Taking Hunan Satellite TV as an example, analyzing the feasibility of TV stations joining the live broadcast industry (Part 1)

Television stations are media that mainly output video, and live broadcasting is a form of video broadcasting. Therefore, TV stations can provide content for live broadcasts, and live broadcasts increase the opportunities for TV stations to interact with audiences, creating a closer connection. The live broadcast feature is consistent with the brand characteristics of Hunan Satellite TV, and Hunan Satellite TV has ready-made excellent content. Based on this, this article attempts to analyze the feasibility of Hunan Satellite TV (Hunan TV Station) joining the live broadcast industry.

Preface

I was planning to switch careers to product development. When I attended a training course before, there was a question titled "Feasibility analysis of Hunan Satellite TV joining the live broadcast industry." The following problems were encountered during the analysis and output process:

How do we judge whether certain characteristic attributes of things are "obvious" or "taken for granted"? When verifying an attribute that is "taken for granted", what aspects of the argument are needed to be considered sufficient? How to determine whether the statistical data of the data statistics platform is true and reliable? How much can you trust the data reports produced by the data platform? As a product entry-level person, to what extent do you need to understand an industry? Personally, I feel that entry-level personnel may have some knowledge about certain industries and be aware of some problems, but these knowledge and awareness cannot support the overall understanding of an industry.

I hope to get some advice from you all.

The following is part of the article, which mainly explains the background of the client (Hunan Satellite TV) and analyzes its characteristics (competitiveness) that are different from other satellite TV stations. A few notes:

TV programs and program schedules come from TVCat; due to previous limited knowledge, only TVCat was found as the data source. After comparing the TV programs of various channels over the course of a day, the data is generally reliable. After completing the collection, I discovered that CNTV also has the program lists of various satellite TV stations. Relatively speaking, CNTV’s data is always more reliable, but due to time constraints, we did not re-collect the data. Therefore, this paper focuses on the analysis process. Quoting data is not recommended. When writing this article, I did not refer to any templates. I just thought it would be good enough to make things clear. But this is just my wishful thinking. Please correct me if there are any shortcomings. Thank you. When doing the analysis, it was found that Hunan Satellite TV has launched an APP called "Mango Live", but this does not hinder the feasibility of the analysis. Besides, it was just an exercise at the time, so the analysis was still mainly based on Hunan Satellite TV, and not too much analysis was made on "Mango Live".

Starting point

Television stations are media that mainly output video, and live broadcasting is a form of video broadcasting. Therefore, TV stations can provide content for live broadcasts, and live broadcasts increase the opportunities for TV stations to interact with audiences, creating a closer connection.

Hunan Satellite TV’s core concept is Happy China, and its brand goal is to be “the most dynamic Chinese TV entertainment brand”. Its audience is also relatively young, with the main groups being middle school students and people aged 19 to 25.

The characteristic of live broadcast is to emphasize the present moment, increase the audience's sense of participation through instant interaction, and eliminate the audience's boredom and loneliness. Moreover, most of the people covered by live streaming have more time and are relatively young.

In summary, the target audiences of the two overlap, the live broadcast characteristics are consistent with the brand characteristics of Hunan Satellite TV, and Hunan Satellite TV has ready-made excellent content. Based on this, this article attempts to analyze the feasibility of Hunan Satellite TV (Hunan TV Station) joining the live broadcast industry.

Analysis

1. Relying on Hunan TV Station, Mango TV is positioned as the research object of TV station business, and its current content and production and broadcasting formats are observed to find out what competitive content it can provide for live broadcast.

2. Analyze the current live broadcast industry and determine what interactive methods can be adopted for the content provided by Hunan TV to increase connection with the audience.

3. Comprehensive discussion.

1. Based on Hunan TV Station, Mango TV is positioned as the research object of TV station business

Customer Survey

Hunan Television has 12 channels, including three satellite channels: Hunan Satellite TV, Hunan International Channel and Hunan Golden Eagle Cartoon Channel. In 2004, the TV station founded and operated the website "Golden Eagle Network". In 2008, Golden Eagle Network was integrated with Hunan Satellite TV and launched the hunantv.com domain name.

