The secrets of Internet TV industry development: exploration with the left hand and practice with the right hand

In recent years, with the advancement of smart TV hardware technology and the rapid development of Internet thinking, the development of the Internet TV industry has continuously seen new milestones. As an emerging format for providing media services for TV terminals, Internet TV has gradually begun to develop diversified service content after closely integrating broadcasting and television with Internet technology.

Exclusive broadcast strategy

For a long time, a large part of the high-quality content of video websites comes from traditional satellite TV stations, and purchasing program copyrights has become a large part of their expenses. However, as TV stations tighten their control over their own copyrighted programs and the content competition among video websites intensifies, the road to exclusive broadcasting through copyright purchases has become increasingly crowded.

Take the second season of the most talked-about parent-child program, "Where Are We Going, Dad?", for example. Since its launch, the battle for broadcasting rights among video websites has officially begun. iQiyi, which spent a lot of money to purchase the exclusive broadcasting rights, has filed lawsuits against Youku and other video websites, claiming that they were suspected of pirating "Where Are We Going, Dad?", and demanded that the pirates immediately delete the source and compensate for the losses.

There is also Tencent Video, which has successfully completed the exclusive online broadcast of "China's Got Talent", and will once again join hands with Zhejiang Satellite TV to exclusively broadcast two super variety shows "The Voice of China Season 3" and "12 Tastes of Life".

With the influence of the development of these new media, with the support of CCTV, Future TV's Chinese Internet TV platform also made a surprising move in China's World Cup media war: exclusive broadcasting, that is, it exclusively owns the terminal broadcasting rights of the Internet TV of this Brazil World Cup.

Wang Wenbin, chairman of Future TV, said that the user experience of Internet TV has begun to improve comprehensively, and the scale of users is also expanding. The number of users covered by China's Internet TV platform has reached 50 million. From the perspective of market penetration, the penetration rate of the new market integration level has reached 56%, and the activation rate has reached 77%. The commercial potential and vitality of the entire market are constantly emerging, and operational capabilities are becoming an important core and key to industry competition.

From this perspective, if Internet TV, which takes video on demand as its primary function, wants to carve out a new space in its industry, it must build a commercial operation model with the same effect as the exclusive broadcast strategy based on user needs.

Data Application

Big data applications seem to be one of the most talked-about topics at the moment, and the scope of application is still expanding infinitely. At the just-concluded 3rd China Internet TV Industry Forum, Future TV CEO Zhang Yuxia announced the results of a survey on the changes in Internet TV users.

Data shows that the number of users using Internet TV content services as a platform has increased, with an average weekly viewing time of 17.3 hours, an active user ratio of 65.8%, a monthly increase in paying users of more than 50%, and a user conversion rate as high as 8.1%.

Of course, the rapid development of the industry is based on the construction of content services and integrated broadcast control platforms. The current platform of Future TV can support tens of millions of users, millions of concurrent users, and high-definition broadcast viewing experience.

Another manifestation of data application is to identify new demands for the development of the Internet TV industry. That is, starting from the industrial characteristics of Internet TV, carrying out refined operations based on the personalized needs of different users, thereby building a commercial operation model.

In this regard, Future TV stated that due to the unique binding of Internet TV terminals, the platform can indeed analyze the viewing behavior of individual users, discover their unique preferences, and then conduct market segmentation based on the different characteristics and needs of users, and then develop different advertising models, payment models, value-added application models, etc.

User Experience

Whether it is the Internet TV industry or any other new or old industry, user experience is always the primary prerequisite for R&D and success. Only by looking at problems from the user's perspective and solving problems from the user's perspective can we win the user's recognition.

For the emerging Internet TV industry, TV companies have started to innovate paid products this year. This month, Tencent Hollywood, launched together with Tencent, will be launched. This new product, which contains 800 Hollywood high-definition blockbusters and has 1080p high-definition speed, will be a breakthrough in the video-on-demand function of the Internet TV industry.

In terms of user interface design, Future TV has also made a new attempt and launched a new interface specifically for children aged 3 to 7, called Rainbow, which can guide children to access learning or cartoon content.

The interface named Salt completely transforms the existing static page video recommendation into a floating dynamic page recommendation, and the picture recommendation adopts full video recommendation, with a very simple interactive design. For all the existing program content, secondary classification pages are screened according to different time periods. That is, when you click on any movie title, you can watch the highlights in the following screen to determine whether it meets the user's preferences.

In terms of the issue of advertising, which is the most troubling and offensive to users, the interface design of future TVs will be more direct and clear. Users can directly choose to skip or click to choose. Of course, all designs are intended to maximize the user experience, so that they can not only enjoy the video experience without interruption, but also fully integrate other needs into the existing design.

In addition to Salt, which hopes to provide users with a very good audio-visual experience, Future TV has also jointly developed a voice assistant with iFlytek to explore the creation of a universal remote control; and jointly explored the future of WeChat TV with Skyworth, trying to change the difficulty of paying for TV remote controls through WeChat, and launching cross-platform social services.

Seek cooperation

Whether it is old hardware manufacturers, emerging Internet companies, or Internet TV operator Future TV, facing the emerging industry of Internet TV, seeking cooperation is an important way to help its development.

In the cross-border cooperation between traditional TV manufacturers and Internet companies, and the joint exploration between hardware manufacturers and future TV, the Internet TV industry should build an industrial chain with a fixed model. In this industrial chain, all parties can complement each other's strengths, jointly cultivate user habits, and overcome the obstacles of user willingness to pay.

It is understood that at present, Future TV has cooperated with many manufacturers, including UHD ultra-high-definition picture quality launched in cooperation with Samsung, Hisense VDIAA, Changhong Qike CHIQ, Skyworth WeChat TV, Konka KKTV, Xiaomi TV and box, as well as the Secret Box and Honor Cube jointly launched with Huawei.

"The country attaches great importance to the integrated development of traditional media and emerging media, and the implementation of the national broadband strategy will provide a good environment for the development of the Internet TV industry. Whether it is Internet TV, platform services, equipment production, or technology research and development, market development, it will provide further broad space for the improvement of the Internet TV industry." It is expected that the Internet TV industry will be able to develop as Luo Jianhui, Director of the Network Audiovisual Program Management Department of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said.

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.