Year-end inventory 2015, OTT industry five major trends

In 2014, for the OTT industry, "content" was once again mentioned to a new height. Under the new regulatory policy and situation, licensees and video sites sought to collaborate better and started to build a new OTT ecosystem chain system. As a video site, it is also constantly exploring new development paths, innovating its own operating model, and enriching its own content products and services.

Take video content as an example

1, OTT industry all-round Baotiao single

Li Zhenyu, deputy general manager of Yangguang Internet TV, one of the licensees, once said at the 2014 Asia-Pacific OTT Summit on November 11th that China’s OTT industry has now entered an environment where it is necessary to have a “out-of-order” environment. In this environment, there are Formal supervision, with the investment of its own resources, also has the long-term value in the future as a reward, and it needs to make concerted efforts to move forward together.

The SARFT document No. 181 clearly stipulates that Internet TVs and boxes and other terminals must obtain the content monitoring of seven licensees, that is, all content must be broadcasted on the integrated broadcast platform of the licensees. Subsequently, according to Document No. 181, SARFT has strengthened the supervision of the Internet, enabled offline functions such as live TV broadcast and playback of TV set-top boxes, and then closed the TV clients of all video sites, resulting in the increase of video content of STBs. The less.

Video site licensees hold each other - Youku Tudou shares CIBN

Faced with a series of mortar attacks by the SARFT, the video site responded positively and stopped closing the TV client in time. After a period of rest and recuperation, the video site began to explore new development models and gradually moved closer to the licensees to create more and better content service products for users.

On September 9th, Youku Tudou jointed with CIBN to release the first edition of the commemorative Internet TV set-top box. The contents of the first set of commemorative set-top boxes of the Rubik's Cube are mainly provided by Youku Tudou, which covers the six major contents of movies, TV dramas, variety shows, animations, documentaries, and education. In addition, this cube box also supports multi-screen interaction, mobile phone, pad, television photos, music, video can be shared at any time. Youku and CIBN also jointly launched membership services, such as scan code payment, synchronous cinema watching movies and so on.

At the same time, Youtu 50 million shares CIBN. Subsequently, the country Guangdong side and Youku will also set up a joint venture company, Global One, to focus on the vertical market, especially the radio and television market, and integrate industrial resources.

Set-top box makers and video website Baotuan-- Xiaomi invests in iQiyi to build content

Not long ago, Xiaomi deputy chief executive Chen Qi spent a total of 1.8 billion yuan in a strategic stake in iQiyi. Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi’s founder, said: “Millet attaches great importance to the importance of video in the future of Internet life. He looks forward to the iQIYI team and the development prospects. Xiaomi and iQiyi have maintained high-speed development and continuous innovation in the user community. And the industry layout has a very high degree of fit. The Xiaomi shares in iQiyi, the two sides will more closely provide hundreds of millions of rice flour and 600 million Chinese online video users to provide better services."

Compared to many smart hardware products in the market, the content construction is a short board for Xiaomi. Due to the lack of free copyrighted content, Xiaomi's box and TV adopt the strategy of cooperation with other content parties. According to industry analysts, Xiaomi invests in iQiyi’s investment in iQIYI’s license. After the iQIYI share, the licensees for cooperation with Xiaomi are mainly iCNTV and Galaxy, which can be obtained through policy access. Double insurance.

Video site and video site Baotuan - Sohu acquisition 56 network UGC short board

On October 31st, Sohu announced an internal e-mail in the evening, saying that Sohu has reached an agreement with Renren to acquire its 56-net. 56-net will become an integral part of Sohu's video-sharing business in the future.

Analysts said that the value of 56-Net for Sohu video is reflected in its lack of UGC and PGC services. Zhang Chaoyang, chairman and chief executive officer of Sohu’s Board of Directors, expressed UGC’s importance to video websites on multiple occasions. In particular, after the advent of the 4G era, uploading and sharing of mobile videos by ordinary users, professionals, or teams may become a trend. Traditional production has proved to be very powerful and UGC content can be used as a reservoir to filter out excellent home-made programs.

2. The differentiation of video websites or self-made dramas gradually emerges

Since 2014, homemade production has become a key strategy for the video industry. This trend will be further strengthened and upgraded in 2015. According to the statistical data of Yi En Counseling Research, in 2014, the number of self-made dramas will exceed 50, reaching 1200 episodes, and home-made programs will also exceed the 100-speed mark. According to industry veterans, in 2014, the input content of self-produced content in the video industry will double from 2013, and it is expected to reach 1.2 billion in the whole year, accounting for 20% of the total input of the content. In 2015, this figure will increase to 2 billion, accounting for 25% of the total investment. For 2015's original production, major video sites shouted out a "big self-control" strategy, trying to create a number of content brands that rival traditional television.

Youku Tudou uses UGC model (user-generated content) as its main content, playing homemade content, supplemented by full-length film and television dramas, and variety shows. Zhu Xiangyang, chief content officer of Youku Tudou Group, once expressed at the Zhou Tu-made theater announcement of Youku Tudou that the large-scale weekly broadcast of television standards is the future direction of network self-control. It is understood that in 2014 Youku potatoes self-control budget and investment in more than 300 million yuan. On November 6, at the Youku Potato Group's Quality Resource Promotion Conference, Youku President Wei Ming introduced Youku's content strategy in 2015, stating that he should continue to use the keyword “big movie, big screen drama, and big variety show” as a key word. Dig homemade IP to expand brand influence. It is reported that in 2015, Youku potatoes will invest more than 600 million yuan in self-made dramas. ??

iQiyi focuses on variety shows, taking into account other aspects. According to iQIYI's plan, there were 10 podcasts and 20 exclusive shows in 2014. According to current understanding, as of the end of this year, iQiyi's homemade dramas will reach 302 episodes and 15 episodes in total. In the "2015 iQIYI Beijing Railway Station Marketing Sharing Conference", iQIYI chief marketing officer Ma Dong announced that in 2015 iQIYI's number of network dramas will reach 500 episodes, 30 episodes and 15,000 minutes. In 2014, Iqiyi went on an elitism in self-control strategy. Iqiyi will focus on opening up the "super-net drama" with huge investment and excellent production represented by Tomb Raider Notes. It will not be capped on investment, and will strive to become the outbreak of cyber drama in 2015.

Sohu Video is mainly based on overseas dramas, and has homemade content such as silk-cut men and best ladies. Sohu Video said that next year, network customization and customization will catch up with traditional TV in terms of investment, lineup, quality, broadcast, revenue, and impact. In 2015, it will continue to create a number of self-made works. The TV drama will create a custom Zhouzhou theater. , to reach the scale of 200 episodes. ??

Tencent video in the self-control strategy, consistent with the big production line. From November 2014 to the end of 2014, Tencent has created more than 30 original programs covering information, lifestyle, entertainment, and seasonal broadcasts. Super variety is the main direction of Tencent's video in 2015. In 2015, Tencent's self-made plan will focus on the principles of quality and large-scale production, pushing up the industry's competitive threshold and producing 500 sets of quality original online dramas.

Pptv Juli plans to achieve more than 200 TV dramas in 2015. The coverage of key TV dramas for first-line TV will exceed 80%. At the same time, PPTV Juli will launch an overseas network drama exclusive introduction of the broadcast platform, and will ensure that investment, self-produced TV dramas in more than 10, and will ensure that the coverage of Europe and the United States mainstream TV dramas exceed 50%, increase South Korea Taiwan boutique new film alone broadcast content .

Mango TV officially announced at the 2015 Mango TV Investment Promotion Conference that it will launch an all-single-play strategy. The entire network will broadcast all the strongest IP content of Hunan Satellite TV, including Happy Camp, every day upwards, where my father is, I’m a singer, and we all laugh. , flowers and juveniles. At the same time, Joyce Sunshine (Mango TV specific operating unit) president Zhang Rubo announced that Hunan TV's all content will be jointly produced by Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV. The two parties will also spend RMB 1 billion to build a dual-playhouse theater.

Summary: In 2014, along with the frenzy of solo drama, many video sites started their own content creation strategy. In 2014, there were already many excellent video content broadcast. With the further intensification of the individual broadcast and video production strategies for individual video sites, 2015 will be the first year of the outbreak of video website content, and more and better quality content will be presented to the audience in front of the screen. At the same time, in order to gain better share of interests, after these video sites have staged a battle, they will secretly continue to seek differentiated competition. Detaching will become a trend, and self-control will become a popular strategy. . As a result, video content will be even more abundant in 2015.

