Cartoonist thrives on Internet

A cartoon created at home by a computer programmer has raised 1.19 million yuan ($194,000) through online donations and payments, illustrating the power of the Internet and its role in the low-budget cartoon industry.

100,000 Bad Jokes, a series that includes 11 five-minute-long episodes, has now had more than 500 million clicks after it premiered in July 2012.

The series is adapted from the popular 1980s Chinese cartoon series The Seven Brothers of Calabash. The new cartoon consists of seven characters that try to save their fathers from snake spirits.

The cartoon was created by netizen "Hanwu" and shown via the online platform Youyaoqi. Neither Hanwu, a computer programmer, nor the people at Youyaoqi anticipated such success, although the platform was designed with animators like Hanwu in mind.

Youyaoqi offers opportunities for those wanting to create their own animated cartoons, and nearly 10,000 cartoonists have registered, with more than 20,000 pieces of work published so far.

The founder of Youyaoqi, 31-year-old Zhou Jingqi, classes himself as a "rule breaker" for not following the example of China's mainstream cartoon industry, which has relied heavily on translating successful comic books into cartoon form. China's animation industry has acted mostly as a "manufacturer" of foreign products, and has won little global recognition for its efforts, according to Zhou.

"The Internet rules now," he said. "The Internet is a platform allowing authors to communicate with the audience directly."

On the platform, the most recent episodes of each cartoon are made available in advance to paying customers, who can also vote for their favorites and make comments, which in return attracts more viewers.

Zhou said, "Some people are skeptical about our business. No one has ever done it before. Do cartoon makers like to put productions online? Would they go on to do that? How often do you update your series?"

With so many questions over the business model, it's perhaps not surprising that revenue is something of an issue at Youyaoqi.

Most of the website's revenue comes from viewer subscriptions, and some of this trickles down to the contributors. However, the website has started to explore new ways of ensuring the cartoonist are paid for their efforts.

One method is crowdfunding, a collective effort of netizens to pool their money for a particular purpose. In the case of 100,000 Bad Jokes, crowd-funding by users of Youyaoqi raised 1.19 million yuan.

Meanwhile, commercial advertisements are popping up in cartoon episodes, a fact that has prompted complaints from some users. A recent two-minute animation supported by three minutes of advertising, for example, sparked particular criticism.

Gao Weihua, animation department director at the Communication University of China, said the Internet provides free distribution for independent animators, and offers alternatives to traditional channels that are often prohibitively expensive.

However, with the Internet-based distribution system still in its infancy, Gao recommends that animation producers consider their business model carefully before taking the plunge.

Zhou Jingqi, meanwhile, is confident that he can develop his business to include other platforms and products, such as animation-based games and mobile phone applications.

"We believe it will work. We keep telling our colleagues that we mustn't give up," Zhou said.