What cards are the video giants trying to play to find a way out?

After more than a month of the most stringent regulation in history, the online video industry has become increasingly fragile. Recently, a piece of news that "the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is referring to the overseas film import system to study whether to adopt a quota system for the online overseas drama broadcasting rights" has once again cast a shadow over the video industry, which is full of smoke. With the increasingly accurate segmentation of videos on the Internet and the different interests and habits of netizens, major video websites are also constantly studying their own video routes. In 2014, major video websites frequently strived to obtain more high-quality online drama broadcasting rights and invested in the production of self-made dramas. If the quota system is implemented, it will undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to video companies that focus on overseas drama broadcasting.

Sohu: Intends to specialize in "American TV series"

As early as 2010, Sohu Video intended to build "China's largest genuine Korean drama video playback platform". Subsequently, Sohu Video reached a strategic cooperation with the three major Korean TV stations, signing all the popular Korean dramas broadcast by Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), Korea National Broadcasting System (KBS), and Korea Cultural Broadcasting System (MBC) in the next three years, as well as the classic dramas of the past 10 years, and included 486 Korean drama resources with 7,360 hours, becoming China's largest genuine Korean drama video playback platform.

But by 2014, the "glory of Korean dramas" gradually declined, and Sohu Video began to seize the summer holiday season and announced the introduction of more than 20 American dramas. These include the new doomsday sci-fi military film "The Last Ship" and the highly anticipated "Legend". It is reported that Sohu Video will exclusively broadcast the above-mentioned high-quality American dramas. It can be seen that Sohu intends to "specialize" in American drama videos. From 2013 to July 28, 2014, Sohu Video released about 92 American dramas, about 71 Korean dramas, and about 252 mainland TV series. Most of the self-produced dramas were interview programs. In the entire online video industry, Sohu's American dramas have exceeded Korean dramas.

Tencent: Taking the “Original” Route

According to statistics from Nandu reporters, as of July 28, Tencent Video has had 142 American dramas, 44 Korean dramas, and 320 mainland TV series between 2013 and 2014, as well as 16 self-produced dramas and short films. Currently, Tencent's self-produced programs account for the largest proportion.

In fact, at the end of 2013, Tencent Video announced its video development strategy of promoting "self-made dramas and original programs" in 2014, and revealed that it would attract users in 2014 through cooperation with news clients, WeChat Moments, Weibo, Weishi and other media content APP products. In 2013, Tencent built the largest 3,000-square-meter studio in Asia for new media companies, and invited many well-known traditional media people such as Yang Jinlin, Hua Shao, Aya, and Su Dong to join the original program. Among them, the playback volume of some ace programs has surpassed Hunan Satellite TV 's gold medal program "Happy Camp", with a playback volume of more than 200 million times. In 2014, Tencent Video also launched its own interactive original program around "The Voice of China".

LeTV and iQiyi: Seeking Other Ways Out

LeTV, which has been pioneering the video industry with self-produced dramas, announced its new self-produced drama strategy in July 2014, signed contracts with four major studios, and established cooperation bridges with many well-known content production organizations, such as Xiaoma Pentium, Wanhe Tianyi, Shixi Media, and China Business News and 21st Century Business Herald. This time, the four major studios jointly established the "Disruptor Alliance" and will innovate self-produced programs in the future. It is said that LeTV will have "important events" in the second half of the year. Huaer Films, which LeTV previously acquired, will successively launch "Red Sorghum" and "The Legend of Miyue"; its own film industry will also launch big-name film and television works such as "The Crossing" series, "Tiny Times 3" and "Tiny Times 4".

With the continuous development of the Internet video industry, this year, iQiyi has also formulated a set of tough strategies for itself - establishing a film company and launching the "Iqiyi 7.1 Film Plan": in the coming year, it will join hands with domestic film companies to jointly produce 7 domestic films and 1 Hollywood film.

Youku: American dramas and self-made dramas

Youku, regarded as the "number one" video site, has a huge "fan" resource. In the same period, Youku has 380 American dramas, 193 Korean dramas, and a total of 780 mainland dramas. Youku has the highest ownership of American dramas, Korean dramas, and mainland TV dramas among the three video sites.

On this basis, as of June 2014, with 43,900 video netizens, each Chinese video netizen watched 1.4 videos on Youku every day. At the end of 2013, public data showed that Youku's American dramas occupied two seats in the top 15 ranking of American dramas, and both of them were on the list thanks to the two seasons of the "Walking Dead" series. I believe that Youku will invest more money and energy in these two aspects in 2014.

At the same time, since the beginning of this year, Youku has spent a lot of effort on self-produced dramas and the introduction of American dramas. Not only did it launch self-produced dramas such as "Never Expected Season 2", "Beautiful 2014: Master Microfilm", and "Lovers' Journey Season 2" to cater to the online drama tastes of the large number of summer students, but also new trendy models such as "Flying Saucer Talk", "The Crazy Event", and "Spicy Next Door" have also won the love and praise of young people.

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.