TNL Take: Due to The Great Firewall of China, Google's numerous products including YouTube and its core Search functionality are not accessible to the country's 1B+ population.
Google is looking to circumvent these restrictions through last week's investment in Chinese mobile live streaming and esports platform, Chushou
Founded in 2015, Chushou has 90M registered users and 8M Unique Streamers - while smaller than other Chinese live streaming sites like Douyu.tv (30M Daily Active Users) or Panda.tv - with Google's involvement, Chushou will be looking to grow internationally as well.
Chushou's main notable difference is that it focuses on live streaming mobile games where China's usage is enormous. My chats with China Global Television Network around mobile gaming usage:
Along with the Google/Chushou investment, China's YY Inc. is planning to spin off it's esports video platform Huya Broadcasting in the U.S. and seeking to raise $200M.
Time will tell if Google will be able to grow Chushou to compete with Twitch outside of China but this significant investment shows another big bet on mobile gaming and esports.