Alibaba Launching Tmall Box Office (TBO)

Alibaba is jumping into the streaming media business with their new Tmall Box Office (TBO) which is set to launch in China this summer.  Alibaba didn’t give a specific date for the launch of the new service.  However, they need that TBO will be available in China within the next couple months.  With Netflix looking to expand into China, Alibaba is surely anxious to roll out Tmall Box Office as soon as possible.

Alibaba Tmail Box Office

According to Alibaba’s head of entertainment, Tmall Box Office aims to compete with Netflix and HBO.  Two of the most popular video streaming services in the United States.  While Netflix isn’t officially available in China there are millions of viewers using Smart DNS and VPN to enjoy Netflix movies, tv shows, and originals in mainland China.

In a statement made in Shanghai on Sunday the Alibaba spokesman, Patrick Liu, said:

Our mission, the mission of all of Alibaba, is to redefine home entertainment, our goal is to become like HBO in the United States, to become like Netflix in the United States

Alibaba is a huge success in here areas but they certainly have their fair share of competition in entertainment.  Looking inside China TBO will go head to head with companies like Baidu, Tencent, Soju, and Leshi.  Alibaba bought into Youku Tudou, a Chinese streaming service, so it will be interesting to see how they use the company to forward their goals.

Moving beyond China Alibaba will have lots of competition to their upcoming Tmall Box Office (TBO) streaming video service.  The rapid growth of Smart DNS and VPN has helped millions of users around the world enjoy popular streaming services like Netflix and HBO NOW.  While Alibaba may thing that TBO can get a head start over Netflix in China, they are actually well behind their soon to be rival.