China video site obeservations

There’s a very interesting article issued in May 2010, which provide a comprehensive survey on China’s video site, and in-depth research on major video sites from three aspects: a) basic info, b) content, and c) user and advertisement.
Kind note that video site here means all the sites that typically have video-related business, and can be divided into two categories:
1) Video portal site (straight-up video site), include Youku, Tudou, 56, Ku 6, Qiyi, Joy,cn,
2) Portal website that has video function, include Sina, Tencent and Sohu.

Take-away and analysis:
• Speed, quality of the picture, and video content are three most important factors for video site selection.
• Video portal sites beat portal sites in speed, traffic and quality of the pictures. Therefore video portal sites are the way to go.
• Ku6 is the unexpected dark horse, beats competitors in picture quality, traffic and the amount of originals. These provide us guidance on platform selection.
• Different from the US, Movies and TV are the most accepted and liked program for Chinese online audience. Therefore tend to attract advertisement.
• Audience is still reluctant to typical video Ad, yet character-driver Ad is different story.

Part 1 Basic Information—video portal sites, specifically Tudou and Ku6 are the way to go
Speed—straight-up video sites are faster than portals
Portal site is slower than straight up video portal site. Reason: as trading company, major portal sites such as Sina and Sohu won’t heavily invest in upgrading server and other technologies until they see promising profit. Within video portal sites, Ku6 stands out to have the fasterst speed.

Traffic—Youku, Tudou, and Ku6 are top three
The top three sites that have the highest traffic are Youku, Tuou, and Ku6. Within portal sites, Sina and Sohu has different model—Sina focus more on news reporting, whereas Sohu’s model is more like Hulu.
Noteworthy is that Ku6’s traffic enjoy tremendous growth, mainly because the strong support from Sunda.

Part 2 Content—fierce competition among video sites, professional content is the majority.
Speed, picture quality and content are three most important factors in site selection
Speed is the most important factor in choosing video sites, 33% of the researched audience chooses speed to be the most important factor; content is the second most important factor (28%). Picture quality is the third important factor (26%). Noteworthy is that the brand value of certain site is the least important factor for audience. This means that, audience are not confined to one video site. This leads to fierce competition among video sites.
In terms of picture quality, Ku6, Sina, and Qiyi top the list, Youku is in the bottom. The reason is that Youku needs to control cost given its highest user base.
All video sites categorize its movie and TV content by region. Youku and Joy.cn has the highest percentage of content that’s from Hollywood and Europe. Tudou has the biggest percentage of Asian content.
Professional vs. Original
Ku 6 stands out to have a stronger content team. Youku stands out to have the highest amount of user upload and user interaction.
Out of all the audience researched, 39% of them are most interested in new movies and TV, second interested content is entertainment and variety show (10%), third interested content is sports. Different than YouTube, originals are the least popular category (3.7%).

Part 3 Advertisement—advertisers favor professional and authorized content, audience needs time to accept
From advertiser’s perspective, Ku6 and Sina attract advertisers most for its support for high-definition, and authorized professional videos; Youku and Tudou are considered to be risker in copyright due to the mix of both professional and original content. Video advertisement is well-accepted among advertisesr; however, users are not so excited about video advertisement—33% of the audiences researched indicate that they cannot accept Ad on video site.

Access
In terms of how to access video sites, the most common way is search engine (26%); website links is in the second place (25%); advertisement is the least common way to access these sites (0.4%).


Source:
http://www.chinaz.com/Webmaster/Topsite/05251163002010.html
www.kejixun.com

Friday China Ad Industry Mashup

-       Euro RSCG continues momentum in new business

-       Continue fast change in agency industry

-       Branded TV drama rated 100 million views on Tudou

 MEC's Dominic Ng to lead AB InBev at MediaCom Shanghai Aug 27,2010
Dominic Ng, who was most recently national managing director at MEC China, has been internally transferred within GroupM to become the managing partner of MediaCom Shanghai to lead the AB InBev team.
Under Ng's leadership, MediaCom Shanghai won AB InBev’s media pitch. The contract is reportedly worth US$190 million (RMB1.3 billion) and will take effect on 1 October.Ng has already stepped into his new role. Michelle Ko, president MEC China, will take over Ng’s role in MEC Guangzhou as a temporary arrangement.Apart from AB inBev, MediaCom China also added GAP to their client portfolio earlier this year.
Recently MEC has been awarded Mercedes-Benz China's digital buying business, effective July 10th 2010.
http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/230203,mecs-dominic-ng-to-lead-ab-inbev-at-mediacom-shanghai.aspx

