Lao Duan said: Four key changes in Internet TV

In 2013, the Internetization of television became a hot topic in both the Internet and television industries. However, I have always been against the idea that the Internetization of television should follow the path of PC portal or mobile platformization. I have always advocated and even preached that the future Internet television is equal to the Internet plus television, and the industry structure should present a dumbbell shape. How to correctly face the Internetization of television, the four key changes are as follows:

1. Change the thinking mode from "layout" to "single point breakthrough":

The Internet is a technological innovation driven by venture capital, which takes uncertainty as its beauty. Traditional industries mostly pursue certainty, and the layout model is more suitable. For example, Huaxing Optoelectronics, which TCL has laid out in the upstream display screen, is a typical successful case of layout in advance with vision. But the Internet is not like this. For example, WeChat, Weibo, etc. are not laid out. Just like mushroom strains raised in a nutrient pot, there are a lot of small caps at the beginning, but in the end only one will be left to grow. In the process of growth, the fittest will survive. The important thing is that you cannot know who should be left in advance, and you need to cultivate and select them generally. The reason for such a difference is that most traditional TV manufacturers are asset-heavy, and they cannot do without layout and vision. The Internet is asset-light. Therefore, the most feared thing for TV manufacturers in the Internetization is to make layout. They must choose a single point breakthrough, that is, to cross the river by feeling the stones, find some goals and work hard to do them, and once there is a pick-up, they will quickly invest a large amount of money. The key is to be fast, to charge fast, turn around and retreat fast. Of course, to achieve this, money alone is far from enough. Only those who dare to lose money can afford to play this game.

2. The business model changes from "making money from hardware" to "making money from operations":

The core of the Internet is operation plus free. The three steps of growth for almost all Internet companies are "free development of users", "expanding market share", and "making money with value-added services". Most business models of the Internet are platform-based and portal-based services. The marginal cost of these things may be zero or even negative as the scale increases. For example, platform-based Weibo, WeChat, and QQ are all user-generated content. If there is no censorship, there is no need for editing. This is incomparable to traditional media. I often say that the reason why Weibo, WeChat, and QQ are great is because they are closed. There is a great product on the Internet but it has almost no business model, called email. Email is open, and all websites' mailboxes can be interconnected. Therefore, it cannot be operated, because once you operate, users will flow to the depression. Therefore, traditional TV companies must be able to earn or share the operating money when they go online. The dumbbell model I advocate is the cooperation between the Internet and TV to share the operating income. Otherwise, it will not be able to compete with those TVs produced by Internet companies whose hardware does not make money, because the future cooperation model between TVs and TV applications such as video websites is the business model of the future Internet TV industry.

3. Product model moves towards the integration of "hardware + software + service":

Traditional TV stations and TV sets have always been incompatible, but that is no longer the case. The Internet has turned all electronic devices into network terminals, and all independent hardware will gradually withdraw from the stage of history in an orderly manner. Computerization of hardware, integration of software, and cloud-based services are the three major trends of products in the future TV industry. Internet TV has not invented any new technologies or new models, and there is no opportunity for subversion. Internet TV is essentially a fusion innovation. Whoever can integrate the three well is most likely to have the last laugh. Many friends in and outside the industry asked me what is the difference between TCL and iQiyi TV+? I said that the most important thing is the integration of the cooperation model between the two parties and the TV+ service. This is the key. TV+ seamlessly integrates TV operations, video recommendations, and user functions on the homepage, and not only integrates in the terminal but also in the cloud. For example, the function of pushing movies from mobile phones to TVs does not broadcast content with mobile phone definition, but iQiyi automatically switches to 1080P high-definition content suitable for TV screens in the cloud. This is obviously impossible without the deep cooperation between TCL and iQiyi. If all TV hardware products want to provide a good experience, they must achieve software integration and cloud services, because this is the only way to iterate quickly and meet users' subsequent needs in real time.

4. The marketing model changes from "customer service" to "user service":

For more than 30 years, the Chinese TV companies, which have been the winners, are typical experts in channels and marketing. Selling points are the panacea for repeated success, but this method is becoming less and less effective in the Internet era. In the past, there were huge crowds of people at promotions, but now there are few people at promotions. Why? Because the Internet has made the information in this world more and more symmetrical, and the eternal theorem that buyers are not as smart as sellers is gradually being overturned. The era of impulsive purchases based on tricking customers is gone forever. Now customers will compare more than three stores before buying, and even if they are deceived and buy a product they don’t like, they can express their dissatisfaction on self-media platforms, and these expressions will gradually affect the subsequent possible purchasers like a virus. Skyworth iQiyi ultra-clear boxes are sold on JD.com, and there are more than 5,000 comments in more than a month. All potential users who buy boxes will browse and mainly browse those bad reviews. They will buy after reading these bad reviews without hesitation. This is completely different from the previous emphasis on the customer experience of selling. In the future, merchants must pay more attention to the user experience.

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.