If there is any business other than short video that makes Tencent always “staying in the stomach”, it must be information flow.
On November 18th, Tencent announced that it will upgrade its information stream content service to a new brand “Tencent Aspect”. Users can browse articles through Tencent through three platforms: WeChat, Tencent QQ and QQ browser. Pictures, small videos, short videos, live broadcasts, and more. At the same time, Tencent also includes two independent apps and watchpoint live broadcasts of a WeChat applet, focusing on the general information flow, 1~3 minutes of PGC horizontal short video and live streaming. service.
It should be noted that Tencent has not launched a new information streaming content app, but instead has its original information streaming services scattered on various platforms (including QQ, Daily Express, Watch Video, etc.). ) Integrated into a brand, that is to say, “Tencent Aspect” itself is a service brand rather than an App.
If it sounds a bit winding, this picture can clearly see the composition of Tencent’s point of view: the information flow service embedded in the three platforms of WeChat, QQ, QQ browser, two App (see Express is the original daily express, watch video on line in April this year) with a live small program.
This also means that after the integration is completed, Tencent has the first brand that can directly flank the standard byte and Baidu’s information flow business.
Is Tencent ready for a fierce battle in the information flow field? The conference revealed several key figures: Tencent’s current DAU has reached 185 million, with a daily consumption of 49 minutes per person, and plans to provide more than 3 billion subsidies for outstanding content creators by 2020. .
In the future, the fierce competition between the three may be more intuitively presented in the financial figures.
What is the logic of Tencent’s information flow?
The reason why only integration does not launch a new app, Tencent Vice President Yin Yu summed up two reasons, one is the team’s own experience of cross-platform content operation, and the other is the background of industry and user habits, that is, users obtain information. The demand does not depend on a particular channel, but throughout the various scenarios of the Internet, almost everywhere.
On this basis, Tencent has provided fragmented information content on QQ (original QQ watch), WeChat (through WeChat applet), and QQ browser, and also for heavy information intake. The user has set up two independent apps, namely, the Express Express (formerly Daily Express) and the Watch Video, as well as a live stream of live streaming programs.
If you have to pull a matching product for each product, you can watch the current headline and watch the video to be able to beat the watermelon video that is also based on PGC video.
The live broadcast applet provides e-commerce live broadcasts, which can be distributed on multiple platforms by generating small code posters to broaden the channels of communication. Yin Yu said in an interview after the press conference that in the case of e-commerce, the most important partner is Jingdong and more.
Tencent hopes to cover users of all ages through such a comprehensive layout – for example, QQ is locked in the young group after 95s and 00, and young users under 25 account for 70%; Express reports that the user’s overall age is too large, with 27% of users over 40 years old.
Where is it difficult to integrate?
Behind the product is the integration of Tencent’s internal organizational structure.
In a major organizational restructuring announced on September 30 last year, Tencent withdrew its mobile Internet business group (MIG), online media business group (OMG) and social networking business group (SNG), and incorporated the above business. The newly established Platform and Content Business Group (PCG). Before integration, QQ is affiliated with SNG, and QQ browser is affiliated with MIG.Everyday Express is part of the OMG – now you should understand how widely Tencent’s previous information flow business.
Yin Yu admits that the idea of integrating all information flow business inside is after “930”. At present, the main body of Tencent’s team is composed of the above three products. He also said that Tencent’s role is more like a content service provider, and can apply technical capabilities including recommendation algorithms, operational strategies, and auditing mechanisms to different front ends. In the future, it will not be excluded from other projects or external organizations of Tencent. Cooperation.
This sounds more like trying to build a middle platform belonging to Tencent, or at least the middle station of PCG – a recommended distribution engine that condenses Tencent’s technical capabilities. The future is not only the information flow business, It may also be applied to other products such as micro-vision, breaking the data barrier between the team and the business line. When you want to develop new products, you can also use it directly to solve the problem of Tencent’s previous repetitive wheel-making caused by the horse racing mechanism. “problem.
But the question that Tencent still needs to solve is, is it really open?
The adjusted PCG covers Tencent News, long and short video (Tencent video, microvision), Tencent Pictures, Tencent Animation, information flow, QQ and QQ space and other key business lines. Each business team and management team has previously belonged to four different business groups, and it is quite difficult to fully integrate in a short period of time.
When asked about the current WeChat to see if Tencent News and other services belong to Tencent’s point of view system, Yin Yu said that the information flow business does not include both.
He attributed this to the different attributes of each business. For example, WeChat looks more focused on social sharing. It is not completely connected with the recommendation system. The content is also concentrated on the WeChat public account, rather than more open. The content is ecologically integrated; the news business has different content forms, although there are also components of information flow, but it is mainly a self-written news client.
This means that although Tencent’s point of view indicates that the integration of information flow services has been completed, there are still a small number of “legacy left”, and Tencent’s content ecosystem has not yet fully integrated and shared a set of technologies and products. .
In the future, commercialization will be one of the main tasks of Tencent. Yin Yu said that on the basis of doing a good job, he believes that Tencent’s advertising will soon usher in an outbreak of income.