Tao Piaopiao app product experience report: When will the fragmentation of the film market end, and will it still be necessary to continue to burn money in the future?

Large-scale ticket subsidies and the popularity of e-commerce platforms have gradually cultivated consumers' habit of purchasing tickets online, which has changed various aspects of film production and promotion. As time goes by, the Internet and the film industry have gradually merged, jointly promoting the development of Chinese films.

one. Experience environment and analysis purpose

• Experience model: Xiaomi MIX
• System version: 6.0.1MXB48T
• App version: V6.7.0
• Experience time: 2017.2.7
• Purpose of analysis:

1. Understand the current status of the online movie ticket industry and user needs
2. Analyze the status and pros and cons of the Tao Piao Piao application and provide suggestions for improvement
3. Analyze the competition status and future of typical applications in the online movie ticket purchase industry

2. Industry Analysis

Since the Internet entered the film industry, online movie ticket platforms have had a great impact on the traditional film industry. Large-scale ticket subsidies and the popularity of e-commerce platforms have gradually cultivated consumers' habit of purchasing tickets online, which has changed various aspects of film production and promotion. As time goes by, the Internet and the film industry have gradually merged, jointly promoting the development of Chinese films.

After a period of explosive growth, China's film market box office reached 44.07 billion yuan in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 48.7%. However, after entering 2016, box office data has grown slowly. The slow growth is mainly due to the following two aspects:

• First, although ticket subsidies on online movie ticket platforms continue to increase and the average movie ticket price is lower than in 2015, the growth in the number of viewers is even slower.
• Second, the improvement in the quality of Chinese films has failed to keep pace with the improvement in the audience's taste in watching movies, resulting in increasingly polarized audience consumption of released movies. According to the rating data from Tao Piaopiao and Maoyan Movies , the box office contribution rate of movies with different ratings in the 2016 summer season has changed significantly compared with 2015.

Movies with a score below 8 only contribute 5.8% to the box office. Movies increasingly need to rely on good quality to speak for themselves. Bad movies will gradually be squeezed out of the market, and audiences will use their movie tickets to give thumbs up to good movies.

iResearch predicts that China's box office in 2016 will be the same as in 2015, and the Chinese film market will enter a cooling-off period. The slowdown in the growth of the film market is also affecting the rapid development of online movie ticket platforms.

After experiencing the capital carnival in the first half of the Internet from 2013 to 2015, the Internet encountered a capital winter in 2016, and online movie ticket platforms were inevitably affected.

After the money-burning subsidy phase of the 1.0 era, the online movie ticket market has gradually become saturated and the structure has gradually become clear.

Moreover, due to the serious homogeneity of movie ticket products, users are sensitive to prices, and a single business model lacks competitiveness. Leading large companies have also begun to enter a period of strategic transformation and upgrading, starting with online movie tickets and entering a stage of pan-entertainment. On the one hand, they extend upstream and downstream of the film industry chain, and on the other hand, they expand horizontally to sports performances and other entertainment events in order to find new profit points.

3. User Demand Analysis

3.1 Why do users like watching movies?

Watching movies is one of the ways for Chinese residents to relax and have fun, and is becoming increasingly popular among young people and some middle-aged and elderly people. As China's per capita disposable income increases, people's needs have gradually shifted from pursuing material well-being to pursuing spiritual enrichment. As an entertainment activity that combines entertainment, social interaction and curiosity, movies have gradually become a focus of national entertainment life.

Watching movies can meet the needs of users:

• Entertainment needs. The real life of most people is slow and lacks excitement. Movies allow people to experience a wonderful story within two hours. Moreover, these stories are things that they cannot experience in their own lives, thus bringing the audience an exciting, fast and novel experience. At the same time, movies also satisfy the audience's deep unconscious fantasies, such as the meeting of Prince Charming and Snow White, and it is these fantasies that determine which movies are popular among a group.
• Social needs. Many times, people don't go to the movies on purpose, but rather watch them as part of a social occasion, associated with eating, shopping, etc. Sometimes people watch a movie not for its content or reviews, but simply to keep a topic going between people. At this time, the quality of the movie itself becomes secondary, and the convenience of watching the movie becomes the main factor.
• Star-chasing needs. Most people have their favorite stars and directors. When these people's movies are released, they are very willing to go to the cinema to support their works out of love for other reasons. This is also one of the important factors that people consider when choosing a movie.

