Video websites usher in the era of self-made "big" and feeding back to all media may become a trend

With less than two months left, the embarrassing situation of "watching the same show over and over again" on TV screens, which has lasted for ten years, may come to an end. The "one show, two stars" policy, which was officially implemented on January 1, 2015, will not only allow TV viewers to get rid of the poor viewing experience of "no choice" for many years, but will also bring more room for imagination for the future development of video websites.

"One drama, two stars" highlights the advantages of video websites

Affected by the "one drama, two stars" policy, TV stations and producers are worried about the reduced ability to invest in TV dramas, and dare not make large investments; on the contrary, the quality of TV dramas at low costs is also worrying. At the same time, video websites that have been able to invest in dramas more accurately based on big data and user feedback have become more and more prominent in the industry.

Gao Fei, president of LeTV's Internet Business Group, a major purchaser with the longest vision in copyright investment, said, "After the implementation of the 'One TV Series, Two Stars' policy, the price of TV drama copyrights will definitely change. For high-quality dramas, the change may not be too big; but for medium-quality TV dramas, the copyright fees will definitely fluctuate."

In 2014, the first year of self-produced dramas, we also saw that the right to speak and influence of video websites in the TV drama industry is gradually increasing. Self-produced online dramas have moved from the initial "small drama era" to the era of high-quality dramas. Take Sohu Video's self-produced drama "Fleeting Time" as an example. The investment in a single episode has exceeded one million yuan, and this is the investment in shooting under the premise of using a large number of newcomers.

At the same time, under the trend of favorable policies, in order to further expand the existing advantages in the field of self-produced dramas and establish a better industry reputation among the audience, video websites are no longer satisfied with the current production capabilities, and have begun to fully focus on self-produced content by establishing or acquiring film and television companies.

Join hands with film and television companies

Last year, following LeTV Pictures, LeTV formally acquired Huaer Pictures, and this year, iQiyi and Huace Pictures established Huace iQiyi Pictures, and Youku Tudou Group established Heyi Pictures. It can be said that it has become a trend for video websites to get involved in the film and television production industry.

From the moment LeEco announced the acquisition of Huaer Films, on the surface, it was to improve the LeEco ecological industry chain that it has always advocated, but in fact, it was an early layout to focus on the TV series field after the movie. As major video websites have joined hands or established film and television companies, we can detect the established trend of video websites expanding in this industry.

As copyright fees for TV dramas and movies continue to rise and copyright competition becomes increasingly fierce, video websites must continue to expand their boundaries if they want to complete the severe industry breakthrough. Getting involved in film and television production can not only break the passive situation of video websites in copyright purchases, but also may affect the selection direction of traditional TV stations as the self-made content increases.

Of course, if they want to produce films and TV shows that can compete with TV stations, video website producers need to improve their operational capabilities. Although Huaer Films has been acquired by LeTV, Gao Fei said that in the future, Huaer Films will still maintain independent management and operation in film and television production; only in terms of LeTV's ecological industry chain, LeTV will jointly develop some projects with Huaer Films, such as full-process marketing and full IP development.

When it comes to the marketing and development of film and television works, we have to talk about the most popular drama "Red Sorghum" produced by Huaer Film and Television and "The Legend of Miyue" which became popular before it was broadcast. "Red Sorghum" was launched on LeTV for only 19 days, and the traffic has exceeded 500 million times. According to iResearch data from October 27 to November 2, LeTV's "Red Sorghum" users ranked first among all broadcast media of the drama, nearly half of iQiyi.

In addition, the "Legend of Miyue", which is scheduled to be broadcast in December 2015, started marketing operations in July this year. LeTV not only tried to develop the intellectual property rights of "Legend of Miyue" in a three-dimensional way, but also distributed the copyrights of its related games. In the future, when the TV series is released, LeTV will also create a "Legend of Miyue" gift wine series.

Gao Fei believes that expanding the research and development of peripheral products can not only maximize the profits of high-quality content, but also meet the various needs of users. "LeTV hopes to turn more high-quality content into unique value and give it back to users."

Video websites may feed back to all media

After the "One Drama, Two Stars" policy is officially implemented, with changes in copyright prices and the audience's shift in broadcasting terminals, the relationship between TV stations and video websites may gradually transform into deeper cooperation. It is even possible that video websites will feed back to TV stations with excellent self-made content.

Because the new policy may have little impact on first-tier TV stations such as Hunan Satellite TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, and Jiangsu Satellite TV, but for small and medium-sized satellite TV stations, the impact is self-evident.

Gao Fei of LeTV believes that "it is common for large satellite TV stations to broadcast exclusively, and there is even a trend that the strong will always be strong. It is difficult for small and medium-sized satellite TV stations to obtain high-quality and high-priced TV series. The new policy will further aggravate this trend, but it will also bring more opportunities for cooperation between small and medium-sized satellite TV stations and video websites."

Gao Fei believes that the new policy may have more practical significance for the "online and TV linkage" between the two parties. "Previously, the 'online and TV linkage' was more limited to bundled promotion, but in the future, there may be in-depth cooperation such as price cooperation, advertising cooperation, and even time cooperation."

Therefore, if video websites continue to focus on the field of film and television production and further develop the production content, in the future, it is entirely possible that there will be a trend for video websites to feed back to TV stations, and TV stations will become a broadcasting channel.

In addition to traditional TV series, LeTV has also established an Internet film company, signed Zhang Yimou, and created high-level works such as "Coming Home". In the future, LeTV may further cooperate with Zheng Xiaolong to create online self-made dramas, and Zheng Xiaolong also admitted at the online self-made drama forum held by LeTV that his first online self-made drama will be in cooperation with LeTV. Therefore, it is not ruled out that Zheng Xiaolong will only create works for the Internet.

As video website companies continue to join the content production fields of TV series, movies, etc., and as they innovate in these fields, a trend of video websites feeding back to and guiding all media may form in the future.

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.