The 6 Chinese Online Video Platforms You Need to Know About
On April 23, 2005, the first-ever video was uploaded onto Youtube - the behemoth online video platform owned by Google - which is also currently the world’s largest. Soon after the launch of Youtube, China followed suit and went on to establish their own video hosting services. After a decade of development and innovation, many video platforms and short video apps have emerged.
Let’s take a look at the top players of the Chinese online video streaming game.
1. Tencent Video
The biggest online video platform by far in China. Owned by the conglomerate, Tencent, Tencent Video is in the top 10 most downloaded mobile apps overall. Also known as QQ Video, it had over 200 million Daily Average Users and reached 100 million paid subscribers by the end of 2019.
Similar to Youtube, users on Tencent can download and watch a variety of content including TV shows, news, and movies. A big part of Tencent’s success comes from its links with WeChat, the world’s largest messaging and social media app. WeChat Official Account users can only embed videos from Tencent into their articles.
2. iQiyi
Another important video platform in China that also gets over 100 million active subscribed users and over 5.5 billion hours of content streams every month is iQiyi, launched by Chinese tech giant Baidu in September 2010.
Also known as the “”Chinese Netflix”. iQiyi provides high quality original content, user generated content, live-sports, and fully-licensed media. In fact, they even partnered up with Netflix back in 2016 to stream exclusive Netflix content in China.
3. Youku
Often referred to as the Youtube of China, the Alibaba owned online video company Youku merged with Tudou back in 2012 has since become one of the biggest video sites with 500 million monthly active users and over 800 million video views daily.
In 2018, they had also successfully bid for ownership to streaming rights for the FIFA World cup.
Although people call Youku the Youtube of China, they actually function more similarly to Hulu or Netflix. Youku pays for and produces content and earns money through a monthly subscription service.
4. BiliBili
Founded in 2009, Bilibili can be considered a niche video platform focused on anime culture in China. However, although Bilibili has introduced new categories like gaming, advertising, and E-commerce, the most popular videos and the majority of their users are still related to Japanese anime.
One of the features that Bilibili is most well known for is called Danmu (bullet comments). It’s basically a commenting feature that allows users to post a comment during the video and the comment would zoom across the screen.
5. Douyin/TikTok
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, is arguably one of the more trending/viral video platforms at the moment. Launched in 2016 by ByteDance, Douyin has already surpassed 400 million daily active users by January 2020. The short-video app became the world's second most downloaded app overtaking Facebook and Messenger after Whatsapp in 2019.
TikTok was also the top downloaded app in the social media category in India but has been banned since June 29 of 2020.
6. Kuaishou
Last but not least, Kuaishou also known as Kwai overseas, is China’s second largest short video platform. Originally begun as a GIF making app in 2012, the app has grown to become a short video site with live streaming features as well.
As Douyin’s biggest rival, Kuaishou takes a different approach by targeting the less developed areas across China.
Even though the app itself is not as big as their competitors, it is still noteworthy that Kuaishou attracted multi-million dollar investments from big companies like Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba. This suggests that Kuaishou still has a lot of potential and room to grow.
Final Thoughts
The online video market in China is growing faster, and many of their platforms should be of real interest for marketers and companies who want to target the Chinese audience.
As the world continues to move in the direction of digital media consumption, is your company creating enough video content for your target audiences?