This article is from WeChat public account “One Entertainment Watch” (ID: yiyuguancha) < span class = "text-remarks">, text: Mu Qing, editor: Shiyang Yang, the original title was “Establish” Long Tail Coordinates “to Save Losing Video Platform”.
The video platform is in urgent need of a revolution to improve operational efficiency.
Tencent Video’s “2019 TV Series Annual Index Report” released at the end of 2019 lists new evaluation dimensions such as the average broadcast volume TOP10, membership value TOP10, and long tail playback volume TOP10. In “Iqiyi TV Series Year-end Inventory” released by iQIYI, it also lists the TOP10 of national recognition, TOP10 of the drama in the topic circle and other indicators.
No longer limited to a single ranking of total play volume, the broadcast platform’s consideration of episode content is more refined, and social benefits, economic benefits, and long-tail performance are included.
Among them, the old dramas such as “New Three Kingdoms”, “Lang Ye Bang”, and “Zhen Ye Biography” still have a strong appeal to paying members after being broadcast for several years. “Comparable. The immortal charm of classic content can not help but make the industry look forward to: If the video platform can produce several such classic dramas every year, will it reverse the loss of the entire industry?
Comparing the earnings reports of iQiyi and Netflix, our video platform has a long historyThe reason for the loss is not only the excessive annual content cost expenditure, but also the short content life. Iqiyi spends about 20 billion yuan on purchasing content every year, 90% of which will be left unattended after one year, and a large amount of cost needs to be amortized within one year. The content on the Netflix platform can withstand repeated viewing by users, and 90% of the content cost can be amortized over four years.
This simple comparison of data is caused by both the video platform itself and the shortcomings of the domestic film and television industry. In the current environment, creating a qualified popcorn drama is very rare. How to target classic content?
Cultivation of creative talents, division of labor in all aspects of the system, and insights into users … The process of turning a video platform into a profit is also a process of the transformation of film and television industrialization into deep-water areas.
2019 video platform returns to classics
As soon as 2020, Country Love 12 was announced to be broadcast on Youku during the Spring Festival. With a production frequency of two years or one year, this rural theme drama has accompanied the audience through 14 spring and autumn.
To ask why the broadcast platform is so infatuated with Asantun, “Rural Love 11” broadcast on January 26, 2019 may give some answers.
Data source: Yunhe Data
According to the statistics of Yunhe Data, the show can still produce 700,000 to 1 million effective plays per day, almost one year after it is broadcast, ranking second place in Youku’s 2019 effective content playback.
And Youku’s 2019 member content effectively broadcasts the No. 1 Zhen Huan Biography. Since it was broadcast in 2011, there are still about 3 million effective broadcasts per day. Even though her sister’s Biography of Rugao is not as good as the former, it can produce 2 to 3 million effective broadcasts every day. The medium-cost costume drama “ Charmer ” broadcast in July 2018″Borderless”, today’s effective playback is also between 1-1.3 million.
By contrast, more episodes just caused a huge amount of discussion during the broadcast, but the click-through rate dropped rapidly after the broadcast period and disappeared.
For example, “Song of the Song Dynasty” aired on June 3, 2019, is currently effectively broadcasted between 200,000 to 500,000 a day; the suspense drama “Umbrella” aired on October 18, 2018, every day The effective broadcast is between 70,000 and 110,000; the “Stubborn Man” broadcast on November 22, 2018, is now effectively broadcasted between 200,000 and 300,000 every day.
Data source: Yunhe Data
Every year the video platform pays tens of billions of dollars in capital costs to purchase content, but very few can be settled. Most of them have become time-consuming fast-moving consumer goods, and they can’t stand time considerations.
In this case, the video platform has reconsidered classic film and television. For example, iQiyi and Youku have carried out large-scale classic film and television drama repair and replay in 2019.
“It is the ebb of capital, lack of content reserves, and policy wait-and-see that have contributed to the fascination of classic content.” In response, a platform producer told Yiyu Watch, compared with It takes a lot of cost to produce new dramas with uncontrollable quality. It is better to use AI and other computer technologies to repair old dramas in order to maintain user stickiness.
Youku started the classic film restoration project in 2017. In June 2019, it established the “HD Classic” zone. It is classified according to well-known filmmakers such as Zhou Xingchi, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, “Soldier Assault”, “Iron Tooth Ji Xiaolan” After waiting for the national drama classics to upgrade, they will meet with users again.
According to the HD Classic Consumption Report released by Youku on December 6, since the launch of the HD Classic Zone in June, hundreds of millions of users have watched on mobile for 1 hour per day. The post-90s viewing time accounted for 42.7%, 8After 0, the viewing time accounted for 37.4%, and the viewing time of “Beijing No War” and “The First Part of Returning to Zhugege” increased by more than 170% year-on-year.
Thanks to such obvious market feedback, Tencent Video also increased its emphasis on old dramas in the second half of 2019. The background of Yunhe Data shows that as of October 30, 2019, the total number of member dramas of Tencent Video is 368; as of November 27, 2019, the total number of member dramas of Tencent Video is 844.
In November of last year, a large number of old dramas on Tencent Video were made available to members only. The classic drama’s renewal and maintenance of members were re-examined by the platform.
Fast-moving episodes are flooding and the cost is too fast
“Now the video platform’s emphasis on long tail traffic is just a trend, and it is not used to guide the planning and production of new content. But the trend is like this, without the platform, the clear people in the production company can see clearly “” Said the founder of a drama company.
Content copyright is a long-term asset and its commercial value needs to be considered over a longer period. Paying attention to the long-term value of film and television works, not only pursuing short-term explosions, is the direction of the next stage of video platform development, but also the industry consensus.
