Disney, Netflix sued, and Renren Video is still relying on pirated resources to "survive"

Text/Chen Yan

Edit/Gale

The video of everyone who has not appeared in everyone's sight for a long time has become a big event again.

Recently, Shanghai Duomei Network Technology Co., Ltd., the main company affiliated with Renren Video, added a number of court opening announcements, the cause of which involved "copyright ownership, infringement disputes, infringement of the right of information network dissemination of works", in short, all related to copyright issues.

The plaintiffs' lineup is even more amazing, including Universal Content Productions, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Films, Netflix Global Entertainment, Disney Enterprises and many other overseas film and television companies.

It is rare for a small video platform to offend so many global film and television company "big guys" at the same time.

For overseas film and television lovers, Renren Video is certainly not an unfamiliar name. It used to be a well-known film and television website in China, providing video sharing and downloading services, and at its peak, Renren Video had a cumulative number of 160 million users, with an average monthly active user of more than 40 million.

However, Renren Video, who makes a living by transporting overseas films, has been in a gray area, and its business model has been controversial and full of twists and turns. Copyright disputes have almost run through the development history of Renren Video, and the last time it received a lot of attention was in the 2021 "Renren Film and Television Subtitling Group" infringement case, when Liang Yongping, the founder of Renren Film and Television Subtitling Group, was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison and fined 1.5 million yuan.

Unexpectedly, three years later, Renren Video, who thought it was "reborn", came to the front of the stage because of the infringement scandal and accepted the storm of public opinion and overseas film and television giants.

Tear down the house, run away, change the vest

If it weren't for this collective siege by overseas film and television companies, many people would not know that Renren Video was still "alive". Outsiders probably have a question mark on this: Isn't everyone's video long gone?

Yes, not entirely. The "Renren Video" standing in the dock this time is related to the "Renren Subtitle Group" in many people's youth memories, but it is not the same company. And on February 1, 2022, Renren Video released a "brand upgrade announcement", announcing that it officially changed its name to "Duoduo Video". Strictly speaking, video for everyone really doesn't exist these days.

Toto video opening page

The predecessor of Renren Video was a sharing forum founded by a Chinese Canadian student, called YYeTs Subtitle Group, which is specially used to produce subtitles for overseas film and television dramas, attracting many international students and domestic and overseas drama lovers to come to "power for love" and translate for free. After gradually growing, the YYeTs subtitle group officially changed its name to Renren Film and Television.

Due to the delay in solving the copyright issue, as early as 2014, Renren Film and Television was investigated by the Motion Picture Association of America, and was seized by the domestic radio and television law enforcement department to block 5 servers, and cleaned up all copyright-free content. When the turmoil passed, it was relaunched in the name of "Renren American Drama", and also accepted third-party team investment and joint operation. Immediately afterwards, Renren American drama was renamed "Renren Video" again.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, at the end of 2016, Renren Film and Television left Renren Video and voluntarily gave up all its shares, giving the reason that "there are big differences and contradictions with investors in terms of concepts and values". At this point, Renren Film and Television and Renren Video publicly tore their faces and announced a knife and two cuts.

After "tearing down the house", Renren Film and Television has experienced another internal division: one is responsible for translating and producing subtitles, and the other is responsible for the operation of websites and apps. Some members of the subtitle team were not satisfied with the commercial operation of the management of Renren Film and Television, and left again to continue translating under the name of "Renren Film and Television YYeTs Subtitle Group". The operation team provides pirated videos and other "riotous operations" that violate the bottom line of the law. What stood in the dock in 2021 and caused an uproar was the operation team of Renren Film and Television.

On the other hand, the video of everyone trying to become a "regular army" successfully escaped. Up to now, Renren Video has obtained a total of 8 rounds of financing, including many well-known companies such as Xiaomi Group, Kuaishou Zhan Investment, and Baidu Video. On January 26, 2021, Renren Video hitched a ride with Chongqing Radio and Television Group, and the two parties reached a strategic cooperation, and the first product landed was the "Tomato Movie" App that provides genuine film and television resources. At that time, a person familiar with the matter said that the two sides will carry out more dimensional project cooperation.

Later, Renren Video was beautifully replaced with a new vest of "Duoduo Video". Later, it was sued by a group of international bigwigs.

