BEIJING, Aug. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Youku.com,
Inc., (NYSE: YOKU) China's leading
Internet television company ("Youku" or the "Company"), concluded
the first season of its original animated serial drama
"Miss Puff" on July 29. "Miss
Puff" continued Youku Original's tradition of successful new
media productions by ranking as one of the most popular programs on
Youku Index, the Company's new media performance tracking and
analysis system.
The success of "Miss Puff" did
not come as a total surprise. Viewers were first introduced to the
animated character in "Miss Puff's
Goldfish Bowl," one of ten short films produced by Youku in
partnership with General Motors (NYSE: GM) for last year's "11
Degrees" New Media Film Project, the all-time Youku Index movie
record holder by total video views (79 million), total comments
(126,000), upvotes (1 million thumbs-up), and social media retweets
(more than 24 million). The project also gave birth to the hit
short film "Old Boys," which made stars of its makers, whose
follow-up "The Ultimate Winner" set the record for single-day video
views (1.99 million) upon its exclusive Youku debut this
spring.
"When GM was looking for new media partners, Youku's experience
and vast audience made it the obvious choice," said Joan Ren, General Director of Chevrolet Sales
& Marketing Department, Shanghai GM. "With '11 Degrees',
Youku's professional production quality and passion for
storytelling enable us to reach -- and engage -- an audience we
never would have otherwise."
Youku Original has released 15 productions, 13 of which were
placed in the monthly Top 20 most viewed rankings and 11 in the
monthly Top 10 most viewed rankings on Youku Index at least once
during the period in which they were aired. "Miss Puff," for instance, ranked the ninth most
viewed serial drama on Youku Index in July
2011. As of the latest episode, the show gained a steadily
growing audience throughout its first season. Users also fell for
Miss Puff outside Youku, with over
32,000 SINA Weibo microbloggers following the in-character
microblog account. Award-winning director Jia Zhangke was among the
followers, and recommended the program to readers of his
microblog.
"Miss Puff," produced in
partnership with GM, Sony Ericsson, and Lenovo, is only one of
Youku Original's major projects for 2011. "One Step Away," a
Youku Original series of six short films produced in partnership
with Philips, will be aired starting late August and present
Chinese opinion leaders' thoughts on the meaning of happiness in
today's China.
As China's internet users
become more sophisticated consumers of media, established brands
such as GM, Philips, Sony and Lenovo have found sponsored original
content to be an effective way of reaching target audiences. Unlike
traditional "hard-sell" product placement strategies, sponsored
original programming allows advertisers to more subtly establish a
rapport with viewers.
By tracking a broader range of metrics than traditional
analytics software, Youku Index allows Youku Original partners to
gain a more robust understanding of how users relate to their
content. The system tracks viewer upvotes and downvotes, video
retweets, and off-site embedding in blog posts and discussion
forums, and takes into account demographic of viewers. Other
metrics measure the staying power of content by tracking programs'
position in Youku Index's charts within given timeframes. Taken as
a whole, Youku Index provides a multi-dimensional, context-rich
record of a given video's past and present performance.
Youku Original is a key part of Youku's content strategy, which
pursues a combination of licensed professionally produced content,
in-house productions from Youku Original, and user-generated
content.
About Youku:
Youku.com Inc. is China's
leading Internet television company. Our Internet television
platform enables users to search, view and share high-quality video
content quickly and easily across multiple devices. Youku, which
stands for "what's best and what's cool" in Chinese, is the most
recognized online video brand in China. Youku's American depositary shares,
each representing 18 of our Class A ordinary shares, are traded on
NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."
For more information,
please contact:
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Media
Relations:
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Jean Shao
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Director, International
Public Relations
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Youku.com Inc.
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Tel: +86-10-5885-1881
x7128
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Email:
shaodan@youku.com
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Investor
Relations:
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Ryan Cheung
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Corporate Finance
Director
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Youku.com Inc.
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Tel: +86-10-5885-1881
x6090
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Email:
ryan.cheung@youku.com
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SOURCE Youku.com Inc.