Are video sites ready to pay for users?

Video streaming has long since faded out of sight

As early as 2008, some video websites have started to discuss the video charging mode. In 2008, Excited Network officially launched the "pay-per-action" brand "Excited Party". At that time, Excited Online Pay-TV channel was the main blockbuster overseas, and it had already cooperated with Disney, SONY, FOX and other Hollywood studios to launch an exclusive paid product "Hollywood Theater." In 2011, Excited Network said that 80% of its revenue comes from user fees. In the end, the "user pays" excitement network has faded out of the video industry.

In 2010, Thunder took a look at the launch of the "Ruby Theater" business that charges users. It has launched high-definition downloads and high-definition online viewing. A movie is charged at a price of about 1 yuan to 2 yuan. In the early stage of business launch, Thunder has seen tremendous growth. Propaganda, but "Ruby Cinema" also disappeared. Thunder's revenue was still based on traditional advertising.

It is worth mentioning that according to the payment data displayed by Youku in the 2011 Q1 financial report, it found that 94% of Youku's net revenue comes from brand advertising revenue, and advertising is still the main profit model of the website. Although the video payment wind scraped seven years ago has been regarded as a development trend by the industry, but it is difficult to implement, and eventually become very frivolous, summed up the main reasons for two things.

1, the immaturity of early user payment habits

In the early days, the video payment culture has just begun. Domestic users have long been accustomed to watching free and pirated videos. Copyright awareness is not strong.

It is understood that although various companies are trying to pay for models at one time, the results are not satisfactory, and domestic users have long used the annual fee model. In addition to the above-mentioned Exciting Network, Thunder, in 2011, Sohu HD paid drama series watch, divided into 5 yuan 3 yuan two charges, Fantastic Art pay only 5 yuan a standard. Sohu HD also launched a monthly subscription fee of 20 yuan, while Fantastic Art launched a monthly subscription fee of 9.8 yuan. However, relevant revenue statistics have not been published yet. Some industry analysts analyzed that although various companies had tried payment models at the time, the results were not satisfactory. Domestic users have long been accustomed to being free, and their acceptance is not high for fees.

According to a survey conducted by a portal in 2010. The results showed that there were only 383 netizens who were willing to pay for video on demand, and 6095 were unwilling. Only 6% of netizens were willing to pay. It is obvious that the user’s payment habits are still very immature, and it was difficult to achieve great results at that time.

2. Website video content is insufficient to meet user needs

If you want to let users pay for video, unless the video provided by the website is quality and unique. But at the time, many video websites were full of pirated content. Some of them were uploaded by netizens. Few websites could launch their own special content. For those users who were there to watch, loyalty was not high.

It is understood that after 2010, video sites increasingly pay attention to copyright and video high-definition viewing experience. Many video sites are constantly paying for content and starting to pay for a high-definition viewing experience, but everything is just starting and the content is not enough, and it still can't meet the needs of users.

Everything is difficult at the beginning. After 2010, the development environment of video websites has been continuously optimized, including the development of content to copyright, the development of high-definition experience, and the user’s payment habits are slowly being cultivated. These have made the payment environment more mature. .

In addition, the advertising revenue bottleneck is one of the reasons why video payment is once again being taken seriously. Nowadays, the revenue of online video websites is mainly derived from advertisements. Websites burn money to purchase video copyrights, attract users to earn traffic, and then use traffic for exchange of advertising revenue. Advertising revenue has entered a bottleneck period. The long advertisement brings a very bad user experience. If you watch video on a video site for free, you must be forced to accept advertisements for the first few tens of seconds. You may insert advertisements for several seconds in the middle. The contradiction between the video website's revenue and the user's experience is constantly being intensified. To improve the user's experience, it is naturally necessary to “go to the advertisement”, and the most basic way is to allow users to pay. The change in the overall environment has made video payment once again pushed to the air.


What is the current payment mode for major video sites?

Currently, there are two main ways for users to pay. One is to open membership services, monthly subscription, quarter package, annual subscription fee. Its annual membership fees range from RMB 150 to RMB 198. After users open a membership, they can enjoy the functions of watching a show, advertising, high-definition picture quality, and viewing more movies. The second is content-on-demand payment, which provides some hot films. Each time, light and shadow charges are about 5 yuan. Different websites will make some adjustments based on their positioning. Let's take a look at what did You Tu, iQiyi, and Tencent Video do?

