Tencent ups spending to boost share of market

Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's biggest Internet company by sales, will spend more on content this year, including purchasing copyrights and making its own programs, compared with last year, said Liu Chunning, general manager of Tencent's online video department.

Liu said the company will spend 50 percent more this year than last year to provide 100 episodes of Web series and 100 micro movies, and purchase copyrighted content.

Most Chinese online video companies are in the red, despite spending large amounts on content to attract users. However, Liu said in October he expected Tencent's online video business to begin making a profit in a year or two.

Major players in the market, including Youku Tudou Inc and Iqiyi.com Inc, have also said that they expect to make a profit in the next couple of years as the price of copyrighted content has decreased significantly.

In the third quarter of 2012, Youku.com enjoyed 21.2 percent of the market, measured by revenues, according to domestic research company Analysys International. Iqiyi.com followed with 10.3 percent and Sohu.com ranked the third with 10 percent. Tencent ranked a distant sixth with 6.5 percent.