Youku (Simplified Chinese: 优酷 pinyin yóukù, literally means "excellent and cool") is a video sharing site based in People's Republic of China.
| Youku |
 |
| URL |
Youku.com |
| Slogan |
The World is Watching |
| Alexa rank |
56 |
| 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 |
2006 |
| Current status |
Active |
History
Youku was created by Victor Koo, the former President of Sohu, with its beta was launched in June 2006 and formally launched in December 2006. In 2007, the company received $25 million funding from venture capitalists. [1] Youku.com ranked #1 in Chinese video sharing sector by China Internet Society, iResearch and Baidu User Index. In 2008, Youku has teamed up with Myspace in China. [2]
Features
Youku permits users to upload videos regardless of their length. Youku has partnered with a number of TV stations, film and TV production companies in China that regularly uploaded media content on the site. It also allows user-generated video uploads. According to a Compete.com survey, the site attracts at least 6.5 million visitors annually as of this year.[1]
Copyright infringement
Due to lax copyright enforcement in China, unlicensed, unauthorized copyrighted material such as full length movies, music videos, even copies of user-generated video from other video sharing websites are abundant.
Recently, however, a number of copyrighted materials have been blocked in certain regions of the world.
Further reading
Competitors
References
External links
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