Chinese online video ad revenue hits $330m, spikes 218%

China’s online video advertising market is now worth US$330-million, up nearly 25% from the last few months of 2011. More impressively, it represents 218% year-on-year growth.

According to Chinese online research company Analysys International, the sudden spike came in the wake of slow growth in the latter parts of 2011.

The company says that ad revenue grew spiked after the “Spring Festival”, more familiar to Westerners as Chinese New Year.

It also says that websites are finding new ways of creating ad revenue with online video.

One example of this innovation is the partnership between online video platform Tudou and 300-million strong social network Sina Weibo.

Under the deal, any Sina Weibo user who wasn’t already registered on Tudou could “upload and share videos seamlessly to and from Tudou’s video site”.

Any attempts to capitalise on online video content in China make sense. According to Cisco the medium will account for nearly 80% of Chinese web traffic by 2016.

Analysys International also reckons that online video sites could expand their offerings with games and ecommerce offerings to ensure that web users stay interested in their offerings.