Youku, the Chinese online video hub owned by Alibaba Group, announced Thursday that it had inked an exclusive deal for Netflix to distribute its hit online drama series Day and Night to audiences outside of China for the first time.
Netflix, in its first ever tie-up with Youku, will distribute the 32-episode thriller to over 109 million subscribers in more than than 190 countries and regions around the world.
“We are proud to partner with Netflix in this ground-breaking distribution agreement,” said Weidong Yang, president of Youku and Alibaba’s digital media and entertainment arm, noting that China’s creative industry is undergoing “robust growth” at the moment.
“I’m delighted that Youku can become a pioneer in driving this initiative with this overseas distribution of our Day and Night series,” he said.
Day and Nightfollows a police detective in murder investigation in which his twin brother is the top suspect. The series has drawn more than 4 billion views since its debut in August this year, while Youku saw a quarterly average daily subscriber increase of over 180% year-over-year as of September, according to the streaming site.
The production is part of Youku’s new content production strategy, which focuses on producing a higher-quality line-up of original dramas. Youku has so far released a series of original shows since June, including The Advisors Alliance, Rakshasa Street and Oh My General, with all of them generating billions of views.
