Autonomy,
the UK-listed software company, has signing up CCTV, China's state
broadcaster, as strategic content provider for its video search
service, which it claims is the leading such service in the Chinese
language.
Called OpenV, the search engine gets in excess of 5m pages views and 1m users each day. CCTV joins a growing list of content providers to OpenV, including professional broadcasters such as Beijing TV and consumer video-sharing sites.
Autonomy plans to syndicate OpenV's service to China's leading internet sites including CCTV.com, Yahoo! China and Xinhua.
Investors in the Cambridge-based firm need not worry that this initiative going to turn into another pie-in-the-sky internet project.
Autonomy has always had its feet very firmly fixed on the ground when it comes to new initiatives and it apparently plans to make OpenV pay its way through advertising. It is already talking to leading agencies like WPP, AC Nielsen and Charm Communications Group.
"Content is king" was the message preached by the internet industry in the dotcom boom. It still is, although today the content that most appeals to consumers appears to be video content, at least to judge by the phenomenal success that sites like YouTube and MySpace have had in the west.
But the jury is out on whether these unregulated sites can flourish in China -- see this EngagingChina post. Autonomy is wisely playing it safe by working with the state-owned media industry.
Autonomy has been in China for the past five years but to date its efforts have largely focussed on supplying search technology for corporate customers. The company says its technology is better at understanding the complexities of the Chinese language than the currently used search methods.
