China Archive

Chinese company UUSee has announced that they have just passed the 30,000,000 (30 million) user mark. They also claim more than 3 million mobile users. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital. The company notes that they are a better combination of YouTube and Joost.

"China — and UUSee in particular — has taken the worldwide lead in P2P- based Internet TV services," said Li Zhu, CEO and co-founder, who until now has never spoken with Western media to discuss UUSee's technology and business model. "UUSee has been delivering P2P video for close to two years, with its content Chinese people worldwide rely on UUSee to stay connected to relevant broadcast news, sports and culture that once could only be viewed on televisions in China. Also, UUSee's technology is not limited to Chinese language programming, and so we look forward to forging relationships with communities and companies globally."

From their web site: UUSee broadcasts this content through more than 60 TV channels in real time, 350 customizable channels, video on demand, time-shifting, social features such as tagging and voting, mobile downloads available in all file formats — with both proprietary and third party DRM control. Brands advertise on UUSee in multiple ways, from pre- and post-roll, banner and text, to more innovative manners such as picture-in-picture and interactive Flash.

My prediction about "reviews" sites being hot this year appears to have started in China. PaidContent is reporting that, "Beijing based IT portal Zol.com.cn (owned by CNET) plans to acquire appliance review website Ea3w.com. The acquisition is expected to be completed this quarter, Pacific Epoch reports. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. In October 2004, CNET Networks acquired ZOL for $15 million and photography website Fengniao for $1 million."

Sites like Reevoo and Soapadoo provide trusted reviews which I believe will be a core component of review sites moving forward. Either trust by the site owner or trust by friends. The Amazon, "anyone can review this item" model will slowly fall out as it is so easy to manipulate those reviews.

From their press release today, Yoqoo.com, a leading online video sharing and distribution platform in China, today announced it has completed a US$12 million round of private equity funding from Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital and Chengwei Ventures.

Founded by former Sohu President Victor Koo and that launched its beta version in June 2006, Yoqoo.com has grown into one of the top video sharing and distribution platforms in China with millions of short-form videos watched and thousands uploaded every day by video creators, collectors, amateurs and media organizations.

"User generated content and video sharing in China is an area with tremendous potential," said Victor Koo, Founder and CEO of Yoqoo.com. "We are honored to have the endorsement and support of three of the most prestigious investors in the world. Their investment and managerial experience and their understanding of the Chinese market is extremely valuable to the development of the Company."

"We are very thrilled to partner with Yoqoo at a time when the Chinese Internet video market is taking off," said Len Baker, Managing Partner of Sutter Hill Ventures. "We believe Yoqoo is well positioned to become the leader in user-generated video and video sharing in China."