????眼下的戰果

????中國第三大視頻網站搜狐在購買西方國家視頻內容方面最為積極。這家公司在增加《紙牌屋》和《周六夜現場》之后舉行了新聞發布會。去年春季，搜狐在北京款待了《吸血鬼日記》（The Vampire Diaries）的全體演員。對于首席執行官張朝陽而言，增加美國娛樂節目相當簡單：對于中國視頻網站而言，好萊塢內容很便宜，因為雖然它們的成功無法保證，但對盜版節目的需求證明中國存在大量粉絲。

????“盜版讓中國觀眾對美國影視節目產生了普遍的興趣，”張朝陽坐在搜狐位于北京西北區的總部大樓里一張兼作他辦公室的巨型會議桌前告訴《財富》記者。張朝陽承認自己很喜歡《絕命毒師》（Breaking Bad ）和上世紀90年代的電影《我的表兄維尼》（My Cousin Vinny），他說搜狐在播放中國電視劇之后，開始購買西方電視節目。

????這家網站在2009年增加了《生活大爆炸》的獨家播放權，這部CBS喜劇不僅以15億觀看次數成為搜狐最受歡迎的美劇，而且也成為中國所有視頻網站中最受喜歡的外國節目。（這部電視劇在美國本土的收視率也處于領先地位。）由于這部美劇的受歡迎程度，政府審查機構可能一直在試圖通過禁止播放這部情景喜劇來發出一個信息，盡管該劇的主要情節并不會引起爭議。

????《周六夜現場》成為搜狐的又一項巨大成就。去年，分銷這個節目的百老匯視頻公司（Broadway Video Enterprises）接到搜狐打來的電話，詢問如何才能把這個節目引入中國。百老匯視頻公司總裁布麗塔?馮?舒勒在過去十年里一直試圖在中國播出《周六夜現場》，但都以失敗告終，問題總是出現：從紐約進行磋商很困難，而中間商永遠無法達成協議。 她承認說：“我不很了解他們。”但是，搜狐同意購買本季《周六夜現場》節目，而且媒體的反響也很積極，于是搜狐又簽約購買了明年第40周年季的《周六夜現場》節目。雖然與搜狐達成的協議只是她從與奈飛或Hulu簽署協議中獲得的營收的“一小部分”，但馮?舒勒說，《周六夜現場》現在在中國終于擁有了立足之地。

????未來的走向

????近年來，中國主流視頻網站都專注于收購西方國家電視節目的播放權，因為相對比較容易在節目中添加廣告。（整季電視節目擁有的1分鐘廣告計劃多于一部電影。）但是今天對《美國隊長2》及其他電影達成的協議讓我們看到了一個前景：電影正在成為中國下一個熱門視頻內容。張朝陽預計，中國各大視頻網站今年在購買西方國家影視內容播放權方面將會花費1億美元，而由于一系列新的電影播放協議，這個數字在未來三年內輕易就能增加一倍。

????優酷CEO古永鏘說：“中國和美國不同，那里存在DVD窗口期和HBO窗口期，而在中國，這些窗口期并不存在。”由于中國的電影院受到政府規定每年最多只能上映34部外國電影的限制，中國的視頻網站迅速成為西方國家影視內容的發行目的地。這就是為什么迪斯尼公司和華納兄弟公司（Warner Bros.）已經與優酷旗下付費電影網站——優酷付費頻道達成協議的原因所在。古永鏘說，這些影視公司都在通過這些協議賺錢，因為這些協議中都包括營收分成協議。

????預測顯示，中國在未來六年內將成為世界上最大的電影市場——這意味著對西方影視內容的興趣將會繼續增長，只要他們能夠繼續打擊盜版，同時與政府合作。

????現在，讓我們回過頭來再談談《美國隊長2：寒冬戰士》在北京舉行的首映式。首映式會場馬路對面的一家小店門前掛著一個指示牌，上面寫道：“CD/DVD商店”。店里，一排排盜版DVD正在待價而沽。而在后排的貨架上放著的正是《美國隊長》。(財富中文網)

????譯者：iDo98

????Recent successes

????Sohu, the third-largest Chinese video site, is the most aggressive buyer of Western content. The company staged press conferences after adding House of Cards and Saturday Night Live. Last spring, it hosted the cast of The Vampire Diaries in Beijing. For chief executive Charles Zhang, adding U.S. entertainment was pretty simple: Hollywood content was cheap for Chinese sites because its success was not guaranteed, yet demand for pirated shows proved that fans existed in big numbers.

????"Thanks to piracy, there's a general interest," Zhang tells Fortune as he sits at a massive conference table that doubles as his office at Sohu's headquarters on Beijing's northwest side. An admitted fan of Breaking Bad and the 1990s film My Cousin Vinny, Zhang says Sohu moved into buying Western television shows after broadcasting Chinese television dramas.

????The site added exclusive rights for The Big Bang Theory in 2009. The CBS comedy has not only become Sohu's the most popular U.S. show with 1.5 billion views, but also all of China's favorite foreign show. (The show also leads in ratings in its native U.S.) Because of the show's popularity, government censors may have been trying to send a message by banning the sitcom, despite its uncontroversial plotlines.

????Saturday Night Live was another coup for the company. Last year, Broadway Video Enterprises, which distributes the program, received a call from Sohu asking what it would take to bring the show to China. Broadway's president Britta von Schoeler had tried and failed for 10 years to broadcast SNL in China, but problems always arose: negotiating from New York was difficult and middlemen could never close the deal. "I didn't know much about them," she admits. But Sohu agreed to buy the current season of SNL and, following some positive press, signed on for next year's 40th anniversary season. Though the Sohu deal is "a small fraction" of the revenues from agreements with Netflix or Hulu, von Schoeler says, it finally gives SNL a foothold in China.

????Next steps

????In recent years, China's dominant video sites have focused on acquiring rights to Western television programs because of the relative ease of adding advertisements to a show. (Entire TV seasons have many more opportunities for 1-minute commercials than does a film.) But today's deals for Captain America and others hold promise that movies are becoming China's next hot ticket. Zhang predicts that the $100 million that Chinese video sites spend to license Western content in 2014 could easily double over the next three years because of new film deals.

????"Unlike the U.S., where you have a DVD window and HBO window, in China these don't exist," Youku CEO Victor Koo says. Because Chinese theaters are

????limited by the government to showing 34 foreign films a year, China's video sites quickly become the destination for Western content. Which is why Disney and Warner Bros. (TWX) have signed deals with Youku's subscription movie site called Youku Premium. Koo says the studios are making money on the deals that include revenue sharing agreements.

????Forecasts indicate that China will become the world's largest movie market in six years -- which means interest in Western content will continue to grow, so long as they can continue to combat piracy and collaborate with the government.

????Back at the Captain America premiere in Biejing, a sign hung from a little shop across the road from the event: "CD/DVD STORE." Inside, there were rows and rows of counterfeit DVDs for sale. On a back shelf? Captain America.