Text/Wang Xinxi
With a population of more than 300 million in the United States, more than 40 million TVs were sold last year, a figure that sparked widespread heated discussions. Because our population is 4 times that of others, but in the whole year of 2023, the shipment of brand complete sets in the Chinese TV market will be 36.56 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.4% from 2022.
The mainland's TV start-up rate has dropped from 70% to less than 30% in 2022. Today's start-up rate continues to decline, China's population of 1.4 billion, the United States has a population of more than 300 million, why is China's TV sales still lower than the United States?
With 40 million TV sales in the United States a year, what is the inspiration for China's TV industry?
Remove the TV without boot ads,After turning on, you can go directly to the TV program you want to watch
The first is the difference in the experience of TV point of view. Americans' TVs are turned on without ads, and they can go directly to the TV programs they want to watch after they turn them on, while Chinese TVs can't do it.
Domestic start-up advertisements were once criticized, many programs have to be charged, and the operation interface is cumbersome and cannot directly reach TV programs.
And advertising to the extent of intolerability,Judging from last year's statistical data,At present, nearly 90% of smart TVs in China have boot ads,Less than 30 seconds of boot ads account for as high as 16.14%!Ads with a duration of more than 1 minute account for as high as 18.17%!
Some time ago, more than 2,000 seconds of TV boot advertisements for a user in Zhengzhou, Henan Province were exposed at the city scene, refreshing people's cognition. In today's mobile phone, where all kinds of content are extremely rich, how many people can tolerate letting consumers turn on the TV to watch ultra-long advertisements?
The anti-user experience model of boot advertising is not allowed in many overseas countries,Even many domestic TV manufacturers sell TVs to overseas markets without ads。
Re-examine the rationality of the boot advertising model, abandon the unreasonable business model, and put user experience first
There are very few boot ads overseas,This is because most of the models use Google's native TV system,Google's native TV system is not boot ads。 And because of the domestic environment, various magic changes to the operating system, built-in advertising has become a business model.
How are overseas advertisements displayed, for example, the advertisements of Samsung overseas TV will be packaged in the form of content columns, and the advertisements of Google TV for Apple's iPhone are directly displayed on the background picture. However, these advertisements will not affect the user's control and use of the TV, and there is no situation where the user can only stare at the video ad and sigh helplessly. Therefore, for the domestic TV industry, it is necessary to re-examine the rationality of this model, take the initiative to give up the unreasonable business model, put the user experience first, and exchange for a higher TV start-up rate.
Ensure a membership model in which members cover all rights and interests and lose layers of nesting dolls
The continuous decline in the boot rate of domestic TV is related to the domestic TV nesting doll membership model, which once aroused heated discussions among consumers. In the United States, paying for streaming content has become popular, but it has now been clearly classified, and premium members have no ads at all, and the picture quality is the best, even if you are not a member, there is no situation where you open the software and push ads to you.
But in China, although the Chinese people have developed the habit of paying for content, on the one hand, it is expensive, but on the other hand, it is a matryoshka consumption. Before watching a TV and opening a channel, you have to watch ads first, and if you want to eliminate ads, you have to open members, and then go to various video platforms to see content, and various platforms have to open new VIP members, including VIP, SYIP and different membership levels, and then there are different movie members and TV series members in the video platform, and children's cartoons watched by children are also various members...... You have to charge to even watch the live broadcast of some satellite TV, and you can't watch any of them without members.
Especially now, in order to make profits, video platforms make a lot of content into exclusive broadcasts, and if you want to watch TV well, you have to open a variety of different members, this layer-by-layer nesting doll model directly makes many consumers turn off the TV and choose mobile phones, tablets to watch.
Overseas streaming video business is paid on a monthly basis, after payment, to ensure that the programs covered by the membership can be watched without ads during the payment period, there is no domestic matryoshka membership model, buy a member, there is a film and television content that needs to be paid separately, to ensure that a member covers all rights and interests, and the membership model of losing layers of nesting dolls is the key to re-striving for the return of users.
The difference in the design of the remote control, the design is simple, clear at a glance, and the domestic should be learned
Remote control is actually a big problem. Because the elderly are the main force of domestic TV audiences.
Judging from the design of the American remote control, the design is concise and the keys are clear. It can access streaming platforms such as Youtube or Netflix to watch shows and TV movies with one click through the remote control, which is simple and straightforward.
However, the design of the domestic remote control is cumbersome,The elderly will not use it,Adults want to study,China State Grid issued a "2022 Research Report on Aging TVs in the Domestic Market", revealing the truth that many elderly people will not use "smart TV" at the moment:
"There are many devices (set-top boxes, TVs, remote controls), I don't know how to switch with each other", "The operation is complicated, I don't know how to find the content I want to see", "There are too many remote controls, I don't know how to use them", "I can't find anyone to help when I encounter problems" is the most painful point of use that users complain about, I really don't understand why a remote control is so complicated?
In fact, the remote control mode abroad can be used for reference. For example, use Chinese buttons to design specific columns, such as free movies, TV programs, paid movies and other columns can be set by buttons, so that the elderly can directly press the specific key to enter the specific column, and consumers can enter the streaming media platform with one click to watch their favorite content. The concise and clear remote control buttons and operation design will effectively drive the increase in the boot rate of the elderly.
Pay attention to the quality of TV content, respect the IQ of users, and let TV content cover more male consumers
In addition, because the content of TV stations and streaming platforms in the United States is relatively high-quality, the content logic of its TV drama production is for all audiences, and the content production respects the audience's IQ, but in China, TV drama works are mainly for women, and excessive beauty, excessive big-name clothing and makeup are too detached from reality, superficial, and CP-focused workplace romance dramas.
In recent years, many people in the industry have lamented that in domestic TV dramas, there are basically no poor people anymore.
There has been a lack of male-oriented programs in domestic TV dramas in recent years, and the popularity of "Hurricane" last year also confirmed the scarcity of male-oriented content and the fact that there will definitely be a market for high-quality content. At present, the declining TV audience is also related to the decline in the quality of TV content, and the overall over-female TV content production logic has led to the loss of a large number of male viewers. This enlightens domestic TV content producers,Need to fully consider the consumption needs of male TV viewers,The huge demand of this group cannot be completely abandoned,To fully respect the IQ of consumers,High-quality TV content is the top priority to ensure user stickiness。
To put it simply,American TV viewers can basically watch TV through the mode of turning on the phone,Good viewing experience,No need to endure lengthy advertisements,No need to endure cumbersome remote control operation experience,There is no trouble with layers of nesting doll charges,Due to the rich content of the content streaming platform in the United States,And the quality is relatively high,The logic of its TV drama content is for the whole consumer,Respect for the audience's IQ,All the above factors,This promotes the high sales of American TV。
Nowadays, many young people have replaced TV with projectors and other equipment, today's TV is turned on, and they can't find good-looking programs after paying the fee! There are more and more routines, TV sets have become advertising machines, and the old people who are willing to watch TV will not use the remote control, and after paying the fee, there is still a set in the back, the key is, the content is not good, and watching TV with the purpose of leisure has become torture.
TV manufacturers should reflect on and change,Behind the sales of TV in the United States is to abandon these unreasonable business models,This enlightens domestic manufacturers need to make targeted adjustments from the boot advertising model、Membership mode、Remote control button design、TV content quality coverage, etc.,Only by conforming to consumer demand,Cut off the anachronistic business model,TV manufacturers have the possibility of turning around。
Author: Wang Xinxi, Senior Reviewer of TMT This article is not reproduced without permission