Video-on-demand or effective business model for video sites

Intermediary transaction SEO diagnosis Taobao guest Cloud host technology Hall

Video sharing sites It's time to think about what really works--cash flow is always the hardest thing to do, not just on the popularity and flow.

Three years ago, when Google bought YouTube at $1.65 billion trillion, domestic video-sharing sites cheered. However, the days that followed were not perfect, although Google had a series of "makeover" on YouTube, but the sharing model had struggled to find business expectations. Recently, the U.S. Business Week even pointed out that Google should turn the video site into a video search engine, not only can search the site's own video, but also should be able to search external video.

YouTube's myth had made China's video-sharing sites grow, but 1 billion of dollars in venture capital did not create a lucrative business: These sites are still in the "burn money" period. YouTube's aura fades away, its charm begins to be replaced by hulu.com, the latter is a free viewing of the authentic TV program Internet site, through the authorization on-demand mode to provide users with video resources.

In the world's largest film and television platform Popular Network CEO Lo Jiangchun, including YouTube global network video sites have realized that only rely on UGC (video sharing) content, it is difficult to support a video site of the future, to the film on demand transition is an inevitable trend. Because of the low stickiness of video-sharing users, the cost of user transfer is generally lower. Film and television on demand has become the mainstream of video, how to play its mainstream value is the next thing to do the entire industry.

Domestic video sites have also been aware of this crisis, Tudou CEO Wang Micro even throw out "video sharing traffic is ' industrial wastewater '" self-deprecating, and began to try the revolutionary type of transformation. Quietly, once to share the pattern of gathering traffic video sharing site, have begun to turn around. Youku said it will be the TV drama cooperation and marketing as the future business focus, and television, film and television production agencies and other content provider Alliance.

Even Thunder also joined the video on Demand camp. Two months ago, to download software for the main business of the Thunder company said it is trying to transform into the online video portal, Thunder CEO Shenglong said, "The concept of the Thunderbolt, film and television content providers will be placed to the thunder of the channel to sell, and as a channel platform for the Thunder from the charge of the ads ”

Effective business model

Everyone knows that video site is "burning money" industry, Tencent CEO Ma said, network Video on bandwidth, server, content resources, such as high requirements, investment is huge, one months to burn 2 million U.S. dollars, so, Tencent will not rashly large-scale investment in this area.

In fact, in addition to the high cost of bandwidth and servers, the most annoying thing about video-sharing sites is that they have been unable to find a good way to profit. YouTube faces a similar dilemma because of the uncertainty about the content of the guest's attention and the amount of content that is not copyrighted. Up to now, only 3% of the traffic on YouTube can be advertised, while the Up-and-comer Hulu is backed by Fox and NBC's two large television stations, all of its genuine high-definition content can be put into advertising.

"What we are going to do is the new TV lifestyle under the broadband trend." At the user level, we want to guide the Internet to a brand new way of life; for advertisers who are accustomed to TV commercials, this means there is no need to add additional advertising creativity and production costs. Lo Jiangchun said, "Advertisers are most concerned about the effect of advertising, they are more willing to add ads in a 90-minute movie, which is more in line with the psychological acceptance of the audience, rather than the ads inserted into a paragraph by the video uploaded by the camera. Because small video regardless of content or expressiveness, it is difficult to carry brand advertising. ”

"The customer experience is critical and the browser-based video-sharing model is a fragmented user experience, fragmented viewing that makes it difficult to form plots and generate lasting attention and stickiness," he said. ”

Lo Jiangchun, who had been the architect of network conferencing systems and project technology leaders at Cisco, was founded in 2005, and the company identified the video-on-demand route from the outset, even when sharing the site. "Video site is a long-distance running, the general direction must think clearly, and then to focus on, insist to run to win." "Lo Jiangchun said. At present, the company has become the world's largest video-on-demand platform, in 2008, with the world's leading Peer-to-peer technology and outstanding performance, the popular name appears in the internationally renowned investment wind magazine, "Red herring" on the Global Hundred list.

This is a technology-led company. Three years ago, it launched the world's first Peer-to-peer software on the side. America's Joost is probably 6 months behind the popularity, and Hulu is 15 months late.

In Lo Jiangchun's view, finding an effective business model is more important than traffic. In video advertising, brand advertising will always be the mainstream, effect-oriented advertising and long tail advertising (millions of SMEs represent a huge long tail advertising market) is a tributary. "A website can insert twenty or thirty ads on a page, but it's not a user's concern," he said. On the other hand, most advertisers do not want to attach the brand ads in the audience unknown, copyright vacancy UGC content, the content of quality, copyright, clarity, more and more become the decisive role of the competitive elements. ”

"The logic of business development must be a good product, and then a large flow and multi-user, then a good business model and revenue." Because good products to invest in human, material, financial resources, so products do good companies, the outbreak point may be back, but by contrast, its eruption period will be longer, more explosive force will be greater. The quality and innovation of products, as well as the persistence and concentration of products, determine the business model and the size of the revenue. Lo Jiangchun said.

River crossing competition and mainstream value

"In fact, the competition between video sharing sites, like a river crossing game, at the beginning, everyone can only spell traffic, in fact they spell the VC behind." As long as money, enough money. "A personage in the industry once figuratively."

"Getting into the video industry is like playing ' Super Girl '." 2006, the national video industry has hundreds of companies to participate in the ' audition '. After 2007 years and 2008 of the ' Promotion tournament ', 2009, large Internet video companies only 10. "Lo Jiangchun quipped," Network video These years big cold big hot, very unusual, big hot, hundreds of companies are swarming, a lot of burning money, when the cold, they have to lay off or even shut down. This phenomenon and domestic enterprises ignore innovation, blindly follow closely related. ”

In fact, the larger the flow means the greater the cost, on the other hand, the flow and advertising revenue is not proportional. As it turns out, Hulu has a huge gap with YouTube in terms of user numbers, but Hulu's advertising revenue is growing much faster than its rivals. Hulu, for example, has earned 90 million of billions of dollars in its first year, which is actually a network television station. YouTube is clearly aware of this, and recently, under pressure from its huge operating costs, YouTube has begun to partially weaken its pioneering UGC model, working with CBS to launch a full version of the TV-on-demand service and start selling music, movies, TV shows, video games, books, concert tickets. YouTube is trying to play some of the longer, potentially glamorous video programs that will allow YouTube to play more ads on every show.

"Now a lot of video sites do not make money, on the one hand, the new media is accepted need time, on the other hand, video ads immature, the standard is not uniform, but also a big constraint." "Lo Jiangchun thinks," network video wants early profit, must excavate the mainstream marketing value, must meet three conditions: mainstream application, mainstream crowd and mainstream advertisement form. Now we have more than 90 million users, the daily average of 27 million, the main user group of 25 years to 40 years of high education, high-value people, these people have the ability to pay for brand advertising. ”

"At the same time, the video site also has the first technical and product clearance, attract high-value mainstream people, such as popular advideo is a ' internet TV ads ', using a large video box, in a film and television program before the beginning of 45 seconds to play 3 pieces of advertising, clarity and expressiveness is very strong. That is to say, video advertising only reach the definition and expression of television media, can surpass the effect of advertising or long tail advertising level, carrying mainstream brand advertising. Only by doing this, the video site can usher in a profitable spring. "Luo thought.

Yes, when YouTube, the domestic share of the site springing up, a large and small emergence of hundreds of, the YouTube model can not bring real money, we began to change the Hulu model, but this gorgeous turn behind is extremely expensive tuition. Lo Jiangchun said: "About the nature of the network video industry, some manufacturers think is all-inclusive or fast and full, superstitious flow is supreme, ignoring the essence of the problem: the establishment of business models and the direction of technology insights." ”