The Advancing Alibaba Entertainment

Author | Liu Baodan

Editor | Huang Yu

What will become a societal issue in 10 years?

In 2016, Jack Ma raised this question and provided his answer: Double H (Health and Happiness). At that time, Alibaba invested over 50 billion yuan to build a vast landscape around "happiness," which was the embryonic form of Alibaba's digital entertainment.

Now, nine years after its establishment, Alibaba's digital entertainment has decided to undergo a "rebranding."

On May 21, Alibaba's digital entertainment group officially changed its name to Orca Entertainment Group, and its subsidiary Alibaba Pictures was renamed Damai Entertainment. In the future, Orca Entertainment will use Youku and Damai Entertainment as core engines to create happiness for users. Insiders told Wall Street Insight that although the mission and vision of Alibaba's digital entertainment have not changed, the pace of the company's development is clearly different.

This is not just a simple brand upgrade; it is also a signal of Alibaba's digital entertainment seeking change. At the press conference, Wu Qian, Chief Operating Officer of Youku and President of Alibaba Fish, stated, "Behind the new name is Orca Entertainment starting a new journey with a zero-based mindset and an entrepreneurial posture."

As an important symbol of Alibaba Group's transition from e-commerce to diversification strategy, Alibaba's digital entertainment was established in 2016. At that time, Alibaba unified and integrated businesses such as Youku, Alibaba Pictures, Alibaba Music, and Alibaba Literature into the entertainment sector, fully laying out the "happiness" industry. In 2023, during Alibaba Group's restructuring into six parts, digital entertainment was identified as one of the six major business groups, embarking on an independent development path. On May 15, Alibaba released its fourth-quarter performance announcement for fiscal year 2025, reporting an adjusted EBITA profit of 36 million yuan for Alibaba's digital entertainment, achieving a turnaround from losses to profits.

Standing at a new starting point of profitability, Alibaba's digital entertainment plans to carve out a new territory.

"In the future, we will firmly adhere to the 'content + technology' dual-driven strategy to provide users with a full-scenario entertainment experience both online and offline," Wu Qian stated. Although the name of digital entertainment has changed, the business strategy remains unchanged. In the future, it will leverage AI and technology to promote healthy development in the entertainment industry, creating a Noah's Ark of entertainment that can withstand cycles.

However, the continuously emerging content forms combined with rapidly iterating AI technology pose higher demands on the entertainment industry. For Alibaba's digital entertainment to achieve greater success, it needs to demonstrate real capabilities.

Seeking Change

Whether in name or external image, Alibaba's digital entertainment is presenting itself with a brand new look. Alibaba's animal kingdom family now includes an orca.

An insider from Alibaba told Wall Street Insight that orcas are large yet agile and intelligent, capable of adapting to various complex environments. They are typical social animals with abundant emotions and are very friendly to humans, making the choice of orca very fitting for the ideals pursued by digital entertainment.

Wu Qian stated that the entertainment industry requires significant content investment and has long production cycles. How to navigate through cycles not only tests insights into consumer demand but also the balance of input and output through refined operations. She hopes to leverage AI technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency, creating a digital, symbiotic, and joyful entertainment ecosystem.

The so-called "digital intelligence" is dedicated to truly integrating AI into the bloodline of the entertainment industry, building a new entertainment landscape for the AI era According to the aforementioned informed sources, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment has made AI-driven attempts from both the content production and experience service ends, with AI appearing in various usage scenarios, such as AI-assisted generation of digital assets, AI-assisted improvement of virtual shooting calibration efficiency, and AI-assisted enhancement of ultra-high-definition content production efficiency.

According to Wu Qian, in the field of virtual shooting, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment has already implemented Frame Enjoy digital studios in multiple cities, deeply supporting the filming of several S-level series and theatrical films; in addition, the company has created a promotional service platform called Lighthouse for film producers, saving partners over 20% of their promotional budgets.

In March, the intellectual property analysis agency IPRdaily released the "Global Virtual Shooting Technology Invention Patent Ranking (TOP 30)," with related patent applications from China accounting for 52%. Youku ranked first globally with 80 virtual shooting invention patents. At the same time, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment released the 5.0 version of its virtual shooting solution, which can significantly enhance film and television production efficiency.

"Symbiosis" refers to building an industrialized film and television system and sharing results with the industry. Currently, it is still in the early stages of the industrialization of film and television. According to Wall Street Insights, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment's virtual shooting has evolved from 2D window scenes to 3D immersive visual effects, and now to real-time special effects generation, entering a virtuous development model. As for "happiness," this is the mission of Alibaba's Digital Entertainment, to bring joy to everyone through entertainment consumption.

Behind the three keywords of digital intelligence, symbiosis, and happiness, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment aims to seize the technological transformation period and reach a new level.

Alibaba's Digital Entertainment's confidence lies in the fact that the company has achieved phased results in leading content production, technological infrastructure layout, and talent cooperation and training. For example, in terms of Youku series, "Dust Storm" has a Douban score of 8.1, setting a new record for the highest score in suspense dramas this year, while "The Edge of Water," "Snow Maze," and "Newborn" are also well-received films. "Good Things," produced by Alibaba Pictures, has received good reviews, and "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" have attracted widespread attention both domestically and internationally.

