Baidu, China's dominant search engine, yesterday launched "Baidu TV", an online video advertising service, expecting it to be a new profit driver to help widen the gap with its rivals, Chinese versions of Google and Yahoo.

Baidu TV is the result of a partnership between Baidu and Ads it! Media Corporation, a Chinese online video advertising platform provider.

Baidu will provide advertisers access to about 160,000 domestic websites under the Baidu Union, where they can post online video ads.