"Pure" pornographic video sites are also beginning to learn to flirt

In the past few years, major video websites have long maintained "loyalty" and trust in the content of traditional TV stations. The development of the entire online video industry has entered the final stage of competition with an innocent attitude. Faced with the still wavering user market, video website companies have no choice but to learn to "show off" through original self-made content in order to seize the market.

When it comes to original content, national boundaries are not used as a dividing line to distinguish between major video websites and enterprises. In 2014, which Zhang Chaoyang called "the first year of self-production," Netflix, an American video streaming service provider, launched its first self-production drama, "House of Cards," and successfully applied big data theory, raising Netflix to an industry position that is difficult to achieve in the short term in the field of online video.

In 2015, YouTube, the largest online video service website, also announced that it would launch its own original video content; at the same time, domestic video websites that have been "pure" for many years have not slowed down their exploration of original content and self-made programs. The entire online video industry has begun to transform from a third-party broadcasting platform to a content producer and controller, in order to grasp the core point of industrial transformation.

Data shows that in the first quarter of 2015, the video website industry launched 58 self-produced dramas, nearly four times the 15 in the same quarter of 2014; in terms of copyright introduction (mainland dramas + overseas dramas), the number was 80 in the first quarter of 2015, a sharp drop of 25% from 107 in the same quarter of 2014; but in terms of overall traffic, the total number of TV dramas broadcast by video websites in the first quarter of 2015 reached 105.3 billion times, an increase of 80% over the same period last year.

In fact, the role of original content in the online video industry has far exceeded the common expectations of the industry and users. The birth of self-made content has not only opened up the exploration of new business models in the video website industry, but also brought it into an era where it can truly compete with traditional TV stations.

Recently, an analyst research report showed that Netflix's competition factor accounted for 46% of the decline in ratings of American TV stations last quarter. Data shows that in the last quarter, Netflix broadcast a total of 10 billion hours of video, accounting for 6% of the time American consumers watch TV and video programs.

Netflix, which owns a large number of TV content broadcasting rights, has accumulated extremely high popularity in the field of video websites through its online video streaming services. As it continues to increase its efforts in original self-made content, the user share of this online video content provider has also begun to enter a stage where it can compete with traditional TV stations. In this regard, some industry insiders believe that once online video providers have high-quality video content comparable to traditional TV stations, their trend of diverting traditional TV station viewers and eroding TV station ratings will only continue to intensify.

Obviously, this indicates that video websites that are constantly exploring high-quality content are shaking the solid position of traditional TV stations with unpredictable impact.

In the past era of copyright disputes, video websites’ reliance on traditional TV content grew to an irrational level, and betting on the content of many TV stations became a big gun for the video website industry to break through. In the era of content being king, users’ pursuit of higher-quality content has also made video website companies realize that highly homogenized video content cannot encourage users to develop loyalty to the website.

After the industry infrastructure construction based on traffic and user attraction is completed, the new stage of industry competition based on brand differentiation requires video websites to start pursuing higher-quality content resources, and original power will emerge.

In fact, the production and investment of original content is not only one of the means for video website companies to seek content differentiation, but also an important way for the video website industry to get rid of the copyright constraints of traditional TV stations and seek content independence. By making their own content, video websites themselves can better control the ownership of copyright and seek healthy development of the company based on content copyright.

The future development of enterprises is also related to the long-standing profitability problem of the video website industry. The latest 2014 financial report shows that the loss of the video website industry has not been reversed. The loss of the video website industry in 2014 was as high as 888.6 million yuan, far higher than 580 million yuan in 2013. Whether it is the silent support of the Internet giants BAT or the development demands of the video website industry itself, video website companies need to reflect on the exploration of business models.

Of course, spending money is just a temporary impulse, and profit is the ultimate goal. And can the video websites that have learned to "show off" find the true industrial development posture through original content? It is still not enough if there is not enough innocence.

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.