Business Experience of the New Studio: Taking root in the Internet Student IP "funnel" model to screen resources

The new studio, which mainly focuses on shooting and distributing online movies, was established in August 2012 and was listed on the New Third Board in early December. It is called the "No. 1 share of new media film and television" in the industry. Prior to this, Alibaba Investment and Sequoia Shengde had subscribed for 20% and 16% of its shares respectively.

If there is anything most popular in 2015, online dramas and online IP (intellectual property rights) must be one of them. Reflected in the New Third Board market, new studios, which mainly focus on shooting and distributing online movies, have also received widespread attention from all parties. This company, established in August 2012, was listed on the New Third Board in early December and is called the "No. 1 share of new media film and television" in the industry. Prior to this, Alibaba Investment and Sequoia Shengde had subscribed for 20% and 16% of its shares respectively.

As a science student majoring in communications engineering, Yin Xingliang, chairman of the new studio who was born in 1987, is an out-and-out optimist. However, when describing the core logic and concepts of the new studio, Yin Xingliang seemed very serious."Through the two platforms of V Film and New Studio, we continue to provide services to creators, so that content can be produced more efficiently and through reasonable screening mechanisms to continuously screen out content and teams that are more suitable for young people."

Young team: After more than 90% of the employees were listed under the age of 30

, the new set was labeled with many labels, the most eye-catching one being "youthful". The new film studio's public transfer instructions show that as of the signing date of the instructions (August 30, 2015), there were 59 employees in the new film studio, of which only 3 were over 30 years old, which means that the proportion of employees under 30 years old exceeds 90%. Yin Xingliang believes that young people know better what young people are thinking and what they want, and they have a natural cohesion. "Of course, the company's operations are increasingly requiring people with professional skills, experience and resources."

It is worth mentioning that according to a previous report jointly released by Xinhuanet and third parties, the top ten youngest chairmen of the New Third Board are in the age range of 25 to 28 years old. In this way, Yin Xingliang naturally ranks among the youngest chairman of the New Third Board. Based on the situation when Sequoia invested and invested in August this year, the valuation of the company founded by this young man has exceeded 200 million yuan.

So, what exactly does the new set do? How did such a young founder and team attract the attention of capital giants such as Ali and Sequoia?

The public transfer specification shows that the main business of the new studio is the production, dissemination and distribution of new media film and television works, and its products include online movies, online series columns/dramas, micro-movies and advertising short films. The company mainly earns revenue by carrying out content production business of independent new media film and television works, production business of commercially customized new media film and television works, and dissemination business and distribution business of customers 'new media film and television works in China.

The reporter noticed that the new studio defines itself as the "first stock of new media film and television", thus distinguishing it from traditional video websites. "Our relationship with traditional video websites is upstream and downstream." Yin Xingliang pointed out,"You can understand traditional video websites as channels for this industry, and what we do is publish and produce."

The public transfer specification shows that from 2013 to 2014 and the first four months of 2015, the new studio achieved operating income of 505,500 yuan, 2.2065 million yuan and 2.5415 million yuan respectively, and net profits were-339,900 yuan, -2.5115 million yuan and-1.6829 million yuan respectively. "It should be logical to achieve balanced payments next year." Yin Xingliang predicted.

Online Student IP: Screening content suitable for young people

Regarding the profit model, the new film studio stated in the public transfer specification that the company's content production business of independent new media film and television works mainly comes from three aspects: 1. Recovery of distribution income obtained from video websites and other channels due to the shooting and distribution of online movies, online series/dramas, micro-movies;2. Income and profits obtained from placing advertisements in films for commercial customers; 3. The company's self-made online movies and online series columns/dramas are popular with the company's own IP. As the company's brand, the company generates income and profits for various subsequent brands created by the company.

It is worth mentioning that among the company's main business, sales of new media film and television production business have achieved rapid growth, rapidly increasing from 15.36% of total revenue in 2013 to 67.01% in 2014. From January to April 2015, it even reached 76.74% of the company's total revenue. In addition, given that there are currently 600 companies involved in the production and production of new media film and television works in China, the competition is very fierce. New Studio stated that it will focus on the above third source of income in the future.

The reporter noticed that currently, New Studio has two own platforms: "V Film" and "New Studio". Regardless of the number of certified people or word-of-mouth influence, these two platforms have now become one of the largest communities of new media film and television creators in China, with the coverage rate of creative resources for college freshmen reaching 80%.

The existence of the above two platforms allows the new studio to maximize the mobilization of new media film and television production resources in a short period of time. Simply put,"It is to better combine relatively discretely distributed production resources in the form of the Internet, making the process of producing and distributing content more Internet-based." Yin Xingliang explained to reporters.

According to Yin Xingliang's logic,"V Movies" and "New Studios" are more like an incubation platform for online IP. "The core logic is to layer creators on the platform and grow with them by providing different services." Yin Xingliang told the reporter of "Daily Economic News","Specifically, in the early stage, we will provide distribution services for content to help content broadcast on various platforms to gain exposure; in the subsequent period, we will accelerate the production of content, and there will be contract investment." Yin Xingliang called this screening model a "funnel".

This "funnel" model also distinguishes the new set from purely content-producing companies. "In this community of creators, we continue to provide services to creators so that content can be produced more efficiently, and through a reasonable screening mechanism, we continue to screen out content and teams that are more suitable for young people."

Water release and fish farming: There is no need to bet on the future of a certain IP

. Converting online IP into movies to derive its value is a good way to monetize, just like the recent popular "Unexpectedly". "I very much hope that it can achieve good results, which will strengthen the confidence of the entire society in this industry and help the industry grow smoothly." Yin Xingliang said sincerely.

However, the reporter noticed that how to scale and regularize the process of online IP to big movies has become a major issue facing such entrepreneurs.

Bai Zhongchun, chief operating officer of Wanhe Tianyi, said in a recent interview with the media,"Each company must have several good works. This is its way of survival. The rest is to test your resource integration capabilities and business model. Pioneering or malleable."

The above statement was also agreed by Yin Xingliang. "IP cultivation is not afraid of long cycles, but of high production costs. For a team that purely produces content, if you bet on one IP, it's over if you don't win the bet. You can only produce so many IPs in a year." Yin Xingliang said,"For a platform company like us, we don't need to bet on a certain IP, but rely on 'releasing water to raise fish.'"

Of course, this requires enough "water". However, Yin Xingliang remains optimistic about this. "I don't think funding is a big problem." Compared with the production of movies and TV series, the cost of online content is not high, and it is relatively easy to raise funds based on the current situation of the new set. In fact, the main purpose of listing the New Third Board is not to raise funds, but to standardize corporate governance. "After all, this is just a 3-year-old 'infant'. There is still a long way to go to become a century-old company like in the future."

Editor: vian