Wind direction 2: Intelligent hardware market is widely explored Multi-screen interactive terminal form gradually recognized by the public

For every video site, unified and multi-screen is the ultimate dream. With a vast platform built independently, with a large amount of content, through the application, APP presented on the multi-terminal, is the current video site is exploring and gradually realize the business model.

LeTV TV push hardware + service and TV combined hardware products

Letv TV announced in one media communication that the sales volume of Super TV in 2014 had exceeded 1.5 million units. In 2015, the sales target of Super TV will be 3 million to 4 million units. By the end of next year, the number of Super TVs will exceed 5 million. Levision smart terminal business group COO Liang Jun said that in 2015 whether it is for the entire smart TV industry or music as only a decisive year, next year, LeTV as the sales target is at least doubled again, the future LeTV as a video-based Based on sufficient performance, it will continue to exert its power in games, human-machine interaction, etc. More innovative hardware-based services will be introduced. In the area of ​​innovative intelligent hardware combined with television, next year will introduce more hardware products that can be combined with TVs. These hardware products are no longer a simple TV accessory, but a combination of hardware and services.

PPTV transfer from content to terminal platform

PPTVCEO Lu Yan revealed to the media recently that PPTV, which has completed the strategic investment of Suning Cloud Business and Hony Capital, will set up a home internet division and launch smart TV products at the right time. It is understood that PPTV has launched TV boxes, but due to the existence of many copyrighted content resources, PPTV actually does not occupy much of the advantages in the field of content. As a veteran Internet video site, PPTV is another video site that has switched from content to terminal platform after LeTV. The difference from LeTV is that PPTV does not directly transform into a hardware manufacturer's intention, but plans to build joint-brand TV maker Pioneer OEM at the end of this year. At the same time, it hopes to release its own brand smart TV next year.

Youku potatoes turn smart hardware

Recent news confirmed that Youku Potato Group and Rockchip Micro have reached a booking agreement, ordering 1 million RK3288 chips for smart hardware production, and 1 million chips will be supplied to Youtu intelligent hardware foundry in three batches. Youku has The foundry reached a cooperation and added six production lines for the production of intelligent hardware. Soon afterwards, Youku Tudou announced the establishment of Cloud Entertainment BU (Strategic Business Unit). It is understood that the BU is video-centric and links multi-screen entertainment and games through a series of smart terminals. A major strategic direction of Cloud Entertainment BU is the introduction of smart hardware. Currently, Youku Tudou has introduced three hardware products: Youku Route Po, Youku Box, and Potato Pie.

Summary: As far as the current situation is concerned, video sites have started to enter the smart hardware field. However, the smart hardware war that belongs to the video site has not yet reached a climax. With the release of SuperTV TV box and PPTV switching terminal platform by LeTV, Youku Tudou will establish cloud entertainment, and more and more video websites will enter. The market of intelligent hardware will be gradually developed, and on the other hand, The concept of multi-screen interaction will gradually be accepted by users.

Wind direction 3: The business value of innovative OTT payment model is tapped

Data citation: According to IPTV News, Infonetics Research expects that OTT pay TV revenue will increase from US$5.8 billion in 2014 to US$10 billion. The report also pointed out that in the first half of 2014, the total global pay TV market reached US$117 billion, an increase of 3.9% over the first half of 2013. With the growth of the telecom payment market, pay-TV users reached 837 million in the first half of 2014, an increase of 10% from 2013. The sales revenue of pay TV set-top boxes reached a historical high of US$20.3 billion in 2013, which is a 3% increase from 2012, and will reach a peak of approximately US$22.8 billion in revenue in 2015.

Looking at the global OTT pay TV revenue, there is still much room for growth in the business value of the OTT industry. The original commercial value of OTT has not yet been completely excavated. In China, this OTT payment business model has not been completely accepted by the majority of users. The entire Chinese OTT market also has great potential for development. The majority of users are not satisfied with the video site’s OTT charging model. They also cannot adapt. Many users also indicate that users’ charges will no longer look at videos. As a result, the revenue of video sites will inevitably decrease, but the licensees seem to Don't panic.

