Here at home, the Walt Disney Company is readying to pull much of its product from platforms like Netflix and launch their own streaming service instead. However, it seems it’s a different story over in the People’s Republic of China as Deadline reports that Disney has completed a deal to bring film and television content to Youku — an SVOD service owned by Alibaba. Some of the included titles will stream exclusively to Youku while others may be available elsewhere. Notably, Disney had previously tried launching their streaming product DisneyLife in China, but the offering was shut down after a few months.
“The addition of Disney content greatly enriches the library of quality international content on Alibaba’s media and entertainment ecosystem, giving us a leading edge in foreign content distribution in China,” said Yang Weidong, president of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group’s video streaming platform Youku. “We look forward to further cooperation with global entertainment companies, which will help increase our penetration in the family entertainment segment and strengthen Youku’s position as a leading multi-screen entertainment and media platform in China,” he added.