China Archive

IBM has published an announcement of a new partnership with Chinese city Dongying. IBM notes that they are bringing cloud computing the Dongying in the hopes of making the city “smarter”. From the announcement, “Dongying will use IBM cloud technology to build a common platform to promote e-government, and support the city’s transition from an industrial to services-based economy.”

Additionally IBM noted, “IBM is helping the Dongying government build a cloud that will provide software development and test resources for software startup companies via the web through a self-service user interface.”

Dongying will create The Yellow River Delta Cloud Computing Center which will be used to foster growth in the city and help its petroleum industry develop more innovative application services.

Update: The WSJ says (via eMarketer) that NBC will only earn $5.75 million from online advertising during the Olympics and that CBS earned 4x more for the NCAA basketball tourney. The NCAA tourney went for 3 weeks while the Olympics went for two but even then, the Olympics didn’t earn what analysts expected it to. Also note that NBC apparently is charging $50/cpm for the ads.

Compete is out with their latest analysis report — this time it’s regarding the online Olympics coverage across the Web. NBC spent $900 million for exclusive rights for broadcasting the olympics so an easy assumption would be that they lead the online traffic and engagement race for the Beijing Olympics online viewing but Compete says that assumption would be incorrect.

As you can see in the chart below, Compete measured reach (unique visitors) between the top 5 Olympic coverage sites. Yahoo leads with 1.5 million unique visitors while NBC comes in with 1.2 million. NBC leads in engagement (time on site) by 5% over Yahoo. It will be interesting to see how long the traffic and engagement remains high at NBC and the others once the games have concluded.

From a CenterNetworks perspective, the Olympics have provided a good stream of traffic since the opening ceremonies. The traffic has slowed over the past few days but during the first three days we were doing quite well. In fact, in my traffic and ranking analysis, Techcrunch would win the Gold and we would take the Silver. I will note that we have asked the IOC to take a look to make sure that no “faking” (heightening, lip synching, etc.) went on with that valley blog.

The one question I have after reviewing the Compete analysis is whether it includes views and engagement through the Microsoft Silverlight player which is required to watch the Olympics coverage on NBC.

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NBC has announced today their plan for exclusive and extensive online video and mobile coverage for the 2008 Bejing Olympics. Back in November, SAI reported on the total number of hours of online video that NBC would provide, 2,200 live hours and over 3,000 total hours of video.  NBC is also partnering with Microsoft on their Silverlight technology and the player that NBC describes should be nothing short of amazing. News will appear on MSN and will combine some of the video footage as well.

NBC’s mobile lineup looks pretty slick as well. The mobile features are at the end of the list below. I am guessing that all of the content will be available in the U.S. only.

NBC is targeting three of the richest online advertising verticals: casual gaming, online video and mobile. Let’s just hope that NBC can handle the traffic and the loads – the Olympic coverage could prove a good test for all online video content creators.

Here are the other NBCOlympics.com features announced today:

VIDEO: NBCOlympics.com will provide approximately 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband coverage of Olympic competition where users can choose from up to 20 concurrent streams encompassing 25 Olympic sports.  In addition, the site will offer more than 3,000 hours of on-demand access to full-event replays and extensive highlights, including daily recaps of key events, best-of montages, commentator analysis and athlete-specific clips. (By comparison, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, NBC streamed two hours of live footage.)

The video player’s enhanced mode, powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, will offer picture-in-picture, quad-screen functionality, a larger viewing area and an improved user experience. 

REAL-TIME RESULTS: For all Olympic sports, NBCOlympics.com will present the most comprehensive results anywhere online, provide LIVE results as events are happening and offer statistical summaries, tournament draws and group standings.

PERSONALIZED TELEVISION AND ONLINE VIEWER’S GUIDE: This section, traditionally one of the most trafficked portions of the site during the Games, will be even more important to help navigate the expanded Olympic coverage across all the NBC Universal broadcast and digital platforms.  NBCOlympics.com’s complete schedule for the NBCU broadcast and online coverage reflects the most up-to-date programming information as the television and online schedules are modified throughout the Games. Additionally, site visitors who enter their zip code will receive localized listings that reflect the exact programming available from their local NBC affiliate, including live streaming listings and digital affiliate channel locations for high-definition viewing on NBC Universal cable stations.  Viewers will be able to sort the listings by sport, network, day and time, as well as search by keywords such as athlete, team or country. 

