Nokia, the global communications giant, and Youku, China's leading Internet video site, jointly announced today that they will broadcast the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Interactive Online Concert on April 19th from Beijing.

Over one million expected to watch 9 top Asian stars in Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Sunday night

BEIJING, April 14 -  The webcast of the two-and-a-half-hour concert is the centerpiece of an innovative campaign created in partnership between Youku and Nokia. The online concert will begin at 7:00 pm (GMT +8) on Sunday the 19th, and will be streamed to more than one million expected viewers at http://nokia5800.youku.com/ .

Nokia wants to deliver young customers in China a unique, engaging interactive experience, and finds that live music from the best talent in Asia is what these young customers really want. Nokia found in Youku the right platform partner to deliver that, with the brand recognition and the technological capability to pull off a webcast of this scale. Nokia invites some of Asia's hottest artists to perform: JJ Lam from Singapore; Joanna Wang, the band Sodagreen, Da Mouth, Kenji Wu, Deserts Zhang and Chang Csun Yuk from Taiwan; and Jane Zhang and Anson Hu from mainland China.

The mini-site for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Interactive Online Concert consists of three sections: a live video stream of the concert, an interactive video press room, and a real-time archive for video clips of the concert. While watching the online concert, Youku users can choose their favorite angle from 4 different live streams in one window. They can also vote for their favorite performer, and the artist who wins the most online votes will give an encore performance at the show's end. After finishing their on-stage performances, the artists will move to the interactive press room to answer questions submitted by netizens. Meanwhile, all the video clips will be archived in real time for later viewing.

With this online concert, Youku debuts a new cooperative model called "Youku Live." By adopting Youku Live, brands can significantly amplify below-the-line investments. An offline event, for instance, that might only reach a few hundred individuals could be broadcast to the Internet, where it has the potential to reach hundreds of thousands, or even millions of viewers.

Koh YeeWee, Nokia's marketing director for Greater China, Japan and Korea, said, "Nokia believes that the brilliant product and innovative marketing campaign designed for our consumers will win their hearts. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Interactive Online Concert, our latest campaign following the nationwide launch of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic handset, was inspired by our understanding of the lifestyles of China's Internet-generation youth. Through this they can really express themselves--their desire to interact, to get involved, and to communicate. Nokia will integrate the cutting-edge technology of new media marketing with Youku as its partner, and rewrite the history of the Internet and concerts."

"We're deeply honored to announce this interactive online concert with Nokia. For business development and strategic cooperation, Youku always chooses the leading brands in each industry, bringing innovation to online marketing campaigns in China. For a long period, brands have been struggling to figure out an efficient way to fully present their marketing events. Now, Youku Live model offers an alternative and much better option for advertisers," said Victor Koo, founder and CEO of Youku.

About Nokia

Nokia is the world's number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share and a leader in the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of devices for all major consumer segments and offers Internet services that enable people to experience music, maps, media, messaging and games. Nokia also provides comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About Youku

Youku (http://www.youku.com/ ) is China's leading Internet video website and premier online video brand. It is the top destination for Chinese Internet users around the globe to watch and share videos. In addition to user-generated content, Youku.com also works with more than 1,000 professional media partners to distribute online videos in China. Youku.com was officially launched in December 2006, and now delivers more than 160 million video clips a day. Youku's users spend more than 40 billion minutes per month on the website.

Web site: http://www.youku.com/
http://nokia5800.youku.com/