Considering that among all the channels of Hunan TV, Hunan Satellite TV has the richest content, high ratings and a large number of viewers, this channel will be given priority in analysis for the time being.

Hunan Satellite TV has been well-known since its variety entertainment program "Happy Camp" in 1997. It has always adhered to the core concept of "Happy China" and strived to create "the most dynamic Chinese TV entertainment brand". It became popular all over the country through the 2005 talent show "Super Girl". Because its logo resembles a mango and is widely loved by people, it is called Mango Channel. Its operating website also started using the domain name mgtv.com and was renamed Mango TV.

Mango TV (www.mgtv.com) is the only official video website of Hunan Satellite TV and the only Internet video platform under Hunan Radio and Television Station. It provides high-definition video on-demand services for all TV programs of Hunan Satellite TV, and simultaneously pushes popular TV series, movies, variety shows and music video content, as well as live broadcasts of some TV stations on the Internet. Therefore, let’s take Mango TV as the entry point to understand Hunan Satellite TV’s business.

At present, Mango TV's business system is as follows:

Therefore, the object of this observation is mainly Mango TV (Internet video). Unless otherwise specified, the Mango TV mentioned below refers to the Internet video Mango TV.

Mango TV currently provides the following access methods:

Mango TV Web version www.mgtv.com Mango TV wireless network m.mgtv.com Mango TV mobile client (Android, iPhone, iPad) Mango Live mobile client (Android)

Analyzing Hunan Satellite TV’s content advantages

The left side of the picture below shows the types of videos currently available on Mango TV:

The following analyzes Hunan Satellite TV's content advantages from five aspects:

Comparing the TV programs of the six major TV stations in Hunan, Zhejiang, Beijing, Oriental, Jiangsu and Anhui, this paper analyzes the content advantage of Hunan Satellite TV among the people who watch TV from two aspects: the number of variety shows and the proportion of variety show time in prime time on weekdays and weekends; looks at the content advantage of Hunan Satellite TV from the perspective of TV ratings rankings; analyzes the content advantage of Hunan Satellite TV in Internet videos from the broadcast of variety shows and TV series on video websites; analyzes the popularity of Hunan Satellite TV's variety shows and self-made TV series on Sina Weibo from the perspective of Sina Weibo TV Index; and analyzes the audience's attention to Hunan Satellite TV's variety shows and self-made TV series on PC and mobile terminals from the perspective of Baidu Index.

1. Analysis of TV programs of the six major TV stations

Program categories of each satellite TV station:

Data source: TVCat, time range: 2016.8.8-8.21

Note:

Definition of variety show: Variety show is a form of entertainment program, usually including performances of many types, such as music and comedy. The subsequent data, i.e. the proportion of variety show types and the proportion of variety shows in prime time on each weekday and weekend of each satellite TV station, are all counted according to this table. The program type comes from TVCat, and the time range is from August 8 to August 21, 2016, a period of two weeks. The subsequent data will cover the two-week period from August 8 to August 21, 2016.

The proportion of each satellite TV program and program type:

Among them, the proportion of variety shows (files) of each satellite TV station in their respective program files is as follows:

It can be seen from this that:

Hunan Satellite TV's variety show schedule accounts for the largest proportion among the six satellite TV stations; Dragon TV's variety show schedule accounts for the second largest proportion among the six satellite TV stations; Jiangsu Satellite TV and Anhui Satellite TV's variety show schedules rank third among the six satellite TV stations; Zhejiang Satellite TV is fifth, and Beijing Satellite TV has the least variety show schedule.

(1) Proportion of variety shows during prime time on weekdays on each satellite TV station

Definition: Weekday prime time refers to the time period from 19:00 to 22:00 from Monday to Thursday.

The data is the average of two sets of weekday data.

