LeTV Pictures Zhang Zhao: IP hits should be more accurately targeted at market segments

Zhang Zhao said that what we consider is the satisfaction of this specific group of people we want to serve. This is the core criterion, not how high the box office is or how many so-called absolute clicks we have. According to the entire path, most IP and content are now relatively accurate to the audience. The more accurate the audience, the easier it is to become a hit for that audience.

Original title: Le Pictures is valued at 10 billion yuan? However, Zhang Zhao said for the first time,"I'm getting old."

At the press conference of Le Pictures five years since its establishment, Zhang Zhao, as the founder, admitted for the first time that he was getting old.

"You see, I am getting old, but the film and television industry is getting younger and younger. "During the media interview session that day, Zhang Zhao laughed at a group of reporters with self-deprecating smiles. After working hard in the film and television industry for 10 years, as the co-founder and president of Enlight Pictures, Zhang Zhao turned around and joined Xiaodian LeTV at the time and started a business from scratch when it was about to go public. Now, time flies, and five years later, LeTV Pictures has become the first camp of domestic film and television companies, but he says that he is old.

Of course, compared with Wang Zhongjun and Wang Changtian, Zhang Zhao, who is not yet 50 years old, is not old. However, in the film and television industry that is getting younger and younger, Zhang Zhao certainly has a sense of crisis that "the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead."

Different from the merchant temperament of the "Two Kings", Zhang Zhao has always had the bookish and lofty sense of intellectual. The first time they met, people who were unfamiliar with him might think he was a college teacher. Few people know that his college major was information technology, but he was obsessed with literature and history. In 1996, Zhang Zhao, who graduated with a doctorate in philosophy from New York University, chose to return to China, and successively entered Shanghai Film Group, Viewpoint Communication, and founded Enlight Pictures.

In 2010, Enlight Pictures produced and released more than a dozen commercial films, and are preparing to go public at the peak of the day. As co-founder and president, he resolutely left before the company was about to go public and joined LeTV, which had just been listed at the time with a market value of only more than 4 billion yuan. Over the years, LeTV Pictures has launched multiple rounds of financing plans to go public, but it was finally confirmed that it would inject it into the listed company LeTV, which now has a market value of 109.1 billion yuan.

"I have always felt lonely."

Zhang Zhao felt as if he had spent 20 years in China movies. From Shanghai Film to LeTV Pictures, the box office of movies in China has grown rapidly from 1.15 billion yuan to exceeding 44.1 billion yuan in 2015. However, as a witness, Zhang Zhao feels a sense of alienation.

"In fact, before I came here from BAT, I always felt very lonely." Zhang Zhao told reporters,"Because no one responded and no one endorsed, only President Jia and our team friends supported it." In June 2015, at the Shanghai Film Festival, Zhang Zhao deliberately chose a hotel far away from the official venue of the film festival. He told me,"The feeling of stepping on the red carpet is too crazy."

Indeed, the development of China's film industry in recent years has been like a train filled with fuel, traveling tirelessly at a rate of 30% per year. When the box office of China films exceeded 44.1 billion, it was already equivalent to 61% of the box office in the United States. Just like the drunken carnival party in "The Great Gatsby", the people in it are gradually dazzled by the red carpet.

In the five years since its establishment, Le Pictures 'box office revenue has exceeded 6 billion yuan in five years, but the company has not had a good life in the past year.

After the reputation of "Taiping Wheel Part 1" directed by John Woo fell, LeTV Pictures almost gave up the second half of its promotion. In the end, the box office of the movie, known as the China version of "Titanic" and invested 400 million yuan, stopped at 50 million yuan. In November, the movie "The Disappeared Killer" was piloted online for early online distribution, resulting in a collective boycott of the film by theaters. In this year's Lunar New Year's Eve, the box office of "Seeking the Dragon" co-produced by Wanda, Light, Huayi and others broke 1.3 billion yuan in two weeks, but the box office of "Nine-Layer Demon Tower" invested by Le Pictures was not satisfactory.

But Zhang Zhao is not worried. He believes that the film industry must form a sustainable system and cannot put all eggs in one basket. Therefore, LeTV Pictures has both "Tiny Times" and "Return", both "Bear Infested" and "Nine-Storey Demon Tower". Since Zhang Zhao entered LeTV Pictures, he has spent a lot of time and energy to increase investment in distribution channels and marketing. LeTV Pictures has ranked among the top three domestic film and television companies in just three years with its strong Internet marketing capabilities."I have been playing the one-armed sword of the market." Zhang Zhao joked.

