Type of business State-owned media Headquarters Beijing, China Website en.ipanda.com | Founded January 2013 (2013-01) Parent CNTV | |
Available in Chinese, English, Deutsch | ||
iPanda is an online channel featuring a 24-hour live streaming of giant pandas. In August 2013 China Network Television (CNTV) launched this panda broadcast in collaboration with Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, aiming to provide a window to observe giant panda's real daily life and to address concerns about endangered species. This panda broadcasting is presented mainly on the ipanda.com official website, which is available in English, simplified Chinese, and German.
Contents
24 hour live streaming
CNTV has set up more than 30 high definition video cameras in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and also Wolong National Nature Reserve. Through those cameras, a group of program directors in the control room are able to observe pandas, and they will select about 20 cameras for online live streaming, to ensure the perfect view. On the website, people can get to watch pandas in different stages of life including adult pandas, young pandas and cubs. Registered users can also make comments on the platform below the live streaming.
Request programs
Taking advantage of the footage captured, program directors will also produce 30-minute request videos everyday in various themes including panda wiki, panda profile, and panda stories. Those request videos will be accessible on the Youtube iPandaChannel and also on other social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
Documentaries of Pandas
A few panda-themed documentaries and feature programs owned by CCTV(China Central Television) can be found on the website for those who want to know more about pandas. At the same time, iPanda.com will produce some elaborate documentaries.
History
On April 11, 2013 in Beijing, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and CNTV reached an agreement on the establishment of iPanda.com after an official signing ceremony, and they immediately started preparing for the test launch (which was estimated in June, 2013).
On June 24, 2013, after months of preparation, the CNTV tested the launch of the website as planned. As reported by the Xinhuanet, this website "has since attracted nearly 15,000 Internet users to visit and leave comments."
After the two-week inception, this online channel ipanda.com was finally launched officially and made available worldwide since August 6, 2013.
Realizing the channel's potential, CNTV re-launched this channel with brand-new features in January, 2016. This change was to introduce China to the world by revealing all aspects of China besides pandas, and to eventually create a "China Live" platform. For the current English version, a 24 live-streaming of Golden Monkeys (another endangered animal species in China) has been added.
Success
Just four days after its test-launch, the website had "attracted nearly 15,000 Internet users to visit and leave comments", reported by XinhuaNet News. In 2013, at the first China Internet Audio-visual Conference (a national-level annual summit), IPanda won the first place for Innovation Models.
Meanwhile, it was also a success abroad. The channel can reach over 204 countries and regions all around the world and the oversea users account for more than 40% of viewers.
Criticism
However, this channel has also been criticised. The Atlantic calls it "Giant Panda Reality TV show" and argues that nowadays the China government overemphasized panda's business value, which could possbiliy have a bad influence on conservation efforts. Other concerns are about Panda Propaganda. Some columnists expressed the view that this big-spending program is part of China's soft power and diplomacy