Industry leaders convinced of long-term benefits of video websites

Last year,Tiny Times  attracted 40 million online clicks in a single month.

Video websites will play an important role in China\'s film sectors of distribution, financing and production, industry leaders told a forum yesterday at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival.

The forum, titled Video Websites Reshape Film Industry, featured industry professionals from leading Chinese video websites Tencent, LeTV.com, and Youku Tudou Inc.

Sun Zhonghuai, Vice President of Tencent, said video websites offered movie buffs a more flexible and long-term channel to watch films.

He said Tencent plans to invest in a series of new movies and develop by-products, including Jackie Chan\'s new war epic Dragon Blade, fantasy film Zhongkui- Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, and comedy romance I Am Queen.

Youku Tudou\'s Vice President, Zhu Huilong, said video websites had become an important platform for distribution, ticketing and film production.

"We can analyze the big data of our users to decide a new film\'s content choice, cast and marketing strategies," Zhu said. "It is a very effective tool."

President of Desen International Media and veteran female film producer An Xiaofen said the company could anticipate an upcoming film\'s future box office performance based on Netizens\' reactions to its trailer.

"Last year the trailer for the romance film Tiny Times attracted 40 million online clicks in a single month," An said.

"And its box office performance turned out to be good. It also reminds us of the importance of an appealing movie trailer because many of the Internet users are our potential audience."