Alternatives to YouTube in China

Posted by By Dan Taylor 3 Min Read

As of September 2024, YouTube remains inaccessible in China.

This has led to challenges for businesses and content creators looking to share video content within the Chinese market. However, there are several domestic alternatives to YouTube that cater to Chinese audiences.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the top video-sharing platforms in China and discuss how businesses can simplify the process of replacing video content on their websites for Chinese users.

Popular Alternatives to YouTube in China

Here are some of the most widely-used video-sharing platforms in China:

Youku

Often referred to as “the YouTube of China,” Youku is one of the country’s largest video-sharing platforms. It offers a broad range of content, including movies, TV shows, and user-generated videos, making it a comprehensive platform for various audiences.

Tencent Video

Owned by Tencent, one of China’s tech giants, Tencent Video provides an extensive library of licensed content. Its offerings include movies, dramas, variety shows, and user-generated videos, along with live streaming. This platform is a go-to for Chinese viewers seeking diverse content.

iQiyi

Known for high-quality original programming, iQiyi offers a diverse selection of content such as movies, dramas, variety shows, and documentaries. iQiyi also has exclusive partnerships with international studios, which sets it apart from other platforms.

Bilibili

Popular among younger audiences, Bilibili is focused on animation, gaming, and user-generated content. The platform has a strong community of creators and features interactive options like bullet comments, where users can leave real-time feedback as they watch videos.

Simplifying Video File Replacement for Websites in China

For businesses operating websites with video content, replacing video files to accommodate Chinese users can be complex. The process often requires converting videos into formats supported by Chinese platforms, ensuring compliance with local regulations, and navigating Chinese-only interfaces.

This manual replacement of content across platforms can also consume significant resources, especially if you want to maintain a consistent experience for both China and non-China web visitors. The process often involves:

  • Converting and re-hosting videos on Chinese platforms
  • Ensuring compliance with local content regulations
  • Allocating additional staff or resources to manage the changes
  • Balancing the viewing experience for visitors from outside China

Simplifying this process with automation tools and local hosting solutions may reduce resource strain, but careful planning is essential to avoid disruptions to the user experience.

While YouTube is not accessible in China, several strong alternatives exist. However, businesses looking to serve both Chinese and global audiences need to carefully consider the complexities of video file replacement and regulatory compliance to ensure a seamless experience for all users.

Dan Taylor
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Dan Taylor is the founder and editor of International Search Insights (ISI), the publication behind ReadIsi, and a Partner and Head of Innovation (Search & AI) at SALT.agency. He has worked in search for more than a decade, in-house and agency-side, and is regarded as one of the West’s leading voices on search engines beyond Google, including Yandex, Baidu, Naver and Cốc Cốc. On ReadIsi, Dan covers the engines and AI answer platforms that English-language coverage tends to miss: Baidu and ERNIE, Yandex and Alice AI, Naver, Cốc Cốc, Shenma, Sogou, WeChat and Weibo search, plus DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen. He also keeps dated records of documented changes, such as the Yandex, Baidu and Naver algorithm update histories and the DeepSeek, ERNIE and Qwen model update histories. His approach is to take learnings from global search engines and apply logic with a high evidence threshold. A claim needs a source, patterns seen in one market are treated as a hypothesis until they are checked in another, and where the evidence is thin he says so. For brands, that means advice built on what can be shown, with measurement that separates being cited from being chosen. Dan is credited with coining the term “edge SEO” and won the inaugural TechSEO Boost research competition in 2018 for his work on CDN and edge changes for SEO. In 2026 he was credited with coining “Infinite Tail” to describe how keyword research is changing with AI search. He is the author of AI Search Marketing For The Travel Sector, writes for Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land and Travel Marketing Guy, and has advised technology, SaaS, travel and enterprise ecommerce brands, including Cloudflare, GitLab and Airbnb. He has given multiple talks and panels at the International Search Summit in Barcelona, and has also spoken at Optimization Moscow, brightonSEO, Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia in Bangkok, Athens SEO and the Asia SEO Virtual Summit 2026, where his talk looked at how Baidu, Naver, DeepSeek, Tencent, Cốc Cốc and Yandex built their own AI answers.
Founder & Editor