Youku, TCL Discover Hollywood in New Tie-Ups 优酷、TCL双双联手好莱坞大品牌

By newsdoug on June 29, 2011

After years of criticizing the US for its cultural hegemony, China seems to be finally realizing that it can use Hollywood’s clout to its advantage as we’re seeing in a couple of newly announced deals that could also mean good news for Hollywood executives who have been trying to figure out for years how to make money in China. In the more significant of the two deals, video sharing site Youku (NYSE: YOKU) has announced a tie-up with Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX) that will see it offer China goes to Hollywood up to 450 Warner movie titles to subscribers to Youku’s premium service. (company announcement) This deal is clearly part of the broader drive by Youku and other video sharing sites like those operated by Tudou, Xunlei and Tencent (HKEx: 700) to offer legitimate programs and movies as Beijing tries to wean them off the pirated material they have offered up until now. This migration is similar to what happened in the US about a decade ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see lots of similar deals between other video sharing sites and content producers in the future. (previous post) Separately, TCL (Shenzhen: 000100; HKEx: 1070) has announced a smaller but equally interesting deal that will see it promote its TVs globally with Paramount Pictures (NYSE: VIAb) in connection with the release of the studio’s latest “Transformers” film. (company announcement) This move looks like a smart one to me, as young consumers who will flock to see this film are the same kind of customers that might consider TCL’s less-pricey but still good quality LCD televisions. As I’ve said before, I think that TCL is executing well in the last year after its previous slip-ups, and this marketing tie-up looks like just the kind of approach it should be taking to build itself into China’s first truly global electronics brand.

Bottom line: New Hollywood tie-ups by Youku and TCL look like smart moves for both companies, who are realizing the marketing potential of tie-ups with big-name films.

多少年来中国一直批评美国文化霸权，但随着近日几项新合同的签署，似乎它已终於意识到也可以将好莱坞的影响力为我所用。新合同对好莱坞高管也是好事，因为多年来他们一直在探索如何赚中国市场的钱。其中比较重要的一个合同是：优酷<YOKU.N>宣布与华纳兄弟<TWX.N>合作，由优酷通过视频付费点播服务提供450部华纳影片。该项合作显然属於优酷、土豆、迅雷与腾讯<0700.HK>等视频分享网站努力按照政府指示、多多提供正版节目的举措之一。这一动向大约与美国十年前的情况类似，所以未来如听到更多视频分享网站与内容产出方合作的消息，我不会感到意外。另外，TCL集团<000100.SZ> <1070.HK>也与派拉蒙影业<VIAb.N>展开合作，协议规模虽然相对小一些，但同样有意思。根据合约，TCL将成为派拉蒙新片《变形金刚3》的国际推广电视品牌。我认为此举非常聪明，因为该片观众与TCL平价高质LCD彩电的目标客户为同一群体。正如我以前所说，TCL 经过先前的失误後，过去一年中经营得很不错，而此次市场结盟看来正是TCL打造中国第一家真正全球性电子品牌所需要的策略。

一句话：优酷、TCL与好莱坞结盟看来都属明智之举，他们意识到了与知名制片公司结盟的市场潜力。

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