Tencent Video surpasses Youku in unique visitor count for the first time

"For the first time, we have surpassed Youku on this important indicator of website traffic," said Jeff Han, marketing GM of Tencent's online media group. "We have taken the merger of Youku and Tudou into account, but the fact that the two are still separate operations, Tencent Video has become the largest single video platform in China. We now have to live up to this name."

The 275.5-million number is an integrated one that includes traffic to both the web and software versions of Tencent Video. At the same time, Tencent visitors spent 54.8 minutes per day on its video site, compared to 34 minutes per Youku user.

The value of a video site is typically referenced by the above two indicators. The amount of exposure rides on unique visitorship, while per-person browsing time reflects user stickiness—both important to enhance advertising effectiveness.

"We believe this has significance and impact as the domestic video market has been dominated by Youku for so long," Han said. "Now the competitive landscape is changed, which I think is to everybody's surprise."

In addition, according to a recent Millward Brown report, the higher penetration rate of Tencent Video is due to "the powerful media properties and professional competence" of its enhanced video content (news, sports, arts and entertainment, and finance).

The other reason why Tencent Video has achieved more unique visitors than Youku, according to Michael Chang, chief digital officer at Aegis Media Greater China, is the parent company's ownership of social-media properties that have pushed traffic toward its video site via social sharing.

During the second quarter of 2012, Tencent revamped QQ.com's front page to help users find and share news, video, and microblog content more easily.

Chang, who is not surprised with the data, did not predict whether October's numbers (to be released on 25 November) will still exceed Youku's, but he believes the unique visitor volume for Tencent Video will not drop.

"However, the brand value of Youku is firmly engrained in the minds of clients as the largest video site in the country since it has a longer history," he said. "It will take some time before they switch their online video ad budgets over to Tencent."