Letv Film executives interpret 2016 Strategy: globalization and Ecological content

when "Internet +" has become a national strategy, Internet enterprises have entered the film and television industry on a large scale. Letv Film has gone through the continuous deepening of the Internet business model, from the original concept of "Internet generation" to the formation of the concept of "ecological +". Letv Film's new action is always full of Internet genes, waiting for the world to spy on the wind direction of industrial change.

at the end of 2015, Letv announced that it had officially launched the injection project of Letv Film Industry, by issuing shares to purchase assets and raising supporting funds to buy shares in Letv Film Industry. At the same time, Letv Pictures also held a press conference with the theme of "you have to be convinced", which played the banner of "service" of Internet enterprises, and announced that it would launch 40 big movies and more than 30 online dramas in 2016.

when "Internet +" has become a national strategy, and Internet enterprises have entered the film and television industry on a large scale, Letv Film has now raised its strategic layout to "ecological networking" after the continuous deepening of its Internet business model. The global blockbuster thinking of "the Great Wall", the development plan of popular IP, and the 1.8 billion paid income of 12 million members, from the original concept of "Internet generation" to the formation of the concept of "ecological plus", Letv Film's new action is always full of Internet genes, waiting for the world to spy on the wind direction of industrial change.

strong > Globalization ≠ internationalization: a $150 million investment inside and outside the Great Wall / strong >

directed by Zhang Yimou and Matt Damon mixed with Andy Lau, Jing Tian and Wang Junkai, Letv called it "the biggest gamble in Chinese film history" when introducing the Great Wall, a Sino-American film project. Since it is a big bet, the risk is inevitable, especially the story framework of Chinese and foreign superstars playing monsters on the Great Wall is enough to subvert the imagination of the Chinese people.

the explanation given by Zhang Zhao, CEO of Letv Pictures, is: the Great Wall has been a global product since its birth, the Great Wall is a world-famous Chinese label, Hollywood is a film power recognized by global audiences, and monsters appear because people all over the world love to watch them.

"the first of the two major tasks of the Letv system in 2016 is opening up, and the second is globalization, not internationalization." For Zhang Yimou's Great Wall, Zhang Zhao's new proposition is: what else can Chinese filmmakers do around the world? "China has been talking about internationalization for many years, and going abroad at home is about going out. Globalization is a brand-new creation for the global market, from the perspective of GLOBAL, not from LOCAL, which is the difference between internationalization and globalization. "

according to Zhang Zhao, the global layout includes "content layout", "terminal layout" and "cloud service layout". The content layout includes all kinds of co-production projects, and the terminal layout includes overseas sales of televisions, mobile phones and other products. In addition, Letv Cloud also has 660 CDN nodes in 33 countries, which can ensure that content can be transmitted to various countries anytime and anywhere. "as a global enterprise, for us, I don't care who I am, I only care about what kind of services I can provide to users in a certain place." Zhang Zhao said.

in addition to "the Great Wall", Letv Pictures' Global plan also includes "eight Immortals to fall Demons", "Seven Star Jihad", "Ancient and Modern Heroes and Alien", "Snow Beast", "Day by Day", "King of Kings", "Peony Pavilion" and so on.

strong > do not participate in the dispute of big-name IP, make use of the advantage to compete for IP / strong >

2015, the popularity of IP continues to extend, and the novels sung by the world have become a major focus of the major employers' scramble for buyout. Compared with the popular "Dragon searching Formula" at the end of the year, Lu Chuan's version of "Nine-story Monster Tower" on National Day is not a success at the box office or word of mouth. Not long ago, the world overlord also took Lu Chuan and China Film shares to court on the grounds of "protecting the right to the integrity of the work."

Letv Pictures is the publisher of the Nine-story Monster Tower. Zhang Zhao's view of the entanglement of the big IP brand is: "We basically don't participate in that game and don't participate in disputes." Nine-story Monster Tower is the first monster film in China. The purpose of making this film is to make a big improvement in the production technology of Chinese films. "

Zhang Zhao, who has always had a literati tone, also lamented: "Film is a very complex industry, which is related to the interests of many people, and we all participate in this industry together, but we want to make it simple. Don't get involved in right and wrong."

