How did iQiyi achieve its comeback in 6 years?

In the field of online video, two products have come from behind in recent years. One is Tencent Video from Tencent, and the other is iQiyi from Baidu. This online video platform, which was founded in the same year as Youku went public, took 6 years to complete its counterattack, catching up in the video field and snatching a piece of meat from the big brother's mouth. And now, it is ahead of Tencent Video and Youku in all aspects. How did iQiyi do it? This is what we are going to study today.

This article attempts to analyze this product from the following points:

1. Functional architecture
2. Business Model
3. User Analysis
4. User experience and suggestions
5. profit
6. Summarize

Functional architecture

Business Model

In the early stage, we relied on Baidu to search for any movie or TV series on Baidu , and iQiyi was ranked first. The results are as follows:

Don't underestimate Baidu's backflow. Given the low user stickiness of online video products, users will go to whichever platform has the video content they want to watch, so the user switching cost is extremely low.

Moreover, when iQiyi was first established, it focused on long videos, which differentiated itself from Youku Tudou's operation model which mainly focused on UGC short video content. Tencent Video was also in its infancy at that time. Therefore, both iQiyi and Tencent Video entered the market with differentiated content operations .

However, iQiyi and Baidu do not have a clear advantage in terms of installed base on mobile terminals, so the acquisition of PPS filled iQiyi's shortcomings in the client side and helped iQiyi establish a competitive advantage on PC and mobile terminals.

Everyone knows that the three major elements of content operation are massive, exclusive and high-quality. Everyone can achieve massive and high-quality results, but the dimensions are exclusive and consume the most resources.

Therefore, you can see that iQiyi has begun to spend a lot of money to purchase the online broadcasting rights or exclusive broadcasting copyrights of movies/TV series/variety shows to create exclusive advantages, so that users will eventually come to iQiyi when they find that other video platforms do not have the content they want to watch.

But the cost of spending money to buy copyrights is still too high. Therefore, the company gradually reduces its investment in copyrights and focuses on self-produced content. Then you can see iQiyi's self-produced dramas such as "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", "Yu Zui", "U Can U Bibi" and so on, which are very popular on the Internet. In this way, with traffic , it not only drives the growth of advertising revenue and membership revenue, but also drives the growth of revenue from other peripheral businesses (iQiyi family products).

But doing all of these things is not enough.

According to the current layout speed of players in the market, the market for mobile phones and computers is almost saturated. Therefore, in order to maintain the continued growth of the business, it is necessary to expand to other terminals, and the expansion form is hardware + software.

In terms of hardware, we cooperate with other traditional manufacturers to launch Internet TVs and TV boxes.

In terms of software, it also cooperates with other traditional manufacturers to promote iQiyi's content and services. The method is the same as occupying the screens of mobile phones and computers, and the purpose is to occupy the TV screen.

Thus, the downstream layout was completed and began to spread upstream.

Before I talk about the next content, in order to help you understand the industrial chain more intuitively, I specially drew a picture as follows:

The green part indicates downstream and the red part indicates upstream.

Then we can see that iQiyi established a film and television production company, upgrading from a channel party to a content producer, opening up an entire industrial chain.

The benefits are:

1. Reduced the cost of purchasing video copyrights.
2. Differentiate content from other video platforms and create exclusive advantages.
3. Drive surrounding income.

Therefore, it can be seen that the platform's main source of income relies on advertising revenue, membership revenue and other IP-related (literature, games , etc.) revenue.

User Analysis

The user acquisition capabilities and content acquisition capabilities have been introduced in the previous Tencent Video product analysis , so I will not go into details here.

In addition, the user groups of BAT3's online video products have a high degree of overlap.