Note: The video time is taken from iQiyi. Some programs have time truncation because they are close to the statistical cut-off time.

According to the above figure, we can get the average daily proportion of variety show time on each satellite TV station from Monday to Thursday.

It can be seen that during the prime time (19:00 to 22:00) of each working day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday):

1. Hunan Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, and Jiangsu Satellite TV all have variety shows every weekday, including:

Hunan Satellite TV has a stable trend, with a balanced but low share every weekday; Zhejiang Satellite TV has a slight increase on Tuesday, but is generally stable, with a share twice as high as Hunan Satellite TV; Jiangsu Satellite TV has an uneven trend, with a high share on Mondays and Tuesdays, a significant drop on Wednesdays, and a slight increase on Thursdays.

2. Beijing Satellite TV only broadcasts variety shows on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and these programs account for a relatively large proportion of the time;

3. Dragon TV only broadcasts variety shows on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but the proportion of time on Wednesdays is low, while it increases significantly on Thursdays;

4. Anhui Satellite TV only broadcasts variety shows on Mondays and Thursdays, with the proportion on Mondays being about twice that of Thursdays.

(2) The proportion of variety shows in each satellite TV station’s prime time on Fridays

Definition: Friday prime time refers to the time period from 19:00 to 23:00 on Friday.

(3) The proportion of variety show time in prime time on Saturdays and Sundays on each satellite TV station

Definition: Saturday and Sunday prime time refers to the time period from 19:00 to 23:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

From the above two tables, we can get the average daily proportion of variety show time on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as follows:

As can be seen from the chart, during the prime time (19:00 to 23:00) every weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday):

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Based on the above analysis, the program conditions of the six major TV stations from August 8 to August 21, 2016 are as follows:

1. From the perspective of the proportion of variety shows produced by each satellite TV station:

Hunan Satellite TV has the highest proportion, reaching 42% of the station's program schedule; the second place is Dragon TV, accounting for 39% of the station's program schedule.

2. From the perspective of the proportion of variety shows in the prime time of weekdays (Monday to Thursday, 19:00 to 22:00) on each satellite TV station:

The three major TV stations, Beijing, Dragon TV and Anhui TV, all spent more time on variety shows on two of the working days than on other working days, and the gap was quite large. The proportion of time spent on variety shows on each working day on the three major TV stations, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hunan, is relatively even, among which the lowest proportion of time spent on variety shows on Jiangsu TV on each working day is higher than the highest proportion of time spent on the other two TV stations. The proportion of variety show time on Hunan Satellite TV on each weekday is balanced, but low, between 5% and 6%.

3. From the perspective of the proportion of variety show time during the Friday prime time (19:00 to 23:00) of each satellite TV station:

Hunan Satellite TV’s variety shows account for the highest proportion of prime time on Fridays, reaching 68.45%, far higher than the second place (Zhejiang Satellite TV) at 46.55%.

4. From the perspective of the proportion of variety show time during prime time (19:00 to 23:00) on Saturdays and Sundays on each satellite TV station:

During the prime time on Saturday, variety shows on Hunan Satellite TV accounted for 76.6%, higher than the second place (Dragon TV) at 64.85%. During the prime time on Sunday, variety show time on Jiangsu Satellite TV accounted for 59.33%, while Hunan Satellite TV ranked last with only 3.43%.

In summary, from the perspective of TV broadcasting, compared with other satellite TV stations, the characteristics of Hunan Satellite TV's variety shows are as follows:

The number of variety shows on our station is higher than that of other satellite TV stations; the proportion of variety shows in prime time from Monday to Thursday is small; the time of variety shows in prime time on Friday and Saturday is much higher than that of other satellite TV stations; the time of variety shows in prime time on Sunday is small.

2. TV ratings rankings (mainland)

slightly. Previously, no reliable ratings rankings could be found and no relevant data was collected. It is now known that the ratings rankings of mainland TV dramas in the past week can be found in Sina Entertainment's TV ratings rankings.

