Baidu.com launched at the beginning of 2007 and claims that nine out of 10 video searches conducted in China use its engine, putting competitor search engine Google in second place. Market surveys indicate Baidu.com at 60 percent market share, compared to 30 percent for Google Video.
Baidu.com also tracks which video-hosting sites are most popular with Chinese surfers. Tudou.com is the most popular at 22 percent, followed by 56.com at 19.9 percent and Youku.com at 13.9 percent.
Even as Chinese authorities have mounted relentless campaigns to monitor and block access to sites considered objectionable, subversive or crime-related including numerous adult sites, Internet technology is becoming more available to Chinese citizens and, along with it, controversial issues that come with online access.
Recent marketing research conducted for U.S. advertising firm JWT and investment company IAC indicates that 32 percent of Chinese users between the ages of 16-25 felt that the Internet had “broadened their sex lives and 42 percent stated also that they felt “addicted” to the Internet. Eighty percent of young Chinese users find the Internet to be an “essential” part of their lives and more than half of those surveyed said they had used a fake online persona.
IAC Chairman Barry Diller found the data encouraging, and the company said that it has plans for increased investments in China in the area of online services including the recent purchase of travel portal ELong.com for $110 million.
“The Chinese people seem to be way ahead of Americans in living a digital life,” Diller said. “More activity online means a more connected and a more evolved workforce — just what China needs as it moves from being the workshop of the world to a developed economy in its own right.”
This week also, Chinese pay-per-view provider Jeboo.com was confronted with the growing global issue of online piracy when the site was hit with a piracy lawsuit for allegedly distributing several mainstream movies without permission. Plaintiffs that have filed suit in China include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount, Columbia Pictures and Universal, and are being represented by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which is the international branch of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
The suit also named an Internet cafe located in Shanghai where the movies were allegedly downloaded, and the plaintiffs are asking more than $430,000 in damages from both Jeboo.com and the Internet cafe.
Representatives from Jeboo.com have stated the charges are “inconsistent with the facts.”
There are 13 movie titles involved in the dispute, including “Pirates of the Caribbean 2,” “Charlie's Angels 2,” “X-Men 2” and “Night at the Museum.”
Preliminary hearings in the case are scheduled for Thursday.