Beijing – A new revenue sharing programme by Youku Tudou Inc., China’s internet television company, has generated more than half a million U.S. dollars in income for participating content creators in just four months. The programme allows qualified participants to earn money generated from advertisements embedded with the content they upload.
Top video creators have earned between $3,500 and $10,000 per month from diverse content such as education, humour, games and animated commentary. Other content includes web serials from comedians, musicians and original productions. Li Hongchou, who started creating web serials a few years ago while in college, is the top monthly earner so far at more than 80,000 RMB, or about $12,000, for a few consecutive months.
His first hit web serial, Off-Campus Roommates, was about young people living together in an apartment, similar to the American television series Friends. Li now has his own studio and has produced more than 300 web episodes, netting nearly 300 million cumulative views.The aim of the revenue sharing programme is to encourage China’s many creative grassroots video producers to share their work with wider audiences. Youku.com and Tudou.com own the largest platform for user-generated content (UGC) in China. Smartphones and tablets are also fueling the fast growth of UGC.
Participants’ videos enjoy prioritised recommendations as well as search support and an expedited upload channel. They are able to monitor their channels, income and marketing results. Youku Tudou also offers participants offline training, including cinematography, digital marketing and case study seminars. Some participants are invited to join in-house production projects initiated by Youku.com and Tudou.com.
“We are thrilled to see such promising growth of this new initiative to reward talented content creators,” said Xiangyang Zhu, Chief Content Officer of Youku Tudou. “Youku Tudou proudly takes the credit for nurturing China’s online video talents since 2008, and we’re gratified that more and more people are using video to express their thoughts and creativity. By rewarding great independent creators through this open revenue sharing platform, we look forward to further unleashing the unlimited power of user-generated content.”
