[권혁태 칼럼] Baidu’s video website, 爱奇艺 iqaiyi, surpasses Youku as the most active video website and prepares for IPO (Chinese/English ver.)

[Chinese/English] Baidu’s video website, 爱奇艺 iqaiyi, surpasses Youku as the most active video website and prepares for IPO

 

 

今年年初，在韩国和中国《来自星星的你》大受欢迎。最近几年，我没有时间也没有兴趣看韩剧。但是我周围的人，互联网，以及各大媒体都开始谈论《来自星星的你》。

之前在中国，有几部韩国电视剧很受欢迎，比如大长今。

由于韩剧的影响，在中国掀起了一股韩流热潮。我身边的中国朋友和同事开始对韩国文化产生了浓厚的兴趣。 所以中国人比较喜欢问我韩国的生活方式，饮食文化，社会现象和家庭关系。

因为我对新的文化现象很好奇，所以我想融入别人的谈话。 于是我决定收看《来自星星的你》。但是我住在中国，所以我不能直接看韩国的电视。后来，我在网上找到一个网站名叫爱奇艺。提供免费高清正版电视连续剧 。国内的下载速度也非常快。

 

 

 

 

 

韩国电视台当天晚上十点更新剧集，一个小时之内便能在爱奇艺上观看无字幕版本，二十四小时以后可观看有字幕正片。

我觉得翻译速度很快，也从来没使用过用户体验那么好的视频网站。而且爱奇艺网站的界面设置非常简洁，视频播放非常清晰。

视频网站的概念是从国外引进的，但是我觉得中国的视频网站技术已经可以跟国外的相媲美，甚至是做得更好。

爱奇艺是2010年4月正式上线的。爱奇艺创始人龚宇博士担任CEO。2013年5月百度收购PPS业务，并与爱奇艺进行合并。2014年1月，爱奇艺超越中国最有名的视频播放网站优酷。优酷有大约8千3百万个用户，而爱奇艺及PPS的总体用户已达9千400万个。 其中，《 来自星星的你》的首次点击率就达20亿次。成为中国影视界观看次数最多的电视连续剧。

 

 

 

Monthly active users for China’s top video sites in January. All numbers in multiples of 10,000. Source: iResearch.

 

我小时候住在加拿大，如果想看韩国片，只能去超市购买录像带。接收国外文化的速度慢，技术落后。而现在在中国，我可以通过互联网非常便捷地了解最新的韩国文化。 我希望通过这种渠道，能加快和促进两国文化的交流及发展。

 

 

 

English ver.

 

iQiyi Introduction

iQiyi (iQiyi.com), formerly known as Qiyi, is China’s leading advertising supported online television and movie portal that focuses on fully licensed, high-definition, professionally produced contents.

Based on its unique brand appeal and technology prowess, iQiyi launched the largest copyright procurement plan to create the most comprehensive copyrighted content database, covering movies, TV dramas, variety shows, documentaries, animation and travel, among others. By exploring and utilizing cutting-edge advertising technology, IQiyi is helping brand advertisers maximize their ROI with the SWS (Search-Watch-Share) model.

QIYI was launched on April 22, 2010. On November 26, 2011, Qiyi announced its rebranding with the iQiyi brand name and a new logo. The company was invested by Baidu, Inc. and Providence Equity Partners in early 2010. As of August, 2012, the number of pc users exceeded 370 million with the total monthly time spent over 1374 million hours, whose growth rate far exceeded the average of this industry. For mobile users, iQiyi pulled in 90 million activated users, ranking number one in the industry.

 

 

The trend in Chinese online video space

The ongoing consolidation in the Chinese online video space has resulted in Iqiyi becoming the most popular video site in the country. Youku，the site that has long been called China’s YouTube just got dethroned by its competitor Iqiyi as the country’s most popular video service. Iqiyi, which is owned by the Chinese internet giant Baidu, attracted 94 million monthly active users in January, compared to Youku’s 83.5 million, according to new numbers from iResearch.

Iqiyi was launched in 2010 with investments from both Baidu and Providence Equity Partners. Baidu bought out Providence in 2012, and went on to acquire PPStream in 2013. The race for the top spot comes at a time of overall consolidation in the Chinese video market, which is largely driven by rising licensing costs for professional content. Late last year, China’s retail giant Suning and the Hony investment group acquired PPTV for $420 million.

 

 

Baidu’s Video Website Plans IPO Within Three Years

Baidu Inc. (BIDU)’s IQiyi video website plans to hold an initial public offering within three years as it competes with Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU) for China’s 618 million Internet users seeking movies and TV shows online.

The Beijing-based site, which offers “Mad Men” and the South Korean drama “My Love From the Star,” is aiming for a valuation that surpasses Youku Tudou’s, Chief Executive Officer Gong Yu said in an interview in Beijing on April 29. The U.S.- listed Youku has a market capitalization of $3.7 billion and posted 3 billion yuan ($479 million) in revenue last year.

“We want to have the largest market share and revenue share in the industry,” Gong said. “By the time of the IPO, if our market share and revenue are both larger than Youku, we should have a bigger valuation than it does.”

China’s market for online video probably will be worth 17.8 billion yuan this year and then double to 36.6 billion yuan in 2017, according to a report by Internet consultant IResearch.

 

 

 

 

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캐나다 퀸즈대학과 중국 북경대학에서 경영학과 중국어를 공부했다. 졸업 후 골드만삭스 도쿄 및 싱가폴에서 근무하였으며 2008년부터 Business Tianjin 이라는 중국경제잡지에 글로벌 경제와 중국경제 현황에 대하여 매월 영어로 글을 기고하고 있다. 세계 여러나라 여행을 다니며 현지의 문화,역사,음식,사람들과 마주하여 느끼는 것을 글로 담아내기를 즐기며, 급현하는 중국의 변화에 주시하고 있다. (현재 개인 블로그 운영중 http://hyuktae.wordpress.com)