Lao Duan said: Internet TV calls for innovation in user experience

In the nearly 60 years since television was invented in 1955, there have been only four revolutionary user experience innovations in the television field:

1. Remote control, especially wireless infrared remote control. Amid human criticism, it has been accompanying the couch potatoes - TV viewers - for nearly 60 years without any regrets, and no revolutionary changes have taken place.

2. Multi-channel. When the transmission bandwidth exceeded the video stream clarity requirement, the multi-channel mode was invented. Decades later, we have equated television with channels. Without channels, we would be at a loss in front of the TV.

3. Graphic culture, also known as graphic television, is actually a little trick and a witty idea, but with almost no increase in physical costs, it has created a lot of unexpected profits for TV channels, especially cable TV networks.

4. VOD on demand. For the first time, humans no longer have to watch TV “at a specified time and place (double regulation)”. They can watch TV anytime, anywhere and as they please. This is what VOD on demand brings us.

In the two years from 2013 to now, China's Internet TV has become a hot topic. However, if we talk about user experience innovation, apart from Internet on-demand, there are only three points: First, the interaction is simple. The traditional remote control with 39 keys has been reduced to 11 keys. Second, the Metro interface is simple and crude but not ugly. Third, it is cheap. It seems that the price of Internet TV is immediately discounted. But I think it is ridiculous and even sad to simply summarize these as the key features of Internet TV. User innovation of Internet TV may make breakthroughs in the following areas in the future:

1. Personalized TV:

One of the essences of the Internet is personalization, and computers and mobile phones are personalized personal screens. However, as a screen in the family living room, the TV has a strong public attribute and is difficult to personalize. However, different family members have different personalized requirements for watching TV. How to define different TVs for different family members, how to make TV a link for family communication and exchange, and essentially improve user experience rather than just a selling point, these areas have full innovation power. In this regard, iQIYI and TV manufacturers have in-depth cooperation in hardware + software + content, and there are many interesting new ideas. New products will be launched soon, so stay tuned.

2. TV portal:

We compared two interfaces, one is the homepage of iQiyi's mobile terminal when it was launched in 2011, and the other is the homepage of iQiyi's mobile terminal in 2014. Those who are interested can see that there are very big differences between these two interfaces. The old page is centered on movies and TV series, while the new page recommendation position has become news and information, which is a very big change. Sina, NetEase, Sohu, etc. are all trying to become portal video sites, but so far they have basically failed. Youku, iQiyi and several other video websites are trying to become portal sites, and so far it seems that this should be the general trend. So if TV can become the portal of the home Internet, then the TV will not simply become a DVD player to watch TV or discs. Internet TV should be a portal interface, giving every family member a portal video experience. When users turn on the TV and no longer just look for a certain movie or TV, the era of video portals has arrived.

3. Short video experience:

Because the on-demand videos on TV started with VCDs and DVDs, which are all long videos of movies and TV, many people take it for granted that viewers don’t like to watch short videos on TV. But this is not necessarily the case. The reason why short videos on TV are not performing well is not because of the content but because of the organization and presentation of the content. In the era of big data, valuable information is worthless if it is in Brownian motion. If we do some video reorganization instead of just moving videos so that they can be viewed on TV in a way that is more suitable for couch potatoes, I think short videos will have a very bright future. iQIYI’s news broadcast, favorite channels, and music playlists are all exploring this aspect.

4. People-centered:

In the past, we watched all videos with the screen as the core, on TV, mobile phone or PC. As time goes by, the PK of user experience becomes more and more systematic and detailed, and "people-centered" will inevitably replace "screen-centered". In this post-multi-screen era, it is not just as simple as using a mobile phone to control the TV. There must be new products and technologies. At present, many manufacturers are making meaningful development trends in the manufacturers' control equipment, real-time interconnection between local area networks and remote networks, two-dimensional connection between cloud accounts and content, etc. By the way, I am not optimistic about rigidly moving things on mobile phones, such as WeChat, screen projection and other technologies and functions, to TV. This is a typical "engineer-only thinking", just like the real-time user experience of WeChat voice is not as good as the non-real-time user experience. The integration of WeChat and TV, the technology is OK, but the product design needs to be further improved. Companies driven by product innovation have a future.

5. Pure web content:

Nearly 80% of the content currently played online by iQiyi and other video websites is purchased from other content channels, and 20% is self-produced content on its own network. In 2014, iQiyi created several key milestones in the field of Internet TV content. The first is "Love Apartment", which was broadcasted mediocrely on TV channels, but was broadcasted very well on the Internet; then "My Love from the Star" has not been broadcast on TV so far, but the amount of broadcast on the Internet has far exceeded what we now think is the hottest TV series; and some content such as "The Great Magician" and "Heroes of Chinese Characters" are produced by video websites and broadcast on TV channels. We believe that in the future, even the content broadcast on OTT TV screens will be different from the content broadcast on TV channels in the past. It will be customized for netizens, rather than directly moving the content on TV to the Internet. This is particularly like the change from movie theaters to TV sets in the past. The content used to be movies, but later it was not movies but TV series. Movies and TV sets are fundamentally different in content production, presentation, and broadcasting methods.

6. New hardware, new experience:

Many people think that the TV form and viewing mode no longer need innovation. I think it is just the opposite. This requires Internet thinking. Innovation will definitely happen in places that everyone thinks are inconvenient. A few weeks ago, I communicated with Samsung. Unfortunately, the projector in its office could not be connected to the laptop. I talked about this with Samsung's regional manager and we reached a consensus that this thing needs innovation. How to make the projector on the ceiling easily connected to various internal and external computers, laptops and mobile terminals is an innovation opportunity. This opportunity is the real opportunity for small companies that big companies don't look down on. Personalized TV, modular TV, operator TV, DVB+OTT all-in-one, etc., whether it is to improve user experience, change business model or reduce costs, may be interpreted as a big disruptive opportunity. I said that our professional belief is to make TV better looking. Realizing this process is a big industry opportunity. There will definitely be new hardware and new experience. Wait and see!

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.