Media veteran Frank Lin resigns from McDonald's after five years, effective in October Aug 27, 2010
According to an industry source senior the former marketing director will join a new media company based in Shanghai. The company is still looking for his successor.
Lin had held various senior media director roles with agencies like FCB Guangzhou, MediaCom China and Hong Kong, and JWT Shanghai.
http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/230171,media-veteran-frank-lin-resigns-from-mcdonalds-after-five-years.aspx

Nike Hong Kong promotes Amy Wu as territory commercial director Aug 27, 2010
Amy Wu is marketing director for the past three and half years, to the role of territory commercial director leading the Hong Kong office.
http://en.campaignchina.com/Article/230192,nike-hong-kong-promotes-amy-wu-as-territory-commercial-director.aspx

Cupples steps in to fill OMD's regional role Aug 27, 2010
Omnicom Media Group's (OMG) Asia Pacific CEO Barry Cupples will add OMD regional duties to his current role as Maggie Choi departs. Choi has been with the company for 13 years and has decided to leave to spend time on personal interests. Her last day is 1 November.
http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/21728

Aegis preps for a convergent media world Aug 27, 2010
Aegis is restructuring its media offering under five "power brands" Carat, Vizeum, Isobar, iProspect and Posterscope, according to chief executive officer Jerry Buhlmann.
Speaking at the announcement of its first half results, where it saw a strong return to profits in the first six months of 2010, Buhlmann said Aegis is moving towards a "well organized" and "competitive product suite" and will be eyeing companies in the faster-growing regions and markets, in particular China and Russia.
http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/21736

Euro RSCG wins cooking oil Bohi branding duties Aug 27, 2010
The agency is tasked with brand positioning, communication strategy and creative development for Bohi's main cooking oil brand Gourmet Expert as well as brand architecture across Bohi's other cooking oil brands.
Mason Lin is the CEO of Euro RSCG Greater China; Edward Su is the managing director of Euro RSCG Shanghai.


http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/21730
Unilever branded TV drama ‘Unbeatable' rakes in 100 million views on Tudou Aug 27,2010
Tudou announced that ‘Unbeatable', a 36-part branded drama series for Clear Shampoo, has been played over 100 million times on Tudou.com since its 5 August premiere.
According to Tudou, it is the second drama series that has passed the 100 million threshold, following 'The Myth', which was launched at the beginning of this year.
The drama has been aired across six major satellite TV channels and six web sites. PHD China is the media agency behind the campaign.
http://en.campaignchina.com/Article/230176,unilever-branded-tv-drama-rakes-in-100-million-views-on-tudou.aspx?eid=22&edate=20100827&utm_source=20100827&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter&eaddr=msun@thoughtfulmedia.com

Taobao Mall calls media pitch in China Aug 27, 2010
OMD, MEC and ZenithOptimedia are believed to have taken part in the presentations yesterday.
Earlier this month Taobao signed a deal with Adidas to open its first online flagship store on the B2C e-commerce platform. Similarly, Uniqlo joined forces with Taobao to set up a flagship store supporting its e-commerce shoppers in the mainland during April last year.
Taobao announced at the start of the year to launch authorized offline stores to reach out to consumers unable to shop online in China. There are plans to deploy over 30,000 more stores in communities and schools across the country before the end of 2010.
http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/230230,taobao-mall-calls-media-pitch-in-china.aspx

Thursday China Ad Industry Mashup

I am going to start a China Ad industry mashup everyday starting from today.

Today there’s useful info on Levi’s first outside USA line Denizen

Bates 141 gets new hotel clients

Personnel change for Starwood China

Levi’s reach out 10 bloggers in Asia for Denizen promotion  Aug 20,2010

Levi’s recruits ten unpaid bloggers to represent the brand’s target audience, working within their own social networking spheres over a 100-day period, sharing experiences and thoughts. They are not linked to an official Denizen website.

Levi Strauss hires MPG for dENiZEN launch Aug 25, 2010

MPG China, part of Havas Media, has been appointed by Levi Strauss to handle the launch of dENiZEN and will provide dENiZEN full media services including strategy, planning and buying.  Thomas Wong is CEO of MPG Greater China.

