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Tag: Alibaba Mobile Business Group

  • UCWeb: Cricket viewership soars 230%, Lucknow, Pune, Bhopal, Delhi & Mumbai see max traction

    NEW DELHI: Consumption of Cricket-related content exceeded 0.75 billion on UCWeb Platforms – UC News and UC Browser, for the latest edition of IPL 2017 and the recently-concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

    According to a data report titled Insights into India’s Cricket Frenzy released by Alibaba group’s UCWeb, more than 50 per cent of the country’s population logged on to the UCWeb platforms over the last 3 months for cricket scores and updates.

    Cricket makes up for 68% of all sports-related content consumed on UC News. On a daily basis, over three million cricket fans checked into the UC Platform to consume cricket-related content, clocking in seven million hours of cumulative content reading – a jump of 230 per cent from last year.

    UC Platform saw the maximum traction from the cities of Lucknow, Pune, Bhopal, Delhi and Mumbai.

    UC Cricket, a key component within UC Browser, was first introduced in 2013 to offer news and updates about cricket matches. It has now evolved to become a comprehensive cricket content platform. For the latest cricket season, UC News, content and news distribution platform of UCWeb, introduced a special section to offer comprehensive news and cricket-related content for the users.

    The IPL Final was the most watched match of the IPL season with 21 million views and Kolkata Knight Riders emerged as the Most Popular Team of IPL 2017, followed by Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils.

    Captain of the National Cricket team Virat Kohli remains the most popular player, clocking readership of over 32 million across 4600 articles. Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khar were the other top-read cricketers.

    Alibaba Mobile Business Group Young Li head of international business department Young Li said, “Cricket remains the most popular sport in India with mobile internet driving consumption of digital cricket content. UCWeb has been at the forefront of this change with its revamped UC Cricket and the UC News’ We-Media Blogger Program, a common platform that brings viewpoints from celebrities, bloggers, key influencers and the common man to a single place. This season, over 2000 We-Media writers posted 6,000 pieces of original cricket content on UC News, garnering total Page Views of over a billion.”

    Last month, UC News ran an innovative IPL campaign “Match ki Kahaani, Celebs ki Zubaani” with #MasalaCommentary, bringing together multiple celebrities for app-based commentary on the IPL matches. UC News live streamed the chat and activities on its app, garnering a total of over 6.6 million views. Meanwhile, UC Browser is the sixth most downloaded application on Android platform in India with over 100 million Monthly Active Users.

  • UCWeb: Damon Xi will now head India & Indonesia

    NEW DELHI: Damon Xi as Head of UCWeb India and Indonesia office and will be in charge of the UCWeb ecosystem along with content cooperation within the markets in these countries,

    Prior to this, Damon was general manager of UCWeb India, leading strategic alliance and business development for the company in India, according to Alibaba Mobile Business Group, part of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment.

    In a significant restructuring announced last month, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group elevated Jack Huang to President of Alibaba Mobile Business Group and Young Li as Head of International Business Department at Alibaba Mobile Business Group.

    UCWeb’s flagship product UC Browser is the number one platform in India and Indonesia with over 50% market share, ahead of Google Chrome and Opera. UC Browser is also the sixth most downloaded application on Android platform in India and has crossed 100 million active monthly users.

    India and Indonesia have become most important overseas markets for UCWeb. Over the last 6 years, UCWeb has transformed itself from being the largest mobile browser to a leading content distribution platform in India through the launch and integration of UC News. UC News is a big-data powered content distributor, serving as a one-stop destination for trending and curated news content. It has featured channels on general news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, and humour. UC News has crossed 100 Million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), rapidly growing in India & Indonesia market since its launch in June 2016.

    In January, Alibaba announced a Rs. 2 billion investment to build UCWeb in India and Indonesia over the next two years, by tapping into the potential of user-generated content. UCWeb’s strength in technology is helping UC News process millions of data request and content of massive origins everyday with the help of its 3 big data clusters set-up in India. The UC We-Media program where people get an opportunity to create, to write, share thoughts and engage with their followers on UC News is set to expand to 30,000 contributors by the end of 2017, producing over 10,000 pieces of content daily.

    Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment reported a 271 per cent jump, year-on-year, for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2017 with significant contributions from mobile internet services revenue from UCWeb businesses, including mobile search and news feeds, as well as apps and game publishing across China as well as key global markets like India and Indonesia.

  • Chetan Bhagat unveils new venture logo on UC News

    MUMBAI: India’s best-selling author Chetan Bhagat is now a producer. Bhagat unveiled the logo of his new production company, Chetan Bhagat Entertainment Pvt Ltd, exclusively on UC News, a news and content aggregation platform from Alibaba Mobile Business Group. In a letter to his fans, also shared exclusively on UC News, Bhagat traced his journey ‘From a little boy to a best-selling author to a Producer’. Bhagat wrote, “Today is a big moment in my life…None of this would have happened if it were not for you guys…You guys made me who I am, kept my izzat, and continue to support me.”

    Watch Here

    The fact that Chetan has chosen UC News for the logo unveiling comes as no surprise. Late last year, UCWeb worked with Chetan Bhagat for the lunch of his Bestseller ‘One Indian Girl’. Chetan’s bonus chapter on UC News attracted a readership of 5 lakh and helped add over 58 thousand fans to his account. Chetan has also been consistently writing exclusive blog posts on UC News and conducting Live Chat sessions with his fans.

    You can read Chetan Bhagat’s complete letter at http://bit.ly/UCPPH

  • UCWeb to select We-Media contributors with monthly payout

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, a part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, has outlined detailed guidelines for writers and content creators to join the ‘Super 1000’ Program launched in March 2017.

    The integrated evaluation will be done under four key indicators including page views, content customization, content category and publishing frequency. The UC News Content team will review quality and the overall influence of the candidate while keeping in mind content originality and legitimacy before giving the final confirmation. ‘Super 1000’ is a strategic initiative for user-generated content in India and part of We-Media Reward Plan 2.0. Under this programme, UCWeb plans to recruit 1000 We-Media writers in India and Indonesia who will be able to earn at least Rs 50,000 per month, generating varied content across diverse categories.

    The programme has received more than 1,300 applications since its launch in March 2017. One of the first writers to qualify for the programme is CricketTrolls, a blog offering latest cricket news, offbeat news, memes and more with an aim to make cricket more fun. The blog enjoys over 3.62 million page views and is earning more than 900 USD per month. Besides an upgrade in Ad revenue sharing model, the We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 programme will open the door of opportunity to the most talented writers in the country. The programme saw an increase of 200% and 350% (MoM) in its page views of English and Hindi We-Media content respectively in the past quarter. Other than cricket, contributors can also opt to write on Entertainment, Politics, Tech, Health, and Lifestyle categories.

    “Users are embracing diverse digital content and their appetite for such content is being met by UC News. According to our data, there are at least 400,000 self-publishers in India, creating a huge scope to grow the market, especially in niche categories. UC News and We-Media programme aim to meet the increasing demand of varied content by users and build a well-established ecosystem. With our strengths in Big Data AI, the UC We- Media Program is opening a gateway to more opportunities in India’s content industry,” said UC News We-Media head Bruce Zuo.

    CricketTrolls founder Anirudh Singh says, “Getting on board the UC News platform was one of the best decisions. With UC News, you just have to write good content for your readers and not worry about anything else. In addition to that, you can monetize your content. But the most exciting part for us was the analytics tool provided by the platform. It was so easy to analyze how many page views are we receiving, the kind of articles our readers are liking, and the follower base we are building. We would highly recommend all aspiring bloggers to join the UC News We-Media Platform.”

