Tudou, Inc. () is a Chinese
video-sharing
An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
headquartered in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, where users can upload, view and share
video clip
Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...
s. Tudou went live on April 15, 2005 and by September 2007 served over 55 million videos each day.
[" Tudou now bigger than Youtube?"](_blank)
Shanghaiist, October 11, 2007.
In 2007 Tudou was one of the world's largest bandwidth users, moving more than 1
Petabyte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...
per day to 7 million users.
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
serves a larger number of videos per day, but the average Tudou video is longer in duration, meaning the total number of minutes of video being streamed daily from Tudou is significantly larger - about 15 billion minutes vs. 3 billion for YouTube.
The
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
-based service uses
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...
technology to publish more than 50,000 new videos each day, including amateur content such as
videoblogging
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
and original videos,
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and
TV clips, and
music videos
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos, using on-line and Windows-based upload tools.
On March 12, 2012, it was announced that
Youku reached an agreement to acquire Tudou in a stock-for-stock transaction, and the new entity will be named
Youku Tudou
Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haid ...
Inc.
History
Tudou was founded by
Gary Wang
Gary Wang or Wang Wei (; born May 8, 1973) is a Chinese entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Chinese video sharing company Tudou.com and served as its CEO until August 2012. He is currently the founder of Light Chaser Animation Studios, an anim ...
and Dutchman
Marc van der Chijs, whom Wang met while at
Bertelsmann Media Group in China. The name Tudou is Chinese
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
(Romanized Chinese) for Potato. It was previously known as Toodou.com, and changed its domain name to Tudou.com in August 2006 when that domain became available. According to CEO Wang, the name comes from the English idiom "couch potato." He stated that his goal was to move couch potatoes from the television screen to the computer screen.
[''Tudou.com Uploaders to Share Ad Revenue''](_blank)
"Sina News" July 4, 2007.
Prior to Tudou, Wang lived in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and returned to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
to work for multi-national companies. Tudou was originally conceptualized as a video blogging company and the site launched on April 15, 2005, in its current format, several months after
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
Like many technology startups, Tudou was started on a small budget with a raw technology team. It was initially self-financed at about $100,000, then in 2005 raised a $500,000 seed round. Its first major funding round was in 2006 for $8.5 million from
IDG
International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...
China,
GGV Capital
GGV Capital is a global venture capital firm that invests in seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Smart Tech sectors.
The firm was established in 2000 in Singapore and Silicon Valley, ...
(formerly Granite Global Ventures), and
JAFCO Asia
, abbreviated as JAFCO is a investment holding company headquartered in the Toranomon district of Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. JAFCO is considered to be the oldest as well as largest V ...
. Tudou's second funding was in early 2007 for $19 million and was led by
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
-based
General Catalyst Partners
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
and Shanghai-based Capital Today, with other existing investors participating.
The fourth round of funding was on April 28, 2008, for $57 million from existing investors IDG Technology Venture Investment (IDGVC),
Granite Global Ventures and General Catalyst Partners, and also included a member of the Rockefeller family. The most recent funding was announced on August 5, 2010 for $50 million from the Temasek Holdings and existing investors.
Rapid growth
During the summer of 2007, Nielsen/NetRatings reported that Tudou was one of the fastest growing websites on the
Web, growing from 131 million to 360 million video clips per week in just three months. According to a July 16, 2007, survey, 55 million video clips are viewed daily on Tudou, with an additional 20,000 new videos uploaded every 24 hours. Neilsen's measurements indicate the website averages nearly 40 million visitors per month.
["From 131 Million to 360 Million - Tudou.com Triples Weekly Clip View in just Three Months"](_blank)
Nielsen NetRatings Press ReleaseJuly 8, 2007
According to Chinese tracking service
iResearch
iResearch Consulting Group (艾瑞咨询集团) is a professional market research and consulting company, supplying online business services in China. The company focuses on Internet media, e-commerce, online games, wireless value-added, and vari ...
, as of the mid-2007, Tudou has over 50% of the Chinese online video market.
["Original Video Content Site Tudou.com Launches Video Advertising Platform"](_blank)
''American Venture Magazine''. July 16, 2007. iResearch reported Tudou reached 95 million monthly unique visitors as of June 2009, and 170 million as of June 2010.
Funding
Tudou completed its financial fund series A to E between year 2005 to 2010 in November 2005, April 2006, April 2007, April 2008, and August 2010 respectively. A total of US$135 million was raised from a roster of venture capital organizations including
IDG Ventures
IDG Ventures is a global family of venture funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management. All of the funds were originally sole-source-funded by International Data Group.
The first fund was created by IDG in 1996 and was located in ...
China, Jafco Asia, GGV Capital,
General Catalyst Partners
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
, Capital Today, KTB, JAIC, Cyber Agent,
Venrock
Venrock (portmanteau of Venture and Rockefeller) is a venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, New York ...
