Author: Hongfu Girl

Source: entertainment Capital

62.59 million . This is the latest number of paid members announced by Tencent video on March 18, 2018.

This is the highest value that domestic video websites have announced the number of paid members. More than Netflix has paid members in the United States (at the end of 2017). Judging from the index of paying members in a single country, Tencent video has won.

But at the same time, it is more important to see that China has a population of 1.3 billion, of which 62.59 million is not even 1max 13, and there is still considerable room for growth.

"there is still some gap in consumption levels between the two countries, and the penetration rate of local members in the total population is still lower than that of the United States. Therefore, although the number of our members has reached a relatively high level, there is still considerable room for improvement. " Sun Zhonghuai, vice president of Tencent and ceo of Penguin Film and Television, said to the author.

This "some gap" is not a small gap. In October last year, Netflix's membership fee rose again by 10%, the monthly fee per user increased by $1 to $2, and the cheapest package costs $7.99 per month (about 50 yuan). Through this price increase, Netflix can increase revenue by about $300 million per quarter.

In China, the monthly fee for Tencent video is 15 yuan per month, and it will be cheaper if you encounter quarterly members, annual fee members and some seasonal discount packages. From the level of revenue, there is of course a distance between domestic video websites and Netflix.

But Tencent video has only been online for seven years. Penguin Film and Television, a production company, has only been in the army for nearly three years. From pure copyright purchasing to setting up production companies, increasing customization / self-control efforts, from passively following TV stations to expanding platform layout and flexibly setting up broadcast tapes through self-made / customized content, Tencent's video these seven years, it is not only the seven years when the number of members is from 0 to 62.59 million, but also a microcosm of the upgrading of the cultural and entertainment consumption environment.

Paying members suddenly exploded about two years ago, and a very important node is the popularity of mobile payments, which is a very important infrastructure. In fact, it's not a new model to pay for content. In the final analysis, it is necessary to have high-quality content and continuous broadcasting. "Sun Zhonghuai hit the nail on the head and summarized the general methodology of Tencent video.

As for when will the profit and loss break even? When will the bottomless pit of huge investment really take effect? As a major town in Tencent's pan-cultural and entertainment field, how on earth does Tencent Video cooperate with IP, a brother company in other business groups? In March 2018, we chatted with Sun Zhonghuai.

62.59 million is not the end, how to improve the penetration rate, renewal rate and growth rate of members?

Moments was scanned by Tencent's video. But what we are more concerned about is not just the rising number of members.

After all, the objective fact is that when the stock of members becomes larger and larger, the increment will naturally become more and more difficult. By vertical comparison, in November 2016, the platform announced that the number of members exceeded 20 million, with a growth rate of nearly 300%. A year later, in October, the number of members exceeded 43 million, and five months later, the latest figure was 62.59 million.

Growth is still obvious, of course, but it is clear that there is no longer the retaliatory growth rate of the start-up era. The growth rate is slowing.

This is a good thing. From the beginning, ordinary people tentatively charge monthly members, and now they are basically quarterly members, annual fee members and automatic deduction members. The consumer psychology of users is basically mature, and this market has finally been built from scratch.

But on the other hand, we have to ask: with 62.59 million members, what other means can Tencent use to stimulate member customers to get it? How will the content be broadcast? When will the member income be able to cover a huge amount of homemade / copyright investment? Ideally, what should be the proportion of video platform membership revenue: advertising revenue (and other derivative income)?

"member revenue and advertising revenue are both very important support points. And now they are all growing steadily. And we are also developing other types of revenue. " Sun Zhonghuai revealed this. The initial over-reliance on advertising revenue must have been reversed.

At the same time, he also introduced Tencent's policy on video membership calculation: the 62.59 million members are the number of users who are still paying as of February 28, including all payment cycle users.

China has a large population, and even though it has received 62.59 million paid members, the penetration rate of members is far from reaching the goals set by Sun Zhonghuai and Tencent video team. "the ideal situation, of course, is for everyone to buy lifetime members, but it's really difficult."

"pay for your favorite content."

But the environment is getting better and better.

In January 2018, the number of Internet users in China reached 772 million, with a penetration rate of 55.8%, exceeding the global average. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the DAU of Tencent's video mobile also reached 137 million.

More importantly, not only online video, but also paid entertainment content such as digital music, digital reading and comics have gradually matured. Companies such as China Literature, which is also invested by Tencent, have seen considerable revenue growth.

"the perception of this big user has matured to pay for the content I like." In Sun Zhonghuai's analysis, there are two major time nodes that promote Tencent video and its legitimate video platform industry to mature, one is the popularity of mobile payment, the other is the popularity of entertainment consumption.

"it's almost natural, as long as you provide good content." As a result, Penguin Film and Television was founded in 2015, when it sold eight films; in 2016, the number soared to 27; and in 2017, the feat of releasing eight "Ghost blowing Lamps" in one breath surprised four.

Three years later, it is time to collect the results. "throughout 2017, we have had a relatively healthy continuation in the content broadcast, from" excellent Ancient City "and" country Love 9 "at the beginning of the year, to" double beloved concubines "and" Huangpizi Tomb ". Then to" Apostle 2 "," the full moon is blooming that year "," Little Beauty "and so on, these projects are better in the acquisition and retention of customers."

