Merger savings narrow Youku Tudou losses

Chinese online video site Youku Tudou narrowed its consolidated fourth quarter net losses by 43% to RMB113.6 million (US$18.2 million) as the cost saving effects of last year’s merger kicked in.

Unaudited figures for the three months to December 31, 2012, released today – the company’s first full quarter results since VOD platforms Youku and Tudou merged – also showed consolidated revenue had grown 30% year-on-year to RMB635.8 million.

Youku Tudou was formed last year to create the market-leading VOD platform in China, with Youku shareholders taking 71.5% of the new outfit and Tudou shareholders taking the rest.

This gave the platform an enlarged content slate, plus created savings on bandwidth and other common costs.

“Even as the integration process is proceeding well, we expect temporary business impact from this large-scale merger but we are optimistic that the second half of 2013 will see more revenue growth momentum and cost synergies,” said Victor Koo, chairman and CEO of Youku Tudou. “In 2013, we also plan to start monetising the significant growth in our mobile traffic as our daily mobile video views exceeded 100 million by the end of 2012.”

Youku Todou president Dele Liu added the platform would strengthen its in-house productions “to reduce our reliance on professional licensed content as well as generate additional revenues through program sponsorship and product placements”.