Where will the next main battlefield be for video websites under attack from both inside and outside?

From corporate mergers and acquisitions, copyright disputes to self-produced content and exclusive broadcast strategies, the video website industry in 2014 was booming and lively.

After the entire industry went through a period of disorderly development, the guidance of radio and television policies, the intensified industry competition, and the mainstream trend of the industry itself have all made advanced plans for the development of video websites in 2015.

Domestic dramas: "exclusive broadcast" is rampant and copyright is expected to rise

Judging from the finale dramas that major satellite TV stations will present at the end of the year, the new policy of "one drama, two stars" that is about to be implemented will not only deeply affect the TV viewing habits accumulated over the years by TV viewers, but may also reshuffle the TV drama market.

The new "one drama, two stars" policy promulgated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television stipulates that "no more than two comprehensive channels shall broadcast the same TV series in prime time every night." On the surface, it has balanced the overall number of domestic TV series by reducing the number of satellite TV stations that premiere new dramas and the number of episodes broadcast daily, but on a deeper level it has further intensified the copyright competitiveness among satellite TV stations.

Undoubtedly, the big-budget, high-investment dramas will be monopolized by first-tier satellite TV stations such as Hunan Satellite TV, Jiangsu Satellite TV, and Zhejiang Satellite TV, while the small-budget, low-investment dramas will be left to second- and third-tier satellite TV stations that can still get the first broadcast rights. This trend without competitive suspense will only further widen the gap between the major satellite TV stations.

More importantly, after video websites continued to spend huge sums of money to purchase the copyrights of domestic dramas, some far-sighted TV stations began to follow suit, either building their own platforms or teaming up with other platforms, and began to gradually spread the true charm of the "exclusive broadcast" strategy.

Among them are Hunan TV, which brought the celebrity reality show "Flowers and Youth" to its own Internet platform Mango TV, Anhui TV, which announced the termination of the copyright transfer contract for the second season of "Crazy Singing 2", and CCTV, which announced that the new media copyright of the 2015 World Cup would no longer be distributed but would only be used on the CNTV platform.

The implementation of the "exclusive broadcast" strategy, in addition to huge commercial benefits, can bring more word-of-mouth and accumulation to traditional TV stations. Similarly, this copyright marketing method will also tighten the freedom and activity of video websites in copyright competition.

Overseas dramas: Delay is inevitable, but the outcome is uncertain

The promulgation of the "foreign restriction order" policy is not unexpected. The differences in national conditions, markets, and customs have led to a large discrepancy between the content of overseas dramas and the domestic film and television drama review standards. This discrepancy needs to be guided and compensated by the policy guidance of radio and television.

After the news of the issuance of the "foreign restriction order" leaked, the details of the implementation of this policy became a matter of particular concern to overseas drama fans and video websites.

At the 2014 China Film and Television Art Innovation Summit held in the middle of this month, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television leaked through a media reporter that the implementation of the "foreign restriction order" policy would be "the window lag period for the introduction of overseas dramas next year is about half a year." However, at the "Second China Internet Audiovisual Conference" a few days later, this news was denied by relevant leaders of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

It is understood that Zhang Chaoyang, CEO of Sohu, who attended the Beijing We Media Annual Conference the day before and appeared at the Chengdu Online Audio-visual Conference the next day, was there to see the implementation of the "foreign broadcast restriction order". So far, it is understood that Sohu Video, which has always been focusing on American dramas, hopes that through further communication with the radio and television authorities, the implementation of the "foreign broadcast restriction order" will be in the interests of the audience and the broadcasting platform.

Since the news of "overseas dramas postponed for half a year" has been publicly denied by the radio and television authorities, it can be inferred that Zhang Chaoyang and other representatives of the video website industry have made great efforts to achieve results. However, it is still foreseeable that the broadcast of overseas dramas will definitely change next year, and whether this change will affect the viewing experience of video website users should be one of the plans that video website companies should start preparing now.

Self-produced dramas: established main battlefield

2014 has been recognized as the first year of self-produced video websites. Judging from the current development trend, the investment of major video websites in original self-produced content will only increase next year and will be further increased.

The content of self-produced dramas is of great significance to the video website industry, which is still a bit chaotic. First of all, the intensity of industry competition is increasing, but the lifeblood of the video website industry - content differentiation - has not seen any significant improvement.

As resource copyright prices continue to rise and TV stations are strictly protecting their own interests, major video websites want to break free from their inherent development constraints. Investing in self-made content production and enhancing their competitiveness with traditional TV stations and other video websites through content differentiation is almost one of the most insurable measures.

The trend of the Internet is towards decentralization. It is foreseeable that audiences’ participation in film and television content will gradually increase in the future, and video websites will be able to better grasp and utilize this advantage compared to traditional TV stations.

More importantly, in the context of the development of all media, with the continuous addition of smart devices such as PCs, smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs, the content produced by traditional TV producers is far from meeting the needs of viewers. Therefore, the objective environment also determines that the investment of video websites in content production is in line with the trend of the times.

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.