Youku Expands Online Video Beyond the Web With New Desktop Client and Smart Remote

BEIJING, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Youku.com, Inc. (NYSE: YOKU), China's leading internet television company, today launched iKu Mini, a free desktop client together with the matching mobile client application enabling users to watch high-quality professional content across multiple internet-enabled devices -- from desktops to Android mobile phones and HTPC-connected televisions. With iKu Mini, Youku aims to expand its viewer base and further its mission of offering a best-in-class user experience on any networked device.

iKu Mini offers high-quality videos in three categories of long-form professionally produced content -- Movies, TV Dramas, and Variety Shows. Users can use iKu Mini's curated lists of recommended content, which will feature the top 50 videos in each of the three categories, or browse and search through Youku's vast library of content. The streamlined interface of iKu Mini was designed from the outset to be intuitive, attractive, and unobtrusive at different scales and viewing distances, allowing for easy viewing on desktop PCs and home theater PCs (HTPCs) connected to big screen television displays.

Users can further extend iKu Mini using the latest version of the Youku client for Android, which adds "smart remote" technology which allows users to control iKu Mini from their phones. Users can pause, rewind, or fast-forward movies using the new feature, and can also browse or search for new videos without interrupting the video they're watching. If a user has to move to another location when watching a video, they can continue watching the video on their Android device by simply "swiping" the movie from iKu Mini to the phone using a two-finger gesture. The new "Memory" feature will remember the user's position in the video, so that playback on the phone will resume where it is left off on the user's PC.

iKu Mini is the latest addition to Youku's iKu product family, which also includes the classic iKu client and the iKu Accelerator. The iKu products successfully supplement Youku's existing proprietary content-delivery networks with accountable peer-to-peer technology, further improve user viewing experience and reduce bandwidth costs. According to Youku's figures, iKu products have grown to account for approximately a third of total Youku users. According to iResearch, Youku had more than 231 million monthly unique visitors from homes and offices and 52 million from internet cafes in early 2011.

"Youku's strategy this year is to further improve user experience across the board," said Youku Chief Technology Officer Jian Yao. "We're doing this both through behind-the-scenes upgrades to our systems and through launching user-facing products like Soku and iKu Mini. As the year goes on, we'll continue to update and expand our services to better reflect the ubiquity of online video, and make sure that no matter where users are or what device they're using, Youku will always be available for our users when they want it."

About Youku:

Youku.com Inc. is China's leading Internet television company. Our Internet television platform enables users to search, view and share high-quality video content quickly and easily across multiple devices. Youku, which stands for "what's best and what's cool" in Chinese, is the most recognized online video brand in China. Youku's American depositary shares, each representing 18 of our Class A ordinary shares, are traded on NYSE under the symbol "YOKU."

SOURCE Youku.com Inc.

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED