Lao Duan said: Traditional TV is to the left, online video is to the right

iQIYI's PPS has been leading the video websites for three consecutive months according to iResearch's four major indicators. Ma Dong, Liu Chun and Gao Xiaosong have established studios under iQIYI, becoming the "three horses" of iQIYI's self-made content. With the frequent emergence of these highlights in the field of online video content production, video websites, especially in the field of Internet TV, which is highly homogeneous with traditional TV, are quietly changing the video industry chain and industry structure. Content production is very likely to see a milestone-like differentiation turning point of "traditional TV to the left, online video to the right".

So far, China's online video has gone through its first decade. In this decade, the content of online video has always been subordinate to TV channels. If the TV station broadcasts A, the video website will buy A. If the TV station is popular, the video website will be popular. Conversely, if the TV station is not popular, the video website will waste money. But this situation is undergoing some subtle changes at the end of 2013 and in 2014. After Ma Dong, a former host and producer of CCTV, joined iQiyi, he made a program "Heroes of Chinese Characters", which has been successfully broadcast for two seasons. This broke the previous precedent that TV channels produced content and sold it to video websites. Video websites made content and broadcast it on TV stations and satellite channels, and the effect was very good. When Henan Satellite TV broadcast "Heroes of Chinese Characters" on Thursdays and Fridays, the ratings ranked among the top. What does this mean? This is to compete with those heavyweight programs such as dancing, singing, interviews, and TV dramas on hundreds of channels during prime time. iQiyi, TV stations and government departments in charge are all delighted that a TV program that advocates traditional culture rather than focusing on social hot spots can achieve such an effect. This fully demonstrates that the video website's ability to produce variety content is rapidly improving and is approaching the level of excellent traditional TV stations.

At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, iQiyi PPS exclusively broadcast a very popular TV series called "Love Apartment 4". How popular is it? iQiyi has more than 5,000 TV series, but when it was broadcast, the network traffic of this "Love Apartment 4" exceeded all other TV series, 1:5000! This TV series was also well broadcast on TV stations, but it was never so popular! This shows that TV video content and Internet video content have begun to differentiate. The deep reason behind this is that the audience and viewing scenes are undergoing iceberg-like changes under the water. These post-90s and even post-00s are the truly important and important audience groups for all video platforms in the future. When communicating with many colleagues in the industry, I said: It has never been the goal of iQiyi Internet TV to let the elderly and children watch TV well. It is the professional belief of our team to let young people return to the TV screen. Judging from the current data that the daily power-on rate of TCL iQiyi TV sets exceeds 50% and the average daily viewing time is nearly 200 minutes, we are very confident.   

A more extreme trend case is "My Love from the Star". At this year's National People's Congress, Vice Premier Wang Qishan also mentioned this TV series specifically. This TV series has never been broadcast on Chinese TV stations, but it is extremely popular. Let me tell you a little story: iQiyi opened a coffee shop in Sanlitun, Beijing, which is suitable for both entertainment and work, called "iQiyi Coffee". On the day of the finale of "My Love from the Star", we recruited hundreds of fan "volunteers" on the website to watch it on site. At that time, I thought it was a meeting with the actors. But later I found out that no actors were invited at all. These hundreds of fans actually gathered in front of a 48-inch TCL iQiyi TV to watch TV! Moreover, the subtitles on the TV were in Korean, and the dialogues were all "repetitive" that could not be translated in time. But even so, the atmosphere on the scene was full, and beer and fried chicken were sold out. From this case, it is not difficult to see that hot videos under the "Matthew effect" on the Internet can be directly popular on the Internet without TV station preheating. This is a "boost" for content producers, especially those who did not have the opportunity to broadcast on CCTV and satellite TV before. It is definitely a blessing! The content they produce may finally get unexpected benefits and returns through another channel! The little daughter of a TV manufacturer CEO said to her father: Why didn't you advertise on "My Love from the Star"? Haha, what a business-minded little girl, she will definitely surpass her father when she grows up!

Let's talk about iQiyi's two online self-made dramas, "Soul Ferry" and "Waste Brothers", which were not broadcast on TV. But "Soul Ferry" was online for 5 days, and in all TV drama indexes including Baidu Index, it exceeded "House of Cards", which has been online for more than 10 days. As everyone knows, "House of Cards" is an American online drama, which is very popular. But just such a film, its online dissemination effect exceeded "House of Cards", and it even rushed into the TOP10 hot list of TV drama rankings such as Baidu. Another online self-made drama of iQiyi, "Waste Brothers", is even more popular. Many of its lines have become Internet buzzwords for the new generation, and it rushed into the TOP10 of the TV drama rankings even faster, which is a historic breakthrough for online self-made dramas.

In essence, online video is a great technological revolution and product innovation driven by venture capital. It is a counterattack of the industry chain from terminals to transmission and then to content, and it is by no means a simple move of traditional TV content to the Internet. Those who are committed to only doing "small investment and quick results" integration, and only care about "information transfer" but not "information reorganization" are destined to have no far-reaching prospects and moving money prospects. From "Heroes of Chinese Characters" to "Love Apartment 4", to "My Love from the Star" in a foreign country, and the emerging "Soul Ferry" and "Waste Brothers", iQiyi's platform-based content strategy is making breakthroughs step by step, and has drawn a clear and imaginative roadmap for the entire online video industry. Compared with traditional TV, online video and even Internet TV are not only innovations in technology products, but more importantly, revolutionary changes in audience groups and content production. We have reason to expect that Chuntai (Liu Chun), who is in love with Moutai, will bring us self-made dramas that are more in line with netizens' needs; we look forward to the third season of "Chinese Character Heroes" by Mr. Ma Dong, who is leading the way in the Year of the Horse; and we look forward to "Xiaosong's Strange Stories" by the literary and artistic student Xiaosong. These may lead the video content production industry, which is brewing a chemical reaction, and break through a milestone differentiation turning point.

Traditional TV is going left, while online video is going right. Because mainstream users are changing, and viewing behaviors are changing, there are both overlaps and differences between video websites and TV channels. The cooperation between video websites and TV channels will create the greatest future of video in the Internet era.

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.