    Anyone with the required qualification can apply or be recommended as a ‘Super 1000 We-Media’ candidate. Accounts with illegal or inappropriate content or accounts lacking originality will be filtered out of this selection. While the application process is easy, UCWeb’s editorial team is on strict watch against illegal content, including fake news, pirates, duplications, and any inappropriate adult content that can erode the reading experience. An active writer who publishes frequently has a higher chance of being selected.

    Through this programme, UCWeb aims to overhaul the digital content landscape in India. The programme encourages customised, long-tail content creators who will contribute to India’s growing content ecosystem. Content generators with a distinguished identity along with profound insights, perspective and style will be given priority.

    The Qualification Process for Super 1000 We-Media Program is as follows:
    ● Update account daily is a minimum criteria
    ● Create at least 20 articles per week
    ● Focus on original (valuable and meaningful) and unique content rather than copied content
    ● Exclusively release content on UC News
    ● Persist in the same vertical field (content category) continuously, with focus & perfection
    ● Aim to understand preferences of your fans/readers and continue to create content to meet their needs and choices
    ● Adhere to a healthy operation to ensure the legitimacy of the content shared. Practices such as unethical publication of illegal, unhealthy, fraud, infringement, improper marketing and other content will terminate your account

  • Mobile content: Alibaba’s UCWeb to invest Rs 2 billion in India & Indonesia

    Mobile content: Alibaba’s UCWeb to invest Rs 2 billion in India & Indonesia

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, has announced its plans to invest Rs 2 billion over the next two years in India and Indonesia market. The funds will primarily be used to tap the huge potential of user-generated content in India via its news distribution and content platform, UC News.

    UC News, a major product of UCWeb Inc. is a big-data powered content distributor, serving as a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go, with featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humor, etc. within five months of its launch, UC News became the top app under News Category on Google Play.

    Alibaba mobile business group president (overseas business) Jack Huang said, “As India enters the age of increased content consumption through its mobile devices, there is a huge potential for the growth of user-generated content in India similar to what has happened in China. There are more than 600 mn mobile users and 20 mn online content creators in China whereas India currently has 371 mn mobile users with miniscule contribution from self-publishing outlining a huge demand-supply gap. UCWeb has adopted a strategy of becoming a leading content distribution platform. As such, our flagship product UC Browser has also transformed itself from being the No.1 mobile browser in India, according to StatCounter.India is the most critical overseas market for UCWeb and this investment will help bring in the global mobile internet to an era of ‘GUF’ (Google, UCWeb, and Facebook).”

    Earlier this month, UC News announced a detailed monetary compensation plan in a bid to offer unique content on UC News and further consolidate its position as a content distribution platform. UC News will also help contributors gain traffic, revenue and followers with the help of Big Data technology and smart content distribution system.

    Alibaba mobile business group GM (overseas business) Kenny Ye said, “With growth in consumption of Information Feeds, non-conventional News Feeds – including blog posts, independent write ups, imagery feeds, video logs, short video content and more have become a huge hit. In the near future, we believe that more professionally trained content contributors will establish themselves as “We-Media”, a collective term for those who turn themselves into independent media brands. We also estimate that more and more digital content consumers will turn themselves into “prosumers” – consumers who also contribute to the content production, which will also contribute to the increase of digital content creators in India.”

    “Our aim is to make the UC We-media Program the No. 1 platform for content consumption, creation and services in India and Indonesia. We plan to add more than 30,000 self-publishers, bloggers and key opinion leaders to our platform in 2017, generating over 10,000 articles for UC News, every single day,” Jack added.

    “The We-media Platform supports with “Money, Service, and Traffic”, providing a well-operated mechanism to self-publishers, bloggers and KOLs in creating income and increasing their popularity. Our platform is to add value to every word they write with not just massive viewership, but also monetary profits, getting them “paid by millions”. For beginners and niche content writers, our program offers methodology for a deeper engagement, helping them draw advertisers and readers, Kenny said.

