Chinese video platform Youku Tudou has partnered with Disney to be the exclusive online movie marketing platform in China for its Marvel collection of movies and TV series.
The agreement spans online marketing through trailers, online ticketing, live events and original programming dedicated to feature movies.
The deal underlines the growing role of China’s online video platforms, not just as distributors and ancillary market platforms, but also as pre-release marketing vectors.
Youku Tudou claims some 500 million unique monthly users across its various screens and for its range of content that spans movies, television series, trailers, original productions and user generated content.
Disney’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was co-marketed in China by Youku-Tudou. Trailers and Youku’s own original productions for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” had over 41 million cumulative views with over 15.8 million combined movie VoD views on the Youku Tudou platform.
“The Winter Soldier” earned box office receipts of close to RMB800 million, compared to RMB80 million ($130 million) for the previous installment of the franchise in China.
“We are committed to expanding our media and entertainment ecosystem by working with strong partners. These partnerships, like the one with Disney, are multi-fold and give Youku Tudou the opportunity to use its strengths to further its business model and drive future revenue streams through high-quality content, innovative marketing efforts, and merchandising channels,” said Victor Koo, chairman and CEO of Youku Tudou.