Many licensees and video sites are still optimistic about this market, and realize that the OTT industry's payment model needs innovation, looking forward to tap the deep value of the OTT industry, and even have some video sites to act.

China's TV industry is relatively speaking, doing quite well, has its own business model. But using a simple so-called Internet free-to-play model, turning a traditional video payment model like a foreign-like OTT into a free one may not be a suitable business model in the short term.

Take content payment as an example

According to Huang Siwei, vice president and CTO of BesTV, the completely free model is not suitable for the continuation and development of an industrial chain value. In the future, the development of the OTT industry chain must embark on the path of content payment. Pay-per-view, monthly, monthly, and on-demand While some of the more basic content is free. After the General Administration of Standardization has developed OTT, the original free model will be disrupted. Under the guidance of the policy, the industry will develop healthier, the industry will respect copyright more, and payment models will gradually form. The road must go.

He Weizhao, general manager of product operations at Huada Group’s game base, also said that after the rectification, the entire platform will be re-standardized, and consumers will gradually cultivate the consumption habits of paying for content. Both the licensee and the content can seek good profits. status. While Huadian Media is also seeking a continuous profit model, it is actively collaborating with other broadcast control platforms and external content providers to continue to introduce genuine video content. At the same time, the platform side is also gradually trying to cultivate some users' payment habits. After a period of about two years or so, it is expected that by 2015, the user will pay for content.

Cheng Hongrong, vice president of Hunan Happy Sunshine Interactive Entertainment Media Co., Ltd., believes that based on the current situation and trends of content payment at home and abroad, the trend of European OTT video revenue from 2013 to 2014 and the user size and revenue of Netflix in the third quarter of 2014 For example, explaining that paying for premium content is the user's natural behavior. In China, the concept of paying for premium content is also growing, and 45.2% of users are willing to pay for premium content. Take IPTV in Hunan as an example: Currently, over 30% of IPTV users in Hunan have paid for value-added services, indicating that the concept of payment has gradually been accepted by users and will continue to be popularized.

Hao Cheng, assistant general manager and product planning director of Mango TV Internet TV Division, believes that OTT industry needs to touch the stones to make money. This is mainly reflected in the difficulty of establishing advertising models and the slow development of payment models. The difficulty of setting up the advertising model is still too low after advertising CPM premium; short video is too small, VV is low; user base is relatively small, not scale. The slow development of the payment model is reflected in the fact that everybody is doing it. What they have done is not necessarily figured in. The vendors are critical and most of them are watching. In Hao's opinion, payment is the most promising model. With the transformation of the video industry, ie youtube-netflix, the business environment will become more and more open, and premium content will only recognize the payment model.

At the same time, Mango TV has already tried with terminal partners to jointly activate and cultivate users to pay for premium content and explore sustainable OTT video profit models. Zhang Ruobo, president of Hunan Happy Sunshine Interactive Entertainment Media Co., Ltd., made it clear that Mango TV in 2015 will conduct benign exploration on the payment model, and that the bulk purchase of content will not be limited to the content of Hunan Radio and Television.

Summary: Since 2014, many manufacturers licensees and content parties have begun to explore new video profit models. In 2015, with the innovation of the operating modes of licensees and content parties, the concept of users paying for content will gradually strengthen. In addition to the innovative profit model of video content, there will also be new innovations in content profit models such as advertising, games/educational resources, etc. The commercial value of the OTT industry in 2015 will be further excavated.

Wind direction four: The living room market is favored TV game will become a family entertainment center

1. Licensor's future exploration or in the game

Cheng Hongrong, general manager of Mango TV's Internet TV Division, said that games, e-commerce, and social media are gradually entering the OTT space. Smart TVs, as a terminal, show a variety of developments, and Internet TV will become a living room for entertainment and living. The mainstream entrance has enormous potential value.

Huang Sijun, vice president and chief technology officer of BesTV believes that TV + games will become the center of future home entertainment, and now the difficulty of video games is not in the terminal, but in terms of content, large-scale games specifically developed for television are required.

The TEA Alliance established by CIBN has a clear-cut lock on the “Internet TV Big Screen” and jointly targets all the nodes in the big screen gaming industry chain to create a future living room digital entertainment center in the family unit, making it possible to revolve around the “big screen”. The TEA alliance is not only a large-screen online portal for online software products, but it is also likely to become an important portal for the entire industry chain of "big screen games."