    UCWeb will add resources to aid quality enhancement of vertical content and news in regional and minority languages. Content in entertainment, sports and technology category will remain the biggest focus areas for 2017. In addition, UCWeb will also offer column operation service to quality self-publishers, bloggers and KOLs.

    UC News, available in three languages (Hindi, Indonesian and English), integrates trending content from social media and partners with traditional media, self-publishers and key opinion leaders for original content. According to a report released earlier this month by UC News analyzing key content preferences of Indian consumers on the mobile, over 87 per cent of UC News users are below-30 age bracket with almost 75 per cent users below 25 years of age. Men continue to be the dominant user group of UC News by almost six times versus women. Humor and Offbeat content in We-media Program are most popular amongst the audience reading in Hindi while Entertainment and Lifestyle scored with users reading in English. Total time spent consuming content on the mobile has seen a sharp uptick of 230 per cent in Q4 versus Q3. The total page views on UC News also rose over 290 per cent with content in Hindi seeing maximum traction. Indian users read in Hindi almost five times more than English on the mobile in 2016.

  • Mobile content: Alibaba’s UCWeb to invest Rs 2 billion in India & Indonesia

    Mobile content: Alibaba’s UCWeb to invest Rs 2 billion in India & Indonesia

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, has announced its plans to invest Rs 2 billion over the next two years in India and Indonesia market. The funds will primarily be used to tap the huge potential of user-generated content in India via its news distribution and content platform, UC News.

    UC News, a major product of UCWeb Inc. is a big-data powered content distributor, serving as a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go, with featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humor, etc. within five months of its launch, UC News became the top app under News Category on Google Play.

    Alibaba mobile business group president (overseas business) Jack Huang said, “As India enters the age of increased content consumption through its mobile devices, there is a huge potential for the growth of user-generated content in India similar to what has happened in China. There are more than 600 mn mobile users and 20 mn online content creators in China whereas India currently has 371 mn mobile users with miniscule contribution from self-publishing outlining a huge demand-supply gap. UCWeb has adopted a strategy of becoming a leading content distribution platform. As such, our flagship product UC Browser has also transformed itself from being the No.1 mobile browser in India, according to StatCounter.India is the most critical overseas market for UCWeb and this investment will help bring in the global mobile internet to an era of ‘GUF’ (Google, UCWeb, and Facebook).”

    Earlier this month, UC News announced a detailed monetary compensation plan in a bid to offer unique content on UC News and further consolidate its position as a content distribution platform. UC News will also help contributors gain traffic, revenue and followers with the help of Big Data technology and smart content distribution system.

    Alibaba mobile business group GM (overseas business) Kenny Ye said, “With growth in consumption of Information Feeds, non-conventional News Feeds – including blog posts, independent write ups, imagery feeds, video logs, short video content and more have become a huge hit. In the near future, we believe that more professionally trained content contributors will establish themselves as “We-Media”, a collective term for those who turn themselves into independent media brands. We also estimate that more and more digital content consumers will turn themselves into “prosumers” – consumers who also contribute to the content production, which will also contribute to the increase of digital content creators in India.”

    “Our aim is to make the UC We-media Program the No. 1 platform for content consumption, creation and services in India and Indonesia. We plan to add more than 30,000 self-publishers, bloggers and key opinion leaders to our platform in 2017, generating over 10,000 articles for UC News, every single day,” Jack added.

    “The We-media Platform supports with “Money, Service, and Traffic”, providing a well-operated mechanism to self-publishers, bloggers and KOLs in creating income and increasing their popularity. Our platform is to add value to every word they write with not just massive viewership, but also monetary profits, getting them “paid by millions”. For beginners and niche content writers, our program offers methodology for a deeper engagement, helping them draw advertisers and readers, Kenny said.

    UCWeb will add resources to aid quality enhancement of vertical content and news in regional and minority languages. Content in entertainment, sports and technology category will remain the biggest focus areas for 2017. In addition, UCWeb will also offer column operation service to quality self-publishers, bloggers and KOLs.