3.2 How do users like to watch movies?

According to iMedia Research data, watching movies online for free is the first way users choose to watch movies, accounting for 50.2%, and going to the cinema is the second way to watch movies.

In terms of the average number of moviegoers per capita, compared with 4.22 times in South Korea and 3.8 times in North America, China's average number of moviegoers per capita still has a lot of room for improvement. Even in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which are considered to have saturated markets, there is still room for improvement in the average number of moviegoers per capita. The primary factor affecting the number of movie-going times is ticket prices. In 2012, the average ticket price in South Korea was 43.5 yuan, while in 2013 the average ticket price in Chinese urban cinemas was 35 yuan. However, after conversion based on per capita income, the price of a movie in South Korea is equivalent to 12 yuan in China. This shows that there is still room for further decline in China's movie ticket prices. On the other hand, it also shows the impact of a country's development level on movie ticket prices.

As for ticket purchasing methods, iMedia Research data shows that in the first quarter of 2016, 73.7% of users chose to buy tickets online (the sum of data from online group purchases, online cinema ticket purchases, and online movie platforms such as Baidu Nuomi ), and the proportion of online ticket purchases has further increased. At the same time, preferential information and discount strength have become the most important factors influencing users' choice of purchasing platform.

As for the factors that influence audiences’ choice of films, 56.7% of the respondents said that online reviews are the primary factor influencing users’ choice of films. 68.5% of users said that transportation is the primary factor affecting their choice of cinema.

3.3 User Demand KANO Analysis

As an online ticketing platform, we can analyze user needs from the following three aspects:

3.3.1 Essential Requirements

1. Movie information view
2. Location and schedule of nearby cinemas
3. Online Payment
4. Seat Selection
5. Search movies and theaters feature

3.3.2 Expected Demand

1. Movie ratings
2. Discounts
3. Refund and change functions
4. Movie News and Reviews
5. Comments after watching
6. Movie pre-sale
7. customer service

3.3.3 Charismatic Demand

1. Sports Tickets
2. Tickets
3. Scan the QR code to get your ticket
4. Movie-related products and services
5. Interaction and community service
6. Personalized recommendations
7. Membership Features

4. Product Analysis

4.1 Product Strategy

On May 16, 2016, Taobao Movies was officially renamed Tao Piaopiao. This time, Alibaba Pictures renamed Taobao Movies to Tao Piaopiao, indicating that the strategic direction of Taobao Movies has undergone a major upgrade. The business scope has expanded from movies to performances, sports and other pan-entertainment industries, and its own positioning has changed from an online ticketing platform to a marketing platform with online and offline two-way promotion and distribution capabilities. In the future, Tao Piaopiao will open up its capabilities including online ticket sales, precision marketing, and user interaction to the pan-entertainment industry, actively expand more application scenarios around ticketing, help partners conduct integrated marketing that combines online and offline, and provide consumers with more convenient services.

At the same time, as an important part of Alibaba Pictures' Internet promotion and marketing system, Tao Piaopiao's business model will be greatly enriched, and its comprehensive service capabilities in membership management, film company services, and cinema Internet upgrades will be enhanced.

4.2 Product Business Model Analysis

While developing its online ticket purchasing business, Tao Piaopiao is also trying to expand its business to more links in the film and television industry chain. This summer, Tao Piaopiao integrated resources through Alibaba Pictures and participated in the publicity and promotion of movies such as "Now You See Me 2", "Skiptrace", "Song of the Sea", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2" and "Star Trek Beyond".

Although Alibaba Pictures executives said subsidies are not a long-term solution, they also said Tao Piaopiao does not intend to make a profit at this stage and is not currently participating in film investments. Instead, it hopes to expand the entire market mainly through non-profit means, allowing partners in the entire ecosystem, including film companies, theaters, and other third parties, to make money, and then consider profitability under this premise.

4.3 Product structure and function analysis

4.3.1 Product Introduction

• Product slogan: Find good times
• Product logo:

• Product positioning: An Internet marketing platform that integrates ticketing, information, and interactive services for movies, performances, and events

4.3.2 Target population analysis

The features currently launched by Tao Piaopiao are mainly aimed at those who want to purchase movie tickets and performance tickets online. It also provides product peripherals, movie information reviews and community interaction functions to enrich the user experience.