2, TV manufacturers

Data citation: According to AVC data, in June 2014, the penetration rate of smart TV reached 61%, and this figure is expected to increase to 70% in the second half of this year. Consumers have paid attention to somatosensory games. 53%, the game has now become the most used and most concerned feature of the user in addition to watching video on the TV.

TCL: On March 24th, 2014, TCL officially launched its game ecosystem alliance and launched its first game TV and Android game console. The TCL game ecosystem was jointly built by TCL, Unicom Broadband, ATEN, and Gameloft. Among them, TCL as a terminal provider, overall responsible for hardware manufacturing and operations; ATEN and Unicom broadband will be the platform operators, together with TCL to create a dual-screen converged gaming platform; and Gameloft will be the chief content provider, continue to provide large-scale, high The quality game exclusively starts on the TCL game product.

Konka: In August 2014, Konka teamed up with game giant Tencent to launch Easy TV game TV. Users can experience Tenjin hot racing games on the Konka E-TV every day, such as every day cool, every day cool running, QQ landlords, and civil aircraft wars. The alliance has enabled Konka to have more interactive games and TV. With the huge online user base of Tencent Games, the prospects of Konka's Easy TV games and TV are also promising by the industry.

LeTV: In 2014, the sales volume of Super TV has exceeded 1.5 million units. In 2015, the sales target of Super TV is 3 million to 4 million units. By the end of 2015, the number of Super TVs has exceeded 5 million. With LeTV TV Super TV selling, smart TV games have become LeTV's important business direction. LetVSTore3.0 not only introduces the game center, can adapt to all games based on OpenGL technology development, and introduces the turret legend, I call MTOnline, burning Vegetables, fishing talent 2 and other high-quality mobile games.

Samsung Smart TV: Samsung, a maker of smart TVs, has also added game features to a series of smart TVs. Games such as Need for Speed ​​and Real Football 2014 can be played on TVs.

3, CP manufacturers

The content of the game is on television, but there is also a very important attribute - family scene, this is very different from the mobile game, in the future need to increase the video game for the whole family to play together.

Aureline Palasse, vice president of Ubisoft Mobile China, said that 2015 will bring a brand new video game to Chinese users, completely subverting the concept of TV boxes. The name of the game is full force. Just hold the phone and dance to the TV. This game has a market share of more than 80% in Europe and the United States, and the number of fans is also considerable. This game is achieved through very high-tech technology, and then you can connect your phone to the Android box.

Wang Shiying, executive vice president of the Blueport Interactive Distribution Center, said that the interactive video game developed by Lan Hong Kong is an action game, such as the sword of a hero. In her view, the handle is more suitable for the operation of the action game than the mouse's touch screen. When the user goes to work or takes the subway, he may use his mobile phone to play the sword of the hero. The user can also use the larger screen at home. A comfortable operating experience to play the heroic sword.

4. Chen Zheng, the chief operating officer of the new game network technology company Co., Ltd., believes that as the country began to lift the game console ban in 2013, the game will gradually move from the mobile phone to the family living room market. In the era of mobile intelligence, mobile games are already hot, and video games will also gradually erupt. Chen Quan predicts that the market flashpoints of China's video games may enter into a fierce competition in the second half of 2015 after June 2015. There will be a reshuffle in the industry, and the early use of pirated games will be the main video game platform. The company is likely to face great pressure in the future, or may be integrated into some Internet companies.

Shen Yue, CEO of Sola Games, stated that Sola is a mobile game company and is currently thinking about how to become a macro company. With the improvement of the somatosensory game hardware, Sola is also particularly interested in making somatosensory games, such as products that use gestures to operate directly, and are suitable for hand-to-hand experience. And Sola has also tested the water video game platform. . Taking the red-and-white machine as an example, it has experienced home-machines, end-games, and night-time games. There are still many platforms in the future. Video games are actually a critical point.

Shenzhen TV Co., Ltd. Huan Chuang Technology Co., Ltd. Zhou Wei believes that the video game is in the warm spring after the winter, Xbox sold at the end of September in China, opened the mainland China's video game market milestones. For more than a decade, the development of the television industry has been inhibited, capital investment, employees are few, the content is scarce, consumers' perceptions are also relatively low, many users do not know TV can be used to play games, with the game console market The lifting of the ban and the entry into China of the Xbox are bound to restart such a market.