1. Youku Tudou Group: Increased Web Content Investment

Youku's current membership payment model is 20 yuan/month and 169 yuan/year. As early as 2010, Youku Tudou began trialing water user payment services, creating a model for on-demand movies, monthly subscriptions for members, and HD live broadcast of concerts. According to Youtu official data, Youku Tudou's 2015 Q1 financial report showed that Youku Tudou Group's user business revenue increased by 706% year-on-year in the first quarter. Revenue from user services has increased by more than 60% from the previous quarter in five consecutive quarters, and contributed 11% of total revenue. By the end of 2014, Youku Tudou had reached 1 million monthly active members. It can be seen that Youku Tudou has not made much effort on user fees, and the main point is to enhance Web content investment.

According to Liu Dele, the president of Youku Tudou Group, when interpreting the 2015 first quarter financial report, in terms of investment returns: professional partners’ production content and user-created content have the highest return on investment, followed by original content, and finally the return on investment in film and television dramas. rate.

In 2015, investment in all types of content will be increased, mainly including self-made content, PGC, and UGC, which will enhance the content ecosystem of netizens, while net content has gradually become the most important content category for the revenue and traffic growth of Eutum Group. .

2, iQiyi: homemade network drama

The iQiyi current membership payment model is 19.8 yuan/month and 198 yuan/year. Recently, iQiyi indicated that the number of monthly paid VIP members was 5.017 million. Among iQIYI's 500 million independent users, the membership accounted for only 1%, and there is huge room for transformation. According to Gong Yu, 70% of the monthly paying users will choose to continue their renewal. It can be seen that members' payment income should not be underestimated, and there is still a lot of space for market development. Naturally, this piece of cake must be firmly grasped.

How to attract more users to join the membership, iQiyi charges users through exclusive home-made network dramas, such as self-made network show wonderful news, talk show Xiao Song Qi talks, TV drama tomb notes and so on. Recently, iqiyi produced the Tomb Raider Note Pay-per-view mode, starting from July 3, members can watch all episodes for free, while non-members can only watch one episode a week. Iqiyi hopes to use the Super IP TV drama and fan effect to drive the number of members.

3, Tencent video: playing quality foreign TV drama

Compared to iQiyi's membership fees, Tencent's price is relatively low, and the membership fee is only 150 yuan/year. Compared with Iqiyi's self-produced online dramas, Tencent’s video attraction model is the most important one for playing foreign high-quality TV dramas, such as game newsrooms, brothers’ companies, Atlantic Empires, and other award-winning dramas that use the power of foreign HBO production. .

It is understood that the payment model is similar to that of iQiyi. It is understood that the Tencent video will launch a weekly play of the American drama. If you want to watch it for free, you need to wait for a week-long update. Paying users can watch all episodes.

In addition, Tencent video will begin to try charging models on its own network. Previously, Tencent's self-made online drama darker has achieved good results. Its producer, Bai Yijun, said that he will make extra money for users to watch. Free users can only watch once a week, while paying users can see the full episode every week.

4, Sohu Video: Rely on top copyright content

Sohu Video's current membership payment model is for advertising users to be 5 yuan/month and 49 yuan/year. Television members can enjoy watching 600 member films, 15 yuan / month, 119 yuan / year. In terms of pay-per-viewing, no relevant service descriptions have yet been released.

The Sohu video self-produced drama silk silk men is more successful, but compared to Tencent video, Youku potatoes, iqiyi, etc. to develop PGC, UGC content, Sohu video is more dependent on "top copyright content", this part is mainly a hot drama The copyright content of the ace variety show is obviously not the exclusive content of Sohu Video. Of course, Sohu is also aware of its shortcomings. In November 2014, Sohu officially acquired 56 and plans to work with the 56th network in an effort to create a comprehensive platform for long video, PGC, and UGC.

Recently, Sohu announced the introduction of LipSyncBattle, a top variety show of the United States SpikeTV (translated by netizens as a "counterattack") model into China. The Chinese version will be broadcast on the Sohu video platform.

5. New member: Alibaba Video TBO to be China's Netflix and HBO

Alibaba's video site is named Tmall Box Office, or TBO for short, and it will provide domestic and international television programs and Alibaba's internally produced programs. Ali TBO's ambition is not small, its positioning is to redefine home entertainment, become China's HBO, and become China's Netflix.

Ali said that TBO is not the same as most domestic competitors. 90% of the content needs to be paid for viewing, you can choose to purchase in diversity, you can also watch in monthly subscription, and the remaining 10% is free.


Video payment is implemented long time users are willing to pay?

Although from the above several mainstream video sites, video payment has been implemented for a long time. However, online video sites faced two important and same issues five years ago. Are the user's payment habits mature and can they readily accept the payment model? Is it really worth the user to pay for the paid content quality of the current video site?