According to iMedia Research’s data from the first quarter of 2016, people aged 20-29 are the main audience for movies. First- and second-tier cities are the main contributors to the box office, while third- and fourth-tier cities are on the rise. At the same time, people with a bachelor's degree and a monthly income of 3001-6000 are the main movie-watching group. This group of people has a certain level of consumption and consumption needs.

At the same time, consumers often choose to watch movies with friends, couples, and family. Before and after watching a movie, there are related consumptions such as eating and singing karaoke.

According to the population attributes of Taobao movie keywords in Baidu Index, it can be defined that men aged 20-39 with a certain level of education and economic strength are the main user group of Tao Piaopiao, accounting for more than 80%.

This group of people have relatively good knowledge, economic strength and social status, so they have relatively high demands for spiritual life. They are also the main group of people responsible for buying tickets in families or couples. Only by capturing this group of people and catering to their preferences can we have greater room for development. The main characteristics of this group of people are: pursuing efficiency and convenience, not averse to new things, pursuing quality of service and having reasonable consumption concepts.

4.3.3 Product structure and function analysis

Product Structure Diagram

Product Function Analysis

1. Core Functions

Movie ticket purchase flow chart

As the core function of the entire app, the simplicity and clarity of the ticket purchasing process is one of the key factors that determine whether users will retain. As can be seen from the flowchart, ticket purchasing requires at least seven steps. Since each step allows users to make only one decision as much as possible, overall, the ticket purchasing process is still very convenient and smooth. Moreover, the relevant content introduction and ratings of the movie are very detailed and provide sufficient information. Users can easily make a purchase decision based on the content provided in the app.

Discount features

Discounts have always been an important weapon for online ticket purchasing platforms to occupy the market and defeat offline ticket purchasing platforms. The effectiveness of the discount function directly determines the market share and user retention. Tao Piaopiao’s discounts mainly include special movie tickets for newcomers, cinema card discounts, limited-time event discounts, special ticket grabs and coupons, etc. There are rich varieties of discounts, but the promotion activities are nothing new and it is difficult to bring about explosive growth in traffic.

Discovery Features

As an important module of UGC, the discovery function determines whether the application is just a simple tool application. The discovery function of Tao Piaopiao includes lines, topics, box office and information reviews, etc. Users mainly read the content here, and the only thing they can really do is comment under each article or topic, but they cannot produce in-depth content themselves. This is not conducive to the birth and development of a community around film.

Movie review function

As audiences' tastes become more and more discerning, the quality of a film's ratings largely determines a film's box office performance. Checking the ratings before watching a movie has become a habit for many people when choosing a movie. The better the rating function in the app is, the more willing users are to rate it, and the more user stickiness will be enhanced. Although the rating quality of Douban Movies is high, it is difficult for ordinary users to check the ratings and comments on Douban before every ticket purchase.

Although Tao Piaopiao marks the ratings next to each movie, it still does not do enough to stimulate the desire of ordinary users to rate. First, the entrance to write reviews and read popular reviews is deep, and second, there is no guidance or reward for writing reviews.

2. Accessibility

1) Purchase performance tickets

As one of the new features of Tao Piaopiao, the process of purchasing performance tickets is more concise, basically only requiring 5 steps. However, since there is only one introduction module for performance details, users can obtain less information about the performance from the app, making it more difficult to make a purchasing decision.

2) Cinema card function

Tao Piaopiao has teamed up with many cinemas to launch the online cinema card function. As a win-win function, it is mainly aimed at those who often have the need to watch movies, and has little impact on ordinary people. For people who go to the movies less frequently, it is not cost-effective to apply for a cinema card.

Suggestion: In addition to launching cinema cards that are calculated by time, Tao Piaopiao can also launch cinema cards that are charged by the number of times. This can also achieve the purpose of attracting traffic to a specific cinema and benefit those low-frequency moviegoers.

3) My Membership Function

In addition to cinema cards, Tao Piaopiao also has its own membership function. By purchasing movie tickets and writing film reviews within the app, you can upgrade your membership level, and the membership level can be used to redeem vouchers and membership of Youku, Xiami, etc. Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with this membership system, but the fact is that the vouchers given to members cannot be combined with other promotional activities, which may result in higher ticket prices when using the vouchers. Because of this, the audience is not very motivated to upgrade their membership level, thus losing an incentive to promote audience ratings.

