For a long time, it seems that many people think that Tencent missed the short video tuyere. After all, Douyin, the number of daily active users has exceeded 600m, Kuaishou Technology has also reached 300m, the two first initiators have accounted for the vast majority of users. According to the logic of Internet pre-emptive strike, does Tencent's short video story come to an end?

I don't think so.

If you take short video as an entertainment content carrier juxtaposed with long video, it may indeed have passed the period of rapid growth, and there is not much cake left, but if you regard short video as a content carrier juxtaposed with text content, maybe Tencent's short video story has just begun.

Next, we will start with three questions and discuss the video number:

1. How much does Tencent pay attention to the video number?

two。 What is the difference in product strength between Douyin and Kuaishou Technology?

3. What will be the final location of the video number?

1. Unprecedented increase

Wechat is often mentioned, that is, "restraint", do not add too much function, but also will not easily put Wechat traffic this Jinshan, at will reveal a hole.

In Wechat 8.0, it can be observed that the Wechat video account has been added by Tencent with a full nine diversion portals, which is unprecedented in the design of Wechat products known for restraint.

Nine entrances, to sum up, Tencent has opened all public domain and private domain traffic entrances to video accounts.

These nine entrances include:

Social category:Sharing in moments and WeChat group sharing

Page display class:Independent video number entrance, nearby live broadcasts and people, and personal Wechat account business cards display video content.

Communicate with other products of Wechat:Insert the video number into the official account article, search to show the video number, Wechat tag# associated video number, take a look at the information stream to display the video number first.

This kind of logic, which seems to bet all traffic entrances, is not necessarily a risk.

In Tencent's planning, the short-term video number is likely to exist as a kind of content parallel to the text, therefore, wherever the text appears, it is a normal choice to open a short video entrance.

But behind the opening of nine entrances at a time, Wechat will undoubtedly create a completely different composite traffic pool.

2. Product power: public domain traffic + private domain traffic

If we analyze the video number, we find that one of its biggest features is that it is the only one that can be used at the same time.Private domain traffic chain和Public domain traffic chainShort video products.

There is a common concept in traffic management: public domain traffic and private domain traffic.

Public domain traffic:That is, the public traffic on the platform, such as a merchant opening a shop on Tmall / Taobao, the traffic is basically distributed by the platform.

Private domain traffic:That is, the traffic that is owned, freely controlled, free and can be used many times by the brand or individual. This kind of traffic is either imported from the public domain or established independently. The official account of Wechat is a typical example.

For a content product, the benefits of using public domain traffic startup are:

The public domain traffic pool is relatively large, and the allocation is mainly based on the recommendation algorithm, so once the favorite content of the algorithm is made, the popular style can be made in a very short time. The downside, of course, is that if the algorithm doesn't push you, you really don't have any exposure at all.

Compared with the popular or obscure public domain traffic, the private domain traffic of content is more inclined to the long flow of thin water.

The reason is very simple. The dissemination of private domain traffic of content mainly depends on social distribution, and depends on the sharing and likes of relationship chains. Hundreds of Wechat friends are the initiators of content exposure, and users' likes and sharing are the expansion of the traffic pool. Ways to increase exposure, which also determines that the initial stage of most private domain traffic is only a few thousand exposure opportunities.

As far as the current short video pattern is concerned, Douyin used to be more skewed towards public domain traffic distribution, so the popular style was king, Douyin became the world of well-made MCN institutions, and Kuaishou Technology once relied more on social distribution, creating the so-called "old iron" economy.

For example, one of Kuaishou Technology's most popular social distribution cases is: list.

As we all know, fast hands have "six families", accounting for a lot of traffic, so how is the strength of the "xx family" formed?

An important cause of this is Kuaishou Technology's unique "hanging list" game in the circle of online celebrities.

When a popular VJ is in a live broadcast, other VJs enter the top 3 by way of reward, and if gifts are brushed to the top three on the list in the VJ's room, the avatar will be displayed on the VJ's room list.

And being on the list means that when you are on the list, you start your own live broadcast at the same time, that is, you hang up the list, and then the popular anchor calls on your fans to pay attention to the people on the list.This allows fans to import from one studio to another.

This mode, in essence, is a high-traffic VJ, selling private domain traffic to other VJs. Over time, these core anchors and buy lists, anchors who buy traffic automatically form an interest alliance, form a family model, and finally form "six families" after several integration.

This model is relatively popular on Kuaishou Technology, because Kuaishou Technology attaches great importance to social relations, and the powder-increasing speed of private domain traffic distribution is even faster than buying from the platform or carefully making popular style content.

So, how will Tencent make the combination of public domain and private domain traffic on the video number?

3. Public domain and private domain of video number

By analyzing the nine entrances to the video number, as well as the product design, we will find that the video number is the only product that can not only step on the public domain and private domain at the same time, but also tell the traffic story.

