Mango TV has been valued at 13.5 billion yuan in three years and still needs to work hard to become a first-line video website

Mango TV may need a more open equity structure, management structure, and more talents with Internet background. However, the talent, capital, and competitive atmosphere of the Internet are not in Changsha. To become a real Internet company, Mango TV may have to start by moving out of Changsha.

Original title: Mango TV wants to become a real video website, how far away is it?

"Will others dig a tomb for us, or will we dig it for ourselves? It would be better if we dug the hole ourselves!"

Two years ago, Hunan Satellite TV revised and integrated its two major platforms, Golden Eagle and Mango TV, and launched the "Mango TV" online video platform. Zhang Yong, then general manager of Mango Media, said that Hunan Satellite TV was digging a hole for himself.

This was a self-rescue attempt by Hunan Satellite TV when it faced the impact of the Internet.

More and more young viewers have become users of video platforms such as LeTV, Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku. Even if they have not completely abandoned TV, they will not focus on the TV screen. They will basically have their mobile phones or iPads in their hands at the same time. Hunan Satellite TV, which has always had an advantage in gathering young viewers, may feel more about this change.

This so-called self-help seems to have been recognized by capital at least for now. On June 23, Mango TV announced the completion of Series B financing, with a financing amount of nearly 1.5 billion yuan and a post-investment valuation of 13.5 billion yuan. Compared with the post-investment valuation of 7 billion yuan in June last year, Mango TV's valuation has almost doubled in this round.

To a certain extent, Mango TV is basically regarded as the future of Hunan Satellite TV. Lu Huanbin, director of Hunan Radio and Television, once said that he hoped Mango TV could reach the level of a first-line video website within two to three years. So how far is Mango TV from this level now?

Mango TV's valuation is not low, but the gap with other video websites is not small

. After the new round of financing, Mango TV has a good value, but the valuation of 13.5 billion yuan is still quite good compared with other video platforms. The gap is still 5 billion yuan short of the closest iQiyi.

In terms of active users, it can better reflect the disparity with front-line video websites

. Data as of March this year shows that the monthly active users of Mango TV mobile terminal are at the level of tens of millions, while the monthly active users of iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video are all over 100 million. Although Mango TV has maintained rapid growth, with monthly active users increasing by 100% year-on-year, and has recently surpassed Sohu Video to maintain a lead in the second tier, there is still a long way to go before the first tier.

Behind the front-line video website stands BAT. The big Boss of Mango TV is still Hunan Radio

and Television. Mango TV only released 11% of its equity after this financing. In addition to the original shareholders, the new shareholders include Shenzhen Everbright New Entertainment Industry Fund, Guangzhou Yuexiu Lichuang No. 3 Industrial Investment, Mango Cultural and Creative Investment Fund, Jiantou Chinese Media Investment Company, Shanghai Junyong Investment, and Beijing CNNC Dingyuan. In addition, Series A shareholders Hunan Cultural Tourism Investment Fund and Xiamen Construction and Development Emerging Industry Investment Company also participated in the capital increase. The previously rumored Alibaba Group did not participate in the investment. It can be said that this time the investors will still not have any impact on Hunan Radio and Television's control. Hunan Radio and Television still controls 82.48% of the equity, accounting for the absolute majority.

But this is not necessarily a good thing. This means that Mango TV is still "within the system", and we all understand the constraints and constraints of these three words on innovation.

Other mainstream video websites are backed by Internet giants. Today, the three video websites in the first echelon belong to the three BAT companies. They not only have rich Internet heritage, but they are also capital giants themselves. Regardless of channels or funds, they can provide greater support to their own video websites. Jia Yueting, who is good at capital operations, has always held control of LeTV. After financing and listing, he still holds 36.79% of the shares and is the largest shareholder of LeTV.

Mango TV's executive background also makes it difficult for it to become a part of the competition in the Internet market.

Almost all of Mango TV's executives are from Hunan Satellite TV, leaving limited promotion space for newcomers. This is related to Hunan Radio and Television's need to firmly hold control of Mango TV in its hands.

This has led to more talent flowing to Internet companies. Xie Dikui, who led the hit variety show "Where Are We Going, Dad", left Hunan Satellite TV in December last year. After that, he cooperated with Tencent Video and created a self-made online variety show "Meet the Big Star".

