Naruto on Tudou
We were surprised to hear a few weeks back that Chinese video site Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) was reporting a net profit of 52 million RMB ($8.2 million). It’s puzzling, but we’re glad to hear they’re doing well. When I lived in China a few years back, both Tudou and Youku were good sources of online entertainment behind the Great Firewall, though many foreign programs have since disappeared since those sites have had to clean up their IP act leading up to going public.
Japanese anime is among the most popular genres on Chinese video sites, and today Tudou made a significant step in securing ‘simulcast’ rights for over 60 anime series in China starting in December, including popular titles such as Naruto, Bleach, and Gintama. That’s not to say that there’s not already lots of anime on Tudou, as you can already find lots of episodes archived on there. But this new agreement means that one hour after those titles air in Japan, Tudou will stream them with Chinese subtitles added. In Tudou’s announcement, its COO Evelyn Wang explained:
We expect that our partnership with leading Japanese animation producers and distributors will provide Tudou with a sustainable source of high-quality animation content, strengthening Tudou’s leading position in the animation market in China.
Readers may recall that in addition to Japanese animation, Tudou recently landed a big animated movie from the west as well, in Disney’s Cars 2.
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