internationally like YouTube?
China's next YouTube
Youku.com
Trend Themes
1. Localized Video-sharing Platforms - There is an opportunity to create more localized video-sharing platforms like Youku.com for specific countries or regions of the world.
2. Partnerships Between Social Media Platforms - There may be potential for partnerships between different social media platforms to increase their viewership in specific regions.
3. Language Translation for Global Video Platforms - Global video-sharing platforms like YouTube may benefit from incorporating language translation technologies to be more accessible to users worldwide.
Industry Implications
1. Social Media - The social media industry can benefit from partnerships and localized platforms to increase their user base and capitalize on specific markets.
2. Video Streaming - The video streaming industry can explore opportunities to cater to specific regions and create more targeted platforms for users,
3. Language Technology - The language technology industry can potentially provide translation solutions for global video-sharing platforms to make them more accessible to non-English speaking users.