China Electronics Wholesaler

China video site Youku ties up with MySpace China

Fri Mar 14, 6:36 AM ET

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Video-sharing Web site Youku.com, which is trying to position itself as China's next YouTube, has tied up with News Corp-invested social networking site MySpace China to target the local market. ADVERTISEMENT

The partnership is aimed at driving Internet traffic to both Web sites and sharing online products, Youku Chief Executive Victor Koo said in a statement on Friday.

Social networks such as MySpace and Facebook let users share images, music, videos and blogs. By November last year, Youku had completed three rounds of venture financing totaling $40 million, including from Brookside Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital and Chengwei Ventures.

Launched in December 2006, Youku has more than 100 million daily video views, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings.

MySpace China (http://www.myspace.cn) is a locally owned, operated and managed company that has secured investment from Rupert Murdoch's MySpace Inc, publisher IDG and China Broadband Capital Partners LP, a fund operated by Edward Tian, the former chief of China Netcom Group.

China, which had 210 million Web users at the end of last year, has since overtaken the United States as the world's biggest Internet market by number of users, Beijing-based research firm BDA said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Sophie Taylor; Editing by Edmund Klamann)