While Hollywood seems to have no effective weapon against online piracy, one mainland online advertising agency has introduced a new sponsorship model that allows free legal downloads of movies. However, users are forced to watch the sponsor's advertising message before they can view a movie.
Click To See Media, a mainland-based online video ad agency and content provider, has rolled out a successful business model for online video downloads, generating revenue through sponsorship deals.
'We received the exclusive online copyright to the Chinese blockbuster Red Cliff earlier this year, and then we sealed a deal that allowed advertisers to insert their video clips into the download file,' Click To See's chief commercial officer, Stewart Li, told Media Eye.
Mr Li said Click To See had a system called interactive visual media, using technology that could detect viewers' habits, such as the frequency of watching, and the location of the viewers.
'As the users download the file from the internet, we can update the advertising message on the file to bring the latest promotional message of our clients to viewers,' he said.
Viewers cannot fast-forward or skip the video advertisements already inserted into the file.