Alibaba "lost" to Tencent in these three major areas?You can tell the clues from the domain names!

When we talk about today's internet giants, names like Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, and ByteDance often come to mind. Among them, Tencent and Alibaba are frequently compared. While both of these giants have achieved remarkable success, there are areas where Alibaba has been outperformed by Tencent. Today, let's take a look at whether even Jack Ma, the visionary behind Alibaba, has experienced investment "failures." We can glimpse this in the domain names used in these three major areas.

1. The First Major Area: The Gaming Industry

Tencent's gaming revenue accounts for over 40% of its total revenue, making it a significant business segment. Tencent's official gaming website domain is the second-level domain game.qq.com.

Tencent has put considerable effort into domain names. In July 2016, its gaming subsidiary acquired the domain name Paragon.com. In August 2016, Tencent's gaming testing platform secured wetest.cn/.net. In April 2017, Tencent launched its gaming platform WeGame and spent a seven-figure sum to acquire Wegame.com as its official website domain. Related domains like tencentWeGame.com/.cn/.com.cn have also been registered by Tencent. Additionally, QQ's gaming platform uses the second-level domain qqgame.qq.com.

Even Alibaba, which once proclaimed "never to do games," couldn't resist the allure of the gaming industry. Alibaba Games' official website domain is aligames.com, which redirects to Lingxi Interactive, an Alibaba subsidiary. Alibaba Games' mobile gaming platform, Jiu You (Nine Game), uses the official website domain 9game.cn. However, it's evident that Alibaba entered the gaming arena relatively late, and its gaming landscape still lags behind Tencent's.

2. The Second Major Area: The Food Delivery Industry

Tencent, as the largest shareholder in Meituan, contributed to Meituan's growth, making it the third-largest internet company in China after Alibaba and Tencent.

Reportedly, Wang Xing, the founder of Meituan, had pre-purchased the double-pin domain "美团" (meituan.com/.net) before launching Meituan's website. In 2013, Maoyan Movie acquired the double-pin domain "猫眼" (maoyan.com). In October 2015, Meituan merged with Dianping, and the domain "点评" (dianping.com) became part of Meituan's assets. In 2016, Meituan acquired QianDaiBao and secured the domain "钱袋" (qiandai.com). In 2017, Meituan launched "榛果民宿" (Zhenguo Homestay) and acquired the related domain names "榛果" (zhenguo.com/.net). Meituan also owns a plethora of high-quality Pinyin domains like Mengmai.com (Mumbai), jiezhuan.cn (borrow and transfer), and Kuxun.cn (cool information).

In April 2018, Alibaba acquired Ele.me for an estimated $9.5 billion, strengthening its presence in the food delivery market. However, Ele.me's official website domain is ele.me, which is unconventional and not as universally recognizable as .com suffix domains. While it may be creatively appealing, it could face challenges if it aims for international expansion. The official website domain for Fengniao Delivery, owned by Ele.me, is the second-level domain fengniao.ele.me. However, Meituan boasts a larger user base than Ele.me, making Alibaba slightly less competitive in this regard.

3. The Third Major Area: Online Video Platforms

Tencent Video's official website domain is Tencent's second-level domain v.qq.com, while its international version, WeTV, uses the domain wetv.com. In late June of this year, Tencent acquired the Malaysian streaming platform Iflix, adding the domain iflix.com to its portfolio. Tencent Video, backed by the high-traffic portal QQ, has maintained a solid position as long as it continues to develop steadily.

Alibaba's Youku Video, acquired in 2015 for $8 billion, has the official website domain youku.com. In the fiscal year 2019, the loss of Alibaba's entertainment sector, including Youku, amounted to CNY 15.796 billion. With intense competition from short-video platforms, Youku is no longer just up against Tencent and iQiyi but also faces numerous other rivals. In essence, time may be running out for Youku.

In summary, Tencent has excelled in gaming, food delivery, and online video platforms. They have not only diligently protected their own brand domains but also demonstrated a strong awareness of domain protection when investing in other brands like Meituan. Beyond their exceptional product offerings, Tencent's comprehensive and precise domain strategies have played a vital role in their success.

The entire internet industry is currently experiencing robust growth and intense competition with boundless potential. As market dynamics evolve and business models change, domain names, as essential elements of building an online brand, will continue to be a critical battleground for major enterprises.