Jilu Router's Ad Blocking Issue Forces Video Websites to Reform

Recently, the Beijing Haidian Court pronounced a verdict on the case in which the video website iQiyi sued Beijing Jike Geek Technology Co., Ltd. for blocking "iQiyi" video advertisements through the "Ji Router". The plaintiff won the case and the defendant, Ji Router Operating Company, was ordered to pay 400,000 yuan in compensation for unfair competition.

This is another related case after the lawsuits against Maxthon and Cheetah Browser for blocking ad plug-ins. Unlike the previous cases, the loser this time is no longer an Internet company, but an Internet hardware manufacturer that has no direct connection with the main business of the video website. It is not difficult to find that in the era of Internet competition, the traditional industry boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, and the difficulty of cross-border operations has been significantly reduced. Operators in different industries may have a competitive relationship at any time due to the expansion of their business areas.

Compared with the 300,000 yuan in compensation awarded to Cheetah Browser last time, the compensation awarded to Jilu Router this time is higher, and it is the highest amount awarded in such related cases. Experts analyzed that the 400,000 yuan in compensation shows that the relevant departments are punishing such infringements more severely, but it also reflects that there are many users who use Jilu Router to block patch ads, and the impact caused is more serious than the previous case.

Whether it is Maxthon, Cheetah Browser, or the new form and hardware manufacturer Jilu Router that appeared in the case, it must be acknowledged that the infringement of "unfair competition" does exist. At the same time, it must be seen that the emergence of such illegal behavior also reflects the users' "intolerance" to the patch ads on many video websites. The reason for this rather "abnormal" attitude can be traced back to the discussion of the business model of video websites.

Advertisement patches and interstitials have become a feature that has been criticized by users of video websites and even the Internet industry. Before finding a truly long-term profit model, exploring the interstitial advertising model is undoubtedly an important way to solve the current free video on demand problem. Especially with the continuous increase in copyright content and bandwidth expenses, video websites with fierce competition can only rely on a single advertising profit model.

In this repetitive cycle of competition, the duration of video website patch ads has gradually lengthened from the initial 5 seconds and 15 seconds to 45 seconds, and even 1 minute and 90 seconds. The result of excessively long ad playback time is undoubtedly a sharp decline in user experience, as well as the emergence of a large number of crudely produced ads (mostly web game ads).

After the Beijing Haidian Court heard and ruled on this case, we retested the "Block Video Ads" plug-in on the Jilu Cloud Platform. The test results showed that the latest version of the plug-in no longer blocks the patch ads of videos on the iQiyi website, but can still block pre-roll ads of videos on other websites; and users who have previously downloaded and installed the "Block Video Ads" plug-in, if they choose not to update, the "Block Video Ads" plug-in can still block pre-roll ads of videos including those on the iQiyi website.

Perhaps in the future, Jilu will receive lawsuits from other video websites. All of this will be decided by current laws and regulations. There is nothing to discuss. What we can discuss is whether product services based on user experience should start to develop in the direction of respecting user choices? In the competition in the Internet industry with the direct purpose of snatching users, is user experience worth money? If even the most basic user autonomy does not exist, how can we talk about real user experience?

Of course, we also need to think about the business prospects of video websites in reverse. Is the "advertising + free" business model the best way to improve user experience? Is such user experience based on the user's independent choice? Secondly, is a single advertising model sustainable? Can it drive video websites to generate more profit value?

In fact, the "advertising + free" model was born in the early days of online video when UGC dominated the ecosystem. Whether it was ku6, 56, Tudou, or Youku, the "big guys" of the UGC era video websites were all impacted by the upstarts of the PGC era. Times have changed, and online self-made content, membership models, and pay-per-view have gradually become mainstream. How long can "advertising + free" last?

At this point, if this case can be seen as an event of "new problems forcing industry change", we should also see the stimulating effect of other illegal and illegal behaviors of blocking advertisements such as Jilu Router in the transformation of video websites. Referring to the model of foreign video websites, perhaps domestic video websites can also increase the promotion of paid mode areas without any advertisements on the mainstream model of "advertising + free". On the one hand, it provides users with scenarios for their own selection, and on the other hand, it prepares for the transformation to open up the paid mode in the future.

From this, we can perhaps conclude that the defeat of Maxthon, Cheetah and Jilu is both a failure and a boost. Will the model change of video websites come in 2015? We will wait and see.

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.