Youku working with Michelle Phan to drive its business

Michelle Phan. [Photo/IC]

It is no secret that internet personalities these days can be as effective as expensive marketing campaigns. And China's major video portal Youku wants a slice of the action.

YouTube star Michelle Phan launched her own channel on China's major video portal Youku recently.

During her trip to China, she hosted a gathering for local fans and created makeup for some of them in Beijing, which was broadcast live on Youku on Oct 13.

The move is part of Youku's plan to introduce more international internet personalities and semi professionals to its platform, which already has more than 100 such video bloggers on it.

Cosmetics and apparel are among the top three categories on Tmall, China's major online market place, and consumers are now increasingly relying on internet personalities to make their purchase decisions, says Ge Wei, vice-president of Youku Tudou Inc.

Youku has recently collaborated with Alibaba, the owner of Tmall, to merge videos with e-commerce.

The collaboration allows the audience to buy the products while watching the video, which also presents an opportunity for Phan.

With more than 7.5 million subscribers, Phan's videos have been viewed more than 1 billion times and she is one of the most watched personalities online.

Phan has her own beauty subscription service, Ipsy.