NetEase today announced its entry into the video space and will invest RMB 1 billion ($155 million) to support creators, becoming the latest Internet giant to aim to capture users' video viewing time.
The Chinese Internet giant announced the plan at an online conference on January 21, saying it will support 1,000 quality Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs) on its platform and help create 2,000 "NEXT creators" with millions of followers.
The company also plans to create 100 native intellectual properties to help 1 million content creators earn commercial revenue.
NetEase also announced NetEase Knowledge Highway, a short video creation platform that will incorporate five products - NetEaseNews, NetEaseCloud Music, NetEaseYanxuan (an e-commerce platform), NetEaseLOFTER, and NetEaseYoudao - with video content as the solution.
The day before NetEase announced the decision, Allen Zhang, known as the "father of WeChat," said that video-based expression will be the theme of the next decade in the content field. In the evolution of content formats, there is a huge opportunity for live streaming to enter a phase where it is more accessible to the masses, he said.
With the gradual enrichment of video content ecology, WeChat can precipitate a massive video knowledge base that can be explored for its value through search and other technologies, Zhang said.
NetEase rose 2.69 percent to $115.99 in the US pre-market trading session. Its shares have risen 66 percent in the past year.
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