Youku Transcends YouTube as China Becomes Center of Internet
businessweek.com
businessweek.com
“The Internet’s center of gravity is shifting toward China, said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China in Beijing, a technology consultant.”
This is one of the more ridiculous things I've read recently. China is not the center of the internet. And the only technology they have is either bought or stolen.
>YouTube, owned by Google, is inaccessible in China.
Kind of hard to determine one business model is superior when they aren't even allowed to compete.
The language barrier is preventing synergy between Chinese and Western cultures.
The other is a tool for improving communication between people that developed separately from other similar tools, and is pretty much equivalent to a different API.
I don't think they're comparable. Unless China decides to ban export of all chinese-language media, and import of all non-chinese media.
That mean, probably only a fraction of Chinese work will ever be translated.
Seems like burying the lead to me. I don't think you can say Chinese web sites are surpassing U.S. ones as a business until the revenues are comparable. Otherwise, it's more like bit torrent or the Pirate Bay. They may be surpassing YouTube and Hulu in downloads, but that doesn't mean there is a superior business model behind it.
Every country has its own policies, it is quite tough for outsiders to intervene or change things around. Think Cambodia, Vietnam. In Chin'a case, it's the government's case to require Web content to be censored. That's how it is, think of it as cultural difference or the rules of the game if you want to play.
The opportunities to grow in developing countries are great, it is just the process to come in, understand how the local does things and how can we adapt our policies to make it work that matters. A few other countries that offer similar growth opportunities less the restrictions are Malaysia and Indonesia. (just look at the Jakarta Composite and KLSE Composite index)
youku and tudou and all the other youtube-likes are essentially unusable in the US. partially intentional to avoid copyright trouble for the companies involved, however they have set up servers abroad to cater to countries with large overseas-chinese populations.
I often see people ask American-based startups: "Why don't you offer Chinese support and try to grab the Chinese market?" It's really not that simple. Even for an existing startup, successfully entering the Chinese market basically requires you to run a totally new business. If you don't treat the Chinese branch like its own indigenous company, you won't get anywhere. I think Google is an excellent example of a company that failed, or refused, to understand this.
IMO, Youku's most obvious competitive advantage is that they undergo almost no pressure from copyright holders. There are tons of full movies available on Youku and I highly doubt they have licensing partnership like Hulu does.