Internet TV enters dormant period, and needs to be alert to three major misunderstandings

In 2014, the endless emergence of products, constantly adjusted policies, and the entry of giants into the market made the Internet TV industry a focus of attention.

The industry generally believes that due to the impact of the Internet and intelligence, the Internet TV industry has entered a dormant period and is brewing a new change. On the road to advancement, practitioners have to be wary of existing misunderstandings.

Myth 1: Make the Internet bigger and TV smaller

Currently, users still have a very vague concept of Internet TV, thinking that as long as the TV can connect to the Internet and watch online videos, it is Internet TV. Previously, due to the lack of a clear definition, some manufacturers have been using the so-called "Internet thinking" to expand the "Internet" in the meaning of Internet TV and reduce the TV to a mere display screen.

In response to this situation, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television gave a clear explanation: Internet TV is part of the Chinese radio and television industry.

Unlike PC and mobile terminals, TV has a strong public attribute in the family, showing content information to all family members, which requires it to be subject to constraints. In this regard, Shao Yiding, CEO of Internet TV service provider Youpengpule, believes that domestic Internet TV operations and cloud content must have boundaries. Even in the United States, the management of TV screens is very strict. Because the large screen TV serves the entire family, its content needs to be standardized and operated reasonably.

Being able to connect to the Internet is only the narrowest interpretation of Internet TV. The basic needs of users for TV are the key points that manufacturers need to break through in the future. Zhang Xiaochun, managing director of Galaxy Internet TV Co., Ltd., said that the difference between Internet TV and traditional TV should not only be in "scale", but also in clarity, fluency, friendliness, participation, and richness, which should be better than traditional TV services.

Misconception 2: Enlarging the content and minimizing the experience

Recently, Lei Jun paid 1 billion US dollars for Xiaomi in exchange for video content for Xiaomi TV. "Content" has also become the most frequently mentioned word in the Internet TV industry. There is a trend that when mentioning Internet TV, the first thing people will point out is: "Is the content rich and massive?"

But when users actually turn on the TV, they often encounter a situation where no matter how massive the video content is or how cool the game content is, once it is turned on, its true colors are revealed, with endless buffering, loading, and freezing, which greatly reduces the user experience.

Shao Yiding said that Internet TV must first deliver content before discussing whether the content is good or not. Due to the constraints of TV hardware, service providers need to use technical means to make content transmission faster and more stable. At the same time, content should be integrated and operated from the perspective of user experience, rather than simply piling up content.

In this regard, executives of Netflix, the originator of streaming media services, believe that Netflix's advantage is not its content itself, but its advantage is that it has a precise system that can recommend what users really want to watch to them through the system, allowing users to see what they really want to watch instead of being "lost" in a sea of ​​video programs.

Misconception 3: Clinging to the OTT concept and ignoring the rules

If we say that in the first half of this year, OTT products were limited to promoting TV boxes around large-screen TVs, in the second half of the year, OTT products have flourished.

Smart routers, home smart gateways, Android game consoles, smart projectors, screenless TVs and other products are all more or less endowed with the functions of TV boxes. Various TV "peripheral products" with smart home printed on them have come out, but their starting points are very similar: to evade the supervision of radio and television.

However, as official supervision intensifies, it is certain that hoping to pass the ball over the top through a terminal and bypass all supervision and oversight through a piece of hardware will be "in vain." In this regard, Shao Yiding said that the manufacture of terminals should not be presumptuous with "OTT thinking." As a terminal manufacturer, you can make smart terminals more humane, friendly, and intelligent, but you cannot go beyond the rules.

As expected by the industry, after the exploration, growth and competition in 2014, the Internet TV industry has developed a more specific concept. It is neither a simple connection of television to the Internet, nor video content occupying television, nor a mutant product that bypasses regulation, but a new type of professional video service that meets the needs of living room users under a new industrial structure and industrial environment.

Internet TV, which has been dormant for a long time, is preparing for a larger-scale explosion after getting out of the misunderstanding. Among them, hardware manufacturers, Internet TV service providers, licensees, content providers, etc. who strive to maintain the healthy development of the market will become the main driving force.

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.