Tech Planet (WeChat ID: tech618)
Wen | Chen Qiaohui
Cover source | Visual China
"The TV set at home has not been seen for almost 7 years", such a voice is also a true portrayal of many people now.
Recently, a user complained on the Internet that the newly bought TV is too difficult to use: 3 remote controls, all ads after booting, various VIP charges, buying memberships, "I miss the TV set when I was a child." This is also a few slots that are currently criticized by people for Internet smart TVs. ”
The Market for Internet Smart TV is not small, according to the data of Aowei Cloud Network, Amazon, LG, TCL, Hisense, Xiaomi, Sony, Vizio, Philips + AOC, Skyworth and Sharp, have become the world's largest shipments of manufacturers, of which TCL shipped 11.4 million units, an increase of 13.6%; Hisense shipped 8.4 million units, an increase of 5.5%; Xiaomi shipped 5.4 million units, in China, the share of Internet smart TVs is also mostly accounted for by these brands.
In terms of profitability, according to Aowei Interactive Entertainment' calculations, the total revenue of Internet TV advertising operations will reach 12.1 billion yuan in 2020, of which the system layer revenue is 2.62 billion yuan, the content layer income is 8.04 billion yuan, and the application and other income is 1.44 billion yuan, and the profit is still expanding.
Compared with the rapid development of Internet smart TVs and the growth of profits, users' complaints about the decline in their service experience have been continuous in recent years. Powerful Internet smart TV, did not bring more joy to users, but set up some "pits" that people are defenseless, this huge contrast, had to make consumers wonder: what has the Internet smart TV experienced in recent years, allowing themselves to drift away from users?
The "pit" of Internet smart TV
Some services based on profit models such as membership payment and advertising have become the most complaining points of Internet smart TVs.
"Ads like Tencent Video and iQiyi, which start with videos, are because the videos are free, users don't spend money, and there's nothing wrong with video service providers using advertising plays to make a profit." But the TV boot advertisement is different, TV is the user spends money to buy the goods, manufacturers force users to watch the boot advertisement to make a profit is excessive. It's as if you pay for a house and every time you go home and enter the door, you are forced to go to the property to buy something before you can enter the door. Internet TV user Li Xing said.
After the TV and smart hook, it seems that it is inevitable to advertise, in addition to this boot advertisement, the relevant software built into the TV will suddenly force out the advertisement, only after watching the advertisement can you click to exit, otherwise you can not continue to watch.
In addition, some of the apps built into the TV will also embed ads, the method of skipping ads also needs to be charged VIP, some users have calculated that they have to recharge more than 400 yuan a month to avoid the bad experience brought by advertising.
In some forums, many users will also make high moves, one of which has received high praise in the answer: the models sold by domestic Internet smart TV brands in foreign countries generally do not have mandatory bundling advertisements. Add money to buy sony, samsung, LG and other brands. Or consider a large-screen LCD monitor, not only no ads, but also can be turned on in seconds, you can freely connect computers, Blu-ray disc players, game consoles, TV boxes, etc.
Although the size of the large-screen LCD monitor is not as good as that of the TV, it is also suitable for users who are not very demanding. You can also force the removal of files on your TV with ads launched, making ads disappear, etc. Of course, there is also a way to do it after-sales, as long as the TV is not connected to the Internet. It can be seen that everyone is racking their brains in order to clear the boot advertisement.
In addition, the membership service under the same account can not continue to be used in the Internet smart TV App, still need to charge additional fees, for example, some video members, in the mobile phone to open the minimum only 15 yuan a month, but in the TV, login to the same account, can not continue to use the mobile phone membership service, need to pay an additional membership upgrade fee to continue to use, and this extra payment price is basically 5 to 10 yuan per month.
User Chen Liang said angrily, "At that time, after spending 199 yuan on TV to buy an Internet brand smart TV membership expired, the platform reminded me to renew, so I opened a film and television membership, the result can only watch movies and other videos, my son wants to watch some children's films, the result of this membership can not be used, you must open a child membership, this operation directly calls the insider." ”
In addition, Internet smart TVs are not friendly to elderly users. Now spend more time on the TV is a large number of elderly users, the use of Internet smart TV for them still has a certain degree of difficulty, such as in the remote control, a TV generally exists more than 2 remote controls, a TV remote control, a set-top box remote control, if installed with the Internet video platform box, but also have to use the mobile phone to modulate, in order to cast the screen on the TV to watch.
It is these "pits" that make the Internet smart TV more and more like a vase placed at home, with a feeling of "tasteless food and pity for abandonment".
Internet Smart TV those can not say the "secret"
While these slots, large and small, affect the user experience, internet smart TVs still have to do so.
The use scenario of watching TV is generally: the user sits in front of the TV before turning on the TV, and keeps looking at the screen when the TV is turned on. Turn it off every time you watch TV, and next time you turn it on. Open-screen advertising is better than mobile phones and computers, which also provides business opportunities for advertising businesses in television. And the TV system is generally highly customized by the manufacturer, and the TV manufacturer has a stronger voice for the built-in firmware.
