The Chinese video-sharing site Tudou (NASDAQ:TUDO) has said it will increase its investment in the animation industry in China – and has set up its own original cartoon production studio in order to do that.
The Beijing-based animation studio will, said Tudou CEO Gary Wang, talking yesterday, within three years produce some world-class animated movies and shorts that are “up to Pixar standards … That is our goal.” Aspiring to produce some CGI titles to rival Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) Pixar is ambitious indeed.
Tudou already has a dedicated portal for all kinds of licensed, animated content at cartoon.tudou.com.
It’s part of a broader shift by Tudou – and its rival, Youku (NYSE:YOKU) – towards more self-produced quality content, because such material is a lot cheaper than purchasing licensed shows, but also more of an attraction to viewers than the mass of user-generated content (UGC). Earlier this year, Youku ventured into animation with its sexy-looking Miss Puff series, while Tudou has been pushing forward what it calls UGC 2.0 and other indie productions.
In addition to Tudou’s new cartoon studio, the website will team up with state-run broadcaster CCTV for an exclusive simulcast of the upcoming fourth season of the cartoon historical epic, Qin’s Moon. If that’s not enough, the company has Japanese anime covered as well, with its new partnership earlier this week to simulcast some anime hits from TV Tokyo.
[Source: Sohu’s eNet news – article in Chinese]
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