Youku

Youku (simplified Chinese: Template:Linktext; traditional Chinese: Template:Linktext; pinyin: Template:Linktext; literally "excellent (and) cool"), is a video sharing site based in the People's Republic of China.

Youku

File:YoukuLogo.jpg
URL	Youku.com
Slogan	"The World is Watching"
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Video sharing
Registration	Optional (required to upload videos)
Available language(s)	Chinese
Owner	Victor Koo
Created by	Victor Koo
Launched	December 21, 2006
Alexa rank	56
Current status	Active

History

Youku was created by Victor Koo, the former President of Sohu. A beta version was launched in June 2006, and the website was formally launched in December 2006. In 2007, the company received $25 million in funding from venture capitalists. Youku.com ranked #1 in Chinese video sharing sector by China Internet Society, iResearch and Baidu User Index. In 2008, Youku teamed up with Myspace in China. Later that year, Youku became the sole online video provider embedded in the China Edition of popular web browser Mozilla Firefox. Youku has worked with Linkool International, Youku, Baidu, and Sina Music, and has an iPhone application.

Features

Youku permits users to upload videos regardless of their length and currently has over 161 million videos. Youku has partnered with a number of TV stations, film and TV production companies in China that regularly upload media content on the site. According to a Compete.com survey, the site attracted at least 6.5 million visitors in 2008.

Youku's video library includes many full length, popular films and TV episodes from the West. Viewers from around the world can see these films on Youku for free, though often with Chinese subtitles. Other popular sites such as Youtube cannot display this content because of copyright restrictions, but these laws either do not exist in China or are poorly enforced, enabling Youku to broadcast copyrighted content from their website without license.

Youku is growing in popularity with the foreign population of China as well because of the Golden Shield Project currently blocking YouTube.

Some Youku videos are now unavailable to US viewers.^{[citation needed]}.

Criticism

Youku has been harshly criticized by internet users for significantly under par video streaming speed. Most internet watchdog groups criticized the site for intense censorship activities corroborating with the national Propaganda Department as well as the department's Communist Party counterpart.

See also

• Tudou
• 56.com

Further reading

• Youku Information at Business Week

External links

• Official site
• Youku blog