BEIJING, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In a high-spirited
ceremony at the Tudou Video Festival, Tudou.com (subsidiary of
Youku Tudou Inc., NYSE: "YOKU") unveiled a series of measures
to boost its commitment to user-generated content, including an
innovative new fund that will empower its UGC talents by connecting
them with sponsors to launch their careers onto a larger
platform.
The fund, first sponsored by corporations like Deerway, Ford,
and DHL, will help Tudou's talents by providing multi-faceted
support as they attempt to translate their Tudou fame into more
lucrative and sustainable success on mainstream media platforms.
The fund will commission branded content productions, while also
providing seed money for more offbeat, experimental creations.
Tudou also announced that it will upgrade its revenue sharing
plan, expanding eligibility to a wider range of talents. Users
who apply and are accepted to the revenue sharing program will
receive extensive financial, technical, and marketing support,
including having their videos prioritized in search results on
Tudou.
In addition to the awards ceremony, the sixth-annual Tudou Video
Festival featured a live exhibition of video projects from more
than 100 contributors – 71 talented amateurs and 22 professional
filmmakers. Attendees of the festival traveled booth-to-booth to
explore the high-quality original content, then voted on four
awards: Best Project, Best Marketing Potential, Most Creative, and
Crowd Favorite. Each award included a cash prize. Among the 1,700
delegates to the Festival were noted filmmaker Peter Chan; trendsetting TV producer Wang
Weizhong; Gao Feng, the vice president of CCTV; Yong Younchul, the
Chairman of the Busan
International Short Film Festival; Roger
Garcia, the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Film Festival; and Endo Hitoshi, producer of the Japanese TV drama
Shinya Shokudo.
Hailed as China's Sundance, the
Tudou Video Festival has always been Tudou's signature event for
promoting and incubating UGC talents. Last year's Festival award
winner Always Wet went on to create the talk show "Speak Out,"
which racked up 35 million views on Tudou. This year's festival,
held on June 8th at the
foot of the Great Wall, hit historic heights, attracting 20% more
entries than last year. Tudou put out a call for submissions in
February and over the next few months received a staggering 18,000
entries, from which 200 finalists were selected. All of the
festival entries together have earned more than 200 million views
on Tudou since they were released.
Since its August 2012 merger with
Youku, Tudou has been working on further strengthening its
independent, free-spirit reputation. Weidong Yang, President of Tudou said, "This
festival represents the beginning of Tudou 2.0. We will continue to
deliver the youthful, fresh content that our users love, while also
crafting a more interactive, social, and business-minded Tudou
experience. The 2.0 strategy means that we will fully support our
users as they work to get their voices heard on mainstream network
media platforms."
About Youku Tudou Inc.
Youku Tudou Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) is China's leading Internet television company.
Its Youku and Tudou Internet television platforms enable users to
search, view, and share high-quality video content quickly and
easily across multiple devices. Its Youku brand and Tudou brand are
among the most recognized online video brands in China. Youku Tudou's American depositary
shares, each representing 18 of Youku Tudou's Class A ordinary
shares, are traded on the NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."
CONTACT:
Jean Shao
Director of International Communications
Tel: (+8610) 5885-1881 x7128
Email: shaodan@youku.com
Ryan Cheung
Corporate Finance Director
Youku Tudou Inc.
Tel: (+8610) 5885-1881 x6090
Email: ryan.cheung@youku.com
SOURCE Youku Tudou Inc.