EXPERTISE AND ANALYSIS: NBC’s Olympic commentators will provide video reviews and previews of competition, as well as insight into specific events, rules and athletes competing in the Games. In addition, NBCOlympics.com producers and writers, including Alan Abrahamson, widely considered the foremost Olympic writer, will be breaking news as well as writing columns, features and analysis. The Associated Press will serve as the primary source for recaps and previews of all the Olympic competition. 

MEDAL TRACKER: An in-depth page presenting real-time medal standings, plus related content such as medal ceremonies, past medal standings searchable by country and sport, as well as links from the medal tracker to recaps and highlights of competition. 

TEAM USA: Thorough coverage of the American athletes throughout the Beijing Games.  Content includes results and medals, video introductions and daily events to watch.

ATHLETE PROFILES: NBCOlympics.com will present bios for all 10,500 athletes competing in Beijing, with unmatched depth of information and content around the American competitors, including Q&As, photo galleries, video clips, results and more.

COUNTRY PROFILES: Snapshots of all 205 participating nations include general data (e.g. population, location), plus Olympic histories and 2008 Olympic outlooks.

PHOTOS: NBCOlympics.com will use screen grabs from NBC Sports broadcasts as well as a full library of Getty and Associated Press images to offer multiple galleries and narrative slideshows across all Olympic sports.

DESTINATION BEIJING: A section dedicated to the host city and nation, featuring video features, photo galleries, written features, blogs and more, for users who want to learn more about the culture of China and the Olympic host city, Beijing.

INSIDE THIS SPORT: This is a feature that will give users everything they need to know about a specific sport including competition formats, scoring systems, rules, glossaries, historic timelines and venues.

BLOGS: More than a dozen Olympians are contributing personally shot, home-video style content to NBCOlympics.com as part of an “Olympic Insider” feature that offers insight into the athletes’ personalities and the sports they play. Installments include tours of residences, behind-the-scenes at training sessions, out-of-competition team outings and more. The “Olympic Insider” can be explored at www.nbcolympics.com/olympicinsider/index.html.

WIDGETS: NBCOlympics.com widgets allow users to stay up to date on the Beijing Olympics without leaving their personal homepages. Widgets include: top news, video & photos, athletes to watch, TV and online listings, medal trackers, results, schedules and local coverage.

TELEMUNDO: Telemundo.NBCOlympics.com offers Spanish-speaking viewers a destination for all things Olympics. The largest Spanish offering to date for NBC Olympics, the Telemundo section is a near clone of the English-language site featuring comprehensive coverage (news, video, photos) on key sports including medals, results, athletes and countries.

GAMES:

PRIMETIME COMPANION: A special application to enhance the primetime broadcast, offering video features, text and photos on competition airing in primetime highlighted by polling, chatting, trivia and more. This application will also offer the “Primetime Challenge,” a two-screen gaming application in which Olympic fans can play along as they watch NBC’s primetime broadcast.  Users can compete for points in real-time, while playing against their friends and other fans, by predicting the outcome of live events, answering Olympic trivia and polls, playing Olympic-themed mini-games, and chatting with their friends about that night’s competition.  The “Primetime Challenge” will be available for all 17 nights of NBC’s primetime coverage.

OLYMPIC QUICK PICK FANTASY GAME: The Olympic Quick Pick fantasy game will allow fantasy players and Olympic enthusiasts the opportunity to win prizes for participating while cheering on Olympic athletes. Visitors of NBCOlympics.com will be assigned five random athletes competing for a medal each day. Based on how those athletes finish in their medal events, users will earn fantasy points.  Those that accumulate the most fantasy points both daily and over the course of the entire Olympics will win prizes.

OLYMPIC FLASH GAMES: Fans of diving, weightlifting, and archery can compete online in games designed to mimic Olympic competition.

OLYMPIC TRIVIA GAMES: Olympic fans will also be able to test their knowledge with NBCOlympics.com trivia games.  Players will be able to compete against other Olympics fans, as well as challenge friends to beat their scores.