In iQIYI, there are two main types of user groups:

• The first type is ordinary users , who have relatively low user stickiness. The main reason they come to the platform is that they can see the video content they want to watch on the platform. Regardless of whether the video is public or exclusive, they will go wherever they can watch it and the quality is higher. In order to watch exclusive videos, users will recharge VIP and then become customers.
• The second type is PGC video content producers , who make professional videos and upload them to the platform. The platform will conduct strict reviews on the video content they upload, and then rely on professional video content to attract users, increase platform traffic or user stickiness, and then get a share of the platform.
  Moreover, PGC video content producers do not have exclusive contracts with the platforms, because all eggs should not be put in one basket. Therefore, in order to increase their own visibility, these PGC video content producers upload their own video content on various video platforms and spread it through multi-platform channels.

User experience and suggestions

From the perspective of functional architecture and design, iQiyi has transformed from a video platform to a pan-entertainment open platform and has become a huge APP.

This product can be divided into three main businesses:

1. Video is a business that makes a fortune, and there is no need to say more about this;
2. LOHAS: Literature + Movie Tickets + Mall + Qixiu Live + iQIYI Family (including iQIYI PPS, iQIYI Headlines, Qixiu Live, Star Volunteer, Papaqi, iQIYI Animation House, The Journey of Flower, etc.). Among them, literature, single movie tickets, shopping malls, and Qixiu live broadcast can be taken out and made into their own apps;
3. Bubble (fan circle).

IQiyi is also an APP that I use frequently in my daily life. With the transformation, the product functions are added more and more, and it is becoming more and more complicated. The difficulty of getting started is also gradually increasing, which is a bit like the web products in the Web era. With more and more functions, the APP sometimes crashes and has some unexpected bugs. Compared with before, the user experience has declined a lot.

social contact

Let’s start with social networking. Social networking is a feature that iQiyi must strongly promote. You can see that there is an entrance to the instant messaging function in the navigation bar of each first-level function interface.

In order to analyze the functional value in detail, I only took out the "Bubble Circle" in the large functional module of "Bubble" for detailed analysis, because in my opinion, "Bubble Circle" should be the core of iQiyi's social function.

Function entrance: In the bubble, click on any celebrity portrait to enter.

In order to avoid the embarrassment brought by strong tool attributes, almost all products are trying to build communities for themselves and strengthen their social attributes. Fortunately, video products have topics that allow strangers to interact socially. This topic is the content of each video. When the product strengthens its social attributes, it will not make users feel particularly abrupt, but will subtly influence users' operating behaviors and make users gradually accept it.

Bubble is the user social circle of iQiyi, and the topics revolve around celebrities, IPs, and variety shows.

Why did iQiyi add the “Bubble” function?

1. Fan economy : Taking video as the entry point, expand to the pan-entertainment platform, drive the growth of peripheral businesses, and maximize the value of IP.
2. Enhance social relationships among strangers: As mentioned above, the user stickiness of online video products is not high. By strengthening the social attributes of the products, user stickiness can be increased. For online video products, how to build social relationships between strangers? Celebrities, IPs and variety shows can all be used to build social relationships among strangers. By focusing on these points, strangers will have topics to talk about, and their similar values ​​will immediately spark sparks. Even if it is just an ordinary conversation ("XX is so beautiful", "Yes, yes"), social interaction between users can increase the active atmosphere of the community, attract more and more users to join, and turn points into lines, and lines into surfaces.

The stickiness between "stars and fans" is like 502. When the idol appears on the screen, the urge to lick the screen is converted into the behavior of fans outputting graphic content to express many emotions, such as admiration, madness, excitement, excitement, etc.

In real life, the specific manifestations of this impulse are mainly experienced in:

1. Stalking celebrities at airports and high-speed rail stations. The emotions at this time should be nervousness and anticipation.
2. When they saw the star, they started screaming and then chased after him. The emotion at this time should be excitement and excitement.
3. After the fans sent the star to the car. The emotions at this time are reluctance and loss.

In APP products, the above-mentioned behavioral emotions can be reflected in the following user operations:

(1) Enter text and picture content for interaction , and immediately fight back if there is any disagreement. "The Sweet Girl" seems to be very popular recently. Let's discuss the female lead and her fans in the play as a phenomenon.

Generally, when we participate in social networks and output content, it is more to show ourselves and gain recognition from others. The more likes and comments we get, the happier we will feel.

However, in the "Bubble" community, based on the relationship between "stars-fans", users will actively participate even if they do not like or comment on their posts. Fans are a vulnerable group in this relationship, just like a man and a woman in love, there is always one party who loves the other persistently, and there is always one party who will make selfless contributions without asking for anything in return.

(2) Ranking

Function entry: Below the video player on each video playback interface, there is a "Stars" area, which is obvious.

If fans don't know the specific functions of "Bubble" when they first get started, they can enter the star's bubble circle by clicking on any star avatar in this area. After entering the "Bubble Circle", they will see various tasks. Don't underestimate these tasks. The design of these tasks is too lethal to fans. The more tasks you complete, the more opportunities you have to vote for the star. The rules are designed to be linked together.

The advantage of designing the function in this way is that the entrance to the ranking function is obvious and can be seen by every user. Leverage the “star-fan” relationship to enhance user interaction and increase user stickiness. Moreover, as an important social function, Bubble can effectively activate the social function of the product and enhance the social attributes of the product.

Therefore, functions are not designed out of thin air, but are linked together to guide users through a series of operations and cultivate users' usage habits.

(3) Sign in . This function is also available in other similar products, such as Tieba.

Sign in at work and sign in after get off work, and each sign-in will give growth points. So here comes the routine. Now fans have to open the APP at least twice a day.

Moreover, there are things to do after opening it. I marked the "check-in" function with a red box, and the task next to it is the next thing to do. I counted and there are 12 small tasks. These 12 small tasks can cultivate users' daily operating behavior habits in the APP, such as commenting on time every day, checking in on time, inviting friends, posting updates, etc., to achieve a viral effect.

Then you will see the growth of various data, such as: number of launches, daily active users, monthly active users, usage time, number of users, community activity, etc.

Are fans actively participating in social interactions? Is the community atmosphere very lively?

Then, it brings about the improvement of user stickiness, driving VIP sales and converting users into customers. Imagine, in the PC era, why we would buy QQ memberships, yellow diamonds, green diamonds and all kinds of diamonds when we were sixteen or seventeen years old.

Above the "Sign in to Work" task, there is an entrance to the group chat, which will lead you to the corresponding group chat space:

There are bubble circles of celebrities on the left, and group chat scenes on the right (the activity level is really high, there are people chatting no matter which one you enter), and then take a look at the number of fans and the amount of content.

This is the power of social.

Users use iQiyi not only for watching videos, but also for daily chatting. To some extent, iQiyi can even replace Tieba.

(4) Publish updates

The entire interface design of Bubble Circle is a bit dazzling, but the "Post Update" button is very eye-catching. I have marked it with a red box. This green button will always float above the screen no matter how you slide the page up or down.

Because "Bubble Circle" mainly relies on UGC to strengthen communication between fans, when users want to output UGC, the entrance design must be eye-catching. If the posting status is just a small button somewhere else, the user's attention will easily be distracted by the other colorful colors, which will distract from the main content and create obstacles for the generation of UGC in disguise.

Overall, iQiyi has a greater advantage than the other two giants in developing the value of social functions.

One flaw is that you cannot @ people in instant messaging scenarios.

In order to implement the functions, a lot of user experience was sacrificed. For example, both interfaces have bottom toolbars. After switching from one interface to another, the default return gesture of the iOS system is gone. In addition, there are many bugs and crashes.

Lohas

Lohas is a first-level function alongside the homepage. As shown in the figure:

Currently, Lohas includes 5 sub-modules, but the first 4 modules can be taken out separately to make an APP. In fact, this is the design in iQiyi.

This module also fits in with iQiyi's pan-entertainment strategy.

(1) Literature

The development of IP is definitely inseparable from (online) literary novels.

As far as I can remember, the first online novel to be developed into a game should be Xiao Ding's "Zhu Xian", which has now been adapted into a TV series "Zhu Xian: Qing Yun Zhi".

But in recent years, online literature has become more and more popular, such as "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", "Ghost Blows Out the Light", "The Journey of Flower", "Zhu Xian", etc. Each novel has been adapted into a movie/TV series, as well as online games on PC and mobile games , and even some other peripherals.

Whether at home or abroad, there are many examples of novels being adapted into film and television works, such as the classic "Game of Thrones".

But there is a problem. Although there are many authors on iQiyi's literature platform, there are too few strong IPs produced, and no outstanding ones are seen. Currently, the popular self-produced dramas on several video platforms are all strong IPs, and these strong IPs are generally born on online platforms with a long history.

Moreover, iQiyi Literature has no advantages compared with other similar websites, such as Qidian Chinese Network and Zongheng Chinese Network. Its foundation is not as strong as other similar websites. In this regard, it may still need capital injection to accelerate its development, but if it does so, the battle line will be very long, so it is better to rely on acquisitions.

In addition to reading novels, the main function of the literature module is to respond to the video content within the APP. For example, after watching the TV series "The Journey of Flower", users may become interested in the original novel. At this time, there is no need to jump to an external APP, but to complete the operation directly within the APP, or after reading the original novel, they can watch the TV series to form a closed loop.

In terms of user experience, the functional design is average, and is similar to the experience of other novel readers on the market.

(2) Qixiu Live

As the hottest entrepreneurial direction in 2016, the value of live streaming lies not only in its ability to serve as a social medium, but also as a content carrier.

Similar to Kugou’s launch of Fanxing, iQiyi launched Qixiu.

• The first purpose is to promote face-to-face communication between celebrities and fans through live broadcast.
• The second purpose is to create a star ( Internet celebrity ) of my own.
• The third purpose is to explore traffic monetization, which is the most important.

However, it is not very popular now. There are too few leading anchors. How can users watch it if there are no internet celebrity faces and no high-quality live content?

Therefore, the strategic significance is greater than the practical significance.

It is better to do something practical, such as buying the copyrights for live events and strengthening live events. On the one hand, you can attract users with high-quality content, and on the other hand, you can add sports stars to entertainment stars. Sports stars are so popular, but everyone focuses on entertainment stars.

There are also many sports-related IPs, and sports-related peripherals are also easy to monetize.

As far as the user experience of live streaming is concerned, there is too much homogeneity in live streaming, and the user experience is the same for everyone.

(3) Others

There is no need to emphasize the other modules, such as movie tickets and shopping malls. They are all within the product boundaries. The purpose is to create a closed ecological loop.

However, from the perspective of pan-entertainment, the current businesses cannot build an ecological closed loop, so I expect that other or existing modules may be added or split in the future.

For example, adding animation and separating games from the iQiyi family and operating them separately.

Don't underestimate anime. Various foreign heroes are adapted from anime, and can also be changed into cartoons for children. Now there are very few vertical video products for children. This is a long-tail market.

Finally, the ecosystem will be complete only after animation, literature, games, and videos are gathered together.

Upload Video

Client upload video entry:

PC upload video entry:

Youku started out with UGC videos, and the improvement of iQiyi's uploading function has spread to Youku's backyard.

Tencent Video has not yet effectively integrated videos uploaded by users, while iQiyi has directly launched the "Partnership Plan" for user-uploaded videos.

What is the use of the upload video function? We need to look at it from two aspects.

(1) UGC

Users can use the iQiyi APP to apply a template to record a video and process it using filters, or they can upload local videos for editing.

After the final upload, it will be published to the topic you want to publish it to, and the uploaded video will also be displayed in each user's personal center.

So in the end, the generation of UGC will enrich the dimensions of user social scenarios, and it is also a disguised way of sniping external short video applications.

