Tencent Issues Apology for Outage at its Netflix-like Video Streaming Service
Updated: Jan 5
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has issued an apology for a recent outage at its popular video streaming service, Tencent Video.
This incident comes on the heels of similar glitches experienced by other major tech firms, including Alibaba Group Holding and Didi Chuxing.
Tencent Video acknowledged the technical issues and assured users that its team was working diligently to resolve the problems. Some users took to Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service, to share screenshots of error messages indicating a failure to retrieve data. Additionally, some subscribers reported that their subscription plans were rendered unusable.
The company stated that it was gradually restoring the functions of Tencent Video and expressed regret for the inconvenience caused by the outage. As of now, Tencent has not provided any further updates on the current status of the service.
Tencent Video faces fierce competition from other leading video streaming platforms in China, such as Baidu's iQiyi and Alibaba's Youku. The industry is also grappling with the emergence of short video sites, which pose a new competitive threat.
In the third quarter, Tencent's video streaming service had 117 million subscribers, representing a 2% decline compared to the previous year. The platform offers premium content for a monthly subscription fee starting at 30 yuan (US$4.21).
This outage at Tencent Video follows major disruptions experienced by Alibaba's cloud computing unit and Didi, the country's largest ride-hailing service. Didi recently encountered a two-day service breakdown that affected millions of users across major cities. Alibaba Cloud also faced an outage last month, impacting customers in mainland China, Hong Kong and the United States.
Tencent's super-app WeChat, which boasts 1.34 billion monthly active users, also suffered a breakdown earlier this year due to a failure of supporting facilities. The incident prompted China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to summon Tencent for an explanation and necessary rectification measures.
In a separate move, Tencent has announced the closure of Moo, a small music streaming service targeting the younger generation. The app, launched in 2018 as a complement to Tencent's main music apps, will cease operations on December 31.
Tencent apologises for the outage at its Netflix-like video streaming service.
Users experienced technical issues and received error messages.
The company is gradually restoring the functions of Tencent Video.
Competition in the Chinese video streaming industry is intensifying.
Tencent's WeChat and Alibaba's cloud computing unit have also faced disruptions in the past.
Source: SCMP