A woman takes pictures with her mobile phone in an unfinished theme park for the production of movies, television shows and animations, on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese tech firms are making new waves for online movies by pushing for innovative ways to distribute them using mobile technology at Filmart.
The Beijing Time reported that the three largest tech companies Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (the so-called BAT) have invested billions of dollars to boost their online presence through mobile tech where nearly two-thirds of the population access content through tablets or cellphones.
Gong Yu, founder and CEO of Baidu-owned iQiyi, told the Beijing Time that the challenge was how the traditional distribution forms to adapt to the new technologies
"Distribution has changed for films," Gong told the Beijing Time. "It's not just about making a TV show and putting it online--it's about looking at development, and once we succeed, we will create a new industry. It used to be that online videos were just seven minutes long, and a lot of people in China still watch these, but increasingly people watch longer content."
The report said that cellphone manufacturer Xiaomi had invested $300 million into iQiyi and expanded its business into content.
Tong Chen, vice-president of content investment and operation at Xiaomi, said: "It's come to the point where things are about to explode with mobile technologies and content. For our video audiences, the numbers have grown exponentially and people's viewing habits have changed."
Vice President Park Hyun of Dramafever, the largest platform of Asian content, said that the growing popularity of mobile use is a big factor in the industry.
"A channel catering for Asian content a decade ago would have been impossible. The device of choice is mobile. We've seen 16 percent annual growth since 2011. This is a landmark event," said Park.
Wang Zhan, vice-president of the search giant Baidu, also noted that the habits of consumers have also changed with the shift to mobile use.
To address these changes, Suman Wang, vice-president and editor-in-chief of Tencent Video, said that their company will focus on producing their own content as they noted that some contents are not yet shown on TV.
