China’s Youku Tudou collaborates with Qualcomm to boost quality of videos on mobile platforms

Chinese online video giant Youku Tudou has announced a collaboration with chip giant Qualcomm today, which would allow viewers access to higher quality videos on the site when using most devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

Snapdragon processors are mainly used in tablets and smartphones – it powers HTC’s flagship smartphone HTC One and, in some markets, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4. This collaboration shows how keen Youku Tudou is to boost the quality of its videos when accessed via mobile, given the rising trend of people using smartphones in China.

Qualcomm’s H.265 technology, referred to as the HEVC codec, will enable videos to be transmitted using less data bandwidth, Youku said in a statement. H.265 allows a compression efficiency of up to 40 percent compared with the current video compression technology H.264.

Youku Tudou’s latest move comes hot on the heels of its announcement of a partnership with microblogging firm Sina Weibo, which would see the microblogging firm help promote the video giant and its content to its 500 million plus registered users. Search results for TV-related content will bring up thumbnails that link through to a page that provides links to the Youku and Tudou video sites.

Amid efforts to improve the quality of video viewing experiences for its users, Youku Tudou has also been reaping benefits off Qualcomm’s Snapdragon brand campaign. The Chinese firm said the campaign, which launched on May 24, “achieved the highest click-through-rate in Youku history”.

Youku Tudou said advertising revenue from IT brands in Q1 2013 were up 110 percent over the same quarter in 2012. However, it missed estimates for its Q1 2013 earnings. The company recorded a loss of RMB 1.42 ($0.23) per ADS, coming in under analyst expecations of a loss of RMB1.39 per ADS, despite revenue surpassing estimates of RMB 510.49 million ($8.3 million).

Youku Tudou isn’t the first Chinese Internet giant to collaborate with Qualcomm recently. Late last year, Chinese search giant Baidu formed a strategic partnership with Qualcomm to offer free personal cloud storage to Android devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors.

Headline image via Spencer Platt /Getty Images