Gary Wang, Tudou.com: Net needs more cash
MIPCOM keynote speaker Gary Wang is founder and CEO of China’s leading video sharing site, Tudou.com, that launched in April 2005. He was previously with the Bertelsmann Group and BOL China.
Wang is clear about the differences between internet services and traditional television channels, and believes there is a place for both. “We have seen just recently what advantages television has over other media, with the Olympics,” he said. “For live events like that, television is the right medium.”
The internet is there to satisfy consumers’ growing need for instant gratification. “It allows for the distribution of many thousands of videos which people can call upon whenever they want to,” Wang said. “People adapt to it easily because it’s not as rigid a form of entertainment
as TV or the movies.”
Wang said that the internet’s popularity is growing fast. “I think TV will maintain its current revenue base, but its percentage share is going to fall, and there is no way we can stop the trend.” He added: “In three to five years this will happen more dramatically.”
What is holding back the internet’s development is lack of investment. “We have pretty cool technologies coming along, so it’s not about limit
of bandwidth. It’s the limit to the foreseeable revenues. We need to get the conservative telecom operators to bankroll billions more dollars of investment,” Wang said.
And the advertisers need to wise up too: “The big agencies are still trying to figure
out how to plan campaigns for
the net, how to do the rate card —
how to translate their old skills into
the internet world.”
This exclusive interview & more in the full MIPCOM Preview magazine: here!
Share
