The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Influencers TenCent Technology

How Yoola aims to ‘build a bridge’ between Western creators and China

Author

By Danielle Long, Acting APAC Editor

April 21, 2017 | 3 min read

Yoola, the US digital media and video distribution company, aims to “build a bridge” between western content creators and Chinese audiences following a series of deals with China’s leading social media networks.

Slivki Show

Yoola is hoping to lower the barrier to entry for Western creators in China

Yoola has signed deals with Weibo, Youku-Tudou and Tencent, along with a host of other platforms - Toutiao, Miapoi, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Meipai, AcFun, and Aipai – to adapt and localise global content for Chinese audiences.

The deals will see Yoola distribute and promote content from creators and influencers such as Blossom by First Media, which Yoola claims is the fifth most popular Facebook page in the world, So Yummy, Slivki Show, and Room Factory.

Yoola translates, edits and adapts the content to ensure it resonates with Chinese audiences before distributing and promoting it across the partner channels. The aim is to create new distribution and monetisation channels for content creators and new content for channel partners.

Yoola CEO Eyal Baumel said the deals were part of a long-term strategy to unlock China’s huge online population for western content creators.

“The barrier-to-entry into the Chinese market is high, not just in terms of localising content, but also from understanding and adjusting to Chinese market preferences.

“From a landscape perspective, there are more than 10 major social media players in China, and each with its own unique approach to content. Monetisation is a completely different ball of wax as well. For example, in Western markets video ads drive the majority of revenue, but in China, digital gifting, brand integrations and e-commerce are the more dominant revenue streams.

“Our goal at Yoola is to serve as the bridge for these content creators and influencers,” said Baumel.

The deals were finalised this month, with lifehack channel Slivki Show already receiving 10 million views on Weibo.

The deals come as social media companies in China look to video to drive growth in revenues. Earlier this year, Weibo reported a 42% increase in its advertising and marketing revenues driven by strong growth in video and live streaming services and Tencent also attributed a 45% jump in online advertising to increased interest in video advertising.

Influencers TenCent Technology

More from Influencers

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +