With an average daily playback volume of over 4 billion, how does Xigua Video stand out?

While China's long-form video platforms are all getting closer to Netflix and further away from YouTube , Xigua Video has the shadow of YouTube in its form and content, from user products to business ecology.

There are some Internet products that may seem to have no special features, are ordinary, and have little edge, but they can grow strongly and steadily in a very short period of time and become the invisible killer of the industry - such as the early QQ Space in China and Instagram abroad.

Xigua Video, which we are going to talk about today, is also such a product. While Kuaishou is reaping the cruel stories of the lower class and Douyin is conquering the younger generation, the unprepossessing Xigua Video has taken a less traveled path in the development of short videos , and in a very short period of time has become an important variable in the domestic short video field - with an average daily playback volume of over 4 billion and an average daily duration of over 70 minutes.

It is so low-key that its commercial value is even seriously underestimated by some people in the industry . Today, let's analyze the logic behind Xigua Video:

It is no exaggeration to say that the fierce competition in the domestic short video field is brutal. Kuaishou has the first-mover advantage and has deep roots in the grassroots; Miaopai has received huge financing and has the support of Weibo; Meipai is digging deep into the beauty economy and is coming on strong; even within Toutiao, there is the popular Douyin and the powerful Huoshan.

So how did Xigua Video, which didn’t look sexy and was only officially split into independent operations in June 2017, break through and achieve leapfrog development in a short period of time?

1. Give equal weight to algorithm distribution and relationship distribution

Short video production is the Ren meridian and short video consumption is the Du meridian. There are two ways to connect the production and consumption meridians - algorithm distribution and relationship distribution . Algorithm means that the machine decides what you watch, and relationship distribution means that the people you follow decide what you watch. In Xigua Video, the two coexist and are unified.

There is a saying that Toutiao is the company with the highest density of algorithm engineers per unit area in the world. Indeed, Toutiao's algorithm has definitely contributed greatly to its success in the field of information distribution. There is no doubt that algorithm distribution has an advantage in efficiency. The homepage of Xigua Video is a distribution system that is completely driven by algorithms. The content recommended to you is the result of machine learning based on your series of behaviors. Every click, viewing time, progress bar dragging, swiping up and down becomes an input variable of the algorithm model - after watching it, Guo Degang recommends Yue Yunpeng to you... In a sense, machines know you better than you know yourself. Algorithms are the mind-reading technology of our time.

More importantly, Xigua Video and Toutiao's main APP are deeply integrated . This deep integration allows Xigua Video to effectively utilize the algorithm models and data accumulated by Toutiao over the years, making the user portrait more accurate and the distribution model more complete. This is a huge first-mover advantage that cold-start APPs such as 360 Quick Video cannot obtain, and it is also the technical foundation for Xigua Video's rapid rise.

The algorithm is efficient in consumption efficiency. However, to establish a long-term incentive mechanism for content production, the social assets of producers are equally important. Relationship distribution is an important strategy to solve this problem . "Make headlines, increase fans" has become Toutiao's new slogan for creators. Specifically for Xigua Video's relationship distribution, first of all, it emphasizes the account system, that is, allowing more people to watch while logged in. At the same time, it puts the attention flow in the first-level menu, so that fans of Papi Jiang and Office Xiaoye can find them at the first time.

Finally, it adds a follow button under each video to guide users to follow if they like it. The importance of relationship building stems from two levels. On the one hand, for short video consumers, relationship distribution provides a convenience to directly reach idols, which provides a sense of certainty. On the other hand, for short video producers, the direct effect of relationship distribution is the growth of fans, that is, the growth of its social assets . When its social assets accumulate on Xigua Video, the moat of Xigua Video will become deeper.

Algorithmic distribution and relationship distribution have been unified in Xigua Video, which is exactly the same as YouTube on the other side of the ocean. It is precisely because of the simultaneous progress of algorithmic distribution and relationship distribution that YouTube has seen a rapid increase in the average daily consumption time in recent years while establishing a sustainable video ecosystem.

2. Coexistence of short videos and mini videos

There is no doubt that even in the field of short videos, the form of content has very obvious differentiation. The most obvious is that it is divided into short videos and small videos based on the horizontal and vertical screen ratio, duration, and P UGC . The former are mostly 1-10 minutes, horizontal version, PGC production , represented by "Yi Tiao" and "Office Ono";

The latter are short videos that are 15-55 seconds long, vertical, and mainly UGC-produced. Videos on Douyin and Kuaishou belong to this category . Unlike other apps that specifically distinguish between the two, Xigua Video combines the two into one, taking both into account.

If I want to watch both short and sharp 15-second exciting videos and exquisite short videos produced by MCN agencies , other video apps except Xigua Video cannot meet my needs. Short videos and small videos occupy the most important first and second Tabs of Xigua Video respectively. The reason behind this setting is that Xigua Video has balanced the relationship between stock and increment very well.

In a sense, horizontal short videos are the stock in this field . A large number of professional production teams still adopt horizontal composition. From shooting tools to lens language, horizontal video has an extremely mature production process. On the other hand, horizontal short videos have incomparable advantages over vertical short videos in terms of subject matter, expression methods, narrative ability and other aspects. As one of Toutiao's most important strongholds in the short video field, Xigua Video must take down this huge stock.

In a sense, vertical short videos are an incremental growth in this field . With the popularity of mobile phones as a shooting tool, the short and sharp vertical short videos are like a catfish, injecting a new direction into the competition in the original horizontal short video market. As an absolute pioneer in this field, Douyin quickly became an object of imitation for latecomers such as Weishi .

In this regard, Xigua Video, Douyin and Huoshan Video have a division of labor. Xigua Video is mainly responsible for distribution, while Douyin and Huoshan Video are responsible for production . That is, all of Xigua Video's short videos come from the high-quality content produced by Douyin and Huoshan Video. Putting "short videos" as a tab in the second most important position is enough to show that Xigua Video attaches great importance to this incremental market.

3. Consider both PGC and UGC

Xigua Video positions itself as a PUGC short video platform because it indeed takes both PGC and UGC as its two-pronged approach. PGC and UGC are actually in a relationship of unity in opposites. UGC brings together the wisdom and energy of the people, while PGC emphasizes professional and stable production.

However, whether it is Papi Jiang in China or Justin Bieber on YouTube, they all belonged to UGC at the beginning. After they were recognized and started to establish companies and operate professionally, they became PGC . In this sense, UGC is the foundation and funnel of PGC.

Justin Bieber recorded his own cover video on YouTube in his early years

One of the important reasons why YouTube's ecosystem is so developed is that YouTube has established an effective UGC and PGC evolution mechanism. Xigua Video is trying to establish a content ecosystem similar to YouTube in China.

"The experts are among the people" - Xigua Video relies on Toutiao's algorithm to make excellent UGC short videos stand out, that is, the algorithm is the filter and driver of UGC high-quality content, and it is precisely because of its efficient discovery and distribution mechanism that Xigua Video can mobilize the enthusiasm of UGC content creators - you are responsible for the excitement, and Xigua Video helps you reach more fans.

At the same time, Xigua Video has been unambiguous in its support for PGC. After announcing 1 billion to support short video creators in 2016, it announced the launch of a "2 billion" short video content joint production fund in November 2017. Currently, there are more than 100,000 PGC organizations on Xigua Video.

At present, almost all domestic MCN organizations have settled in Xigua Video. For this reason, Toutiao launched the "Xigua Video Creator Platform" and opened the corresponding mini-program . At the same time, it pioneered the "Golden Second Award" in the short video field. In 2017, there were more than 130,000 entries. At the same time, Xigua Video reached a short video content cooperation agreement with copyright platforms such as Youku to effectively expand its professional content.

4. Unification of User Value and Commercial Value

When you create value for users, you actually have commercial value. However , not every company can effectively convert user value into commercial value . For example, there is Snapchat abroad that has a huge number of users but lacks monetization ability. Douban and Zhihu in China both have a large number of high-quality users but their monetization is not satisfactory. So how is Xigua Video doing in this area?

The main indicators of user value can usually be seen in three aspects: user scale, user activity, and user AR PU value. The user scale of Xigua Video has exceeded 190 million monthly active users, and the average daily usage time of Xigua Video is more than 70 minutes.

The most critical ARPU value is achieved by Xigua Video's mature commercial monetization system. Xigua Video's advertising monetization system is integrated with Toutiao's monetization system. On the one hand, it can enjoy Toutiao's existing mature advertising customer base, and on the other hand, Toutiao's complete advertising products and advertising algorithms can also be used by Xigua Video. An important manifestation is that Xigua Video was the first in China to launch a CPV settlement video advertising model, which settles based on 7 seconds of video playback . This is an expression of Xigua Video's confidence in its advertising algorithm. This mature commercial system can efficiently convert user value into commercial value to the greatest extent.

Comparison between CPV model and traditional CPM model

Unlike YouTube, Xigua Video's mainstream commercial products are not pre-roll ads. On the one hand, this is based on user experience considerations. On the other hand, Toutiao has also summarized more efficient commercial monetization methods in its long-term business practices . Currently, the commercial products on Xigua Video have formed a complete product matrix - splash screen ads, information flow ads , buy while watching, mid-insert ads, post-roll ads, etc. KFC , FAW, and Tmall are all important brand advertisers for Xigua Video.

While long video platforms in China are getting closer to Netflix and further away from YouTube, Xigua Video has the shadow of YouTube in its form and connotation, from user products to business ecology. We will wait and see what kind of unique path it will take in the fiercely competitive short video track.

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

Product promotion services: APP promotion services, advertising platform, Longyou Games