Tencent has "The Three-Body Problem", iQiyi has "The Storm", but Youku is stuck in the "1 yuan membership"

Since the beginning of the new year, the domestic film and television market has shown a thriving scene.

On the big screen side, the Spring Festival blockbuster "Man Jiang Hong" and "The Wandering Earth 2" stood out and together pushed the domestic box office in January to over 10 billion, setting a new record. On the long video side, Tencent's "The Three-Body Problem" and iQiyi's "Kuang Bi" were even more popular, receiving countless hot searches.

However, Youku, one of the three major long-form video platforms, became the focus of public opinion because of a user complaint that "he paid 1 yuan for membership, but was deducted 24 yuan for canceling renewal."

On January 31, Youku responded that the relevant page has clearly informed the rules of the activity. If you withdraw early, you must refund the discount you have enjoyed according to the membership fee of 25 yuan/month.

Such a reply obviously failed to calm the users' anger, and many users criticized Youku's marketing method as "ugly".

If we fast forward the timeline to 2012, the two largest players in the video industry, Youku and Tudou, announced their peace agreement. Youku's market share exceeded 40%, making it the only giant in this field, and it was in its heyday.

In just over 10 years, the industry has gone from being the only dominant player to Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video, and then to iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video. If we look at user activity, Youku has fallen out of the first tier, and iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video only have symbolic significance.

While iQiyi and Tencent Video are doing very well, Youku has been plagued by complaints from users. How did this happen to the former industry leader?

01“1 yuan membership fee” sparked controversy

At the end of last year, Youku launched a membership discount recharge activity of "1 yuan for the first month", and also required a Sesame Credit score of more than 550 points to enjoy it.

At the end of January this year, many users who enjoyed the "First Month 1 Month" promotion found that they were deducted 24 yuan when they withdrew from the promotion and were prompted that "the task has not been completed and the discount already enjoyed will be deducted." Users questioned whether this promotion was suspected of inducing consumption and that the 1 yuan in the first month was the "bait."

On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, Youku has received more than 500 complaints in the past month, more than half of which were complaints about “1 yuan in the first month”.

On January 31, facing the overwhelming complaints from users, Youku responded that the "1 yuan membership" refers to the Youku VIP monthly saving activity, which is a membership discount product launched by Youku. The relevant page has clearly informed the rules of the activity: 1 yuan for the first month, 12 yuan/month for the next 11 months, and if you withdraw early, the discount you have enjoyed must be refunded according to the membership fee of 25 yuan/month.

This user complaint on Heimao Complaints, dated February 1, indirectly verified Youku’s official response, and there is indeed a relevant page informing the regulations.

The point of controversy is that users believe that Youku uses pop-ups to guide users to the "1 yuan membership" but puts the content about making up the price difference on the details page.

"Youku's marketing tactics are particularly disgusting, and it's not the first time." Media practitioner Yang Chao told Unicorn Digger that he was fooled once when he tried Youku TV version of KuMao two years ago.

At that time, he saw a headline advertisement on his home TV that said "Kumiao VIP first month only 1 yuan", and after clicking on it, an Alipay QR code appeared. After scanning it, he was confirmed to be activated. Later, he noticed that "in fact, you have to activate it for 5 consecutive months and pay a total of 77 yuan to enjoy the so-called first month 1 yuan discount."

"My usual focus is on finance, so I'm very wary of this kind of skirting marketing tactics, but I still got cheated in the end. You can imagine what other ordinary users went through." He later complained to the Industry and Commerce Bureau. After Youku's "1 yuan membership" was exposed, he also posted this experience on his Moments to warn others not to be fooled by this kind of eye-catching marketing tactics.

A senior industry insider said that in the past, long video platforms had many such first-month discount marketing activities, such as when encountering major events or hit TV series. This was a common method used by the platform to attract new users and activate existing users, but they generally supported consumers to cancel in advance and would not force binding or cancel subsequent membership services before deducting fees. This has also cultivated consumption habits of some video users.

The reason why this event caused a strong backlash among users was that it broke the convention. Many users, out of inertia, did not read the terms and conditions of Youku's discounts, and when they exited, they felt like they had been tricked.

In terms of the rules, Youku did have reminders, but in terms of user experience and platform reputation, Youku lost a lot of points this time.

02 Eye-catching marketing tactics are abused

In fact, this kind of eye-catching marketing of "purchase for 1 yuan" and "free membership" is not uncommon in the Internet circle. These bundled contract activities often use various inconspicuous methods to evade the obligation to remind users and their own legal risks.

But in general, it will be used with caution when the platform is going smoothly and building the platform's brand reputation.

They are willing to sacrifice their manners and endure the criticism in order to set up traps to make users take out the small amounts in their pockets. They are either small platforms that have no ambitions and only care about immediate interests, or they are platforms that "choose the lesser of two options" under commercial pressure, such as Bilibili.

In December 2021, Bilibili’s “Get a Premium Membership for 1 Cent” promotion is even more exciting than Youku’s 1 Yuan membership promotion.

