Youku Tudou to Stream First Foreign TV Series Approved Under New SAPPRFT Regulations

BEIJING, July 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Youku Tudou, Inc. (NYSE: YOKU), China's leading Internet television company ("Youku Tudou"), announced today that the first foreign TV series approved by SAPPRFT (State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television) under the new 2015 regulations for streaming foreign TV series and movies will debut on the Youku Tudou platform. The first episode of the Korean romantic comedy entitled "Hyde, Jekyll, and Me," originally airing on SBS, will be made available on July 13 for all Youku Tudou users, with one new episode made available each day after. On July 16, paid subscribers will be given exclusive full season access and regular users will continue to have one new episode made available every subsequent weekday.

Youku Tudou is one of the leading destinations for Korean content in China with as many as 185 million unique visitors per month and over 11.5 billion cumulative video views of Korean content for 2014 per internal data. By improving user experience and adding exclusive content similar to "Hyde, Jekyll, and Me," Youku Tudou has substantially grown its subscription base and Youku's mobile app is currently the #1 mobile app per monthly user time spent among major Chinese apps with an average of 648 minutes in May 2015 according to iResearch.

Youku Tudou's subscription service currently offers a wide selection of movies from primarily Hollywood and domestic Chinese studios. Going forward, Youku Tudou will further enhance the value proposition of its subscription services and add exclusive TV series into the subscription package. These new additions will include TV series from the United States, Korea and Hong Kong as well as Youku Tudou's in-house productions.

"Subscription services are the next growth pillars for online video monetization. China is shifting towards a consumer-driven economy and online consumption is becoming mainstream. Leveraging our user base of over 500 million monthly unique visitors, we have seen big growth in the number of our paid subscribers. By partnering with top players and continually enhancing our services, we are able to create a premium experience for our paid subscribers and further drive subscription based revenue," said Victor Koo, Chairman and CEO of Youku Tudou, Inc.

About Youku Tudou Inc.

Youku Tudou Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) is China's leading Internet television company. Its Youku and Tudou Internet television platforms enable users to search, view and share high-quality video content quickly and easily across multiple devices. Its Youku brand and Tudou brand are the most recognized online video brands in China. Youku Tudou's American depositary shares, each representing 18 of Youku Tudou's Class A ordinary shares, are traded on the NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."

SOURCE Youku Tudou Inc.