    UC News, available in three languages (Hindi, Indonesian and English), integrates trending content from social media and partners with traditional media, self-publishers and key opinion leaders for original content. According to a report released earlier this month by UC News analyzing key content preferences of Indian consumers on the mobile, over 87 per cent of UC News users are below-30 age bracket with almost 75 per cent users below 25 years of age. Men continue to be the dominant user group of UC News by almost six times versus women. Humor and Offbeat content in We-media Program are most popular amongst the audience reading in Hindi while Entertainment and Lifestyle scored with users reading in English. Total time spent consuming content on the mobile has seen a sharp uptick of 230 per cent in Q4 versus Q3. The total page views on UC News also rose over 290 per cent with content in Hindi seeing maximum traction. Indian users read in Hindi almost five times more than English on the mobile in 2016.

  • Damon Xi new UCWeb India GM

    Damon Xi new UCWeb India GM

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, an Alibaba Mobile Business Group Company, has announced the appointment of Damon Xi as the general manager for UCWeb India. The move will make Damon in charge of the strategic alliance and business development for the company in India.

    UC Browser has reached a milestone of 100 million MAUs in India and with a market share of 57% (as per Stat Counter), UC Browser is the largest mobile browser in India.

    Alibaba Mobile Business Group general manager of overseas business Kenny Ye said, “Bringing in Damon will enable the team in India to work and keep up with the dynamicity. Damon with his strategic abilities and immense managing associations in the internet industry is the ideal candidate.”

    Damon was earlier working for Tencent and has over 12 years of professional experience in internet and telecom industry. He said, “The decision to head UCWeb in India could not come at a better time. The Indian mobile internet landscape is the most exciting place to be at.”

    With a strategy of digitising entertainment, UCWeb in India recently collaborated with various entertainment based activities be it movie promotions with “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”, TV Shows with its partnership with Colors TV shows such as Jhalak Dikhla Ja and Bigg Boss or Book Releases with Chetan Bhagat’s recent bestseller, One Indian Girl.

  • Damon Xi new UCWeb India GM

    Damon Xi new UCWeb India GM

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, an Alibaba Mobile Business Group Company, has announced the appointment of Damon Xi as the general manager for UCWeb India. The move will make Damon in charge of the strategic alliance and business development for the company in India.

    UC Browser has reached a milestone of 100 million MAUs in India and with a market share of 57% (as per Stat Counter), UC Browser is the largest mobile browser in India.

    Alibaba Mobile Business Group general manager of overseas business Kenny Ye said, “Bringing in Damon will enable the team in India to work and keep up with the dynamicity. Damon with his strategic abilities and immense managing associations in the internet industry is the ideal candidate.”

    Damon was earlier working for Tencent and has over 12 years of professional experience in internet and telecom industry. He said, “The decision to head UCWeb in India could not come at a better time. The Indian mobile internet landscape is the most exciting place to be at.”

    With a strategy of digitising entertainment, UCWeb in India recently collaborated with various entertainment based activities be it movie promotions with “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”, TV Shows with its partnership with Colors TV shows such as Jhalak Dikhla Ja and Bigg Boss or Book Releases with Chetan Bhagat’s recent bestseller, One Indian Girl.

  • Internet company UCWeb launches UC News, aimed at India

    Internet company UCWeb launches UC News, aimed at India

    NEW DELHI: Leading mobile internet company UCWeb Inc.has launched UC News App and an upgraded UC Browser. The UC News is an app launched by the company meant exclusively for India.

    Part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, UC Web nnounced its strategy for 2016 in which UC News is powered by big data technology and is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go.

    It also announced that UC Browser India’s monthly active user base has reached 80 million and continues to grow rapidly. UC Browser is now revamped as a content aggregator and, according to StatCounter, the most used mobile browser in India with over 58% market share as of May 2016.

    UC Browser’s usage data shows 73% of its 80 million MAU are tagged as “News Feeds Consumers”. On an average, each UC Browser’s Indian user consumes 6 pieces of news/feeds per day.