The regular army is not good

It's true that everyone wants to be a regular army, but the "old disease" that relies on pirated resources is not so easy to treat. Until now, Renren Video's own APP is still rampant with pirated resources, and even these pirated resources are to "steal" other folk subtitle groups to "generate electricity for love" suppressed videos. It can be described as piracy within piracy.

Screenshots of many videos

The crux of the matter is that Renren Video has not been able to explore a successful business model.

In the first two years, Renren Video learned "iYouteng" and launched a membership payment model, trying to transform into a "advertising + membership" business model. At present, the renamed "Duoduo Video" VIP membership service monthly pass is 25 yuan, the season pass is 50 yuan, and the annual pass is 148 yuan, and VIP benefits include free part of advertising, unlocking original art, cache acceleration, exclusive dramas, etc.

Toto video VIP service

In comparison, at present, the VIP membership service ordinary monthly card of "iYouteng" is about 30 yuan, the continuous monthly subscription is about 25 yuan, and the continuous annual subscription is about 240 yuan. In attracting members, Renren Video has a certain price advantage, but compared with the huge genuine resource library of "Aiyuteng", the services provided by Renren Video can only be said to be indescribable.

Renren Video has indeed introduced a number of genuine overseas film and television dramas, such as "Black Sails" and "Friends in the Ancient House", which are exclusively for member users to watch. However, high copyright fees make genuine resources scarce, and if you want to retain users, "moving" pirated resources is still the best solution for the development of everyone's video, so "being complained - rectified and removed - and then secretly put on the shelf" has almost become an endless cycle.

Screenshots of many videos

In order to avoid legal risks in copyright, Renren Video has also taken a series of actions. For example, the function of user upload is set in the software, and the user agreement stipulates that if the user-uploaded work is suspected of infringement, all legal responsibilities shall be borne by the user. In other words, assuming that all pirated overseas dramas are uploaded spontaneously by users, then Renren Video, as the platform party, does not need to bear infringement liability and can cooperate with the removal treatment.

As for whether there are really so many enthusiastic users who help "transport" pirated resources to the Renren Video App, they all understand.

But doing so is undoubtedly to quench thirst, and as regulations become stricter and copyright awareness in the Internet industry gradually strengthens, it is only a matter of time before everyone's videos are attacked by groups. Previously, domestic platforms such as ByteDance, Migu, and iQiyi have all fought lawsuits with Renren Video, and this time it is expected to encounter a collective crusade by well-known foreign film and television companies.

Everyone's video seems to have reached a dead end in commercialization, and the copyright issue is the sword of Damocles hanging over its head.

Still looking for a way out

From difficult transitions to negative ones, the days of everyone's video have not been good these years. Lack of funds, resources, and time, how much video options are left for everyone?

The most direct way is to learn "iYouteng", become a genuine video resource platform, and use high-quality content for commercial exploration, such as membership fees, advertising, paid on-demand, advanced on-demand, etc., and gradually form self-hematopoietic ability.

But the process is quite difficult, not to mention whether Renren Video has the strength to produce or buy enough film and television resources to compete with other long-form video platforms. From the perspective of the entire business closed loop, the head players of "Aiyuteng" are still deep in the abyss of loss of "content monetization", and Renren Video is now entering the game, I am afraid that even the cake dregs will not be divided.

A relatively better choice is to gradually transform Renren Video into a UGC content community by incubating Internet celebrities, expand the new media matrix, and monetize by MCN business.

The management of Renren Video also thinks so, earlier at the "Renren Video" brand strategy conference and overseas content summit, the company's legal representative Zhou Weimin said, "We never call ourselves a platform, because all users come here based on hobbies, and the content we have here is basically generated by users independently." ”

Sky eye check screenshot

In other words, Renren Video does not want to be "Aiyuteng", but wants to become the Chinese version of YouTube. Renren Video also hopes to cooperate in-depth with foreign MCN institutions, drive the incubation of Internet celebrity bases through platform resources, and drive the agglomeration of upstream and downstream industry chains.

The commercialization ambition is not small, but after a few years, the MCN business has not improved, but the piracy scandal has once again "helped" everyone's video to return to the public eye.

In any case, the "congenital malformation" video urgently needs to be transformed and explore a new commercialization model, otherwise, the story of the past ten years will come to an end.