BAT is focusing on online literature to open up the pan-entertainment industry chain

On April 23, World Book Day, Alibaba became a disruptor of online literature.

On the same day, Alibaba Mobile Business Group announced the official launch of a new business, Alibaba Literature (hereinafter referred to as "Ali Literature"). Alibaba said that Ali Literature is mainly responsible for content production, cooperation introduction and two-way derivation of the copyright industry chain. Relying on content production, it will establish an open ecosystem related to the literature industry from multiple perspectives such as digital content reading, digital content dissemination, copyright derivation, and fan economy.

Prior to this, Tencent Literature and Shanda Literature merged to form a new company "China Literature Group". Baidu also established Baidu Literature last year. With the joining of Alibaba this time, online literature has become a new field for the BAT Big Three to compete in.

In terms of the layout of online literature, BAT has different focuses, but the goal is to build a pan-entertainment industry chain around IP, including literature, games, film and television. Among them, online literature is the upstream of the entire pan-entertainment industry chain. In addition to directly generating value, its IP has a variety of copyright derivatives and secondary value realization.

At the beginning of this year, the new company China Literature Group, jointly established by Tencent Literature and Shanda Literature, was officially listed, breaking the previous pattern of Shanda Literature, Tencent Literature and Baidu Zongheng Literature competing for dominance in the online literature market.

One advantage of integrating Shanda Literature's copyrighted content with Tencent is Tencent's massive user base, which brings about a wider range of demands and extension of product categories. In addition, Tencent has a strong IP development category, and a series of industrial chains such as games, film, television, music, and animation can bring rich derivative products and peripheral development value to literature.

Previously, Chen Yingjie, assistant general manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment's film and television and copyright business department, told reporters that "Tencent Film+" has launched film and television production of five star IPs, including the TV series "Fighter of the Destiny", which was adapted from the online novel of the same name by online literature author "Mao Ni".

Baidu announced the establishment of Baidu Literature at the end of last year, integrating online literature brands and content such as Zongheng Chinese Network, Panda Reading, and Baidu Bookstore. It promoted original online literature and authorized copyrights through resources such as Baidu Tieba, Baidu Games, Baidu Music, and Baidu Video, as well as promoted and operated original works after they were adapted into film, television, and games.

Compared with Tencent and Baidu, Ali Literature's editor-in-chief Zhou Yun said that Ali Literature does not have the historical baggage of the old original website model, does not emphasize absolute control of copyright, advocates copyright sharing, and does not require control of all links in the IP industry chain, but hopes to share costs and profits with partners.

In terms of the derivative channels and methods of the most important IP in online literature, the downstream copyright derivative channels of Alibaba Group, Ali Investment and Ali Holding partner companies include: in terms of film and television adaptation support, Ali Literature can reach cooperation with Ali Pictures, Enlight Media, Huayi Brothers and other companies, and game adaptation resources include mobile online game joint operation platform Jiuyou, etc. In addition, Ali Literature has reached a strategic cooperation relationship with Tianxia Book Alliance, Weibo Youshu and others to cultivate top literary IP.

However, the key to gaining a foothold in the fierce competition in online literature lies in the competition of core resources and core capabilities.

In a previous interview with the media, Yao Haifeng, an analyst at iResearch International, said that core resources include the number and quality of online literature authors and works, user activity and payment ratio of proprietary channels, and the number and content of cooperative channels; core capabilities include upstream and downstream industry collaboration capabilities, channel distribution capabilities, author cultivation capabilities, author incentive models, user demand analysis and commercialization capabilities, etc.

Especially with the scarcity of high-quality content copyrights and the rise in the value of celebrity IPs, industry insiders believe that in order to achieve the expansion and extension of literary value, various manufacturers are expanding their competitive strength, taking high-quality content as the guide, focusing on the diversified development of copyrights, and taking celebrity IPs as the center to open up the entire interactive entertainment industry chain and develop the fan economy, so as to stand out from the competition and quickly seize the market.

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.