how do the Chinese online video players differentiate themselves

The online video players in the US market have different positions and may target at different users. For example, Youtube is very interactive and the customers involve a lot in contributing to the contents, while Hulu itself is the content provider, acting as a distribution channel for these programs. But things are different in China. In the China market, there are around 10+ online video players and their operation models are very similar. Youku, the company recently went IPO in New York Stock exchange, is the leader in China market. While it find itself hard to differentiate from other similar online video companies. New entrants supported by established internet companies, such as Qiyi by Baidu.com (BIDU, NR), QQ video by Tencent (700-HK, NR), Sohu video by Sohu.com (SOHU, NR), are rapidly gaining users and possibly market share. These online video sites as well as Tudou.com (IPO pending) and PPStream (private) all likely have achieved over 100M monthly visitors during 1Q11, some closely following YOKU’s 231M in 1Q11. Almost all major competitors are willing to invest large amount of capital on professionally-produced content purchase. How to differentiate yourself is a difficult question to answer for these companies.