The Radio, Film and Television Administration has already made its moves. How should video websites play in 2015?

With the successful conclusion of the Second China Internet Audiovisual Conference, the speeches of the leaders of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television at the conference began to be interpreted in various ways, especially the policy orientation regarding the new media industry and video website industry for next year, which has become an important indicator for the distribution of various tasks for video websites in 2015.

In the past two years, video websites have continued to grow stronger and bigger, and have gradually transformed from broadcasting platforms to dual-identity enterprises of "broadcasting platform + producer". Such industry development trends, at a time when commercial competition is becoming increasingly fierce, have also forced them to pay special attention to the policy directions of radio and television.

"One drama, two stars": policy advantages

The new "One Drama, Two Stars" policy, which will be implemented on January 1, 2015, may appear to be just a policy adjustment to traditional television broadcasting platforms. In fact, at a time when the relationship between traditional television stations and video websites is becoming increasingly inseparable, the industry influence of this policy is also of great significance to video websites.

First, the introduction of the new policy has reduced the number of platforms where the same drama is first broadcast by half, and the revenue from selling the film will also be directly reduced significantly. At present, the viewing habits of most domestic viewers are that if they miss the first broadcast on TV, they must choose video websites to "make up for it". Therefore, it is not ruled out that in the future, producers will pull back the copyright price trend of the video website industry due to the "exclusive broadcast" strategy in order to recover funds.

Secondly, after the joint purchase by two satellite TV stations instead of four, the TV stations can double the number of first-tier dramas. Big-budget hit dramas will definitely be broadcast on first-tier satellite TV stations such as Hunan Satellite TV, Jiangsu Satellite TV, and Zhejiang Satellite TV, while medium-sized dramas will definitely be premiered on second- and third-tier satellite TV stations, because after all, the number of dramas broadcast by first-tier satellite TV stations is limited.

After second- and third-tier satellite TV stations are able to obtain a certain number of drama premiere rights, the task of rebroadcasting popular film and television dramas will inevitably be handed over to video websites in large quantities. This may reduce the conflict between video websites and TV stations in broadcasting time, thereby lowering copyright prices.

“Foreign Restriction Order”: Averting Danger

When the news about the "foreign restriction order" was first announced, it did attract the attention of major video websites and overseas drama fans. Of course, everyone's interpretation of this policy was more direct and one-sided. After the relevant leaders of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television "revealed" it, we can already make such an explanation.

First of all, there is the issue of quantity restrictions. The "foreign restriction order" stipulates that the number of foreign films and TV series that can be imported in 2015 should be 30% of the number of domestic films and TV series that were newly broadcast in the previous year, and the countries and themes should be diversified. Under the stimulation of the "one drama, two stars" policy, the number of newly launched domestic films and TV series will definitely increase significantly, and after the copyright price is lowered, it is not difficult for video websites to reach the appropriate amount ratio.

The second issue is the issue of review before broadcasting. The "foreign restriction order" requires that foreign TV series and movies that are newly released in 2015 must obtain a full season of full films and subtitles and submit them to the Beijing Bureau for review. They can only be released online after obtaining an import license number. In this regard, some people predict that this review period will be at least half a year.

However, if the overseas copyright is purchased in advance and the review process is accelerated, the final broadcast time will not be much later than overseas. It can only be said that the overseas weekly dramas that are produced and broadcast at the same time will be most affected.

Homemade series: original content

At the opening ceremony of this year's China Internet Audiovisual Conference, Cai Fuchao, director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, not only reiterated the recent instructions of Luo Jianhui, director of the Internet Audiovisual Program Management Department, that "content that traditional media are not allowed to broadcast should not be broadcast by new media either", but also expressed the view that video websites "must increase original content".

The unbridled price hikes in copyright have caused video websites to continuously increase the proportion of their own self-made content, using content to counter the policy advantages of traditional TV stations. More importantly, carefully cultivated self-made film and television content can not only help video websites get rid of the embarrassing situation of reselling "second-hand goods", but also may reverse the original situation, become the "original author" of copyright content, and take the initiative in the industry.

Of course, the most significant advantage of this policy is that video websites can solve the problem of content homogeneity in the industry. A large amount of homogeneous content can be said to be the Achilles' heel of an enterprise, while excellent content is the killer to attract users. At the same time, only by developing original self-made content can a true "exclusive broadcast" strategy be achieved and the danger of being eliminated by the industry be avoided.

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.