A lifeline for the video industry caught in the IP vortex?

April 10 (Reporter Zhang Zhichang) Under the guidance of the trend that content resources have become a hot topic among major video websites, the exploration of high-quality IP resources has become another hot topic in the Chinese film and television industry.

Where does high-quality IP come from?

In recent years, IP copyright has become the focus of the entire film and television industry. Video website companies in the Internet industry have also dragged traditional TV programs into the battle for high-quality IP resources. Good ideas, good programs, and good stories have all become objects of continuous exploration and development. The mastery of high-quality IP content seems to have become the basis for winning the video user market.

However, unlike the creation of classic stories and characters in Hollywood, the vast majority of high-quality IP resources in my country are not originally from China. In traditional TV programs, the popular variety shows on major satellite TV stations in the past two years, such as "Where Are We Going, Dad?", "The Voice of China", "Running Man", "I Am a Singer", etc., are all purchased foreign IP copyrights; and it is the successful use of this series of high-quality IP resources that has led to the current traditional TV programs falling into an unprecedented variety show PK trend.

After the birth of these popular variety shows, film and television companies, game companies, etc. have successively used these high-quality IP content as the basis and took advantage of the variety show craze to follow up and produce movies, games and other content under the same IP, and all have achieved good results.

However, the only regret behind the cheers is the real source of these high-quality IP resources. Although these high-quality foreign IPs purchased at a high price have illuminated another direction for the future development of the Chinese film and television market, we still have to ask ourselves: Where is the creativity of our original IP?

The copyrights and IP resources purchased at a high price have laid the groundwork for the imbalance between input and output in the first link of content production, and the entire business model has gradually begun to move towards a vicious cycle. The proliferation of advertisements in TV programs and video websites, the high price of copyrights for high-quality content resources, and the overall shortage of high-quality IP resource markets have led to a great emphasis on original IP creativity.

Where will high-quality IP go?

Success after success and the emergence of new business models have all witnessed the huge "money" prospects of the market for high-quality IP resources. Therefore, finding and developing more high-quality IPs has become another direction that film and television companies, Internet companies, and major traditional TV stations are working together to develop.

In the film and television industry, the guidance of the Internet has prompted the application of the IP concept to gradually surface; and combined with Internet thinking and fan economy, the "Internet IP fever" has gradually become popular in the film and television market.

Relevant data shows that by the end of 2014, 114 online novels had been purchased for film and television rights, of which 90 were planned to be made into TV series and 24 were planned to be made into large-screen movies. Looking at the film lists of the five major private film companies this year, most of them are adapted from popular IP resources; for example, Enlight Pictures' "Ghost Blows Out the Light: Mojin", "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", "Hourglass", "Left Ear", LeTV Pictures' "Silent Separation", Alibaba Pictures' "Passing By Your World", etc.

It can be seen that a large number of high-quality IPs are "classic" IPs that have been around for many years and have accumulated objective fans and users. After all, the number of such high-quality IP resources is limited, so the competition for super IP resources has begun to directly reflect the continuous rise in the price of IP resources. Wealthy film and television companies may be able to make up for this increase in cost investment from investors and advertising companies, but for video websites that aim to reduce copyright costs, the development of self-made content seems to have encountered new problems.

Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi, said, "Today, there is no longer a single publishing industry, nor a single film, television or gaming industry. These industries are all connected, and IP is at the core."

In the future, as the value of IP resources continues to increase, various content producers will use the same IP resources as a "script" from multiple aspects such as video playback platforms, film and television production and distribution, and e-commerce platforms, and create more content commercial value through continuous transformation of content forms.

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.