    Kenny Ye, who is General Manager of UCWeb in the Alibaba Mobile Business Group said, “Digital content consumption is on the rise and the challenge is how we can customize, curate and present diverse content to users. Content providers face difficulties in distributing content of different formats, while consumers are swamped by an information overload. Our answer to these challenges is to position ourselves as a content aggregator. The newly launched UC News and upgraded UC Browser for India are two contemporary products embedded with the aim of content aggregation.” The revamped UC Browser also features UC Cricket, an in-app, all–in-one cricket content hub.

    UC News offers a platform that brings together both traditional and new media content creators in a single place, and introduces them to millions of Indian users who already enjoy a faster browsing experience on UC Bowser. UC News is an easy to use app, and features a unique and highly user-friendly interface. It is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all the popular categories of news with 20+ featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humour, etc.

    UC News tracks and matches the trending keywords on Facebook and Twitter, and decides on the trending topics before recommending them to the user. UC News also allows users to customize content subscription, as they can choose any kind of content they wish to consume.

    To help make valuable opinions heard, UC News is planning to partner with self-publishers and key opinion leaders in the future for original content.

    UCWeb in India has grown on the strength of its technology and innovation. The data compression algorithms of UC Browser have helped millions of Indians gain access to the internet at faster speeds without premium pricing, thereby making UC Browser a window to the world for many first time mobile phone users. The latest round of service offerings is set to consolidate UCWeb’s leadership in India’s mobile internet market while helping drive internet accessibility and powering a connected and digital India.

  • Internet company UCWeb launches UC News, aimed at India

    Internet company UCWeb launches UC News, aimed at India

    NEW DELHI: Leading mobile internet company UCWeb Inc.has launched UC News App and an upgraded UC Browser. The UC News is an app launched by the company meant exclusively for India.

    Part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, UC Web nnounced its strategy for 2016 in which UC News is powered by big data technology and is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go.

    It also announced that UC Browser India’s monthly active user base has reached 80 million and continues to grow rapidly. UC Browser is now revamped as a content aggregator and, according to StatCounter, the most used mobile browser in India with over 58% market share as of May 2016.

    UC Browser’s usage data shows 73% of its 80 million MAU are tagged as “News Feeds Consumers”. On an average, each UC Browser’s Indian user consumes 6 pieces of news/feeds per day.

    Kenny Ye, who is General Manager of UCWeb in the Alibaba Mobile Business Group said, “Digital content consumption is on the rise and the challenge is how we can customize, curate and present diverse content to users. Content providers face difficulties in distributing content of different formats, while consumers are swamped by an information overload. Our answer to these challenges is to position ourselves as a content aggregator. The newly launched UC News and upgraded UC Browser for India are two contemporary products embedded with the aim of content aggregation.” The revamped UC Browser also features UC Cricket, an in-app, all–in-one cricket content hub.

    UC News offers a platform that brings together both traditional and new media content creators in a single place, and introduces them to millions of Indian users who already enjoy a faster browsing experience on UC Bowser. UC News is an easy to use app, and features a unique and highly user-friendly interface. It is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all the popular categories of news with 20+ featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humour, etc.

    UC News tracks and matches the trending keywords on Facebook and Twitter, and decides on the trending topics before recommending them to the user. UC News also allows users to customize content subscription, as they can choose any kind of content they wish to consume.

    To help make valuable opinions heard, UC News is planning to partner with self-publishers and key opinion leaders in the future for original content.

    UCWeb in India has grown on the strength of its technology and innovation. The data compression algorithms of UC Browser have helped millions of Indians gain access to the internet at faster speeds without premium pricing, thereby making UC Browser a window to the world for many first time mobile phone users. The latest round of service offerings is set to consolidate UCWeb’s leadership in India’s mobile internet market while helping drive internet accessibility and powering a connected and digital India.