Boycott or adopt? What should video websites do with barrage culture?

Recently, several video websites, led by iQiyi, have filed a lawsuit against the barrage video website bilibili (B station for short) for infringement. As a branch of video websites, traditional video websites are obviously not ready to welcome this new cultural situation. Should video websites fully resist barrage culture or adopt it? Video websites are still wavering.

The essential sense of belonging

In the past two years, barrage videos have undergone a revolutionary evolution in my country. Not only has it successfully monopolized the hearts of a small number of home-based users, it has also gradually become one of the important forms of video websites.

Although the barrage videos are only niche culture, whether it is the established post-90s group or the absolutely niche otakus, compared with the corresponding mass culture, the niche culture actually needs a sense of "belonging", and this sense of "belonging" is the advantage of the barrage videos.

For example, at the Golden Eagle Internet Festival held by Hunan Satellite TV this year, this large-scale "bullet screen" was used on the TV screen for the first time; and the popular movie "Tiny Times 3" this summer also opened a special barrage session.

The ever-changing barrage culture of the platform has attracted the attention of the audience, but also attracted a large number of inquiries from investors, which has completely shaken the fundamental interests of video websites. It can be expected that as a form of video website, barrage videos and video websites themselves have conflicts of interest, but this conflict will only be magnified and taken seriously after the two sides gradually become evenly matched.

Nowadays, mainstream video websites want to kill the barrage culture in the cradle by claiming copyright, which is nothing more than wanting to ensure the leading position of mainstream video. However, the process of achieving this goal by means of exclusion and suppression is bound to attract people's dislike.

Combining video and text

The copyright suppression of barrage videos by video websites is more of a boycott than a rejection. After the video itself has evolved from silent to three-dimensional, seeking a more formal and meaningful way to present videos has become a focus of investors and the expectation of viewers.

In the past, people paid more attention to the video presentation technology, but not too much attention to the interactive experience of the video. The video format of barrage, which seems to be entertainment-oriented, actually explores the interactive space between the product and the user.

Compared with video dissemination, text dissemination is actually easier to create and process. The combination of video and text, such as bullet screen, is actually an improvement on the video dissemination method through text processing. This also determines that it is essentially the same as 4K, 3D and other presentation technologies.

At present, barrage videos without the support of traditional video websites are more likely to develop in a barrage and operate in violation of regulations. Under the stimulation of conflicts of interest, video websites have chosen to be hostile to barrage culture rather than adopt it.

In fact, like the original video websites, barrage videos are also experiencing the baptism of the UGC era. Similarly, if video websites blindly exclude the existence of barrage videos by taking advantage of video copyright, it does not rule out that barrage culture may move faster towards the PGC era where video websites are now. By then, the competitive pressure brought by barrage videos will be unpredictable.

Therefore, video websites that currently always use copyright as an issue should humble themselves and learn from the issue of barrage culture.

Danmu should also find its own way out

Faced with the powerful attacks on copyright from video websites, barrage websites represented by AcFun and bilibili should also begin to face up to the environment around them.

It is inevitable that after barrage videos relied on pirated videos in the early stages of their development, if they want to truly grow and become indestructible, it is imperative to solve the problem of content sources.

Among the threats to video websites, animation and game videos account for the vast majority of barrage videos. Recently, Sohu Video, which specializes in American dramas and animation, has just launched a special rights protection action against Japanese animation.

The rights protection actions against Japanese comics may just be the beginning of video websites' focus on protecting content resources. In the future, this protection measure from the root of the content may be expanded to all video content resources such as American dramas, movies, and variety shows.

Judging from the current copyright disputes over barrage videos among video websites such as iQiyi, if barrage videos want to seek independent development in the future, they may try to reach content retrieval cooperation with video websites.

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.