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.