Skyworth CEO Yang Dongwen: Box is a sunrise industry, the next wave is TV games

Skyworth CEO Yang Dongwen: Box is a sunrise industry, the next wave is TV games
Last Friday, Skyworth Group CEO Yang Dongwen said at the 2013-2014 annual report performance interpretation meeting that "smart TV boxes are a sunrise product, not a sunset industry at all." Yang Dongwen revealed that Skyworth sold 2 million set-top boxes last year, and this year the number will reach 4 million. It is reported that the total sales of various boxes nationwide last year exceeded 20 million units.
Yang Dongwen's interpretation and statement on TV boxes is the first time that senior executives of a mainstream domestic TV brand have made a clear assessment of the box's prospects.

Starting from the user logic of the box market

Previously, TV manufacturers' attitude towards TV boxes was generally a bit ambiguous. On the one hand, they were investing in this industry, but on the other hand, they believed that TV boxes had a strong flavor of being a transitional product, and that TV boxes could fully realize the intelligent upgrade of non-smart TVs, which would also have an impact on the sales of smart TVs themselves.

The current situation is clear. The box market is huge, and TV manufacturers have been slow to catch up. When LeTV and Xiaomi are moving forward with ease, easily cutting off annual sales of hundreds of thousands of units, and then advancing into the smart TV industry, carving out their own place in the user's living room, which has not undergone fundamental changes in decades, traditional TV manufacturers that started out as manufacturers began to look for another path of their own.

Specifically, this road is both offensive and defensive, starting from the two aspects of boxes and smart TVs. For boxes, the follow-up strategy of attack instead of defense is implemented; for smart TVs, new brands that are young enough are pioneers, focusing on online channels, and striving to seize the living rooms of young people, such as Skyworth's Coocaa, TCL's TV+, and Changhong's CHiQ.

Put aside the TV, let's talk about the TV box. The fact is that although the TV box is small, it has a great significance in terms of land grabbing. A TV box that costs less than 300 yuan may occupy a user's living room. At present, the initiative in the TV box market is not in the hands of TV manufacturers at all. Although there are 10,000 reasons to deduce the irrationality of this matter in retrospect - the TV box should have been the market of TV manufacturers, why did they let Internet companies conquer the market?

Philosopher Lao Tzu advocated the policy of governing by doing nothing, which is actually a way of adapting to the situation and going with the flow.

Obviously, under Yang Dongwen's leadership, Skyworth has been going with the flow since last year without being pretentious or entangled. It is no longer caught up in emotions, but has taken the initiative to attack the box market and chose the Internet company iQiyi for content cooperation.

The market response was immediate and positive, with the sales of 2 million units last year becoming a growth point in Skyworth's annual report. This year, Yang Dongwen boldly announced that the sales of the box would double this year.

I think that Skyworth's choice of iQiyi is in line with the right time, right place and right people. There is no need to say much about the right time. The right place is Skyworth's strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities. As for the right people, Duan Youqiao, senior vice president of iQiyi, has served Skyworth for a long time.

From the perspective of users, especially young users, the box is small in size and low in price, making it easy to accept.

This is the user's logic and also Skyworth's choice.

Therefore, not despising, not giving up, and even paying attention to the box market has become one of the most correct choices Skyworth has made under the wave of the Internet.

In fact, in addition to the user's logic, Yang Dongwen also has his own set of logic.

Yang Dongwen believes that there are 500 million non-smart TVs in China, and the process of upgrading will be a long process. During this process, users' demand for smart TVs is constant and strong, but the reality is that not all families are willing to replace a smart TV.

"Skyworth sells 9 million TVs a year, which is an incremental market. But don't ignore the 500 million non-smart TVs in China. Through the Skyworth box, this 500 million stock market can also be made smart at a very low cost. In terms of the Internet, this stock market is huge, and Skyworth values ​​it very much." Yang Dongwen said.

Game Box, the next stop for Skyworth Box

Yang Dongwen said that there has always been a market for boxes. "At first, it was cable set-top boxes, which were used by every household. Later, satellite TV was promoted, followed by IPTV set-top boxes, and now there are OTT boxes that rely on video website content."

Yang Dongwen believes that as long as the existing market remains huge, as long as technology continues to advance, and as long as content continues to be updated and developed, the box market will never die.

"The box market is also impacting from standard definition to high definition. This market is very large, not smaller than color TV at all. So I think the two markets complement each other, promote each other, and coexist, not a life-and-death struggle." Yang Dongwen said that the Internet cleaning campaign currently being vigorously carried out by relevant national departments has also shown a positive side from a policy level. "It is an opportunity for branded boxes like Skyworth. In the past, those so-called counterfeit boxes that put illegal content on TV sets greatly disrupted the normal market order and also challenged the bottom line of the country's control over network broadcast control platforms.

The Internet is immortal, and so are the boxes. Naturally, the TVs that accompany the boxes will always exist in users’ living rooms.

From the most primitive broadcasting set-top boxes to today's OTT set-top boxes, the boxes have been evolving, adapting to the changes of the times with an extremely flexible posture.

What's the next box?

Yang Dongwen predicts that game set-top boxes will become the next wave. In fact, judging from the development trend, Yang Dongwen's prediction is very accurate. The domestic large-screen TV game market is brewing a huge change. Whether it is content providers, channel providers or terminal companies, they are all waiting for another revival of TV games. After all, large screens are naturally prepared for games.

Perhaps, Skyworth under Yang Dongwen's leadership is also in this wave.

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.

<<:  Home gateway applications under the pan-intelligentization of home terminals

>>:  The SARFT's "Net Cleaning" upgrade has caused turmoil in the TV box market

Recommend

Dingxiangyuan's ingenious mechanism for free coffee cup growth campaign

DXY is China's leading medical connector and ...

Do we all have hibernation genes? Human ancestors may have really hibernated

Popular Science Times (Duan Yuechu) The American ...