Entering 2018, Tencent video about the annual "country love" series, this series of strategies, Tencent video is one of the ways to play.

Including the second season of the exclusive copyright animation "Breaking the Sky", which was launched on the platform just a few days ago, using the free broadcast of the first three episodes and the start of the fourth episode, it has garnered more than 340 million views in just a few days; the live-action version of the IP, starring A-list idol actor Wu Lei, is also working hard in the later stage. In addition, the online drama "Ghost blowing the Lantern" has been successfully broadcast for two seasons, and the third film "anger Qingqing Xiangxi" was also turned on in a low profile a few days ago.

Obviously, Tencent video is imitating the quarterly play style of foreign countries, and in the future, users will certainly form the combined impression of "watching Tencent video on 'country Love' and" watching Tencent video on 'Ghost blowing Lantern'. They will also be willing to continue to pay. The strong continuity of IP to the platform's ability of continuous blood transfusion is evident.

Seasonal series and series are one way, and the other is to expand the category of content and strengthen the reserve of rehearsal. Sun Zhonghuai said: "our goal is to be close to customized content broadcasting." Tencent video internal segmentation of the user group, not according to the natural attributes (gender, age), but the combination of tags. "

For example, there is a category called "Girl's Heart", which has rough labels such as age, occupation and constellation, but is not oriented. Under this category, Tencent's video last year offered boutique homemade dramas such as "Summer of the Fox", "double beloved concubine" and "Xiao Mei". Continue to fill the "sweet pet" series of this category, so that this part of the users retain very well.

"it is difficult to customize with big data, so our creation and content selection are generally mainly based on culture and values. But no matter what kind of users, our goal is to hope that the content they like can be broadcast one by one. "

Sun Zhonghuai says that if it is a rough broadcast, it will be divided according to men and women, and of course it is easy to launch a steady stream of new works, but the more subdivided the categories on a platform, the more difficult it will be for each category to go online continuously. "We can only try to maintain continuity and try to meet the psychological expectations of users."

It is hard to imagine that the senior management of an Internet company will think that there are still things that big data can't do, but this may be one of the best tricks of Tencent video. The uncertainty of artistic creation is so great that it is difficult to fit it together. Do not blindly use Internet logic to force the field of film and television, but respect the inherent cycle of the film and television industry, which is one of the advantages of Tencent video.

The platform has already taken the step of differentiated production and rehearsal: while spending money to buy the version of the right drama, but also tailored to different categories and volumes of IP development, head, waist, small volume projects are available.The video website, which is no longer tired of the copyright fight of the head drama, is the platform that can really provide users with the richest category and the most massive resource experience.

"double Life beloved Concubine 2" has been turned on recently.

"meeting the psychological expectations of users" is the key point that Sun Zhonghuai will highlight in several exclusive interviews with the author. "when we communicated with HBO's friends, we expressed our confusion: why can we invest such a large amount of money in a single play? How to recycle it? " If the three BAT are throwing money, then HBO, Netflix are probably not just "throwing money".

Sun Zhonghuai's analysis is that top video platforms like HBO have a very important insight:The user pays a monthly membership fee, and he doesn't require the platform to have a popular style every day of the month, but within a certain period of time, he has to make a popular style that exceeds his expectations.

What does it mean to exceed expectations? American TV dramas such as "Westworld" and "House of Cards" are not only highly praised in the United States, the top media are full of praise, the highest awards are added, and they have absolute dominance all over the world. This kind of content continues to come, and users are certainly willing to continue to pay.

The same principle applies to domestic video platforms. It's justAt present, we are still in the exploratory stage of content creation, the whole level of film and television creation in Asia is inferior to that in Europe and America, and the first priority is to continue to satisfy the content of different categories of target audiences. Tencent video has done this.

Sun Zhonghuai, Vice President of Tencent Company and ceo of Penguin Film and Television

Conclusion

Tencent video had a lot of new attempts last year, including content side, broadcast side and, of course, client side. Whether it is the new payment model of the self-made variety show "the son of tomorrow", or the novel and bold scheduling strategy of the solo drama "Surgical Wind and Cloud" and "the full moon blossoms that year", it has left valuable research cases for the industry.

And the first "attack of the King", which lost from the group's game studio to homemade variety shows. Although the volume is only seven episodes, the vertical penetration is quite good, and the commercial realization is also higher than expected; the idol talent show "Produce 101", which has bought the rights, will also be recorded for the first time at the end of March and will be launched soon.

However, as the leader of Penguin Film and Television and Tencent video, Sun Zhonghuai emphasized a rather surprising thing: "in addition to the provision of content, infrastructure construction is also a very important link." For example, technicians maintain the regular operation of the platform and have a lot of meticulous work to do. We talk about "water grinding time". Only several departments, such as content creation, operation, marketing, and so on, have strong teams on the ground. in order to ensure the sustained and healthy development of the platform. "

At the end of the interview, Sun Zhonghuai repeatedly emphasized to us the sense of responsibility of the enterprise to the users: "if the user does not become a member and the supplier does not cooperate well, if there is more case, the patience of the user and partner will be lost." Tencent video, which has patience, conscience and confidence, will become the first video platform with hundreds of millions of members in China. We look forward to it.