Baidu formalises video-site launch

In its anticipated expansion into video, Baidu will air ad-supported movies, TV series, sporting events, animation and other content, creating a service that is already being compared to the Western-based Hulu. Yu Gong – who was most recently president and COO of China Mobile’s 12580 division and is formerly Sohu.com’s COO – has been hired to head up the company.

Recent domestic reports speculating on the launch have cited Baidu’s interest in competing with established players such as Youku, Tudou and 56.com, and will bank on its search users to popularise the service.

Baidu currently claims approximately 64 per cent of China’s search market.

 “As China's internet industry evolves, we have seen increasing demand for high-quality video content on our search platform. By establishing this new company, we will be able to better serve our users and customers with superior content and focused resources," Baidu's vice-president of marketing and business development Xuyang Ren said in a statement.

Baidu’s service comes as the company looks to diversify its offerings to China’s 360 million netizens. Aside from rumours of its intentions to revamp its search page and launch a gaming division, Baidu last year launched its first corporate-branding campaign since 2005, coming after  Baidu signed a deal with China Unicom to provide wireless search to Unicom subscibers - part of its bid to ramp up its mobile capabilities across China - and additionally inked deals with companies including the Discovery Network and M2B World Asia-Pacific to broaden its scope in both the mainland and across the region.