Online Video Copyright Regime

Online video copyright regime names the regulatory, legal, and commercial shift that moved Chinese video platforms away from pirated or loosely uploaded professional content. In No.204 互联网视频平台混战：从后舍男生到漫长的季节 | 中国互联网故事21, the 2008 online-audiovisual rules, lawsuits, and rising drama/variety prices become the dividing line between the early web-video era and the long-video capital war.

The concept matters because it changed what “good video platform” meant. Bandwidth and playback speed still mattered, but legal access to desirable content became expensive, exclusive, and strategic, pushing 优酷 / Youku, 土豆网 / Tudou, iQIYI / 爱奇艺, 腾讯视频 / Tencent Video, and 搜狐视频 / Sohu Video into rights buying and self-production.

Key Claims

• Copyright enforcement raised the cost of competing in long video.
• Exclusive rights converted content from commodity inventory into strategic differentiation.
• The regime favored platforms with financing, parent-company backing, or owned content pipelines.
• It weakened independent platforms whose early growth depended on low-cost content supply.

Connections

• Chinese Long-Video Platform Economics — broader cost structure.
• Video Membership Model — paid access route built on exclusive content.
• 优酷 / Youku, 土豆网 / Tudou, iQIYI / 爱奇艺, 腾讯视频 / Tencent Video, and 搜狐视频 / Sohu Video — platform cases affected by copyright escalation.
• Content Ecosystem Governance — adjacent platform responsibility once content supply is licensed and curated.