Youku Tudou, one of China’s largest streaming video sites with a monthly user base of 500+ million and daily video views of 800+ million, is going to start producing its own hardware. Next month, the company will introduce three devices — a WiFi router, a smart TV box, and a 15.6-inch Android tablet.
In addition, the company is launching its fourth consumer business unit, a cloud entertainment unit to stream Youku Tudou videos to its devices. It's not surprising that Youku Tudou decided to enter the hardware market since Digital TV Research reported that China is now the world’s biggest smart TV and OTT (over-the-top) content market.
This development only reinforces the idea that streaming is going to become the norm for delivery of media content in China and explains the recent spurs in partnerships among various media players to secure content (Xiaomi with Youku Tudou, Tencent with HBO and Warner Music Group, etc).
While the Chinese government has not regulated streaming video content as much as TV content, expect that to change when streaming videos become the standard way in which an average Chinese citizen gets content. China has already implemented the "Great Firewall", who knows what else they might implement to regulate streaming videos?
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