Recently, iQiyi's hot search list is like going home.
A few days ago, CEO Gong Yu admitted in an interview that there were mistakes in the decision to limit screen casting.
However, according to iQiyi's practice of "when you admit one mistake, you must commit a second", sure enough, I turned around and applied for a new patent - bullet screen advertising!
At the same time, some netizens found that their February membership can only use 28 days, 4 days less than other platforms.
Good guy, worthy of your iQiyi, the "masterpiece" of the long video industry.
"Squeeze the user", it is serious
Recently, iQiyi can be described as a storm.
In late January, some netizens broke the news that the TV projection definition of its golden VIP was limited to 480P, and the previous definition could reach 4K.
Soon, iQiyi was sued in court by a 7-year-old user, and was publicly named by the Shanghai Municipal Consumer Protection Commission as "unkind".
A few days ago, CEO Gong Yu responded to this matter in an interview, admitting that he had made a mistake, saying: At the beginning, the membership plan was not clear.
Just after that, some users complained online that their February membership period was only 28 days.
In this regard, the official explanation is "taking the natural month as the statistical unit". This makes sense, but the problem is that if membership is opened on January 31, it expires on February 28; If membership opens on February 28, it ends on March 28.
Double standard, it is too obvious.
For other platforms, membership is subject to February 28, and the statute of limitations for Tencent, Youku and Mango is 31 days; Station B has a maximum gas of 32 days; Only LeEco, which owes "12.2 billion in debt", is the same as iQiyi, only 28 days.
A little contrast, a high judgment.
Before this matter subsided, iQiyi became a moth again.
Tianyan inspection shows that on February 28, it disclosed a new patent information, titled "a video barrage advertising method, device, equipment and storage medium".
At present, iQIYI has pre-roll ads, interstitial small theaters, in-play implantation, pause ads, buffer ads, pop-up ads... Now it's about the audience's favorite barrage.
This is to push the advertisement in front of every user in an all-round and endless way, and it is better to suffer endless complaints than to let go of a "leek".
Not surprisingly, netizens directly calculated "new hatred and old hatred" together, and scolded iQiyi on the hot search.
Why do members spend money to suffer?
Of course, it is not the iQiyi family that secretly rubs the tricks, and there are many small actions of Youku and Tencent Video.
Previously, Tencent was complained by users due to restrictions on login and other issues, saying: "You need to open a higher-priced SVIP before you can unblock it." ”
Last year, Youku restricted the APP projection function of the popular drama "Agarwood Crumbs", which can only be watched for 6 minutes, and you need to upgrade the cool meow VIP to watch the whole film. The continuous monthly price of Kumeow VIP is 10 yuan more expensive than Youku VIP.
Therefore, netizens complained about the "Royal Three Families".
Of course, in response to a succession of user complaints, long-form video platforms also have their own statements.
For example, the user regulations of iQIYI Gold VIP clearly stipulate that its terminal does not include TVs, and does not completely restrict the screen projection function of Gold VIP.
For example, Youku has responded that the relevant arrangements for screen projection are only aimed at cracking down on gray industry chaos such as account leasing.
But even then, user experience shouldn't come at a price. Everyone is a paying user, why spend money to be angry with you?
The platform is also helpless?
You know, in the revenue structure of long video platforms, membership and advertising are the majority.
Taking iQiyi's just-released financial report as an example, membership fees accounted for 61% of the revenue in 2022, and advertising ranked second, accounting for 18%.
Today, the market for domestic online video is so large, and user growth has peaked. In the case that the advertising business has been affected by the epidemic and the economic environment, and has fallen again and again, platforms want to turn losses into profits, and naturally can only make a fuss about membership fees.
After all, consumers have consumer reason, and platforms have their own way of survival.
At present, the Internet demographic dividend has entered a period of flattening, and all platforms have taken cost reduction and efficiency improvement as their first priority.
However, the cost reduction was significant: significantly reduced marketing budgets, a large number of layoffs in non-core businesses, and disruptive layoffs; In terms of efficiency, it has been slow to find an effective method.
The advertising business is sluggish, and video platforms have to consider the value of harvesting existing users, which is understandable from a commercial point of view.
But then again, one of the biggest reasons people were willing to pay for the platform in the first place was to skip ads.
Now, not only is the money more spent, but the ads can't be skipped, and you can't log in to the VIP account you bought with real money on your mobile phone, iPad, desktop computer, and laptop at the same time.
Such a consumption of user experience, it is too late for the platform to regret it later.
At the moment, it is clear that each company has realized the importance of users' perception of the platform, and creating a good public relationship is beneficial to themselves.
After all, the majority of users are the real food and clothing parents of Youaiteng.