Han Yibing: 2016 will see a huge explosion in Internet TV advertising, and brands should plan ahead

On October 19, 2015, the 2015 China Internet TV Development Research Report, jointly researched by U-Pop, Nielsen, and Zhimeng Consulting, will be released. This report will comprehensively display the panoramic ecology of China's Internet TV development and the advertising value of Internet TV. The following article is the postscript written by Mr. Han Yibing, Vice President of U-Pop and General Manager of Advertising Operation Center. As a practitioner in the advertising industry, Internet TV advertising in 2016 is a blue ocean market worthy of attention.

"Marketers no longer control the entire communication process as they did in the past. They have lost control." - Excerpted from Don E. Schultz's "Reshaping the Consumer-Brand Relationship"

When everyone opens this "2015 Internet TV Development Research Report", the development of China's Internet TV industry has gone through more than 4 years.

It has been nearly two years since Youpengpule and Nielsen NetAsia announced the launch of China's first Internet TV-exclusive advertising system.

In just two years, China's Internet TV has developed on a large scale, and the growth rate is amazing. This new TV experience based on Internet technology "allows consumers to control their information consumption - how to access, what form to accept and what kind of reaction to produce, all controlled by them." (Schulz)

With the advancement of technology, Internet TV advertising products have also developed from pushing video ads to satisfy on-demand users to a variety of new TV advertising services that are customizable, addressable, interactive, and linkable with consumers at the core.

In fact, the commercial value of a new TV advertising transmission system (different from the traditional one-way communication) - Internet TV advertising system has gradually taken shape. For advertisers and advertising operators, this is a new opportunity or a more realistic business challenge related to the survival of the fittest.

Choosing to "wait and see" or "participate" is not only a "business issue" but also a "survival issue"

Modern economic growth is the result of continuous technological and industrial innovation in an economy. Due to the rapid development of new technologies, the media industry, including the television industry, has been undergoing rapid changes. In the next few years, based on the rapid application of technology, the entire media industry will undergo a "dramatic change" soon.

However, compared with the rapid development of new interactive TV media such as Internet TV (including IPTV), the domestic advertising industry and many advertising company practitioners in the Internet + trend seem to have not taken action yet, and even quite a number of practitioners are still "watching the fire from the other side of the river".

According to the data collected by Youpengpule Advertising Center from marketing practices:

87.9% of media planning and purchasing departments and personnel of 4A advertising agencies know little about "OTT TV";

More than 90% of local advertising companies’ media planning and purchasing departments and personnel know nothing about “OTT TV”, and most of them don’t understand the difference between online video and Internet TV.

This is the current situation of the industry. Although new media such as Internet TV is "right in front of us", it is often seen as "far away" in the eyes of some people.

Reading the history of advertising, we can see that for a long time, advertisers were the most sensitive and foresighted group of people in those times. But nowadays, in an era of developed Internet, rapid development and even rapid iteration of communication technology, it is obvious that some of our advertisers are "at a loss" or even "slow in action" in the face of such changes.

Some colleagues we have contacted have also verbally called for "cross-border" and "transformation", but they seem to have not taken any action on the development of new things and new media. Some people think all day long that "it's not too late to do it when this thing matures", but they don't know that in an era full of changes, the principle of "waiting" does not exist at all.

Some colleagues also agree with the new interactive communication function displayed by "Internet TV advertising". However, in cooperation, they often hold the traditional transaction thinking and habitually lower the advertising price. Because they don't know the truth, they use the price of PC video advertising as a reference standard. In fact, apart from the professional perspective, this "value orientation" is also undesirable. In recent years, the "price self-harm" game that is prevalent in the advertising industry has generally reduced the overall industry profits, and the quality of advertising campaigns has not generally improved. This phenomenon needs to be reflected upon.

The advertising industry needs to learn new technologies and embrace new media. The market is a place where a group of players who are interconnected and mutually beneficial, everyone is in it, and should act for their own or common interests.

Abandoning the old ways, not playing the “zero-sum game”, and rebuilding the media ecology and business concepts, a basic proposition we have to face is: Is it time to “iterate” the business value logic of the advertising industry? !

The revelation of the 2015 Internet TV Development Research Report: 2016 will be a key year for Internet TV advertising

The important findings of the research results of this "2015 Internet TV Development Research Report" can be paid attention to in at least three aspects:

First, the research report takes the overall situation into consideration. The book starts with the overall development of the entire new media industry, and elaborates on the overall development of the "interactive TV" industry chain in China, including Internet TV, and discloses the development of the industry from multiple dimensions such as broadcast control, operation, terminal, and data application. During this period, the researchers interviewed a large number of experts, scholars, operators, and developers from various components of the industry chain, which is a comprehensive review and summary of the development of the entire industry in the past year. It is worthwhile for everyone to have a general understanding of the current situation and trends of this new media industry.

Second, the user insight section of this book adopts a pure OTT data collection and research model for the first time. All data collection comes from users of the Youpengpule Internet TV platform, who participate in OTT interactive activities, which is a typical OTT behavior. This is indeed due to the development of Internet technology and big data technology.

Third, the research found that 2016 is a critical time point. Whoever taps this "gold mine of value" earlier will likely become the winner of Internet TV advertising in China's advertising industry in the coming year.

In 2015, China's Internet TV has accelerated its development towards scale, specialization and platformization, and the entire industry is undergoing resource integration and business fusion.

I predict that next year, 2016, will be a year of great development for the interactive TV industry. The process of the integration of the three networks will have a substantial breakthrough. With the substantial increase in the user scale, the huge traffic and entry effect generated by interactive TV will become the first choice for consumers to consume information in the living room. Even if consumers already have experience in multi-tasking media consumption, in the living room and at home, connected TV will still inevitably be the "main screen for consumption." The resulting monetization capacity of Internet TV advertising will be greatly improved.

At present, it should be concluded that this is a "scarce resource". The reason for this judgment is that in addition to it being a new transmission system, all forms of advertising on the TV screen will make the "consumer-brand relationship" more balanced. The new generation of consumer participation, the new generation of marketing communication and the new generation of solutions cannot be replaced by other PC screens and mobile platforms. This new consumer-led interactive transmission system and its commercial sector will be a valuable gold mine for advertisers and other marketers.

It is expected that after a year of hard work in 2016, the interactive TV development curve will reach its first "peak" in early 2017. From this point of view, if our advertising colleagues, including 4A companies, local advertising companies, and digital media agencies, miss 2016, they will have no choice but to "sigh in despair" when the blue ocean gradually turns into a red ocean. Youpengpule is willing to work with colleagues in the advertising industry to collaborate on innovation and win the market together. We want to embrace you!

As the main planner and participant of this "2015 Internet TV Development Research Report", I sincerely hope that Chinese advertisers can speak and act, have foresight and insight, and plan early for success.

Finally, I would like to thank all the experts, scholars and researchers who participated in the work of this report. We will witness with you the coming 2016, which is exciting enough to think about.

By Han Yibing   Vice President of Youpengpule and General Manager of Advertising Operation Center

Written on October 5, 2015

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.