

Youku Transcends YouTube as China Becomes Center of Internet  - petethomas
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-17/youku-transcends-youtube-as-china-becomes-center-of-internet.html

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siculars
Take any news China related (like Russia related) with a very large grain of
salt.

“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.

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metamemetics
> _For Youku’s Koo, Chinese Internet companies are developing superior
> business models_

> _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.

~~~
chii
oh its superior alright - they managed to out compete google even before
google entered to compete :)

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krav
It is not the internet unless it's open. More accurate, imho, to call it
Chinanet.

~~~
kiba
How are we supposed to enjoy Chinese language video? The firewall of china is
just one barrier. The more significant barrier is how to translate it.

The language barrier is preventing synergy between Chinese and Western
cultures.

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bobds
We've solved this problem, at least if you don't mind reading. They are called
subtitles.

~~~
kiba
Well, _somebody_ need to translate them with machine assistance into English
first.

That mean, probably only a fraction of Chinese work will ever be translated.

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jimbokun
"Sales from online advertising reached 20.7 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) last
year, according to data from Beijing-based iResearch Inc. By comparison,
ZenithOptimedia estimates U.S. Internet advertisements in 2009 were valued at
$54.2 billion."

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.

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megablast
Also, the ebay alternative does not charge any fees, it only gets it money
from ads. They do this, according to the article, because Chinese prefer it
that way. If it is true for other services, then China is more ad driven than
other countries, so it should be even higher than normal.

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iworkforthem
I think the article starts off badly, its YouTube vs Hulu comparison generates
quite a bit of negative sentiments.

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)

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emeltzer
@benhedrington doing something involving libraries in beijing. we're in
stealth mode ish.

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.

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c1sc0
My impression is that this is a recent thing. I remember about one year ago
youku & tudou were very 'copyright-friendly'. PPStream is still quite good,
but it uses a windows-only client.

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beza1e1
I think it does not make sense to compare USA with China. It rather see
english vs chinese, because the language barrier is bigger than the national
barrier for a service like Youtube. The english speaking world is much bigger
than the USA alone.

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c1sc0
The most interesting consequence of operating in china is simply the massive
scaling ability required of even the simplest of websites. I expect some
interesting technologies to come out of china in the next few years because of
this.

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veidr
There _is_ no Internet in China. What they have is something else, and
something fundamentally different.

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benhedrington
Anyone here doing startups in China? From inside or outside the country?

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garply
I run a business in China. To run a business targeting Chinese consumers, you
need to be based inside China.

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.

~~~
emeltzer
I wouldn't write off google china quite yet? They still have a huge office
here churning out tons of code, making interesting things, kicking ass with
android stuff..

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tickle_me_elmo
Youku seems to be severely throttled in the West. Anytime I've tried to use
it, I've given up in frustration at the buffering times.

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maxklein
That's official strategy to save traffic, I read somewhere once.