5, industry observation

Guo Wei Holdings CEO Zhang Weidong: 2013 is the first year of the OTT box. Through the gradual and steady development in 2014, the OTT box in 2015 will soon have an explosive and large-scale development, with a video-based and game-assisted mode. The infiltration and expansion of the game have made an important contribution to the cultivation and growth of the market. In the next five years, video games will become the first growth point for Chinese games. With more than 400 million households in China, the penetration rate of the entire game box is very low. In 2014, the number of smart TV users in China should exceed 75 million. It is expected that by 2015, it will reach 100 million, and in 2016 there will be explosive growth. It will reach 150 million.

Dr. Ding Zhong, Head of the Joint Group of Multi-Screen Access Internet Standards at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: The world's three most famous box Microsoft Xboxone came from behind. Originally it was the Sony PS3, now the PS4. At the time, once the most beautiful scenery was the PS3, and the PS2 began to appear at the peak of the Sony game box. Japanese Nintendo Boxes featuring somatosensory games earlier brought a global upsurge of TV games, but at that time there was no resonance in China. Some boxes entered the Chinese market in various ways, but as an industry In the legal form, in China, with the lifting of the ban, it is entirely possible for the Chinese market to have an outbreak of video games and video games.

(In addition to the above list, there are others, omitted here)

Summary: In 2014, under the severe supervision of broadcasting and TV, Internet companies suffered a blow. In the fight, some of them were even more frustrated. TV games have been discovered as a new market. In 2014, many TV manufacturers and game companies have expanded their businesses in this area. In 2015, video games will enter an explosion period. In addition to smart homes, smart homes, and video games, the video game will become a home entertainment center in the living room market.

Wind direction: 4K ultra-high-definition technology set off a wave of ultra-high-definition video

With the development of 4K ultra-high-definition technology, multi-screen playback of high-definition or even ultra-high-definition video has become a widespread concern. Different screens bring different experiences to users, and face higher and higher trends of users' demands for video clarity in the future. With the emergence of 4K technology, more and more manufacturers will pursue this ultra-high definition video effect to satisfy the user's viewing experience.

Rita, deputy general manager of TCL Multimedia Internet Division, was interviewed by the reporter and said that 4K is actually a technology first and is a gimmick originally developed by the manufacturers. The 4K ultra high definition specifications introduced on TV screens are actually bought by many people in China. High-end TV users love it, and there are already a large number of users with 4K TVs at home. As more and more content, including a video content such as television stations and streaming media, slowly shifts to 4K, it will play a very substantial role in helping the entire 4K market.

Rita believes that 4K itself has real user needs, users will not reject more beautiful, higher-definition video content, everyone's eyes will be cured, look at the phone screen, you want your home TV screen is also very beautiful high-definition Content, that 4K content actually has such a potential, is to provide a very high-definition video content.

On August 20 of this year, TCL released a new 4k ultra-high definition video game, the g8200 Smart TV, in cooperation with tvplay game companies. TvPlay specializes in video games, focusing on large-screen TVs, developing large-scale games that can run directly on smart TVs and boxes. It also specializes in developing games with relatively high 4K resolution and related products. TVplay mainly starts from the aspects of display and control, and develops game content products suitable for running on the big screen of TV.

According to Li Shangxin, vice president and general manager of DivX Greater China and South Asia Pacific, with the popularity of 4K devices, more and more mobile phones supporting 4K video capture will arouse the desire of users to shoot short films and share videos. In response to this trend, DivX will launch 4K personal channel service. At the same time, with the development of various devices and technologies, the user's requirements for the definition of the screen are getting higher and higher. In the future, DivX will cooperate with the content providers, TV manufacturers, chip manufacturers, and licensees in cooperation with the entire ecological chain.

Summary: With the birth of 4K ultra-high definition video technology, based on the user's pursuit of high-definition, there will be more manufacturers in the future to cater to this viewing needs of users. In 2015, multi-screen playback of high-definition or even ultra-high-definition video will set off a frenzy of high-definition video playback.