(2) PGC

Online drama producers, online program producers, self-media people, and cultural and creative people dedicated to creating high-quality PGC content can all produce PGC video content and submit it to iQiyi, and then apply for a share of the profits with iQiyi.

At this point, we have to mention again the three core elements of content operation: massive, high-quality, and exclusive.

In the context of fierce competition for copyrights and high costs, excellent PGC video content can improve the three core elements, bring traffic to the platform, and increase user stickiness of the platform.

But there is also a problem that comes with it. In order not to put all their eggs in one basket, these PGC video content producers upload video content on many platforms, weakening the "exclusive" attribute.

Therefore, I think that in the future, when video products are severely homogenized, in order to differentiate the content, there may be cooperation restrictions on these PGC video content producers, such as exclusive contracts, where your video content can only be disseminated on my platform and cannot appear on other platforms, thereby ensuring the exclusivity of the video content. This will then be another money-making business.

copyright

This is a problem that cannot be avoided, especially for audio and video products.

Everyone is scrambling to buy copyrights.

All I think about is what you don’t have and I have, and what you have I am better than.

When it comes to copyright competition, what is tested is not only financial resources but also vision. Take TV dramas as an example.

Popular American TV series, such as "The Walking Dead", "Game of Thrones", "House of Cards" and "Breaking Bad", have been popular for 5 or 6 years. Just think about it, this user will watch every season of the series on a specific platform for 4 to 6 years. The stickiness is very strong. Doesn't it solve the problem of lack of user stickiness on online video platforms?

But the bad thing about American TV series is that after a certain period of time each year, there is a vacuum period with no good TV series to broadcast.

Speaking of American dramas, one can't help but think of Korean dramas. Korean dramas do not have the attributes of American dramas, but Korean dramas also have their own unique attributes.
Firstly, the popularity of Korean dramas comes and goes quickly. Take "My Love from the Star", which is a little older, for example. It was first aired at the end of 2013. Until now, look at how many people are still watching it in real life and how many media articles are still reporting on it online. Take "Descendants of the Sun", which is a more recent drama, and it has the same ending. Including the recent "Legend of the Blue Sea" and "Goblin: The Lonely and Great God", they will be gone after this town wind blows.

However, Korean dramas were extremely popular within a certain period of time. There were overwhelming publicity reports on the Internet, and everyone was talking about it in real life. Moreover, it was suitable for all ages!

Therefore, Korean dramas are suitable for becoming short-term hits, increasing traffic within a certain period of time, promoting membership sales and other profitable activities.

In addition to American and Korean dramas, there are also domestically produced dramas. Although the content of early self-produced dramas was shoddy, the production standards of self-produced dramas are now developing in an increasingly better direction, and popular self-produced dramas can also achieve the effect of Korean dramas. For example, "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City", "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", etc.

If you have a good eye, signing exclusive contracts with some manufacturers and obtaining exclusive online broadcasting rights is also a great advantage. See Tencent Video signing HBO as its exclusive broadcasting platform in China.

To sum up, the best combination is long-term American dramas + short-term Korean dramas/domestic self-made dramas, and make good arrangements for the annual program broadcasts. For example, "The Walking Dead" will be broadcast from January to March this year, and "Game of Thrones" will be broadcast from July to October. Then, popular video content should be prepared in advance from April to June and November to December. These can be used as Korean dramas or self-made dramas to continuously attract users to the platform to spend time.

Of course, in addition to various dramas, movies are also indispensable.

OK, that’s the end of the experience.

profit

(1) VIP Member

(2) Advertising

(3) Purchase literary fiction

(4) Purchase movie tickets

(5) Mall

(6) Live broadcast reward gifts

(7) Game distribution

Summarize

The money-burning war in the food delivery market and the travel market has ended, but the video is not over yet.

Content differentiation has enabled the three BAT companies to basically share the majority of the market, but none of them has formed an absolute advantage.

Therefore, in the future we still need to develop our own killer weapon to be the best in the world.

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

The author of this article @h uber compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!