Online video users have broken the 600 million mark. Tencent Video and iQiyi have paid more than 100 million paying users. The tasks of running a horse and cultivating user habits have been completed. How to increase the ARPU value has become the focus of video platforms.
“You can’t just watch Internet long videos with Internet thinking. It is not a simple MAU business, but a long-term ARPU business. It is not a short-term outlet, but a long-term track.” Xiao Yanyan, senior analyst, CITIC Securities Media It is believed that the realisation depth of the long video industry is its value. With the increase in the breadth and depth of content, there is great room for price increases.
According to Tencent Music’s 2018 annual report, its operating income was 18.99 billion yuan, net profit was 4.18 billion yuan, and a total of 37.2 million paying users. The long video industry has twice as many paid members, but has been losing money.
In the final analysis, the video platform has been spending a lot of money on copyright dramas in the past few years, and hundreds of millions of dollars have only bought broadcasting rights for 5 to 10 years, and do not enjoy long-term copyright. On the other hand, these dramas have extremely limited lifespans, and users are left behind when the hit period expires. In order to maintain user stickiness, the platform has to purchase the next FMCG to attract its attention, and a vicious circle has been formed for a long time.
In August 2017, Ciwen Media announced that it would sell the cold information, “Can we not be sad” within 10 years of the price of 800 million yuan or 760 million yuan (transferable and maintainable) Awarded to Shanghai Juli Media (PPTV).
But the drama did not reach the ideal market feedback when it was broadcast. Today’s long tail is only available between 200,000 and 400,000 a day. PPTV has spent a lot of money to buy a fast-moving episode, and only owns it. The right to spread on the Internet in mainland China within 10 years.
In 2016, iQiyi bought out the permanent broadcast rights of the drama “Jiao Trace · Critical World” by Ciwen Media for 268.8 million yuan. But the drama was silent when it aired in May 2019, and today the effective play volume is only between 300,000 and 400,000.
Data source: Yunhe Data
TheseThe drama investment amount is huge, but it has not achieved the expected results. The end of the follow-up broadcast period means the end of life. The hundreds of millions of content costs paid by the video platform are exhausted in tens of days.
According to iQIYI’s financial report, 86% of its content costs need to be amortized within one year. Hundreds of dramas are broadcasted every year, and only a few such as “Langyabang”, “Biography of Chu Qiao” and “The Name of the People” have long-term broadcasting value.
Also, it ’s important to note that these shows are not exclusive perpetual copyrights on the video platform. In 2019, because NBC Universal and Warner built their own streaming platforms, classics such as “Office” and “Friends” will be delisted from Netflix one year later. Such expectations have caused the latter’s stock price to fall.
At present, the classic film and television dramas on the iQiyi and Youku platforms are derived from the accumulation of domestic dramas and movies for more than 40 years. The copyright ownership is very complicated and does not belong to exclusive copyright. Moreover, as a senior producer said, “Even watermelon videos can watch” Bright Sword “, there is no advertisement yet.”
In the long run, long video platforms must produce their own exclusive classic film and television content.
Integration of production and broadcasting, how can video platforms aim at the long-term value of content? Br
To keep Friends on the platform for another year, Netflix paid a $ 100 million royalty fee. According to a Wall Street Journal report in 2019, HBO Max, a subsidiary of Warner Media, will pay more than $ 500 million in exclusive copyright fees for streaming media for a total of 279 episodes of The Big Bang.
Stills from The Big Bang Theory
In the American streaming media war in 2019, the contention for the copyrights of several classic series has become the focus of attention, and it has also shown the revenue model of American dramas once again.
According to the disclosure of the American West Screenwriters Association, the purchase of integrated dramas by American TV stations often fails to cover production costs. Drama production companies must open the international market or syndicate the rights of the second or third round of sales in order to achieve profitability. That is: assuming US $ 100 as the production cost of the content, the first-rate drama company will receive US $ 73, 50, and 45 income from US domestic copyright sales, international copyright sales, and syndicate copyright sales, respectively, for US $ 168.
Whether it is a video platform or a film company, if you want to have a long-lasting career, you must invest in creating drama content with multi-round sales capabilities and even cross-regional sales capabilities to maximize user value and get long-tail revenue from the content. .
But looking at the entire industry, there are very few creative teams with deep content development capabilities. Behind the release of the annual drama “Qing Yu Nian” is the production experience of Tencent Pictures and Xinli Media and other producers who have learned from similar dramas such as “Choose Heaven”, “The Night Will Become” and “Break the Sky”. This male IP battle, the victory is difficult and long.
In addition, most of the existing head creative teams have been hatched by traditional film and television labels. They can sell the product to iQiyi, and then they can sell the product to Youku, which has no benefit to creating exclusive content tonality for the video platform.
According to Yunhe Data’s “2019 Annual Drama Series Webcast Performance and User Analysis Report” released on January 3, 3 of the TOP20 effective new TV series in 2019 came from Zheng, and the broadcast platform is love Qiyi. According to Youku’s next year’s film list, three of them are produced by Yu Zheng’s Huanyu Entertainment.
In fact, in order to control the quality of the content and build its own copyright barriers, the video platform has been “off the scene” to increase film and television production.
As Sun Zhonghuai, the vice president of Tencent and CEO of Penguin Films said in an interview with the media, “The content budget of Tencent Video in 2019 will remain above 20 billion. However, the current investment in self-made and customized content of Tencent Video Ratio is already over 50%. “
Only by discovering your own talent and innovating more content that can stand the test of time, can the long video platform be at ease.
Reference:
[CITIC Securities Media] Drama industry tracking report: short-term and medium-term recovery period, but long-term prospects are unknown