Talent cultivation is also noteworthy. In recent years, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment has attracted many emerging directors, such as Shen Ao, director of the film "All In," who collaborated with Youku on the highly acclaimed series "Newborn," as well as professional talents like the director of "The Edge of Water," Suan, "Detective Chinatown" series screenwriter Liu Wusi, and co-animation director of "Nezha 2," Hao Shan, who have all joined Alibaba's Digital Entertainment.

Alibaba's Digital Entertainment provides platforms and opportunities for newcomers, and its initiated "Spring Seed Screenwriter Program" and "International Young Director Development Program" are also reserving talent for the future. Wall Street Insights has learned that in the past five years, 294 screenwriters and 38 directors have had their series debut on Youku.

However, challenges should not be underestimated. In recent years, content represented by short videos and micro-short dramas has continuously occupied users' time, especially with the rapid rise of micro-short dramas, whose market scale has already caught up with the film industry. More importantly, the business model represented by micro-short dramas is more efficient and has posed a threat to the traditional film and television industry, which Alibaba's Digital Entertainment also needs to break through.

While AI brings opportunities, it also carries risks. Although backed by Alibaba, Alibaba's Digital Entertainment has an advantage in AI technology, platforms like iQIYI, Tencent, and Hongguo Short Drama are also backed by tech giants like Baidu, Tencent, and ByteDance, which have deeply laid out AI, making this a comprehensive test of integrating AI technology with film and television expertise In particular, Alibaba's digital entertainment division still needs to improve its self-sustaining capabilities. Chen Liteng, a digital life analyst at the E-commerce Research Center of the Internet Economy Institute, stated that the overall profitability of Alibaba's digital entertainment still has uncertainties, and it is necessary to be vigilant about the uncertainties of content investment and returns, the pressure of commercializing AI technology, and the balance between cost control and content quality.

For Alibaba's digital entertainment, it is time for a change to disrupt the already solidified entertainment industry landscape and seek better innovation opportunities.

Strike

As one of the dual engines of Alibaba's digital entertainment, Alibaba Pictures is also undergoing a brand upgrade.

At the press conference, Alibaba Pictures President Li Jie announced that Alibaba Pictures has officially changed its name to Damai Entertainment, and the company has also created a new opening animation logo that will appear in every film in the future. The subsidiary of Alibaba Pictures, Damai Client, is also undergoing an update.

According to insiders from Wall Street News, the continuous expansion of the company's business landscape over the past few years has made "film" insufficient to cover all of the company's business scenarios. In addition to movies, the company also has multiple business segments including performances, commercial derivatives, series, and artist management, and the name change better aligns with the company's future diversified development needs.

The renaming also reflects a strategic upgrade. At the press conference, Alibaba Pictures first stated that it will strive to become Asia's leading real-life experience company with a technological gene. Real-life experience is a form of live entertainment that differs from digital, fragmented, and virtualized digital entertainment methods, emphasizing on-site experiences, interactive experiences, and immersive experiences.

The aforementioned insiders indicated that entertainment and AI will become the two strategic keywords for Alibaba Pictures' development, which is also a consideration for incorporating "entertainment" into the new name. In the future, Alibaba Pictures will place greater emphasis on the originality of content and the creation of entertainment IP, aiming to build a real-life entertainment platform with a technological gene.

"Mastering originality is the key to truly grasping the future, and we will take 3 to 5 years to become Asia's leading content original company," Li Jie stated, adding that they will leverage seven major content brands, over 20 studios' content ecological clusters, and the "International Young Director Development Program" to bring more great stories to life.

Regarding entertainment IP, Li Jie revealed that Alibaba Pictures will comprehensively launch more influential entertainment IP in the three major content business areas of film, performance, and series. Starting in 2025, the company will continue to release high-quality films of various types and live performances with top-notch stage interaction effects. "We want to align ourselves with the world's top entertainment companies and create more original story series that belong to us."

In terms of commercial derivatives, Alibaba Pictures' Aliyu has grown into a leading IP operation management and commercialization development platform in China, serving over 200 top global IPs such as the Sanrio family and Pokémon. In artist management, the company has signed and collaborated with over a hundred artists of various types.

Overall, emphasizing on-site, interactive, and immersive experiences in real-life entertainment represents the future consumption trend. However, doing entertainment business around experiences will inevitably raise higher demands for service details, which will be a significant challenge.

Eleven years ago, Alibaba Pictures was established, and after years of exploration, it has become a company that connects the entire entertainment industry chain with offline entertainment consumption services. Now, as the vanguard of Alibaba's digital entertainment, Alibaba Pictures is set to upgrade and tackle challenges "There is no conservatism in Alibaba's genes, only creation." Half a month ago, Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu posted that Alibaba's historically disruptive innovations have always chosen difficult paths that few have taken. At the same time, the AI technology revolution has also provided Alibaba's diverse products and services with the opportunity to generate greater synergy and create entirely new user experiences.

Creating happiness is a very difficult thing, and Alibaba's big entertainment sector is finally about to start a new chapter