Suggestion: Reduce the frequency of issuing vouchers, and allow member vouchers to be combined with other promotional activities. This can reflect the value of membership to a certain extent and enhance the audience's desire to upgrade their membership.

4.4 Product Presentation Layer Analysis

• Design style: Tao Piaopiao uses white as the overall background color, black and gray as the text colors, and other colors are from movie posters, discount information and ticket purchase buttons. The purpose is prominent and the colors are bright, which can help users distinguish information well without affecting users' visual habits.

• Page speed: The application loads quickly, and there is no noticeable lag when switching between pages.
• Page layout: The page layout is reasonable, presenting the main information of each movie to users in the form of a list.
• Animation effect: The five first-level menu bars at the bottom cannot be slid over each other like WeChat. They can only be switched by tapping. There is no animation effect added when the page jumps, and the experience is slightly poor.
• Advertising space: As a movie ticket app, the biggest advertisement is the movie itself, so there are no advertisements for other types of products in the app.
• User login: Taopiaopiao supports Taobao account login, which saves most users’ registration time and also facilitates users’ payment.
• Summary and suggestions: Tao Piaopiao's overall application design is very simple and bright, with a white background color, which only focuses the user's attention on the key information display areas. This is very good, but the lack of animation effects will also make the user experience a little lacking. It is recommended to add more jump animations to make the overall connection smoother.

5. Competitive product analysis and comparison

5.1 Competitive product classification

Online movie ticket purchasing platforms are mainly professional ticketing websites, which are divided into comprehensive ticketing websites and vertical movie ticketing websites. In the early stages of development, the main business of such platforms is online seat selection. They use large subsidies to gain a large market share and accumulate a large amount of market data. Currently, most of the major players in the market are platforms with large traffic support.

Currently, competing products on the market are mainly divided into categories: vertical movie ticket platforms, comprehensive ticketing platforms, group buying platforms, movie reviews and information platforms, map applications, shopping applications, and theater ticketing platforms.

5.2 Competitive Market Analysis

According to data analysis from the third quarter of 2016, the proportion of online ticket purchases in the overall box office showed a slow growth trend in 2016, exceeding 70% in the third quarter. In terms of the proportion of online ticket purchase platforms in the third quarter, Maoyan, Baidu Nuomi and Yupiaer ranked the top three, accounting for 22.8%, 20.9% and 12.7% respectively. At present, the online ticket purchasing platform market has basically established a competitive landscape of BAT + Maoyan. The four have begun to exert their efforts in big data mining, user experience, pan-entertainment, and industrial chain building, but it seems that no one party has an overwhelming advantage at present.

Here we select Maoyan Movies and Baidu Nuomi as the main objects of competitive analysis, and analyze them from three aspects: infrastructure, core strategy and industry layout.

5.2.1 Competitive Product Infrastructure Analysis

5.2.1.1 Information Architecture

(1) Movie ticket purchase flow chart

Baidu Nuomi:

Maoyan Movies:

Tao Piao Piao:

It can be seen that the ticket purchasing process is now very similar, and has basically formed standard steps. No one company adopts a particularly simple or complicated process.

(2) Interface level comparison

Tao Piao Piao:

Baidu Nuomi:

Maoyan Movies:

Conclusion: The interfaces of the three applications after the homepage are very similar, and all of them use white as the background color and red as the highlight color, which shows that the industry has gradually formed certain norms for the application of colors and has gradually found the most suitable form of expression for users.

(3) Home page interface layout

As shown in the figure, the movie homepage entrances of Tao Piaopiao, Baidu Nuomi and Maoyan Movie respectively. It can be seen that the structures of the three are highly similar. At the top are the city, search and the list of movies that are currently being shown, the movie that will be released soon, etc. Baidu Nuomi provides an additional entrance to the movies that have been taken offline, and Maoyan Movie provides an entrance to find movies. This also shows the difference in their understanding of user needs. However, I personally think that it is understandable to provide an entrance to the movies that have been taken offline, but the movie finding function is not necessary. Because as a ticket purchasing application, it is too early to compete with Douban Movie in terms of the completeness of the movie library and the completeness of the evaluation, and it will distract users' attention. After all, it is impossible to accumulate a huge amount of user reviews by only providing such a small entrance.