3. Variety shows and TV series broadcasting on the video websites of the six major TV stations

slightly. Previously, data from video websites, broadcast conditions of variety shows and TV dramas were not taken into consideration, resulting in the collection of relevant data. The popular data can be collected from the top three comprehensive video websites (iQiyi, Tencent, and Youku).

4. Sina Weibo TV Index

Note: The list only ranks the variety shows/TV series that premiered on each TV station.

Cooperation platform: CCTV-Sofres Media Research Co., Ltd.

Note:

Readers/Number of times: During the statistical period, the number of people who participated in the program discussion on Weibo read/Number of times mentioned/Number of times; During the statistical period, the number of people who participated in the program discussion via Weibo/Number of times.

According to the Sina Weibo TV Index, from August 8 to August 21, 2016, the popularity of variety shows and TV dramas from the six major TV stations on Sina Weibo is as follows:

Among the variety shows on the list, the number of readers/frequency of two programs of Hunan Satellite TV ranked first and second for two consecutive weeks, but it was lacking in the number of mentions/frequency, and was not as good as the following ones; through the Internet search engine, it was found that among the TV shows on the list, Hunan Satellite TV was the co-producer of "The Whirlwind Girl", and the other TV series were not produced by the TV station.

5. Baidu Index

slightly. Relevant data has not been collected before.

Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that Hunan Satellite TV’s content advantage lies mainly in variety shows, followed by self-produced TV series.

2. Mango TV’s attempts at live streaming

Mango TV variety show

The following are the variety shows on Mango TV:

Among them, "Perfect Holiday" is a live broadcast program, and its program concept is as follows:

15 tenants, live streaming 24 hours a day for 3 months, with a fierce weekly check-out based on the weekly announcement of the competition content, netizens' voting and tenants' internal voting, competing for a personal development fund of 1 million yuan; through the derivative program "818 Perfect Chat Room", the tenants interact with the audience live and canvass for votes for themselves. The derivative program "Perfect Observation Room" is a content gossip package; voting is achieved by the audience giving gifts to the tenants. There are two ways to get gifts. One is that the audience needs to buy them with money, and the other is to receive a small amount of gold coins randomly distributed during the live broadcast***. You need to install the Mango Live APP to purchase gifts.

Mango TV's current live shows

According to the Malanshan schedule for the third quarter of 2016, the current live broadcast types include press conferences, live broadcasts of recorded programs, movie viewings and fan meetings.

Other content

During the broadcast of "I Am a Singer 4", Hunan Satellite TV launched a program called "Singer Live Room". It is a derivative live broadcast program exclusively customized by Mango TV for the fourth season of "I Am a Singer". Every week, 6-7 singers will interact with netizens in real time in the live broadcast room. The interactive content is that the singers draw lots to answer questions posted by netizens online.

3. Comprehensive Discussion

To sum up, the current live broadcast situation of Mango TV is as follows:

The live broadcast format is single, and the content is mostly press conferences, movie viewings, and fan meetings. It has not yet been combined with its own variety shows, has not fully utilized the brand advantages, and cannot well satisfy the interaction between the audience who are not present and the program. Although the currently broadcast program "Perfect Holiday" implements 24-hour full-time panoramic live broadcast, which meets the expression needs of the audience who are not present, it does not meet the audience's needs for instant interaction. The tenants interacted with the audience live and canvassed votes for themselves through the derivative program "818 Perfect Chat Room", but it was only a live broadcast of one screen and there was no interaction with the audience on the current screen. "Singer Live Room" is combined with its own variety show "I Am a Singer 4" to meet the communication needs of absent audiences and singers. It adopts the method of leaving messages and drawing lots to answer questions. It can meet the delay and is a one-time communication. It cannot meet the multiple communication (interaction) between a single person and a singer. The Mango Live APP currently implements tracking camera shooting of tenants, chats between viewers, and tenant popularity voting machines. The only interaction with tenants is carried out in a manner similar to Weibo.