Public domain traffic of video number:

After entering the video account, there are three columns, namely, attention, friends, and recommendations. The recommendation is a standard public domain traffic distribution.

Live broadcast and nearby, as a first-level entrance, with region as the element, video distribution is carried out.

Search, tag, take a look and other functions, can also bring some public domain traffic.

The three-dimensional public domain traffic pool gives Wechat video numbers the cost of "macro-control" on the traffic pool.

How big is this flow pool? According to Zhang Xiaolong, although the current traffic of likes and recommendations on video accounts is basically 55, the relationship between active video users watching videos liked by friends and watching recommended videos is about 2:9.

In other words, if the video number starts to become popular, then the recommended traffic pool will account for more than 70%.

In addition, Wechat search, is also a major source of public domain traffic, now Wechat search monthly active users has reached 500 million, the video number content embedded, can also steadily generate part of the traffic.

Live streaming and nearby are distributed in the public domain through regions, which is in line with the people in the vicinity of Wechat's once main function, and the traffic potential is not small.

With a solid public domain traffic pool, the algorithm recommended to achieve popular style dissemination has a foundation.

At the end of private domain traffic:

The first is the connection of official accounts and video accounts, which gives tens of thousands of official account content teams "start-up funds" to transform into video accounts, which can be inserted into official account documents to direct content.

The second is the open moments and retweets, which can use WeChat group / Wechat moments to achieve fission, which is basically consistent with the communication logic of the official account.

So the conclusion is clear that for a content entrepreneur, Wechat video account rarely comes up with capital (entrepreneurs bring their own moments, the former official account), and it can go fission and spread through the network of relationships. it can also be a platform for popular style and algorithm to spread.

4. Trinity of video number

But the integration of public domain traffic and private domain traffic seems to cause a problem. What is the location of the video number?

When Douyin is opened, entertainment videos that stimulate dopamine in the brain can be browsed with maximum efficiency, and Kuaishou Technology can see more real life and live streaming.

What about the location of the video number? Entertainment, chicken soup, curiosity?

Probably the real answer is: video number positioning is the content distribution infrastructure, so there will be no style, group orientation.

As an example, both Douyin and Kuaishou Technology are very keen to ask stars to open their accounts and actively distribute traffic to improve the tone of the platform.

But Zhang Xiaolong is not interested in this. He once said publicly:

"at first we went to invite some stars in, and the stars would say if there was a signing fee. Our answer is, we want you to come in because you should run your own fans.[2]」

In contrast, Zhang Xiaolong stressed that the video number is a new ID, but did not talk about what he wants to see. In fact, it is also to give the video number a larger positioning. Douyin is the little sister, Kuaishou Technology is the old iron, then the video number, the video number should be everyone, is a video-based ID for everyone.

But what is the use of this video-based ID? The synergy of several other products in Wechat can be seen as follows:

The official Wechat account can insert video content into the video account, or add a live broadcast reservation to realize the connection between the official account and the video number.

On the video number page, start the grayscale test and get through to WeChat Mini Programs, and the video number can jump to Mini Program shopping.

This means that the functions of official account-video account-Mini Program have been fully integrated, which makes the video account sufficient to undertake functions far beyond entertainment videos.For example: advance display of various offline trading scenarios, more dimensional information display (text + video), these functions may be used for the head of community group buying, or in preparation for live e-commerce.

Don't forget that in 2020, WeChat Mini Programs's GMV has been on a par with Pinduoduo, and it will be commercially coordinated with the video number to produce a new GMV that will be difficult to see the ceiling.

We can also see the final end of the video account: a link in the Trinity (Mini Program-official account-video account)

5. The end: the countdown to the Spring Festival, Tencent's careful thinking

After spending more than a year building many functions of the video number, Tencent quietly launched a function:

Video number cover red packet

Through this red packet, video number users can configure their video content to the red packet cover.

After the settings are complete, when Wechat users open your red packet, they can drop down to view the video content and jump to your video number home page.

The purpose of this function is very clear, to seize the Spring Festival flow dividend.

There are two phenomena in the Spring Festival every year:

1. Internet products infiltrate the countryside.

Due to the large-scale downward movement of population in urban areas and high-density social networking (both online and offline), the Spring Festival Gala, a nationwide program broadcast, has made the Spring Festival a good opportunity for the downward penetration of Internet products:

That's why Baidu, Inc., Kuaishou Technology and Douyin will all try their best to win the Spring Festival Gala and smash red envelopes crazily during the Spring Festival.

two。 WeChat red packet's traffic skyrocketed.

A total of 823 million people will receive and receive red envelopes during the 2019 Spring Festival, according to an average of 20 red envelopes per person, which will be a pool of more than 16 billion exposures.

If the video number can get 10% of the traffic exposure in the sending of red packets and spread socially, it will quickly reverse the traffic difference between Douyin and Kuaishou Technology.

Maybe a short video change that surprises everyone is about to begin.