Total monthly active users of China’s short video platforms grew to 244 million in Q3 2017 according to data from Analysis. The daily active users is close to 86 million.

Short video content recommendation and aggregation platforms also grew to 72 million MAU with close to 22 million DAU in Q3 2017.

On average, an short video platform user launches the application about 51 times per day, down from 61 in July 2017. The average usage time also dropped to 6.64 minutes per day.

Similarly for short video aggregation platforms, the launch frequency and usage time both dropped across the third quarter of 2017.

The top short video platforms in China by usage penetration are Miaopai, Kuaishou, iXigua, Meipai,and Tudou.com.

Demographic profile of short video users in China in Q3 2017

Check out China video advertising market here.

iQiyi ranks on top in China’s mobile video category with 245.61 million active users in Feb 2017, followed by Tencent Video, Youku, Letv, and Mango TV.

Sohu TV, Baofeng, PPTV, Tudou, and Migu Video apps are also in the top 10 video apps by MAUs in Feb 2017. Bilibili Cartoon ranks first in the vertical digital video mobile apps category with 30.52 million active users, followed by Hanju TV (Korean drama), Migu Movie, AcFun, Renren Movie, 1905 Movie, etc.

CCTV mobile app is the top one in TV programs category, followed by Migu, Mobile TV, and Yuntu TV.

In the short videos category, Kuaishou mobile app ranks on top in China in Feb 2017 with over 86 million active users, followed by Meipai, Xiaokaxiu, Miaopai, and Doupai.

Douyu, Huya, Inke, YY Live, and Huajiao are the top 5 digital video broadcasting mobile apps by MAU in Feb 2017.

Case Studies: Native Video Ads on WeChat Moments

Youku Tudou net revenues were RMB958.7 million (US$154.5 million), a 27% increase from the corresponding period in 2013. They derive a part of our revenues from mobile value-added services through partnership agreements with third party mobile network operators and shares the fees collected by the mobile network operators for such services.

Youku Tudou’s net loss was RMB164.4 million (US$26.5 million), a 57% increase from the corresponding period in 2013. Non-GAAP net loss was RMB75.9 million (US$12.2 million) in the second quarter of 2014, as compared to RMB44.6 million (US$7.2 million) from the corresponding period in 2013.

Multi-screen Internet is increasingly mainstream and the convergence of online and offline entertainment has presented new market opportunities. We are scaling our investment and leveraging our strengthened resources to enhance our business model,

said Victor Koo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Youku Tudou.

Youku Tudou has helped transform how media and entertainment related content is distributed and marketed since our inception. Going forward, we will work with our online and offline partners to continue to change how content is created and monetized by directly connecting with the ever-growing consumer economy as Youku Tudou is best positioned in developing the leading multi-screen media and entertainment ecosystem in China.

Dele Liu, President and Board Director of Youku Tudou, added,

Our traffic has grown strongly this quarter with our user base reaching over 500 million on a monthly basis. We have made a smooth transition to multi-screen monetization with over 30% of revenues generated from mobile and solid progress on subscription services with 379% growth year on year. By partnering with Alibaba on big data initiatives, we are enhancing our products to create an unique value proposition to advertising partners and consumers. We are confident that our revenue will continue to diversify and grow.

Youku Tudou’s continued loss could be a concern for Alibaba Group who invested in Youku Tudou this April with 16.5% share. But with the rising development on mobile video market, more revenue could be expected on mobile.

For the third quarter of 2014, Youku Tudou expects net revenues will be between RMB1.09 billion and RMB1.13 billion, with advertising net revenues contributing between RMB965 million and RMB1.01 billion.

Source: Youku Tudou

Youku and Tudou officially announced that Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital (founded by Jack Ma and Yu Feng who is board director of Huayi Brothers) purchased Youku and Tudou’s A shares with $1.22 billion, Alibaba will hold 16.5% and Yufeng Capital holds 2%. Besides, Alibaba will appoint CEO Lu Zhaoxi as one of the board director of Youku and Tudou.

Youku and Tudou’s evaluation reached $6.6 billion, 10% to 15% higher than present market value. When the deal is finished, Gu Yongqiang and Chengwei Capital will have over 40% voting and Youku and Tudou management still have the dominant control.

