Video websites cash in on Spring Festival events

Cross talk performers Guo Degang (left) and Yu Qian rehearse on Feb 1 for their Spring Festival gala show at China Central Television. [Photo/China Daily]

Spring Festival events will be given more coverage by online video sites, which have acquired the rights from TV stations to broadcast various holiday galas, considered the most-watched programs during Lunar New Year.

"We will extend the time and space for watching the shows, due to the rapid rise of tablet PCs, smartphones and even Internet-enabled TVs," said Tao Chuang, CEO of PPLive Co Ltd, an online media company, which has 300 million registered users.

The company that operates PPTV, the peer-to-peer video download application, will broadcast the galas of mainstream satellite TV stations and China Central Television, the State-owned broadcasting giant.

"We aren't emphasizing viewership ratings this year, as most galas are broadcast during different time slots. Instead, we enable users to interact with celebrities on our platform and share their views through micro blogs," Tao said.

For instance, in a "social TV" model, online users can replay a certain part of the show in real time. Apart from live streaming, PPTV will offer video-on-demand programs that feature the training and rehearsals for various galas, which are too long for live TV shows.

In a similar move, Sohu Video, the online video business unit of Web portal Sohu Inc, has announced partnerships with 19 satellite TV stations to broadcast 21 Spring Festival shows during the Lunar New Year holiday.

In addition to the live feature programs, Sohu will seek comments from online viewers via social-networking sites and put their feedback into the rebroadcast shows, said Shang Na, chief editor at Sohu Video's Content Operating Center.

"This is a select portfolio of the events we deem the best, with each player (TV station) having a unique strength," Shang said of the 19 partners, including CCTV and Hunan Satellite TV, which won its fame for entertainment programs.

"We expect more than 100 million hits for the programs. That figure is a rare occurrence in a year, and obviously, Spring Festival provides a window of opportunity," Shang said.

The new market buoyancy has attracted Internet users as well as advertisers. According to Shang, companies including FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co Ltd and China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd have paid for the endorsement at Sohu.

PPS Network TV, another interactive personality TV provider, boasts the exclusive broadcasting right of CCTV's gala on the New Year's Eve on mobile tablets, PPS President Xu Weifeng said.

Mobile handset has grown into an important channel to watch such shows, with more than 40 percent of viewers shifting from computers to tablets and mobile phones, data from PPS showed.

"PPS has recorded more than 200 million hits on different 2013 New Year galas in early January. We are optimistic we will reach a record during the Lunar New Year," Xu said.

hewei@chinadaily.com.cn