Many people haven’t watched TV in the past year.
The epidemic is coming, and people “go out less and go out less, stay at home as much as possible” is already the norm. When a family stays in the house for a long time, whether it is to pay attention to the development of the epidemic or to watch dramas or play games, television has become an essential existence.
In order to provide “spiritual food” to a large number of users who live at home, recently a large number of TV manufacturers and film and television platforms have also opened up a lot of film and television resources for users to watch for free. However, the startup advertisements and system advertisements that have been spit by users seem to have become the most helpless users in this period of time, because the total length of “admiration” for advertisements these days has exceeded the sum of the past six months.
Indeed, as the price war of TV products intensifies, consumers now can buy a relatively good 55-inch LCD TV for more than 1,000 yuan. But behind the high cost performance, there are ubiquitous built-in startup and shutdown advertisements. The existence of these advertisements allows users to enjoy high cost performance while destroying their use experience.
From the perspective of a TV company, I have no choice but to know that it has been talked about by users. The fierce price war has allowed these hardware companies to clench their teeth under the situation that hardware profits are getting lower and lower and even with negative profit sales. If they want to make up for hardware losses, they can only get it back from the software level. Therefore, we will see all kinds of overwhelming startup and shutdown advertisements.
But many television companies also understand that using advertising to offset losses is not a long-term strategy for corporate development.
Advertisement is loosening
A few days ago, a well-known TV company officially released an announcement saying that after four consecutive months of system development, chip adaptation, and software debugging work, more than 200 of its TVs will be upgraded through OTA online upgrades.Version push, gradually implement one-click turn-off advertising function.
This company’s approach is not surprising. At the beginning of October 2019, the Consumer Protection Commission of Jiangsu Province, in conjunction with the investigation of smart TV boot-up advertising consumption, had interviewed Hisense, Skyworth, Sharp, Changhong, Xiaomi, Haier, LeTV and other seven smart TV companies in accordance with the law, and proposed to perform sales Prior notification obligations, rectification requirements such as providing one-click close function for advertisements.
Among them, LeTV TV was also sued by the Jiangsu Consumer Protection Commission for consumer civil public interest lawsuits because it failed to come up with tangible rectification measures. It can also be seen that relevant departments attach great importance to the issue of advertising on startup. This time Skyworth launched a one-button turn-off function for TV boot ads through OTA, in response to the important rectification requirements previously put forward by the Jiangsu Consumer Protection Commission.
As the calls for “one-click shutdown” of TV boot-up advertisements have gradually started, we have reason to believe that in the near future, more TV companies will follow up and launch similar one-button shutdown measures.
Then the question is coming, should the price war continue?
Obviously, traditional TV companies are launching one-button shutdown not only because of the pressure from consumers and the Consumer Protection Commission, but also because of emerging cross-border competitors.
Previously, the system software functions such as TV boot ads have been exclusive to domestic TVs, and foreign brands such as Sony, LG, and Samsung did not have related built-in ads. We can simply understand that foreign brands mainly focus on the high-end market and do not participate in the price war of low-end product lines.
These foreign brands have always performed better in terms of product quality, but because their prices are generally higher, their market share is lower. More users have chosen Way, bought a low-cost TV product.
And the smart TV products such as Huawei and Honor that came across the border last year included no built-in advertising among the many selling points when they were launched. consideringThe influence of Huawei’s brand in the domestic mid-to-high-end consumer groups has also forced traditional TV companies to follow up to a certain extent-not only must they launch mid-to-high-end “smart big screen” products, but also users can turn themselves off. Advertising features.
So in general, the stubborn influence on consumer experience, which is seriously affecting consumer experience, is loosening. As more and more users put forward new demands for product experience, the situation of using built-in ads and low prices for the market is changing. change.
How to return to the essence of value
When advertising is no longer an invincible killer, companies must change accordingly.
In the past, under the fierce price war, revenues from software layers such as built-in advertisements accounted for most of the profits of TV companies. And with the launch of the one-click shutdown function, it also means that the value of advertising is constantly decreasing. After all, advertisers will not pay the same fees for a TV feature that can be turned off on their own.
This also poses a challenge to many TV companies. If the company wants to continue its normal development, it must find new sources of profit.
In the past few years, the almost crazy price war was very unhealthy, and TV companies were suffering from this attitude of drinking and quenching thirst. At the beginning of last year, some experts in the home appliance industry predicted that if such a price war continues, there will be one or two in the next two years. We are very familiar with the TV brand farewell stage.
For many industry insiders who are familiar with the television industry, this prediction is not alarmist. From this point of view, the market and related regulatory agencies “compelled” TV companies to make concessions in advertising, in fact, it is not a bad thing for the development of the entire TV industry.
In this regard, some experts in the home appliance industry said: “After the revenue of software companies has decreased, they have to make up for it from the hardware. This may cause a certain degree of price increase, but this will have an impact on the entire TV industry It is beneficial. Only if the company has sufficient profits can it have funds to invest in research and development and can continue to make better products. “
The person also emphasized: “In the past, we always said that Sony, Samsung, and LG TVs are of good quality. What is the reason? We do not deny that these big brands do have a certain level of leadership in terms of technology, but we must know them The profit from selling a TV may be equivalent to the sum of several or even dozens of domestic TVs. The technological innovation of foreign products is supported by rich profits. Only by making money for companies can they make more Good things. So, from the perspective of the long-term development of the entire domestic TV industry, the increase in market prices is not a bad thing. “
From the current domestic TV companies’ own initiatives, it can be seen that the impact of mid- to high-end is the direction that most companies are working hard. At the CES show a month ago, a number of domestic TV companies have launched their high-end products, cutting-edge technologies in the TV industry, such as 8K, curled screen laser TV, MicroLED, have also appeared in the new products of many domestic TV brands. .
For consumers, as domestic TV brands gradually master industry-leading new technologies, it also means that we will buy these excellent products with high-end technologies at lower prices in the future and experience more excellent audiovisual. enjoy.
For tapping a new source of profit, perhaps IoT will be one of the few advantages of domestic TV brands in the future over those “foreign brands” beyond the price.
It can be seen that in the past year, the application of AI has become the hottest word of almost all domestic TV companies at press conferences. The combination of AI and IoT ecology has given more domestic TV manufacturers more confidence. Whether you are building your own ecosystem or cooperating with other companies across borders, learn more about the Chinese cityDomestic TV brands (including Huawei, Xiaomi, and Glory) , compared with high-end foreign brands Faster, deeper, and more agile.
This exploration of new application areas will also become an important part of their future core competitiveness.
We can see that among the best e-commerce platforms recently recommended by various e-commerce platforms, various TV products are indispensable. When built-in advertising is no longer an inexhaustible “stubborn disease”, coupled with the catalytic effect brought by such a special market environment, the turning point of the TV industry has also come. Saying goodbye to low-price competition and returning to the essence of value will undoubtedly become the most important task for all TV companies in 2020.