"Tsui Hark pursues technology, so we cooperate in Silicon Valley; Zhang Yimou pursues globalization and artistry; Guo Jingming pursues precision; Lu Chuan pursues romantic feelings." Speaking of the many movie celebrities Letv has held hands with in the past, Zhang Zhao also uses Internet thinking to position them one by one. He said: no matter how great creators are concerned about audience feedback, and the Internet provides the source of these feedback, this may also be Letv's more prominent competitiveness in the battle for IP.

in the new plan, the IP that Letv competes for is still eye-catching. The super IP such as "the Legend of mortals repairing Immortals", "Immortals reverse", "Psychological Crime", "Tomb robbing Notes", "Yang God" and "Princess Precious Sex" have also been taken down by Letv one by one. Whether it's movies or online dramas, users will eventually see the finished products in "one Cloud and Seven screens" promoted by Letv.

advance screening will continue to create a new membership model for ecological content

in the first three quarters of 2015, Leeco paid revenue of more than 1.8 billion, and the number of members has exceeded 12.2 million so far. Not long ago, iqiyi also announced that the number of members has exceeded 10 million, and the business of the membership model of Chinese video websites has grown rapidly.

Gao Jianming, vice president of the user Operations Center of Letv Group, believes that this is due to the improvement of consumers' awareness of the value of services. "more consumers are willing to buy services, and the era of product economy has turned to the era of service economy. On the other hand, it also has something to do with the vigorous development of the film and TV drama market this year, and people have entered a big year of cultural consumption. "

in the current popular Internet thinking, user stickiness is the future of the business model. In the face of considerable data at present, Gao Jianming still thinks that the whole industry is not yet mature. "members are service-oriented products, and people invest more money on IP and on the content of various types of dramas and movies. We bought 4K TVs many years ago, but who has seen the real 4K content? " In this regard, Gao Jianming gives what he thinks is an ideal financial model: "in the future, the industry will really mature only if your content investment is 1gam3, your experience investment is 1gambit 3, and the service can be invested into 1gam3."

in November 2015, the advance screening of the member of "the missing Killer" planned by Letv was boycotted by the cinema, and there will still be a tension between the future membership model and the window period of the traditional film. According to Li Kai, COO of Letv Pictures, Letv Pictures' cinema advance release has also begun negotiations among all parties, "We will operate in accordance with the normal mode in line with market rules." In the future, we will do advance screenings with cinemas and at the same time communicate with members in terms of their rights and interests. This is of a completely different nature from the previous "missing killer". Please do not interpret it deliberately, we have also encountered great risks before. "

in the Letv membership model in 2016, members' hall broadcasts of ecological content such as advanced cinemas, limited road acting rights, sports events and concerts are prominently listed. With mobile phones, tablets, televisions, PC, cinemas, cars, and the emerging VR virtual reality, Letv is gradually improving the ecological model of "one cloud and seven screens". "the strategy of one cloud and seven screens is to change the release window so that consumers can watch it whenever they want, wherever they want, and wherever they want. This is a gradual process." This is the imagination given by Zhang Zhao.

strong > the content side is changing, Chen Su: participating in the new product of Internet + Film and Television / strong >

Letv Film executives, including President Zhang Zhao and Vice President Chen Su, believe that "the Internet will greatly transform and touch the six links of the traditional film and television industry: research, investment, production, publicity, development, and release. Letv's logic is to do it backwards, starting from the projection side, not from the production side. Letv, as an Internet company, actually revolves around users. Letv's early ground network system and participation services in cinemas, as well as super TV and mobile phones, provide different dramas for different users. make different movies for Chinese audiences and global audiences. "

the change of the Internet to R & D, investment and production is to make it more focused and divided, and it will gain more insight into consumers' consumption behavior of content and services. Letv called it the ecological Internet, or a major revolution in the content side of the film and television industry in the era of the Internet of things.

in the marketing link, Internet ecological services also put forward new requirements for user participation. Chen Su, vice president of Letv Film, also reviewed Letv's series of innovative marketing activities. As early as when Letv was working on the Expendables project, he came up with a trick like "heavy feeling Crab": the film was released during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and as long as the family weighed more than a specified number of pounds, they could get a hairy crab. The music IP, produced by Gao Xiaosong, held a music competition, while Mr. High Heels, which will be released on Valentine's Day next year, held a "Christmas leg plucking" event, which attracted 870000 online participants.

according to Chen Su, vice president of Letv Film, the hairy crabs sent by the Expendables were actually the marketing products of Letv's e-commerce platform at that time, and the cost of the "Brother who sleeps in my upper bunk" music competition was also borne by the cooperative master Fangkang; in addition, the transformation from marketing cost to service cost will also form a certain product premium.

"content is the entrance to participation, and participation is a new product of Internet + 's film and television industry." Chen Su said that participation is not a simple marketing activity, but a new product. "Internet + 's film and television industry actually turns the consumer industry whose content is the product into a service product with content + participation as the product. This requires creation, investment, publicity, hair, square, and the opening of all links to provide services for consumers."

Edit: vian