OLYMPIC ZONE: A total of 227 of the 232 (97%) NBC affiliated websites (including all top 100 markets) are participating in the 2008 Olympic Zone offering. Olympic Zone presents localized coverage of the Beijing Olympics directly from a user’s hometown NBC station. Track local athletes, watch video, slideshows and read blogs. Expanded features in 2008 include:
· Localized national video available via Olympic Zone Advanced Olympic Zone integration into NBCOlympics.com (more modules, contextual items such as local athlete tracker)
· Expanded localized content including national video fed into Olympic Zone
· Improved local athlete trackers with featured local athletes on the national site
· Widgets for placement on station and partner websites
· Local email alerts

NBC OLYMPICS MOBILE:

NBC Olympics Mobile presents the most ambitious major sporting event coverage ever delivered on mobile, providing Olympic fans with the best in news and video coverage – how they want it, wherever they want it.  From breaking news to text and video alerts to live mobile TV broadcasts, NBC Olympics Mobile will be the mobile destination for Olympic fans.

MOBILE WEB: The NBC Olympics Mobile Web site will deliver the most comprehensive coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games available for mobile users.  The NBC Olympics Mobile Web site currently includes live news, highlights and feature video, Team USA profiles, slideshow galleries, voting polls, alerts sign-up, and much more.  And starting August 8, mobile users will be able to view live medal counts, detailed results & schedules, customizable TV & online listings, and all the top news and video from Beijing.

Users can access the NBC Olympics Mobile web site by going to http://mobile.nbcolympics.com on their mobile device’s Internet browser or by texting “OLYMPICS” to 51515. 

ALERTS: NBC Olympics Mobile also provides alerts for every Olympic fan.  Text and e-mail alerts are available for breaking news, top headlines for all Olympic sports, medal results, event previews, athlete alerts, and TV/live streaming schedule reminders.  NBC Olympics Mobile will also provide free photo & video highlight alerts for top Olympic sports. 

MOBILE VIDEO: NBC Olympics Mobile Video will provide highlights, daily news, and exclusive feature videos on-demand to mobile video users.  Mobile video is available on the NBC Olympics Mobile Web site and on-deck with select mobile providers.

MOBILE TV: NBC Olympics Mobile will launch NBC Olympics 2Go, an all-new 24/7 mobile TV channel featuring the best of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.  NBC Olympics 2Go will include complete event coverage from NBC, USA, MSNBC, and CNBC programming.  With NBC Olympics 2Go, users will be able to featured and live event coverage while they are on-the-go! 

For more information on NBC Olympics Mobile offerings, visit http://www.nbcolympics.com/mobile

NBC OLYMPICS ON THE GO: This free download-and-play service will allow users to watch NBC’s Olympics coverage at home or on the go.  Once a viewer chooses the sports they want to watch, high quality video of the events will automatically download, as they become available, to Windows Media Center on their PCs or laptops running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate.  With “NBC Olympics On The Go,” powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic, users will then be able to watch long-form full event coverage in up-to-HD quality whether they’re online or offline.  Viewers looking for highlights of the top action from Beijing will be able to download those videos through the “NBC Direct” service.
In addition, users may also be able to download content to handheld devices via Amazon.com and Zune.
 
NBC OLYMPICS VIDEO ON DEMAND: Viewers will be able to access robust NBC Olympics video content on-demand from their home, both prior to and during the Games, through their cable, satellite, or telco television provider.  Olympic fans will be able to gear up for Beijing with NBC Olympics pre-games content, with recaps from Athens, previews of Beijing, and profiles of Team USA.  And during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, NBC Olympics will provide daily highlights and long-form coverage of the best action from Beijing — including exclusive HD features.  NBC Olympics Video On Demand content will be available on select cable & satellite operators.  Viewers must check with local providers for availability.

NBC OLYMPICS INTERACTIVE TV APPLICATIONS: Olympic fans can access exclusive NBCOlympics.com content through their television with NBC Olympics Interactive TV applications.  Viewers can get all the best NBC Olympics coverage during the Games:  top news stories, updated medal counts, detailed NBC Olympics TV listings, profiles of Team USA, and more.  NBC Olympics Interactive TV applications will be available on select cable and satellite operators.  Viewers must check with local providers for availability.

