It looks like Youku has found itself a second wind, paid movie, just noticed this couple days ago.
In the past you can watch any new or old big-screen movie on Youku for free, typically it is from a user that obtain the pirated content and uploaded it. But since Youku gone IPO all of these contents were erased.
Youku now launches their latest feature and possibly a new source of revenue -
Youku Store.
Currently it is priced at RMB 20 per month for unlimited access to their entire movie database that includes classic or new cinemas. Or you can just go RMB 3 per movie that you want to watch, but only valid for 3 days.
China is currently on the uprising as Asia's largest eCommerce, with online shopping leading the numbers game. But latest report from CNNIC summarizing 2010, online video takes up over 62% of China netizen online activities representing 283 million people in China watching video/tv/cinema online. I suspect Tudou to be launching the same feature soon, as I've noticed most of the videos have started being deleted. This maybe a step for China in legalizing online content and copyright.
Might also a step bringing closer for iTunes into this market for their video, tv or music store, it is after all a big market that can't be ignored. Now if Apple can install Youku as a default app on their iPhone, iPad and Apple TV perhaps instead of Youtube.