Gu Yongqiang indicated that with Alibaba’s $1.22 billion, plus Youku and Tudou’s cash totaled 10 billion yuan. The $1.22 billion investment will be used in 4G mobile internet development, OTT technology and growing paid users and SME clients.

As for why choosing Alibaba to be its strategic partner, Gu Yongqiang explained it as follows:

• Alibaba could afford billion USD financing which help accelerating Youku and Tudou’s OTT, UGC and the whole video businesses development;
• Alibaba is a good supplement for Youku and Tudou. Youku and Tudou now has 400 million users, and its main revenue comes from large enterprises’ advertising. While Alibaba’s e-commerce businesses have accumulated advantages among consumers and SME, it could help Youku and Tudou in precision advertising for SME clients and charge its users.
• Multi-screen integration is one of Youku and Tudou’s strategy, Youku and Tudou’s mobile app, and Alibaba’s Alipay, Taobao, UC and Weibo all ranked top 10 in viewing time. The potential cooperation is wide in range.

Youku and Tudou realized profit for the first time in Q4 2013, with 44.2 million yuan (USD 7.17 million) net profit. However the net loss of 580.7 million yuan (USD 95.16 million) in 2013 made Youku and Tudou worried about high video royalties. The fierce competition with Sohu video, Tencent video and iQiyi led to the alliance with Alibaba, to guarantee its high quality video contents building and remain as market leader.

According to iReasearch, iQiyi and PPS together have more video viewing time than youku, tudou and funshion for the first time.

After the merger of Baidu’s iQiyi and PPS, the combined users reached 269,817,000 hours of the total viewing time, becoming the first in the industry with Youku & Tudou second and funshion third. However, on the other side, Funshion continued as a hefty lead by per capita online video viewing time in the industry.

For per capita online video viewing time, Funshion ranked first and its viewing time had reached 11, 044. 9 seconds per user, followed by iQiyi & PPS and PPLive.

Market Size: Stable Growth Overall; Diversified Sources of Income

Advertisement is still the main income source of online video industry. Meanwhile the industry is also seeking for diversification in the business model, supplying several premium services including E-commerce, video show and video-on-demand, etc. Video industry is in pursuit of content differentiation.

Advertising Market Scale: Consolidation Continued,  Advertising Revenue Integration Becoming More Obvious

The advertisers’ income falls after rise in the first quarter quarterly, and the advertising market scale has reached 1.74 billion yuan, up 47.9% by year-on-year growth. With intensified integration in video industry, the convergence of video platform becomes more obvious in both user size and revenue. On the other side, the value of video media receives acceptance and acknowledgment continuously.

PC Structure: The Use Duration of Website Share Is Increasing

After the fourth quarter of 2012, online video playing on the website experienced longer time than the client side, and this gap is widening further in the first quarter.
The video industry consolidation continues. Some video companies cannot make quick adjustment due to capital market factor or other, which leads to slowed traffic growth.

Mobile Video: Advertiser Market Needs To Be Universal

Types of advertisers are  slightly different in PC and mobile. Brand advertisers have realized the great value of mobile video, and the number of advertisers in food and beverage, traffic and IT product also rank a lot higher.

In the first quarter of 2013, competition in China online video industry became more intense. Maintaining and pursuing the market share, online video platforms expanding in multi-device support such as on mobile and television, are becoming one main direction in current video industry.

According to iResearch, the trend of merger and acquisition in video industry will continue. After Youku and Tudou, several video media have the opportunity to compete for the second in the industry. Merger is the fastest way to take the second position.

7.7% of clicks on Sina Weibo shortened links went to Taobao last month, followed by Tudou, YouKu and Baidu.

Correction: the 7th from the left should be “Soufun.com”, a property portal.

“When the strategic combination is complete, Tudou will retain its distinct brand identity and platform in Youku Tudou Inc., strengthening and complementing Youku’s video business. Youku Tudou Inc. would establish a clear and dominant leadership position in China’s online video sector and become one of the largest Internet properties in China. This transaction would also lead to improvement in the industry structure and the underlying economics of the online video sector in China,” said Victor Koo. “We expect to see significant synergies across a number of areas including leveraging licensed content over a larger user base and realizing efficiencies in bandwidth management and other common expenses.”

via PRNewswire