According to media reports at the time, the so-called 1 cent premium membership at Bilibili was actually a monthly contract package starting from 6 months. If the contract was terminated early, the user would need to pay the first month's discount of 24.99 yuan, and the fee would be deducted from the user's phone bill.

However, in the promotional page, words such as "1 cent" and "premium membership" are magnified and highlighted. The product description and business description are in fine gray font and placed in the corner of the page, including the clause that allows the platform to respond to the prompt with confidence: "If the contract is terminated within the 6-month contract period, the first month's discount amount of 24.99 yuan must be paid."

Is it the same recipe? Same flavor?

As a listed company with a market value of over 10 billion US dollars, Bilibili is "eyeing" the membership fees of dozens of yuan, and the reason behind this is its commercialization dilemma.

The financial report shows that from 2018 to 2021, Bilibili's losses were 600 million yuan, 1.289 billion yuan, 3 billion yuan, and 6.8 billion yuan. Although revenue was growing, losses were also growing.

In 2022, Bilibili lost 2.284 billion yuan in the first quarter, 2.01 billion yuan in the second quarter, and 1.716 billion yuan in the third quarter. It is obvious that Bilibili is still experiencing continuous losses.

What about Youku? In addition to commercial pressure, Youku also has to face the decline of its industry status.

As a video platform, high-quality content is its first core competitiveness, but in the past two years, Youku's presence in the industry has been very low. It occasionally attracts media attention, such as the public opinion of 1 yuan membership.

These Internet platforms, which have the best technology and the most outstanding talents, have fallen to the same level as unscrupulous street vendors, focusing their attention on studying consumer psychology and inducing them to spend money. This also reflects the disappearance of the Internet's spirit of innovation.

In fact, they have all dared to be the first in the world, especially Youku.

03 The first brother has fallen out of the first echelon

On December 8, 2010, founder Victor Koo led Youku to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the world's first video website to be listed in the United States. At that time, iQiyi was just a rookie that had just entered the industry for a year, and Tencent Video was officially launched a year later.

In 2012, Youku and Tudou, the two largest players in the video industry, announced a merger, with a market share of over 40%. More importantly, Youku became the only unicorn in the video industry after the merger, just like the gangster played by Feng Xiaogang in Kung Fu, who looked down at the track and saw his own majestic shadow: "Who else?"

It is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to keep it.

In 2014, the country began to rectify copyright issues, and video platforms became the hardest hit, with a large number of movies and TV series being removed from the shelves. The industry began to reshuffle, with purchasing copyrights and producing own programs becoming the new model.

In this round of shocks, the original balance of power was broken. Latecomers iQiyi and Tencent Video seized the opportunity and achieved a counterattack, while Youku began to decline.

Third-party data shows that in 2015, iQiyi and Tencent Video ranked first and second in the industry with 273 million and 203 million monthly active users, respectively, while Youku had only 144 million.

Since then, Youku, which has fallen from the top spot, has been drifting further and further away from the "Iron Throne", and its presence on the user side has become increasingly low.

The most significant weapon for long video platforms to attract members is hot content. For a long time, users have developed the habit of "recharging to watch whichever drama is popular on which platform". Many people will choose the more cost-effective monthly subscription model, and they can terminate their membership once the hot drama ends. This is also the main reason why Youku's "1 yuan membership" this time caused a backlash from users.

Fan Chong is such a typical video user. In the past two years, he has followed popular TV series such as "The World" (iQiyi), "Cang Lan Jue" (iQiyi), and "Dream of the Red Chamber" (Tencent Video), and also recharged for popular variety shows such as "Annual Drama Competition" (iQiyi) and "Talk Show Conference" (Tencent Video).

Last November, in order to watch the World Cup, he also bought a monthly membership through Migu Video: "The first month is more than 9 yuan, and it will stop after the World Cup ends. This is a good deal."

Fan Chong’s membership record on Youku stopped in 2021, when he was still following "Word of Honor".

According to iResearch Qianfan data, as of November 2022, among comprehensive video apps, iQiyi and Tencent Video ranked first and second with 550 million and 425 million monthly active users respectively, while Youku ranked fifth with 159 million monthly active users, having fallen out of the first echelon.

At the beginning of the year, iQiyi's "Kuang Bi" and Tencent's "The Three-Body Problem" were in a fierce battle. Youku came into the public eye twice. One was the controversy caused by the 1 yuan membership recharge, and the other was when Hu Ge officially announced that he would become a father. Youku "took advantage of the popularity" and announced that all of Hu Ge's "Legend of Sword and Fairy" and other dramas would be free of charge.

If a video platform can only attract attention when "something happens" or "takes advantage of celebrity popularity", it should be wary of itself.

Fortunately, Youku has only fallen behind but is not out of the game. The fact that some people are complaining about it means that there are still people who care about it. There are still opportunities, but the key is to figure out where to focus.

"As for the big dramas at the beginning of the year, Taobao Studio has Kuang Biao, Tencent has The Three-Body Problem, what does Youku have? Don't always try to make money from users in different ways. The fundamental thing is to launch high-quality film and television works and create a good user experience." This online comment received many likes.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.