Digital Domain Holdings, parent company of the world’s largest independent visual-effects house, plans to form more mainland Chinese partnerships as it seeks to expand its virtual reality (VR) content in search of fresh income growth in China.
“In the past, we are a service provider who makes visual effects for movies and ads. But our business model in China is different as we want to partner with more local companies to diversify our income,” Digital Domain chief executive Daniel Seah Ang said in Beijing on Wednesday.
Marking the Hong Kong-listed company’s first big move in the mainland Chinese market, Digital Domain signed a three-year collaboration agreement with Youku Tudou, China’s leading online video provider backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
New York-traded Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
Digital Domain will create VR content to be distributed through Youku Tudou’s platforms targeting the greater China market, Seah said.
“However, our original VR content is not limited to Youku Tudou’s platforms. We want to avoid an exclusive cooperation so that we can diversify income sources,” he said.