The first knife of long video business innovation is cut to the ledger model

Image source @ Visual China

Long videos that have long struggled with the quagmire of losses are now putting the importance of cost control in the forefront.

In the past, this change has mostly occurred within companies, including at the expense of layoffs and shrinking the business front. What's different this year is that they're finally starting to "get started" with their partners.

At the beginning of Q2, the Titanium Media APP observed that the main long video platforms have recently carried out corresponding reforms and adjustments to the sub-account model.

The original intention of the establishment of the ledger model is the preferred model for sharing the risks and interests of video platforms and content production companies under the uncertainty of the macro environment.

On the one hand, it allows video platforms that continue to lose money without having to pay the cost of unpredictable benefits for copyright procurement at one time; on the other hand, for small and medium-cost producers who lack bargaining power, the long-term backlog of works has the possibility of reaching the audience directly, and this is equivalent to directly charging C-end content consumers, which can also make them more focused on creating high-quality content.

However, the challenges faced by online video platforms this year continue to increase, in the process of film and television production, the unreasonable phenomenon under some disorderly competition still exists in large quantities, the prices of various production factors in the copyright procurement and production chain have risen year by year, and the pressure on content costs has continued to increase. Cost reduction and efficiency increase have become an inevitable trend, so it is urgent to change the account sharing model.

Long video websites have adjusted their accounting policies

The adjustment involves both cloud cinema and online movies. From April 1, on the iQIYI platform, the films cooperated in the cloud cinema premiere model will be superimposed on the basis of the current on-demand sub-accounts, and the online distribution revenue of the whole life cycle of the PVOD+SVOD dual window will be obtained.

The new accounting model of online movies, from the first six minutes of effective viewing of the account, was changed to a time-long account. At the same time, iQIYI also announced the cancellation of platform grading, the pricing power to the filmmakers, the voting rights to the audience, and the provision of more efficient platform promotion resources for content with higher user choice, longer playback time, and better word-of-mouth performance.

After iQIYI's announcement, Tencent Video released the signal of reform and made corresponding adjustments to cost optimization and creative incentive direction.

Unlike iQiyi, which has disclosed the detailed rules and specific operation plans, Tencent Video has spoken out in the form of internal closed-door meetings. Titanium Media APP learned that on April 8, Tencent Video held an "early spring business sharing meeting", attended by Sun Zhonghuai, vice president of Tencent and CEO of Tencent Online Video, Han Zhijie, vice president of Tencent Online Video, and tencent video upstream and downstream partners in the film and television drama industry.

Topics discussed at the conference included cost optimization, creative incentives, and long-term sustainability. At the same time, Tencent Video also announced a reform for the cooperation model, that is, in the existing cooperation model, the new introduction of "market price + member a posteriometric incentive" initiative.

In addition, Tencent Video also promised to further open the sharing system to partners, and provide product-level support to partners by disclosing the playback index of their respective projects and member opening data.

What are the new "Market Price + Member A posteriometric incentive" details? No public disclosure of the rules has been seen at this time. The titanium media APP asked Tencent Video about this matter, and the other party also said that the meeting was an internal closed-door meeting and there was no further public information disclosure.

As a Youku that also continues to invest in the direction of self-made dramas and movies, it has not announced a new sub-accounting model this year. However, the Titanium Media APP learned from Youku that Youku had already adjusted the sub-account model last year.

In October last year, at the autumn private meeting of sub-account dramas, Youku Content Open Platform officially announced that a new "post-broadcast rating" model was added on the basis of the original sub-account model, hoping to return the revenue decision power of content to C-end users, so that excellent content can have more box office space.

From January 17 this year, the model was officially launched. At present, youku network drama accounting model includes: "pre-broadcast grading", "post-broadcast grading", and "advertising CPM cooperation" three models; the cooperation model also includes two categories: pre-project investment and film-produced project cooperation.

For the investment of the previous project and the project that meets the investment standards, Youku gives investment and assists the partners to complete the production. Then, Youku determines the final investment ratio according to the specific conditions of the project. After broadcasting, the amount is calculated according to the sub-account formula, and the partner's income = the sub-account amount * (1 - Youku investment ratio).

In terms of film-specific project cooperation, Youku evaluates and grades the project, and timely feedbacks the rating results; according to the unit price corresponding to the rating, the film-based sub-account cooperation is carried out. The access requirements are that the film is complete, the specifications of a single project are not less than 12 episodes, and each episode is not less than 30 minutes (excluding the beginning and end of the film); the plot is complete and coherent, and the unrelated stories of each episode cannot be combined and released.

It is a self-revolution, and it is also a "urgent" move

The sub-accounting model generally adopts "effective paid playback" as the standard for sub-accounting. The number of paid views by a paying user exceeding the duration of the trial is the primary principle of the producer and the platform.

In the mode of sub-accounting, as a supplement to copyright content, for a long time it was regarded as a solution for video platforms to "winter". Referring to the cinema accounting model, the accounting model on the basis of the paid members of the video platform represents a new trend.

According to the data provided by Youku Open Platform to the Titanium Media APP, in 2021, the number of project filings in the online film market will decline, but the success rate of startup will increase to 19%, and content production will be more calm. The overall number of online launches of the three major platforms dropped by 30%, and the platform's control over content quality was more stringent.

In the view of Yang Xianghua, president of iQIYI's Film and Overseas Business Group, the stereotype of online movies will make film practitioners lack interest in online movie projects. The "law of the first six minutes" is completely invalid, and creators must abandon all speculation, effectively improve the quality of the film, from the 1st minute to the last 1 minute, and reduce the audience's "abandonment rate", which is the key to the success or failure of future online movies.

During the test period, the platform will arrange manual recommendation resources according to the performance of the work.

Tencent Video said that it will further standardize and rationalize the cost of content production factors such as self-made, customized and copyrighted by the platform, and ensure that the cost is controllable through effective and landing measures, suppress the unreasonable inflated prices on the production chain, and squeeze out the bubble.

Around the streaming media platform ledger model, the industry has formed a small ecosystem of content production. Every adjustment of the accounting policy is related to the production and operation of many content production companies and the chai rice oil and salt of the families behind them.

Song Jia told the Titanium Media APP that when the official rules were adjusted, many producers expressed their belief in the changes made by iQiyi, because the platform changed the rules, must be to make the industry better and better, although in the short term, there may be some difficulties, or the process of turning the bow, but as long as someone can do it, there will be hope.

But there are also producers who are worried about this. A producer who asked for anonymity told the Titanium Media APP that after the new rules were announced, there was some panic in his heart, because it meant that the previous creative logic had to be reshaped. Once you enter the time-based payment, the completion and viewability of the entire film must change, and accordingly, the production cost is increased compared with the past.

However, he also believes that if the platform has no money, then "living" is the only hard truth, and the quality of the entire industry's works really needs to go further.

In the multi-channel, all-media content competition environment, users' requirements for online entertainment content quality have been greatly improved, and the current speed of content quality upgrading of streaming media platforms still needs to catch up with the increasingly upgraded viewing requirements of audiences.

In addition to changing the creative environment, under the current environment, the platform also urgently needs to change the previous operating model, further control the cost of content, and achieve real cost reduction and efficiency increase.

When the capital market can no longer continue to live for the huge streaming media industry, in addition to internal self-innovation, the fluctuations involving the entire entertainment industry chain may have just begun, and the current long video platform collective adjustment account sharing model is one of the representatives.

(This article was first published on titanium media APP, author | Li Chengcheng)