In the middle are some rotating advertising spaces used to showcase some activities, and on the movie list page below, Tao Piaopiao has a special label for today's hottest and this week's hottest. This will help some users solve the problem of difficulty in choosing a movie when choosing one on the spur of the moment.

In the bottom tab, Baidu Nuomi has a recommendation page, and unlike the discovery page of the other two applications, Baidu Nuomi has changed it to a fan circle page. I personally think this name can resonate more with users, because most people go to the movies for a favorite star. If a direct entrance to a fan circle is provided, users will be more likely to click in and participate in related discussions.

5.2.1.2 Function

Main function comparison:

It can be seen from the above table that each app has expanded its business beyond the movie ticket purchasing business. The main expansion of Maoyan Movies revolves around the movies themselves, such as the film-finding function and the diversification of payment methods. This is also related to the positioning of Maoyan by the entire Maoyan team. They hope that Maoyan can first deepen its vertical development in the film industry, deeply participate in all aspects of the film and gradually gain the right to speak.

As Tao Piaopiao and Baidu Nuomi have strong company backgrounds, they are not only able to try to develop in the vertical business of movies, but also take steps in horizontal expansion such as performance tickets. Therefore, we can see the performance tickets in Tao Piaopiao and the performances and group buying options in Baidu Nuomi.

The main advantages of online ticket purchasing websites are market share and the massive amount of user data brought by the market share. With the advent of the big data wave, whoever can accumulate more user data and effectively transform it into monetizable resources will be able to stand out from competitors in the next competition. Currently, we can see that these three apps are trying this, but the directions of their attempts are not exactly the same. As for who is better and who is worse, I believe it will be clear in three years.

5.2.2 Analysis of Competitive Product Core Strategies

5.2.2.1 Product Positioning (iPhone version iteration record is used here)

(1) Main iteration records of Tao Piao Piao:

• 1.0.0 on October 25, 2012 - 5.5.0 on December 2, 2015

Focus on optimizing the user experience of purchasing movie tickets, such as providing more theaters and films, optimizing the ticket purchasing process and application speed, supporting pre-sales, movie reviews and ticket refund functions for some theaters, supporting the purchase of snacks, etc.

The main goal of this stage is to optimize the user experience and focus on doing a good job in online movie ticket purchase to expand market share.

• 5.60 on January 4, 2016 - 5.9.0 on April 22, 2016

A new discovery page was added, which began to provide content such as power supply information, and the Taobao membership function was launched, which increased the number of words that can be written in movie reviews, opened cinema cards, allowed people to like information articles, opened topic discussions, etc.

At this stage, Tao Piaopiao already had a certain user base and market share, so their main changes were used to increase user usage time and dependence. Adding information and community entrances was their main attempt during this period.

• May 16, 2016 6.0.0 - Now

Taobao Movies was renamed Tao Piaopiao, connected to Damai's performance ticketing service, added a new performance ticket function, and quickly increased the number of cities that support performance tickets in the subsequent versions. At the same time, in topic discussions, the more likes a user's article gets, the higher it will be displayed. Added live broadcast function, tracking movie updates, added movie guide and peripheral purchasing functions, etc.

After the name change, Tao Piaopiao's strategy has further developed. On the one hand, it has entered the performance ticket business and actively developed business horizontally through it, using the users accumulated during the movie ticket period to guide them to buy performance tickets through Tao Piaopiao. On the other hand, the media and social functions of the movie ticket business are strengthened, providing users with more services besides purchasing movie tickets, increasing users' dependence on the Tao Piaopiao app and giving them reasons to open the app even when they are not buying movie tickets.

(2) Main iteration records of Maoyan movie versions:

• 3.8, December 10, 2013 - 4.1, June 23, 2014

New features include movie reviews, sharing, seat selection, payment method selection, coupons, movie actor information, etc.

This phase mainly focuses on improving the application's functions for purchasing movie tickets and enhancing the app's usability.

• 5.0 on August 18, 2014 - 7.8 on January 11, 2017

New community functions have been added, including movie community, filmmaker community and local community, to enhance user interactivity. Add film critic certification function to attract professional film critics to join. Add ticket refund, change and film library functions, add discovery page and peripheral product sales, film library and filmmakers support UGC, support online viewing, and support long reviews.

