Xiaomi's 1.8 billion investment in iQiyi will soon lead to the next beneficiary

Last week, Peng Gang, CMO of LeEco's smart terminal business group, said, "The LeEco model cannot be achieved by just throwing money at it." Today, Xiaomi invested 1.8 billion RMB (300 million USD ) in iQiyi, and it is clear that Xiaomi is accelerating its efforts to buy content and time with money.

After starting operations with a billion US dollars, Xiaomi has already held Baidu (iQiyi) in its left hand and Alibaba (Youku Tudou) in its right hand. From today, Xiaomi TV has also ushered in the era of dual licenses (iCNTV and Galaxy Internet), achieving double insurance in policy access.

Xiaomi has already spent one third of its $1 billion. Where will the rest be invested? Who will be the next beneficiary? These are the most pressing questions in the industry.

Next industry to benefit: Video games

At today's press conference, Xiaomi co-founder Wang Chuan said that he and Chen Tong are currently only responsible for the video content of TV and OTT products. Lei Jun has other plans for TV games, which are handed over to Shang Jin. The billion-dollar investment is just the beginning, and other content besides video is being followed up.

It is understood that earlier this month, Lei Jun met with the Ximi Interactive team in Chengdu. The team was jointly established by Xishanju and Xiaomi with a total investment of nearly 100 million yuan and focuses on the field of TV games. Lei Jun's move reflects the important strategic position of smart TV games in Xiaomi's content ecosystem construction.

Zhou Kun, founder of TVplay, a TV game production company, revealed in an interview, "We have previously discussed cooperation with Xiaomi and LeTV, but Xiaomi's attitude towards TV content is obviously more conservative than LeTV. Now Xiaomi is willing to spend a lot of money to buy content, which shows that Lei Jun has changed his attitude. This is a great thing for the domestic TV game industry."

Obviously, in Lei Jun's eyes, the next hot topic is the smart TV in the living room of Chinese people . Games have always been a monetization tool for major Internet companies, and game content operated on smart TVs will become the next billion-dollar beneficiary.

The next video site to benefit: XX Video

For the Internet video industry, which was the first to taste the sweetness of Xiaomi's billion US dollars, major video websites were like being injected with a shot of adrenaline.

Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi, said: "Xiaomi's investment is a high recognition of the value and prospects of the online video industry and iQiyi. We believe that through the joint efforts of Baidu, Xiaomi and iQiyi, the industry will enter a new stage of development and create a more complete and vibrant video ecosystem."

In addition to Youku and iQiyi, other video websites have also shown a positive attitude towards cooperation, and Xiaomi still has to continue spending the remaining 600 million US dollars.

This Monday, in response to Xiaomi's announcement of cooperation with Youku and investment in iQiyi, Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang said that Sohu Video welcomes good content and cooperation with all platforms, and does not rule out cooperation with hardware manufacturers such as Xiaomi. In addition to videos, Sohu can also provide news content resources.

Next beneficiary: users

Xiaomi recently announced that in the just-concluded Tmall Double 11 e-commerce festival, Xiaomi TV 2 became the best-selling single product in a single store on Tmall Double 11 with sales of 37,000 units.

Xiaomi has previously revealed that the daily power-on rate of Xiaomi Box + Xiaomi TV is around 50%, and the average usage time is more than 40 minutes.

A manufacturer that has just started to manufacture TV hardware has been recognized by a large number of users, which has further strengthened Xiaomi's determination to find content for TV. In this regard, Lin Bin, president of Xiaomi, said, "The reason why Xiaomi TV can stand out is its craftsmanship, picture quality, sound quality, system, and of course the final trick is Lao Chen."

Obviously, Chen Tong is the killer feature of Xiaomi TV - video content.

In the Internet era, TV is no longer a product that starts to depreciate as soon as the user buys it. A steady stream of content has become a value-added service provided by TV manufacturers to users. It is foreseeable that the biggest beneficiaries behind Xiaomi's billion-dollar investment are still Xiaomi TV users.

RMB 1.8 billion is the largest single investment of Xiaomi since its establishment, which reflects Xiaomi's optimism and support for an industry. Who will be the next beneficiary? The answer is obvious.

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.