However, after the Internet entered film and television companies, this kind of pride that was "unique in the world" felt a strong impact. "The arrival of BAT means that China films have entered a comprehensive Internet era." Zhang Zhao admitted that this put him "under great pressure," but the sense of loneliness disappeared instead."Thanks to BAT, China's film industry has moved from 'limited shelf'to the era of' unlimited shelf'." Zhang Zhao said at the scene.

On December 29, at Le Pictures 'annual strategy conference, Zhang Zhao wore a white T-shirt with the words "No, I can't accept it" and explained Le Pictures' past, present and future to more than 200 media outlets. He paced back and forth, telling the achievements of LeTV Pictures in the five years since its establishment with superhuman enthusiasm and energy."LeTV Pictures has gone through four years of Internetization and is now entering the stage of ecological Internet of Things. This will bring about an upgrade of the business model, from 'Internet +' to the 'Ecological +' business model." Zhang Zhao said.

It sounds like a pie drawn by a dreamer, but Zhang Zhao believes that this is the real weapon for LeTV Pictures to enter Hollywood and even the world. Zhang Zhao's role model is not Feng Xiaogang or Wang Zhongjun. He is the six major film distribution companies in the United States, FMCG companies like Wahaha, and channel overlords like Gome. In his view, it is only a matter of time before the "New Sixth National Congress" is born in China.

"As crazy as China movies are, how sober I should be." In September last year, Zhang Zhao was still confidently planning to "independently list LeTV Pictures in 2015." In recent years, LeTV Pictures has launched multiple rounds of financing plans to list, but it was finally confirmed that it will be injected into the listed company LeTV. Industry insiders predict that its valuation will be as high as 10 billion yuan.

But is Zhang Zhao really willing?

dialogue| How much LeTV Pictures is valued is really not that important.

Reporter: The issue of LeTV Pictures 'injection into LeTV has been announced. Where is it now? What will Le Pictures 'valuation be?

Zhang Zhao: If you go through normal procedures, you will definitely see our entire plan on time. As for how much you say it is worth, I am very curious that I don't know either. What do you think it is worth? What do you think Le Pictures is worth now? What is the value after integration? This is actually a matter of benevolence and wisdom. I believe the valuation will not be low, but this is not important.

The important thing is that the question I am talking about today is that capital depends on whether you can continue to grow after you go public. Everyone knows that Le Pictures 'curve over the past four years is like this. Give me a valuation today. This valuation is not a summary of the past, but a drawing on the future. The huge energy brought by connecting content and services, including whether you can generate leading value to this industry, is the basis for integrating everyone's valuation of LeTV's film and television ecosystem, LeTV Pictures and LeTV.

Reporter: We have taken a lot of international actions this year, including "The Great Wall". Are there any specific international plans for the new year? How does LeTV Pictures view the issue of globalization?

Zhang Zhao: I want to use the word globalization accurately. In 2016, the two major tasks of LeTV's systemare opening up, and the second major task is globalization, not internationalization.

Globalization is the layout of globalization, not just the layout of content. If you pay attention, LeTV's Super TV has a brilliant record overseas. The battle for mobile phones overseas has already begun. Super TV has only lasted for a year and a half. In time, we have occupied the market in Hong Kong. There is no doubt that the first is the implementation of super phones in Thailand. You see that we are making a global content layout and a global layout on the other hand. Looking back, as long as our streaming media business and cloud business, LeECloud is the largest basic layout we have made in the world. It has 660 CDN nodes in 33 countries, which can ensure that our content is transmitted to various countries anytime and anywhere. These are all things that LeEco has been laying out for many years.

Content + terminal + Internet connection, back to the ecological model seen in China. Perhaps this will become the focus of China Internet companies in the next three or five years.

Reporter: Among these homemade dramas and movies in 2016, what do you think are the biggest hits of LeTV Pictures?

Zhang Zhao: In the multi-screen era of the Internet, hot products should still target market segments more accurately. What do you say is a hit? I don't know whether "Legend of Mi Yue" is a hit, or whether "The Promotion of the Crown Princess" is a hit?

"Tiny Times" is definitely not a hit for me, and it is definitely not for our group. But for fans of "Tiny Times", it is an absolute hit. So what we consider is the satisfaction of serving this specific group of people. This is the core criterion, not how high the box office is or how many so-called absolute clicks. I believe that "The Crown Princess" is definitely a hit for the post-95s generation and the second generation, but it is not for me. "Return" is a hit for me. Many of my friends around me are calling me in tears. It is this incident that brings us back to Internet thinking to talk about hot money issues.

According to the entire path, most IP and content are now relatively accurate to the audience. The more accurate the audience, the easier it is to become a hit for that audience.

Editor: vian