Unlike Tao Piaopiao, Maoyan Movie only focuses on the movie ticket business, so it has only reached the 2.0 stage since its launch. In the 2.0 stage, Maoyan Movie is also focused on discovering community and film library functions, providing users with movie-related services, and attracting users to enter the app to generate data, which is conducive to the vertical development of Maoyan Movie in the film field and helps it to gain the right to speak in the upstream and downstream. Overall, Maoyan Movie’s attitude to gain the right to speak is strong, and it increases its capital for negotiations with the upstream and downstream business of the film by hijacking users and traffic entrances.

(3) Main iteration records of Baidu Nuomi versions:

• 4.3.1 May 8, 2014 - September 16, 2015

New features include online seat selection, universal use of Baidu accounts, low-price movie ticket activities, movie membership cards, watching blockbuster movies for 6.6 yuan on Saturdays, etc.

During this stage, Baidu Nuomi mainly snatched user resources from competitors by continuously improving its functions and adopting low-price movie ticket strategies. At the same time, since the movie section is only a part of Baidu Nuomi's multiple categories, Baidu Nuomi also did the work of diverting traffic, using the popularity of other categories to divert traffic to the power section, thus realizing one-stop entertainment services.

• September 30, 2015 - Present

Added online ticketing for performances and events, optimized Baidu Wallet experience, etc.

The strategy of Baidu Nuomi is similar to that of Tao Piaopiao. After perfecting the application functions, they developed both horizontally and vertically in the second phase. This is also because the company behind them has a strong background, which enables them to have sufficient financial and technical support. However, since it is embedded in the power module of Baidu Nuomi, its strategy is slightly different from that of Tao Piaopiao. The ultimate goal of Baidu Nuomi is not to develop movies independently, but to regard movies as part of user entertainment. Therefore, they will promote activities including movies, shopping, and food, and take advantage of Baidu's big data technology to contribute to the precise marketing promotion of the movie sector by analyzing user behavior in other sections such as search, maps, forums, group buying and other Baidu products, which will be more conducive to Baidu's accuracy and direction in the vertical development of movies. Currently, Baidu Nuomi takes cinemas as the core of its ecosystem and conducts in-depth cooperation with cinemas based on membership, merchandise and derivatives. It has not only won the trust and support of cinemas, but also allowed consumers to enjoy a better service experience.

The above chart shows the ranking changes of three apps in the iPhone app store from January 2015 to February 2017. Combining the rankings with the main strategy changes of the three apps, we can see that:

After Tao Piaopiao was revised on January 4, 2016, its ranking improved a lot compared to before. However, after it was renamed in May 2016, its ranking declined. Excluding the collective decline of the three apps in September, it can be seen that the change has had an impact on Tao Piaopiao's short-term ranking. However, in recent months, Tao Piaopiao's ranking has risen very fast, even surpassing the comprehensive group buying app Baidu Nuomi. This is also related to Tao Piaopiao's hosting of the 1212 Movie Carnival and its strong support for the 2017 Spring Festival.

Since each change of Maoyan Movie is gradual, there has not been an explosive growth in a certain period of time. It fluctuates mainly with the fluctuations of the industry or the fluctuations of its own operational activities.

Since the movie section only accounts for a part of Baidu Nuomi, it has little impact on the overall application ranking. However, Tao Piaopiao has recently surpassed Baidu Nuomi's overall group buying ranking with its movie content, which is enough to attract the attention of the Baidu Nuomi team.

5.2.2.2 Profit model

Like many other Internet companies, profitability has always been a problem that is difficult to solve in the short term. Both the taxi-hailing and food delivery industries have not yet achieved profitability after burning money. However, after Didi eliminated all competitors such as Kuaidi and Uber and formed an absolute monopoly position, profitability is no longer a problem. On the contrary, the travel big data obtained by using the monopoly position will be conducive to the development of various other related industries. Just like a lever, it can slowly leverage all related industries, and even go overseas to compete with giants around the world.

The same is true for the film industry. At present, it seems that the only way for all parties to continue to occupy a place in the market and have the capital to negotiate with the entire horizontal and vertical film industries is to continue to spend money on ticket subsidies. It will take time for Internet companies to enter the traditional film industry, change its structure, and create an Internet + movie gameplay.

However, it is worth noting that the reason why Didi can form a monopoly position is due to the complexity of the background of the investors behind it. Didi is currently the only company jointly invested by Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, so it can smoothly embark on a good development path. In other fields besides travel, the companies invested by BAT are still constantly struggling. Although there are leaders, it is still difficult to develop a monopoly.