1, users pay more habits are still more mature is still not enough

According to the investigation results of “2014 Online Film Willingness to Pay” conducted by the Analysys Think Tank in March 2015, the 1905 movie network shows that only 26% of viewers accept a price of 1~3 yuan to watch a movie. More than 40% of viewers choose to "do not purchase as long as they pay." From the data point of view, many users are not willing to pay for the drama. Of course, only 6% of people are willing to pay more than the survey mentioned above in 2010. In addition, iQiyi has monthly paid VIP membership of more than 5,017,700, although it only accounts for 1% of the total number of users, but its growth rate is 765% year-on-year. Big improvement.

However, industry analysts have analyzed that, for the time being, they are more willing to choose to accept in-stream video ads than the vast majority of users who pay, and a small number of people will also use regional advertising plug-ins to avoid advertisements. There is still a long way to go before the user's payment habits mature.

2. More and more emphasis on the quality of content still needs further improvement

According to the 35th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, as of December 2014, the number of online video users in China had reached 433 million, and the utilization rate of online video users was 66.7%.

The report shows that 47.4% of online video users said that they "see only what they care about, and they don't care if it is content created by the website." From these data, it can be seen that users will only pay for premium content, whether it is UGC content or PGC content. To allow users to pay for homemade content, only truly powerful content can attract huge online video users.

From the content point of view, compared to 2010, whether it is in the exclusive richness, high-definition experience, or video quality has a great breakthrough.

In terms of exclusive richness, video websites have introduced high-quality foreign video content, such as Tencent video and HBO last year to carry out strategic cooperation, exclusive introduction of power games, newsrooms and other award-winning drama series and put these contents into the VIP. Now Ali TBO is also taking the model of HBO and Netflix, providing high-quality foreign videos and in-house production content.

Secondly, the website video pays more attention to self-made exclusive network dramas and network programs. According to relevant data, since 2013, the content expenditure of video platforms has increased year by year, and the scale of self-made investment has also continuously increased. In 2015, it will increase to 2 billion yuan, accounting for copyright. And 25% of the total investment made. Video sites spend money on their own to shoot and attract users on their own platform. The websites are all devoted to self-made network programs: Yutu line of friends, absolutely did not expect, Sohu video silk silk men, love strange arts Qiqi said, Tencent video you normal? As a video self-made column, it has become a big attraction column.

In addition, the video site began to upgrade across platforms and became a video + TV + content provider, such as Yutu Youth Good Voice, Iqiyi I went to school, Tencent video of our 15 etc., video and television cooperation The model has been continuously strengthened at the content level.

Although the content richness of self-made video websites has been continuously strengthened, there are still some problems and it is particularly evident that self-made network dramas are being realized. The audience has always been very dissatisfied with the quality of home-made dramas. The stereotyped subjects, such as Xian Xia drama, anti-Japanese drama, dog blood romance drama, etc., have no innovative content; “Five Mao effects” are more rough in video production. , Let the user see the flaws, which makes the user slot many. Take the idol art tomb tomb notes, although after the on-line, the amount of hits quickly broke through 100 million, the original fans continued to negative evaluation, special effect production is rough, the story adaptation serious imbalance, can only rely on the actor powerful fan support. When the production of rough TV shows is paid to the on-demand mode, it is estimated that very few people are willing to spend money to read.

3, in the original content can learn from the successful experience of foreign video sites HBO and Netflix

Netflix’s primary means is to develop original content. Most of Netflix's offerings are complete film and television productions, and its charge model is to charge the user a monthly membership fee of 8.99 US dollars, no video ads. As the user provides a large amount of exclusive content with no advertisement and high quality, it just captures the pain point of the user's drama. The success of Netflix homemade card house is a good example.

The successful transformation of HBO is also inseparable from the quality of homemade content. Once HBO competed for the vitality of film copyright, it eventually transformed itself into a self-made route. Fortunately, HBO's self-made content is very good and it has a strong appeal to users. Its representative classics are all known as the game of power, the city of lust, the gangster family, and the brotherhood.

All in all, no matter what the current situation is, if you want to pay for the drama to go well, content is king.

Conclusion

The ideal of paying is plump, and the reality is slightly slim, but this does not mean that paying for viewing is still far in the future. Video sites have accumulated a large number of users, so that converting them into paid members will bring great benefits. Cultivating users' payment habits is complementary to providing quality content. As long as content is provided that makes users feel value for money, many people naturally want to pay for it. What's left is how to provide users with the quality and content that they like.