Bates 141 wins 3M's Filtrete branding and creative duties Aug 25, 2010

Josephine Tsai, managing director of Bates 141 Shanghai, said they are now creating the backbone of Filtrete’s branding strategy for China.

Starwood names new marketing director for two hotels in Tibet Aug 26, 2010

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has named hotel veteran Elfa Cleofe as the complex director of sales and marketing for the St. Regis Lhasa Resort and Four Points by Sheraton Lhasa.

Social Networking Habits Across Asia-Pacific

comScore recently released a report regarding the social networking activities in the Asia-Pacific region. This report offered valuable insight on the social networking habit across Asian-Pacific markets, well, almost across—China was not included in this report, I guess, partly because that the regulated Internet environment has make it hard to measure. Here are the findings:

More than half of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010. By regions, social networking penetration was the highest in Philippines, followed by Australia and Indonesia. Philippines also showed the highest level of engagement on social networking sites averaging 5.5 hours per visitor.

Facebook stood out as the top social network sites across the majority of individual markets in the region. This showcased that the Asia-Pacific region exhibited significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions. Facebook was the social networking leader in such markets as Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam, while in other regions competing brands enjoyed brand preference. For example, Orkut stood out as the top social networking site in India and local player Mixi.jp led in Japan.

Here is the entire report.

5 Best Chinese Movies of the Last 20 Years

To continue my last post, I compiled a short list of Chinese movies that I consider very much worthwhile to check out. By Chinese movies, I mean movies produced in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. To me, a classic Chinese movie is an art by itself. Each of them is different and you have to watch to catch the essence of it. A lot of people have a mis-conception thinking that Chinese movie is all about Kung-Fu. It is not! Kung fu is only an element in the movie just like the music and dancing in Bollywood, the special effect in Hollywood. I have nothing against Ang Lee’s direction and his movies—as a matter of fact, I think he is a great director. But movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is more like a “upscale P. F. Changs” in the movie world, and can not represent Chinese movie. This list, although short, may give you an idea of the Chinese movie without giving Kung-Fu.

1.       Farewell My Concubine: a drama of love, friendship, loyalty, culture, violence, and beauty. It depicts old time China through the lives of two men, one woman and traditional Chinese opera.

Director Chen, Kaige; Cast: Leslie Cheung; Fengyi Zhang; Gong, Li

2.       Comrades, Almost a Love Story: A very fine and cultural movie. It is not a sugar flicks; it is a social commentary that depicts Hong Kong people’s fear and uncertainty towards mainland China. A bit understanding of the social context of this movie would help a lot in understanding this sweet and touching almost a love story.

Director: Peter Chan; Cast: Maggie Cheung; Leon Lai; Eric Tsang

3.       Raise the Red Lantern: this is China’s most famous director Zhang Yimou’s very early movie, as well as the most known movie in the western world. Gong Li became famous after this one. Haunting, slow but intense. Enough said, enjoy!

Director: Zhang, Yimou; Cast: Gong, Li; Cao, Zhengyin; Cao, Cuifen

4.       Mountain Patrol: Kekexili: a heavy crime thriller telling a story of Tibetan voluntary rangers against all odds trying to save Tibetan antelopes. Beautifully shot, real acting, harsh reality, great cruelty, and deep thinking.

Director: Lu, Chuan; Cast: Duobuji; Zhang Lei; Qi Liang

5.       Crazy Stone: This is probably regarded to be the best comedy in recent years in China. It is a smart, funny, dark, and gritty comedy. Shot in Chongqing, a regional city in South West China known for its spicy cuisine, fog, and quick-tempered girls, it is a film about normal people in regional China.

      Director:Hao Ning; Cast: Huang Bo; Tao Guo; Hao Ning

You can find all of them on Netflix. As always, feel free to add this list.

Taking on Renminbi?

My friend shared this interesting NY Times article criticizing China’s currency policy and how America should respond to it, corresponding to the Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao’s announcement on Sunday’s press conference. Interestingly, the comments following this article mainly voiced disagreements. While I agree with columnist Krugman’s saying on undervalued Chinese currency—Renminbi, I do have some different thought.