Back to the film industry, the competitors of Tao Piaopiao, Maoyan Movies and Baidu Nuomi have never been just Internet companies like each other. To be more precise, they are challengers and outsiders in the traditional film industry. Competing with them are major film companies and cinemas that have been developing in China for decades.

So, as the money-burning war gradually cools down, will there be another film platform jointly invested by BAT in a few years to launch a more fierce attack on the traditional film industry?

With Didi leading the way, I think it is possible.

VI. Suggestions and Conclusion

Application suggestions:

(1) Within the app, enhance the social elements within the discovery portal to avoid direct competition with Douban Movies. Instead, focus on enhancing interactions between people and strengthening the connection between users and movie stars, and deepening the fan economy. For example, you can introduce live broadcasts of the protagonists of popular movies, encourage users to post and reward them with coupons. However, you should pay attention to distinguishing them from professional film reviews on Douban Movies. For example, you can focus on describing the mood of watching the movie.

(2) For the newly opened performance section, you can try to add more categories, such as writer book sharing sessions, celebrity speeches, music analysis sessions, etc. At the same time, you can also add more functions, such as ratings and social functions. Because performances, like movies, are part of entertainment and are highly substitutable. If the performance function is well done, it can also play the role brought by movies. The market share of performances is actually much larger than that of movies, but because it covers many categories, it has not yet received widespread attention. If you make an effort to enter now and seize the performance market through ticket subsidies and other means, you can be one step ahead and establish influence in the minds of users;

(3) Most registered users have watched several movies using Tao Piaopiao. Tao Piaopiao can make full use of the advantages of big data, combine the user data accumulated on other Alibaba platforms, accurately profile users, and try to recommend the most suitable movie currently being released or about to be released to each user. It also lists the reasons for the recommendation and presents it to the user, making the user feel that someone can understand their thoughts.

(4) Improve the ticket refund and change system. In fact, there is no technical difficulty in refunding and changing tickets. The key lies in the cooperative relationship between the online ticketing platform and the theater chains. Tao Piaopiao should continue to cooperate on offline resources to allow traditional theaters and Internet companies to develop together, rather than always trying to deprive theaters of their voice and subvert their way of survival.

Summary:

Tao Piaopiao is one of the important strategic platforms of Alibaba Pictures. Its growth and development directly affects the horizontal and vertical development prospects of Alibaba Pictures. Therefore, the ticket subsidy method will continue for some time to come. While the online movie ticket industry has not yet been completely determined, it becomes very necessary to actively deploy related upstream and downstream industries of the film. Therefore, the ultimate success or failure of Tao Piaopiao does not necessarily depend on how well some specific functions within the Tao Piaopiao application perform, but rather on whether the strategies adopted by Alibaba Pictures are forward-looking enough in the larger film industry. Whether it can become Didi that ultimately remains, like the taxi industry, rather than Kuaidi and Uber that were acquired, will require the wisdom and strategy of management.

What is currently reflected in Tao Piaopiao is that the management wants to expand into ticket sales for other performances, and at the same time wants to participate in every aspect of the film, cooperating with production, distribution and theater companies. Tao Piaopiao will be mainly responsible for Internet publicity and promotion. Starting from this point, it will gradually go deep into every aspect of the film, slowly accumulate experience and voice, and use the most critical power of big data to transform the entire traditional film industry.

If you want to compete with other online ticketing platforms and obtain more user entry resources, it becomes necessary to spend money and expand your business scope. Compared to continuing to burn money in the film market, I suggest using the online movie ticket sales portal to develop the ticket sales market for other performances. Concerts, sports, speeches and other forms of performance can actually replace movies. The platform that should eventually be formed must be a comprehensive offline entertainment experience platform that includes activities such as dining, shopping, and watching movies, rather than just focusing on movies.

Therefore, compared with other platforms backed by group buying, Tao Piaopiao is naturally at a disadvantage in terms of entertainment experience, and its mining of users’ offline entertainment data may not be as in-depth as other platforms.

In the short term, the competition between platforms will not change much, but in the long run, will the online movie ticket market end its fragmented state like the taxi industry, and will a monopoly pan-entertainment platform jointly invested by the three BAT companies emerge?

We can wait and see.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

This article was compiled and published by @佳人如梦 (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!