Xie Dikui's resignation was not an isolated case. Not long after, Liao Ke, director of "Flowers and Teenagers", officially announced his resignation. Even the host Wang Han, rumors of his resignation emerged. In fact, since the end of 2015, there has been a wave of departures from all major TV stations.

Cen Junyi, former director-general of Zhejiang Satellite TV's "Running Brothers", Yi Hua, former director-general of Shenzhen Satellite TV's "Fast Forward", Yuan Chunjie, former deputy director and advertising director of Oriental TV's operation center, Zhao Jun, former deputy director of Jiangsu Satellite TV Channel, and Wang Pingping, former deputy director of Hunan Radio and Television, either established his own content studio or joined video websites, bringing the content production experience accumulated by previous TV media to the competition in the Internet video market.

Mango TV's content advantages are being caught up by video websites.

In June 2015, when Mango TV completed a Series A financing of RMB 7 billion, Happy Sunshine Chairman Nie Mei said that "4 billion is recognition of Internet TV." In other words, it is the advantages accumulated by Hunan Satellite TV in content production.

Hunan Satellite TV has relied on variety shows such as "Happy Camp","Super Girl","Daily Up" and a number of youth solo theaters to win young audiences. Therefore, Hunan Satellite TV is considered to be the most innovative and entertaining among TV channels.

Hunan Satellite TV's viewers are relatively young, and these viewers also happen to be heavy Internet users. Therefore, Mango TV used the fan base that Hunan Satellite TV has gathered to gather the first batch of core users for itself.

According to Zhang Ruobo, CEO of Mango TV at the time, after the two separate broadcasts of "Flowers and Teenagers", the traffic on Mango TV website has increased dozens of times,"with more than 3 million daily active users", compared with large-scale video websites,"We are at least on an order of magnitude." As of July 2014, Mango TV had more than 10 million PC users, more than 3 million Internet TV users, more than 10 million mobile TV users, and 1.5 million IPTV users, and had entered the second tier of video websites.

But this content advantage is being overtaken by video websites.

In early May this year, Tencent's Video Variety Department announced the establishment of the "Hi Fund", investing 1 billion yuan in funds every year to cooperate with eight production teams, including Ma Dong's team, to incubate high-quality variety projects.

The average number of views per issue of "Qi Qi Shuo" produced by Ma Dong Studio is close to 20 million. Although this is not a very high number, the discussions caused by "Qi Qi Shuo" on Weibo and Zhihu social networking sites are not inferior to any variety show.

The provincial satellite TV ratings ranking for the first quarter released by CSM52 City shows that Hunan Satellite TV's ratings dropped by 34.2% year-on-year, falling from the number one ratings to third place. The ability of established entertainment programs to attract attention has weakened, while Hunan Satellite TV's newly developed "Everyone Accelerating" and "Wonderful Friends" have performed flat, making it difficult for Hunan Satellite TV to maintain its position as the "No. 1 Variety Brother".

This has also weakened Mango TV's exclusive broadcast advantage at the same

time. When Mango TV was launched, Hunan Satellite TV announced that "'Mango TV 'will broadcast Hunan Satellite TV's recently popular and upcoming programs such as "Singing War","Flowers and the Teenagers","Deformation Gauge Season 8" and other programs exclusively on the entire network to strengthen its exclusive advantages and establish its own rules." These programs are all provided to Mango TV for free. Based on the price at the time, the investment in copyright alone is at least 400 million to 500 million yuan per year.

When Mango TV was just starting out, the solo broadcast strategy did bring it good traffic. But when the content advantage is weakened, this exclusive broadcast strategy also loses its value.

Each video website also has its own unique programs. Whether it is programs obtained from purchasing copyright or homemade programs, video websites perform better than Mango TV in terms of user preferences.

In addition, solo programs have also become a tool for video websites to obtain paying users. For example, iQiyi has brought in nearly 200 million yuan in membership fee income with "Descendants of the Sun". After the popularity of "Remains of Sin", iQiyi announced in a high-profile manner that it has added 10 million paid members in the past six months. Le.com also added 2.2 million members and 41 million in revenue due to last year's hit "Promotion of the Crown Princess".