There is a reason why America has not been playing hardball in China, because both know that it would lead to a lose-lose situation—China will get hurt, on top of that, both American companies and consumers will get hurt badly. Think of how many American corporations have manufacture factories in China; during this economic contraction when every company is losing money, Wal-mart is one of the few retailers growing in revenue, and think of how many goods in Wal-mart are made in China?

I’m not trying to protect China. But truly I don’t think that putting surcharge on imports is a sustainable solution. There are still great amount of Chinese who are still live in poverty or barely survive. China has its own issues, way deeper and harder than lots of people expected. America, China, every country has to protect its own interest --China just does what a country is supposed to do. So of course China will not devalue its currency. That being said, start to think of who is ultimately responsible for American’s economy, to identify the real problems and to fix that first might be the real solution.

Now what’s your thought?

Happy Lantern Festival, and don’t worry, it’s Holi!

I still have this vivid picture: I stood in ice cold weather, glaring at a gorgeous and colorful ice castle, eating sugar-coated haws, one of my favorite snacks. I was so intrigued by the craftsmanship of the arts in front of me and completely forgot I’m standing in a winter weather that is below zero degree! That is one of my most unforgettable childhood memories. That was the Lantern Festival.

There’s crazy coincidence among several festivals this year. First the Chinese New Year is on the same day as Valentine’s Day. Now the Chinese Lantern Festival is on the same day as the start day of Holi! While it was February 28th and it has already passed, better late than nothing, I still think it is worth to celebrate, at least in words.

The Lantern Festival- did you raise the lantern?

The Lantern Festival(元宵节) is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month and marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities. The Lantern Festival dates back to the Han dynasty in 2000 years ago. Why the 15th day? It is the first night to see full moon. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there’s a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of lanterns hung out for people to appreciate.

So what do people do to celebrate?

Lantern, of course, is the most common items you see during celebration. Some cities in North China, like my hometown Jilin, even make lanterns from cold ice! One of the biggest excitement and expectations for kids from northern China like me is to watch ice lantern exhibition. The skills people make ice lanterns are magnificent. I still remember the picture of a huge and colorful ice town that constitutes with ice buildings, ice animals, ice bridges, ice shops, ice everything, all of which are made out of ice cubes!

Besides, master craftsman construct multi-shaped paper lanterns that resemble butterflies, dragons, birds, dragonflies, and many other animals and creatures. But the main color is red. People will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat Yuan Xiao (元宵) (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere, like what I used to do when I was a kid. Besides, parade, dragon and lion dances, firecrackers, and watching festival celebration gala are part of the activities.

What do people eat?

The glutinous rice puddings, also called Yuan Xiao, are the main dish. Yuan Xiao is made of sweet rice flour into sticky glutinous balls often rolled around a filling of sesame, peanuts, vegetables, or meat, mainly sweet. It is cooked in water or soup. The round shape symbolizes wholeness and unity.

Holi- Bura na mano, Holi hai!

I’m not as familiar with Holi as with the Lantern Festival. All the information is second hand. Feel free to though your knowledge on the festival of color.

According to wikipedia, Holi is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others. It is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as “Holika”. According to Holifestival.org, having been celebrated for centuries, Holi in early days was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon was worshiped.

Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month, which usually falls in the later part of February or March. This year’s Holi festival starts on February 28 and continues for 2 days till March 1, 2010.

Celebrations begin the night before with the burning of bonfires, also known as Holika, and go on the next day with people showering colored powder and colored water at each other. Traditionally, the throwing of natural colored powders which was made by herbs has a medicinal significance—to combat the viral fever and cold in the spring season. I have seen pictures of people throwing all kinds of colors at each other and just the moment is fun enough to watch!

So what about food? Sweet desserts and corn are offered to the god of fire during the bonfire; Kanji, gujiy, Khoya are all delightful sweets and drinks.

Looking at the rituals and celebrations of the Lantern Festival and Holi, interestingly but not surprisingly, both the Lantern Festival and Holi bring lots of fun, music, play, and color of the year. They both celebrate the coming of spring based on lunar calendar, and both related with the traditional mythology. Once again it is proved that Chinese and Indian culture shares a lot of similarities. Once again, we learnt from our ancestors that spring is the beginning of a year, is the time of music, color, food, and play, and is a promise of joy, celebration, fun, and prosperity.

Happy Lantern Festival! And don’t worry, it’s Holi!