, Crescent Point, and
Temasek Holdings
Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean state holding company owned by the Government of Singapore. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek owns and manages a total of US$496.59 billion (S$671 billion) in assets u ...
.
Recent events
In July 2007, Tudou introduced one of the world's first large-scale video advertising systems for video sites, several months ahead of YouTube.
In late September 2007, Intel and Tudou announced a partnership to explore wireless video sharing technologies and video applications for mobile devices. Tudou also agreed to increase its use of Intel CPUs in its rapidly growing video encoder server farms. Intel will also promote its products through the Tudou advertising system.
In December 2007, Tudou introduced videos in the
H.264
Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distr ...
format, providing higher quality and standards-based video.
In the aftermath of the
2008 Sichuan earthquake on May 12, the service of the website was suspended until May 21 due to the period of national mourning.
On September 10, 2008, Tudou received its license from
SARFT
The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterpr ...
.
Copyright and video review
Copyright
A portion of Tudou's content comes from commercial sources and is not user-generated. The company says that the Chinese often go to Tudou for TV-like saq-media, instead of using their televisions. Starting 2008 Tudou launched licensed content acquisition and partnership programs aggregating selective premium professional contents. Nevertheless, Tudou still comes under criticism for its disregard of some copyright policies.
Video review
Tudou's in-house reviewers watch, approve, and categorize all uploaded videos. The reviewers screen for inappropriate content such as
pornography and categorize / tag each video.
Technical notes
Video format
Tudou's video playback technology is based on
Macromedia
Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe System ...
's
Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...
. This technology allows the site to display videos with quality comparable to more established video playback technologies (such as
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player (application software), media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing sound reproduction, audio, video and viewing images on personal computers runnin ...
,
QuickTime and
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimedia realm, including MP3 ...
) that generally require the user to download and install a
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
plugin in order to view video. Flash also requires a plug-in, but the Flash 7 plug-in is generally considered to be present on approximately 90% of online computers. The video can also be played back with
gnash(cannot) or
VLC. It has pixel dimensions of 320 by 240 (4:3) or 352 by 264 (16:9), depending on the aspect ratio of the source video. Videos run at 25 frames per second with a maximum data rate of 300kbit/s.
Tudou accepts uploaded videos in a variety of formats, including
.WMV
Advanced Systems Format (formerly Advanced Streaming Format, Active Streaming Format) is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/ digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media. ASF is part of the Media Foundation framework ...
,
.AVI
Audio Video Interleave (also Audio Video Interleaved and known by its initials and filename extension AVI, usually pronounced ), is a proprietary multimedia container format and Windows standard introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as par ...
,
.MOV,
MPEG
The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and f ...
and
.MP4
MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 is a digital multimedia container format most commonly used to store video and audio, but it can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows streami ...
.
Video can be seen in windowed mode or full screen mode; it is possible to switch the mode during the viewing of any video without reloading it because of the full-screen function of
Adobe Systems Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...
9.
Because of the copyright and licensing issues, some Tudou videos are blocked to international IP addresses.
Bandwidth
Tudou reports that it's one of the world's largest bandwidth users, sending over 1PB (
Petabyte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...
) of video files per day, which is nearly 100Gbit/s of sustained traffic. The company uses a variety of proprietary and commercial content distribution networks (
CDN
CDN may refer to:
Places
* Canada (Canadian), a North American country
* , a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Technology
* Content delivery network, on the Internet
* Change detection and notification, of Web pages
Transportation
* Can ...
s), such as
ChinaCache
ChinaCache ( zh, 藍汛) is a Chinese company that provides Internet content and application delivery services. It was founded in 1998 by Song Wang.
ChinaCache's network is interconnected with the dominant telecom carrier's networks (China Mobi ...
to distribute videos around China.
The domain ''tudou.com'' attracted almost 10 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a
Compete.com
Compete.com was a web traffic analysis service. The company was founded in 2000 and ceased operations in December 2016.
Services
Compete.com provided two categories of information:
*Site Analytics
: a free service, where the user can enter any ...
survey.
See also
*
QQ Video
Tencent Video (, also called WeTV outside of China) is a Chinese video streaming website owned by Tencent. The website was launched in April 2011, and is one of China's largest online video platforms. As of March 2022, Tencent Video has over 1.2 ...
*
56.com
*
Alternative media
Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media (such as mainstream media or mass media) in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, ...
*
Comparison of video services
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of current, notable video hosting services. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.
General information
Basic general information about t ...
*
List of Internet phenomena
Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include Internet memes, such as popular themes, catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more wides ...
*
User-generated content
User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
*
Viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
*
Youku
References
External links
*
*
About Tudou
{{Uberisation
Chinese entertainment websites
Chinese companies established in 2005
Internet properties established in 2005
Chinese social networking websites
2005 establishments in China
Alibaba Group