Although it is aware of the existence of the problem, Mango TV still seems to be unable to escape its dependence on the Hunan Satellite TV system.

Mango TV also realizes the problems that may arise from relying entirely on the Hunan Satellite TV system. Since 2016, Mango TV's homemade content has become the focus of their promotion.

At Mango TV's summer and autumn new product launch conference, Mango TV CEO Ding Cheng said: "All Hunan TV series and variety shows account for 38% of Mango TV, and the rest of the programs are mainly homemade dramas and homemade variety shows." Mango TV is transforming from a distribution channel to a platform for homemade content.

In their planning, self-made content includes two aspects: one is Internet transformation based on classic IP (difficult, but there is a lot of space); the other is pure originality (online dramas, programs, online movies, etc.).

But it still cannot get rid of its dependence on Hunan Satellite TV system. For example,"2016 Super Girl" is considered to be a blockbuster program on Mango TV and is only broadcast on the Internet. However, it is still dominated by Hunan Radio and Television, the sponsor is still Mengniu, the producer is still Tianyi, and the competition system is still global auditions, with elimination layer by layer.

The only difference is that "Super Girl" has introduced a reality show, and the program team will comprehensively present the birth process of "idols" in the form of a 24-hour, 360-degree live reality show.

However, this IP belonging to Hunan Satellite TV 10 years ago did not form a strong market appeal. As of now, although the number of views of "2016 Super Girl" finals has exceeded 20 million, it has not become a phenomenal variety show as it did back then, and the topic formed is far less popular than it was 10 years ago.

But Mango TV Liu Chenliang has another explanation for this: "Today's idols are focused. Unlike the original ones, we call them 'private idols'. We no longer say who I like, who you must like. It's because I have people I like, and you have people you like."

In addition, Mango TV is also regarded as a safe haven under Hunan Satellite TV's "entertainment restriction order".

Mango TV is indeed regarded by Hunan Satellite TV as an important layout on the Internet, but at the same time, it is also regarded as a safe haven for Hunan Satellite TV's many content. In recent years, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has successively issued "entertainment restriction orders", restricting broadcast time, broadcast format and subject matter content.

As a result, a number of TV variety shows were transferred to online platforms for broadcast. In April this year, the Radio and Television Corporation officially issued a notice restricting the broadcast of parent-child variety shows. As a result,"Where Are You Going, Dad" could not continue to be broadcast on TV. The originally planned "Mom is Superman" was also affected, so it was transferred to Mango TV. Broadcast on it became a hit content on the platform, effectively avoiding the loss of stopping the program.

But this may hide the risk that Mango TV will later assume the responsibility of defusing the risks for Hunan Satellite TV. Especially when the program itself is not that good, this kind of pulling may also make it difficult for Mango TV to become a real front-line video platform.

The gap in advertising revenue can more directly explain the problem.

The development path of American video platform Hulu may provide some reference for Mango TV

. Compared with Netflix, Hulu is more like a product of self-innovation by the TV network. It has investments from traditional companies such as Universal and Disney, and can give priority to the content resources of major companies. For a long time, it, like Mango TV, has enjoyed the dividends of excellent content from the TV network.

But Netflix, a challenger to traditional TV networks, came from behind. It has rapidly grown from an Internet rental website to a giant in the film and television industry, but its main income still comes from selling things, but now this thing has become excellent homemade content.

Although the two companies now overlap more and more in their businesses. Netflix spent a lot of money to buy priority rights to Disney movies, and Hulu's homemade series was nominated for the Golden Globe Award.

But Netflix, which had no traditional TV baggage to begin with, now far exceeds Hulu in terms of revenue and membership.

Mango TV has been prepared from the beginning to be unprofitable for three years and even lose nearly 1 billion yuan. The strategy of self-production, solo broadcasting and even live broadcasting can also be said to be in line with market trends. Including the rhythmic release of financing plans and investment news, they all seem to be prepared.

Its goal is also clear-no longer an online version of Hunan Satellite TV, but to become a real Internet company.

But if you look at Mango TV's comments on the AppStore, the most praised Mango TV's content. For most users, Mango TV is still just an online version of Hunan Satellite TV.

To become a real Internet company, Mango TV may have to start by moving out of Changsha.

Editor: Nancy