Zhang Yimou’s “One Second” was released this year.
文|高海博
According to the film industry, this year is considered a “small year” for the whole industry.
“Loss” has become the theme of major listed film and television companies. Huayi Brothers expects a loss of 325 million to 330 million yuan in the first half of the year; Beijing culture expects a loss of 48 million yuan to 68 million in the first half of the year; Tangde film and television is expected to lose 72.5 million Yuan to 77.5 million yuan……
This situation is due to the fact that the film and television products of the film and television company are encountering more and more uncertain factors. On the other hand, the capital market has made a new evaluation of the film and television media, and the instability of its profit model is infinite. amplification.
The film and television company has long realized this and tried to resist the risk of uncertainty through structural design. Huayi Brothers proposed “de-filming” to develop real-life entertainment; Bona tried to expand its stable income source by acquiring cinemas, but these measures have been slow and have not been recognized by the capital market.
In 2015, Joy Media began to consider how to use structural design to hedge the uncertainty of film and television companies. They refer to the structural model of the American DreamWorks, and brought in the top Chinese directors such as Ning Hao, Xu Wei, Zhang Yimou, and Chen Kexin, and obtained the investment rights and production rights of these directors’ works through share allotment and project funds.
After three years of structural design, as of June 30, 2019, Joy Media achieved revenue of HK$1,069 million, an increase of 11.61 times over the same period of last year, and a net profit of HK$322 million, which turned losses into profits for the first time.
“This model will give the director more security, the film project will receive financial support, and the directors will hold the company’s stock, which can achieve greater economic returns through the company’s performance growth.” CEO Xiang Shaozhen said in an interview.
In addition to the director’s shareholding, Joy Media also has a streaming media business – a happy premiere. This video site does not have a lot of free content like iQiyi and Youku, but pays for it all. The content is mainly purchased by Joy Media and the film it invests in. It is more like a small and beautiful selection platform, for example. Like this year’s Spring Festival movie “Crazy Alien” is no longer distributed to other video sites, but is exclusively broadcasted by the premiere of joy.
The mode of binding the director + streaming platform is leading, but whether the “small and beautiful” video website can be established remains to be tested.
: At the moment, if the “Frenzy Aliens” is distributed to other video platforms, the revenue is higher than that of the single broadcast. Which one is higher, and how many users can be covered in the future to cover the cost and even profit. ?
Xiang Shaozhen: If you look at the current number of users, it must be a high distribution income. The main reason is that the entire platform is in its infancy, starting trial operation in October 2018. In June this year, there were more than 1 million paying users. Although distribution can bring short-term income, we regard the happy premiere as a long-distance running and need patience. . Since many movies are produced by the company, the advantage is that they can quickly appear in the happy premiere after the theater is released, without waiting for the deadline. In the future, the company’s self-produced dramas will also be launched in a solo broadcast to drive user growth. We have previously measured that if effective users can achieve break-even at tens of millions of levels.
: It’s a relatively slow process to rely solely on the company’s production content. After the cat’s eye investment in the media last July, the cat’s eye platform also embedded a happy premiere platform. What is the ability?
Xue Shaozhen: The company also hopes that companies with strong traffic will cooperate. Cat’s eyes are a very matching partner, and their users are also happy to premiere their hopes. Cats have more than 100 million monthly users, we can get more traffic support from them, and cat eyes can also cut into the upstream to get the distribution rights of the company’s production movies. This is a cooperation that both sides need.
: Do you consider making a happy premiere for a separate financing?
Xiang Shaozhen: The premiere of the show is part of a listed company. It is a relatively important business, so it will be developed under the framework of a listed company for the time being, and will not be split.