The problem of various advertisements in the Internet smart TV has become a norm instead of a day or two. A small number of hands-on users have developed various ways to block ads, while other users can only choose to endure or choose to solve it through payment.
The reason behind this is still that the cost of the platform side continues to expand.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has strictly controlled the Internet audio-visual aspect of television as a terminal, allowing only a few companies that have obtained licenses to broadcast audio-visual content, such as Tencent and iQiyi, which are not license-obtaining parties. To provide a playback source on a television, a license must be obtained.
According to public information, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued a total of seven Internet TV integration business licenses, namely CCTV International - CNTV, Hangzhou Wasu, BesTV, Southern Media, Hunan Television, China Radio International and China People's Radio.
After the cooperation, the TV App will also be renamed, such as Youku and CIBN cooperation to change to "Cool Meow", Tencent and Southern Media cooperation, changed to "Cloud Audiovisual Aurora", iQiyi and China Radio Cooperation to change to "Galaxy Kiwi", etc., the cost of cooperation is also continuing to expand, because the film and television broadcasting platform in addition to the cooperation fee to the license fee, but also to the copyright owner fee, and this increased cost, can only be passed on to the user by adding TV members.
Of course, the profits brought by this membership fee to the Internet smart TV are also very impressive. At the end of December last year, LeTV updated Weibo with keywords such as "LeEco salary increase" and "LeEco announced no layoffs" for two consecutive days.
LeTV's bloody resurrection surprised many people, of which LeTV's TV and advertising business played a key role.
Through its first half of 2021 financial report, it can be seen that leTV's revenue in the first half of the year was 196 million yuan, an increase of 38.55% year-on-year. The internal letter of LeEco employees pointed out that "in November 2021, TV terminal operation, mobile terminal operation, advertising commercialization and other businesses have achieved their annual business targets ahead of schedule. For the first time in several years, the latest operating figures, which are the first of its kind in years, have achieved a double balance of operating profit and cash flow, regardless of the impact of historical debt. ”
LeTV's business rejuvenation is a footnote to the rapid development of the Internet TV industry.
According to Grand View Research, the global Internet smart TV market size is expected to reach $184.4 billion in 2021, and the market size is expected to reach $292.6 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.24%. The big cake of Internet TV will still attract many players to enter.
"Routine" users, sacrificing experience, is to drink and quench thirst
Nowadays, just watching TV is difficult to meet people's increasingly rich and diverse entertainment and audiovisual needs. Therefore, the TV industry is constantly upgrading the functions of the TV and increasing the time that users stay in front of the TV.
However, these functions are more reflected in the frequent appearance of various advertisements in the Internet smart TV, as well as the dazzling membership and other value-added services, so that the TV is no longer so "simple", but to think of ways and routines to make money from users. This bad experience makes users miserable, and it is incompatible with the rapid development of Internet television.
At present, in the domestic market, Internet TV has become an important entrance to the living room economy, playing an increasingly critical role, according to CTR data, by the second quarter of 2021, the overall penetration rate of China's Internet smart TV has exceeded 50%, reaching 53.3%.
Another data from CTR shows that the main consumer population aged 25-34 has a higher tendency to recognize the attention, trust and pre-order influence of advertising brands on Internet TV media. The elderly group aged 65-69 also has a strong tendency to recognize the trust and purchase intention of Internet TV.
The above market data means that Internet smart TV still has a large market development space in the future, and it is also necessary for Internet TV manufacturers to develop diversified profit channels.
Taking Mango TV, which has achieved profitability, as an example, it has developed a "long video + social" model, which increases user stickiness through small theaters, interactive games and other forms. More importantly, Mango TV has also developed Xiaomang, a vertical e-commerce platform, to transform video users into platform consumers, and the in-depth content interaction and service transaction of Internet TV platforms may be a new direction.
In addition, recently with the popularity of the concept of meta-universe, VR games have become a new trend, TV manufacturers can develop VR TV interactive entertainment, sell games on the network TV platform, and this monetization model is in full swing overseas, thanks to the relationship between VR and TV is getting closer and closer, VR in the family landing has been the general trend.
Moreover, with the development of the Internet of Things industry, especially under the impetus of AI, AIoT has become the focus of the development of various enterprises, and smart TV is mainly reflected in the "human-computer interaction", that is, the interaction between people and televisions, in addition, ecological linkage is also one of the focuses. Tv has become one of the control terminals, which can help users control other home linkage devices and meet other needs of users. By playing a good reputation for TV, it will also drive the sales growth of other hardware in AIoT from the side and become an important revenue boost.
It can be seen that the commercialization of Internet smart TV is not limited to membership payment and advertising, there are still a number of directions and space to achieve profitability, and manufacturers set up "routines" everywhere in the TV, so that users passively pay, but it is an unwise choice, easy to make word of mouth decline, in the competition is at a disadvantage. Internet smart TV still has a long way to go on the road to this correction.
(Note: The names of the people appearing in the text are anonymous)
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