Banning TV Boxes: An Unnecessary War

It is reported that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued an ultimatum to major Internet video companies regarding the TV APP incident on video websites, requiring all video website TV APPs to be removed from the shelves within this week, otherwise their Internet audio-visual licenses will be revoked and their servers will be stopped. There has always been a lot of controversy about TV boxes. On one hand, major Internet video companies are trying to capture the big cake of the living room market and transform TV terminals into Internet-based content on-demand portals. On the other hand, radio and television agencies are stubbornly defending the "high ground" and not letting go, not giving Internet video companies any chance to break through. As for the conspiracy and conspiracy related to the interest disputes, there has been a lot of discussion, but it is all nonsense and meaningless.

What I want to say is that no matter who holds the "plate", from the user's perspective, it doesn't matter. Whether it's a mobile phone, a pad screen, a PC screen, or a TV screen in the living room, they are all human-computer interfaces. Users like to sit in the living room and watch TV, or like to use other terminals to watch Internet videos on demand anytime and anywhere. It's just a habitual terminal choice. It has no significant impact on the general trend of the entire Internet video era.

A survey on the proportion of Internet users watching videos around the world shows that South Korea ranks first, with 95% of people watching online videos through the Internet, because South Korea has a large Internet coverage, fast speed and low fees; China ranks fifth, benefiting from the rise of video websites and the popularity of 3G and wifi networks; the United States ranks tenth, explaining that it has developed cable TV networks and exciting pay TV channels. What information can this data reflect?

First, the number of users watching Internet videos has increased year by year worldwide, and the era of universal video viewing has arrived. The way we receive information is gradually moving towards "video", from pure text to graphic form, and then to pure video viewing experience. From the user's perspective, this is a very natural evolutionary process. Because the way of reading text is more "active", it requires concentration to complete the entire reading process. Nowadays, everyone's pace of life is so fast and time is fragmented, which has led to the widespread phenomenon of Internet superficiality. Users need a passive way of receiving information that mobilizes three-dimensional senses. Watching videos is an efficient way of conveying information that can mobilize users' three-dimensional senses. When the same information is placed in front of them, users will naturally give priority to watching videos.

Second: The popularity of Internet video users depends on the size of network bandwidth; for a long time, the biggest enemy restricting the popularity of video viewing has been network bandwidth, traffic, tariffs and other issues, especially on mobile terminals, which are subject to greater restrictions. However, in recent years, major operators have been expanding the laying of 3G and 4G networks, solving the basic bandwidth problem of video viewing, but the tariff problem has not been improved by leaps and bounds. The real weapon to promote the habit of watching videos by users is the construction of wifi life scenes. White-collar workers who are used to running between the company and home will always be in a WIFI environment, and the stay time in these two scenes is also the longest. In addition, there are perfect wifi laying in subways, buses, cafes, ShaopingMall and other places where many users often stay, ensuring that users are always in the network coverage environment. In the wifi environment, it is possible to realize the integration of multiple screens such as mobile phones, TVs, PCs, and tablets, so as to truly realize the possibility of watching videos anytime and anywhere. At present, the overall network environment in my country is not as high-speed and developed as South Korea, but the laying of WIFI can basically meet the needs of users.

Third: The key to determining whether users prefer Internet videos or TV programs lies in the value of the output content. The Internet environment in the United States is naturally extremely developed, and there is the world's largest video website such as YouTube, but it has not affected the market for home TV. Faced with a rich and diverse Internet video platform, Americans' enthusiasm for high-quality pay TV has not diminished at all. It can be seen that relying on monopolizing channels to expand the market share of videos is not the wisest approach. Instead, a "one-stop" UGC content production chain should be established to drive the output of original high-quality content and shape the competitive advantage in content. In the past two years, a large number of entrepreneurial teams around videos have sprung up in China. From mobile phone short video shooting to video processing and editing, and then to video dissemination and sharing, the entire process can be achieved on the mobile phone, which has lowered the threshold for shooting videos to the lowest level and stimulated the output of a large number of high-quality video content. In addition, high-quality online original content such as "Never Expected", "Diaosi Men", "Flying Saucer", "Luoji Thinking", and "Xiaosong Qitan" have changed the past separation structure of video production and viewing. While producing videos in episodes and seasons, fans can be accumulated to form branded video content segmentation. These are all content upgrades that occur on online channels. If the radio and television groups cannot maintain their content advantages, even if there is no such product as TV boxes, sooner or later the TV channels will suffer a fierce attack from the Internet.

At this point, everyone should understand that compared with other countries, the reason why our country has set off disputes in the "living room market" is that the entire video market is not yet mature, and users are "passive" in choosing the human-computer interface. The short-term channel monopoly will stabilize a certain user market, but the general trend of the video era is irreversible. The most critical factors that determine the size of the user market are still video content and user experience. Do you know?

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.