“Exclusive broadcasting” makes Mango TV’s ecosystem a success: The secret behind Mango TV’s 70-fold growth

In April this year, Hunan Radio and Television decided to acquire the copyright of its strong IP variety shows for exclusive broadcasting. It is rumored that Mango TV itself lost nearly 400 million yuan in distribution income just for this copyright. However, in just half a year, Mango TV's daily PV has soared from 200,000 to 14 million, a 70-fold increase; the number of mobile users has also climbed to 25 million, ranking among the top in the domestic Internet video industry overnight.

In the view of Zhang Ruobo, president of Happy Sunshine, the exclusive broadcasting is the real start. "Only by producing exclusive and unique content can users know what content they can watch on Mango TV. If we still focus on being big and comprehensive, we will definitely not be able to compete with others. In this era, it is difficult to have any chance if we still compete with others purely on the basis of capital purchase of content."

Half a year after Mango's exclusive broadcasting strategy was implemented, the ecological outline of Mango TV, which was carefully planned by Zhang Ruobo, who holds the title of amateur Go fourth dan, and his team, began to become clearer.

Exclusive content feast

For a long time, copyright distribution has been one of the important channels for film and television companies, video websites, and TV stations to create commercial value.

However, Zhang Ruobo believes that if TV stations only rely on selling copyrights to get those "small profits", it is tantamount to saving money for their own coffins. TV stations still have a chance to carve out a path in the future by broadcasting exclusively, but if they do nothing, they are just exchanging copyrights for money for coffins. In the long run, they may not even be able to afford money for coffins.

Therefore, Mango TV set its sights on the long-term and chose a different path. Taking Hunan Satellite TV's popular variety shows and self-produced dramas as the starting point, it began to deploy an "exclusive broadcast" strategy and began to build the Mango ecological system.

In addition to leveraging the high-quality content resources of Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV, like other video websites, has also begun to test the waters with its own drama content. Currently, four online dramas have been completed and are scheduled to be officially launched on November 1.

Zhang Ruobo said that no matter whether it is the copyright purchased jointly with other video websites, or the self-made weekly dramas or any self-made content, there is currently no plan to sell them to the outside world, and he will still insist on exclusive broadcasting.

Facts have proven that Mango TV has made the right choice by adopting the "exclusive broadcasting strategy". After losing the profits from copyright distribution, Hunan TV can only rely on producing better video content to gain traffic. This forces it to always adhere to the principle of user first and attract users through content innovation, making Hunan TV's self-produced programs always the benchmark of the industry.

Facing the future, Mango TV must find more ways out for its subsequent "exclusive broadcasting era".

Planning a long-term mango ecosystem

With the rise of the Internet TV trend and the efforts of major video websites on the TV side, Mango TV, as the fifth Internet TV integrated broadcast and control platform approved for operation in the country, has also taken an important step in building its ecological system by attacking the Internet TV field!

In Zhang Ruobo's eyes, LeTV is a model. Its development model of bundling software and hardware is very competitive. This self-built ecological model is not only conducive to improving user experience and cultivating user stickiness, but also helps to create a formal user payment environment, thereby seizing the initiative in the market.

Mango TV, which relies on the "exclusive broadcast" strategy to accumulate content copyrights, is different from other ecological enterprises in the development of the Internet TV field. Because it is very clear that it is not good at making hardware products, cooperation has become the best way to spread its content. So far, Mango TV has signed strategic cooperation agreements with more than 40 hardware manufacturers, forming the "Mango TV inside family" with more than 20 products, mainly smart TV boxes and all-in-one TVs.

Zhang Ruobo admitted that in the field of Internet TV, pure technology drive is Mango TV's shortcoming, so Mango TV changed its mindset and chose to cooperate with all hardware manufacturers, that is, to seek control from the upper layer, from the OS layer. This objective judgment of the self-situation is a correct judgment with a long-term consciousness, whether it is the construction of the self-ecological system or the control and attack on competitors.

When a game of Go enters the middle stage, the game will become unpredictable, and the mid-game battle strength is the key to improving the player's chess skills, the fun of playing chess, and the foundation of the beauty of Go art. Relatively speaking, the layout and closing can be learned from books, fixed patterns, and the games of masters through imitation, while the mid-game battle is one of the most difficult techniques to master in Go.

For Mango TV, the exclusive broadcast strategy is just the beginning of a good game, and the real challenge for Mango TV is when it enters the middle game. Zhang Ruobo believes that in the future, PGC (professional video content) will become the focus of the video industry, and the diversification of PGC types also determines that the repertoire is the fundamental reason for video websites to attract user traffic.

Hunan Satellite TV’s strong IP program content is only the first step for Mango TV to surround users. The users attracted by Hunan Satellite TV’s fan economy are merely the website’s existing stock. In the future, on the premise of providing good content, relying on good cooperation with hardware manufacturers, it will generate a steady stream of incremental growth for it.

In the middle stage, Mango TV not only improved its brand image, but also solved the urgent problem of hardware manufacturers' lack of formal licensed content. The high-quality resources of both parties complement each other, making the exclusive broadcast strategy look less "lonely". By learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses, leveraging the strengths of others, and taking advantage of the trends of radio and television policies to attract partners, the win-win situation has made the foundation of Mango's ecology stronger.

Opening the era of Internet TV profitability

As a beneficiary of the radio and television policy, Mango TV is not considering bringing the free model into the field of Internet TV terminals. Zhang Ruobo believes that Internet TV should be a completely paid model, while PC and mobile terminals are mainly based on advertising models. In fact, they are two completely different businesses. Mango TV Internet TV advocates the development of a paid model and does not add any advertising model. Although Mango TV currently provides free services to all users, through cooperation with box manufacturers, Mango TV has begun to label some content as paid.

In Mango TV's ecological plan, the paid model will be the ultimate profit model for the Internet TV industry. The free model enforced through monopoly is not only not conducive to the development of the Internet TV industry, but will also restrict the company's capital accumulation and ecological self-construction.

In Zhang Ruobo's plan, Mango TV will develop its business model around the Mango ecosystem, whether it is a paid model or an advertising model. Currently, Mango TV charges 0.8 yuan per day for Internet TV. Although the standard is not high, it has played a role in promoting the development of the paid model.

Regarding the applications that will enable Internet TV to make profits in the future, Zhang Ruobo expressed optimism about videos and games. He revealed that even the boxes invested by Mango TV still have poor experience in applications such as karaoke. As a center of family entertainment, Mango TV is currently only testing videos, games and shopping in the field of Internet TV.

"Hunan Mango is beginning to grow." Relying on the strong support of Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV's success today began with its exclusive broadcasting strategy, but we can also predict that its future development will not only rely on exclusive broadcasting. High-quality content, diversified exploration, and win-win cooperation are its secret to break through the siege.

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.