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Youku Tudou in deal with Sony Pictures Television
MUMBAI: Chinese Internet television company Youku Tudou has signed an agreement with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to bring more than 300 new and classic Sony Pictures titles to the Youku Premium platform.
The five-year Sony Pictures Television deal comes on the heels of previous Youku Tudou agreements with WB, DreamWorks, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, NBC Universal, and Lionsgate, rounding out the company‘s offerings to include licensed content from all major Hollywood studios.
300 Sony Pictures titles will become available for paid on-demand viewing over the duration of the agreement, including classic titles like Groundhog Day, Bram Stoker‘s Dracula, and Sense and Sensibility, as well as such critically acclaimed titles as The Fisher King and Across the Universe. Sony Pictures Television will also make newer films available including, Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, and 21 Jump Street.
Youku updated its Youku Premium subscription system on August 23 to offer subscribers ad-free access to all videos on Youku‘s platform, plus 50 per cent off on-demand film and TV viewing through Youku Premium.
The VIP membership tier additionally offers unlimited viewing of films covered by monthly subscription licensing agreements. More than 3,000 film titles, including around 450 titles from major Hollywood studios, will be available for viewing by the end of 2012.
Youku Tudou VP movie operations and corporate development Huilong Zhu said,”We‘re delighted to be working with Sony Pictures Television to enrich our film library. Since launching Youku Premium in 2010, Youku Tudou has been committed to building the best platform for viewers and copyright holders alike, and our strong working relationships with all eight major Hollywood studios allow us to offer our viewers a wealth of licensed content.
Subscriber growth for Youku Premium has exceeded our expectations, and we see it as a sign that Chinese audiences are willing and eager to pay for quality content. By providing a wide range of payment and subscription options, Youku Tudou has made it as simple as possible for them to do so.”
After first experimenting with paid viewing for a live broadcast of comedian Guo Degang‘s show in August 2009, Youku debuted Youku Premium (http://yuanxian.youku.com) in beta in late 2010, offering ad-free, high-resolution premium content on a paid on-demand and subscription-based basis.
China‘s first premium video platform, Youku Premium has approximately two million paid users. Youku Premium combines compelling content offerings from Chinese and international rights-holders with a number of quick, easy payment options, while offering rights-holders a range of options for making content available, including paid on-demand viewing, free ad-supported viewing, or viewing through paid subscriptions.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