Chinese online video sharing site Youku.com has raised an additional US$30 million in private equity funding, and secured a US$10 million equipment loan. From the release, "Maverick Capital led the financing round and joined the Board of Directors. All existing investors in the company, including Brookside Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital, and Chengwei Ventures, participated. The US$10 million equipment loan is provided by Western Technology Investment." This brings the total amount raised to $80 million.

Youku self-reports over 100 million unique visitors per month and each user spends about 300 minutes per month on Youku. iResearch’s reports that Youku is now the 6th largest website in China in terms of total user time spent.

Youku also announced today that it has entered into a variety of content partnerships including Universal Music, EMI Music, Huayi Music and a large number of top film, TV and music performers in China.

Here’s a video — it looks like China comes back to beat Italy in volleyball in a long, long match.

Web office suite maker Zoho is announcing their launch into China today. The launch comes by way of a partnership with Chinese company Baihui. The products included in the partnership are: Writer, Sheet, Show and CRM. Writer, Sheet and Show are free, CRM is available at nearly the same rate as the U.S. version. Other business apps will be launched to the Chinese market in the near future.

Zoho evangelist Raju Vegesna provided some additional information about Baihui, "Baihui’s parent company, PC Stars is the largest online distributor in China with more than 2400 resellers and over 1000 system integrators." 

Zoho continues to increase their product offering, both in features and languages. Earlier this month Zoho launched their enterprise CRM product and the Telegraph newspaper named Zoho as one of the 101 most useful web sites. I’m wondering if a partnership with Dell might make sense — get icons for Zoho’s products right on the desktop from the initial launch and push them as a value add on system purchases — might be a good move for additional distribution.

Editor’s note: Zoho is a current CN sponsor.

CNN International had an interesting video piece today about Internet addiction in China and specifically Chinese Youth. Every minute in China, 100 new people sign on to the Internet. A Chinese doctor was interviewed and believes that many of those addicted with ‘Internet’ are due to lack of self-confidence in the real world.

So how does China deal with those infected with Internet? Two ways: shock therapy and boot camp. Kids infected can be zapped with low-voltage electricity to get them trained on not using the Internet. Looks pretty painful with all the probes stuck in god-knows-where.

The other method is one that I think could work well here as well. It’s a boot camp for addicted kids and they teach social skills and play real-world games to get them off the keyboard.

With mobile usage rates continuing to grow, Internet addiction will grow exponentially. Instead of only being connected when sitting in front of a computer, you can now be connected 24×7 in every situation and with mobile devices becoming smarter – it’s just a matter of time before Quake shows up on the iPhone in multiplayer mode.

A survey out today from IAC and JWT shows that Chinese youth lead American youth in digital self-expression online. The "Young Digital Mavens" study aimed to explore how attitudes toward digital technology are changing among Chinese and American youth at a time when people are spending less time with traditional media and more with interactive technology.

"The Chinese people seem to be way ahead of Americans in living a digital life," noted IAC Chairman and CEO Barry Diller today in Beijing.

This survey comes at the same time as Mr. Diller announcing plans to epand IAC and the Ask.com search engine into China, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Some snippits from the survey:

While many Westerners debate whether online experiences and relationships are "real," far fewer Chinese have doubts. As many as 82 percent of young Chinese agreed that "Interactivity helps create intimacy, even at a distance," compared with just 36 percent of young Americans. And almost two- thirds (63 percent) of Chinese respondents agreed that "It’s perfectly possible to have real relationships purely online with no face-to-face contact," vs. only 21 percent of Americans.

Chinese culture may have a reputation for being far more sexually conservative than American culture, but strikingly, three times as many Chinese as Americans (32 percent vs. 11 percent) were willing to admit that the Internet has broadened their sex life.

Chinese respondents were also more likely than Americans to say they have expressed personal opinions or written about themselves online (72 percent vs. 56 percent).

"One of the biggest differences between American and Chinese youth is in attitudes toward anonymity," says Doctoroff. "In the U.S., with its cult of celebrity, young Americans see the Internet as a way of getting known, of building their personal brand; many regard the Internet as a kind of personal broadcasting medium. But whereas publicizing your name, face and opinions is seen as a step toward success in the U.S., in China it has been a surefire way of veering into dangerous territory. So for young Chinese, the Internet is the ideal place to air opinions and hear what others think without crossing the line."

And here is the Appendix graph for reference: