Ma Zhongjun, Chairman of Ciwen Media: Future investment in film and television targets will focus on "rejuvenation"

Where will the film and television industry go in 2017? The unique observations of film and television industry leaders on business formats may open a door for us. During the "2016 Fifth China Listed Company Leaders Summit", the reporter interviewed Ma Zhongjun, Chairman of Ciwen Media.

Original title Interview with Ma Zhongjun, Chairman of Ciwen Media: The copyright fee for the big drama is 3 to 3.5 million yuan per episode. Reasonable investment in film and television targets focus on "rejuvenation"

Two weeks ago, Ciwen Media and Hunan Satellite TV signed an exclusive first-round contract on contemporary urban-themed dramas. The major contract for selling satellite TV broadcasting rights to Hunan Satellite TV, with a transfer fee of up to 384 million yuan, accounting for 44.86% of the company's total operating income in the latest fiscal year.

The rise in copyright fees for TV dramas has become an industry trend. From the "hit" Flower Thousand Bones ", which was broadcast more than 20 billion times last year, to this" sky-high "urban drama, Ciwen Media is a beneficiary of the rapid development of the TV drama industry.

However, the hot film and television industry seems to have entered a "cooling-off period" this year. The growth rate of box office of movies in China has slowed down significantly. There has not been another "Flower Thousand Bones" in the TV drama broadcast market. Mergers and acquisitions in the film and television industry have been repeatedly blocked, including well-known companies in the industry, Wanda Cinema, Tangde Film and Television, etc.

Where will the film and television industry go in 2017? The unique observations of film and television industry leaders on business formats may open a door for us. During the "2016 Fifth China Listed Company Leaders Summit", the reporter interviewed Ma Zhongjun, Chairman of Ciwen Media.

The copyright fee for large-scale dramas is between 3 million and 3.5 million yuan per episode. The reasonable

"sky-high" drama is that Bubble

Ciwen Media sold the exclusive first-round satellite TV broadcast rights for contemporary urban-themed dramas to Hunan Satellite TV for 384 million yuan. Online copyright fees for related dramas are also under negotiation. This year, copyright fees for TV series are still rising, especially for big dramas that are beautifully produced and have a big cast. At the beginning of the year,"The Legend of Ruyi" starring Zhou Xun and Huo Jianhua sold for a sky-high price of 15 million yuan per episode, of which 9 million came from exclusive broadcasting rights on a video website, and 6 million was spent on two satellite TV stations. Not long ago, Tang De Film and Television sold "Win the World" starring Fan Bingbing for 480 million yuan in online exclusive copyright fees, 8 million yuan per episode.

Does the emergence of sky-high dramas mean that the industry is booming, or is TV drama copyright fees already touching the ceiling? Ma Zhongjun said: "It is reasonable for the copyright fee of 3 - 3.5 million yuan per episode for major dramas, but S-series (super series) like" Win the World "are rare and unique. If there are too many S dramas, there will definitely be a bubble."

Reporter: The 2015 Tencent white paper has statistics on the TV drama industry. The average copyright fee for major dramas with ratings exceeding 1 is between 3 million and 3.5 million yuan per episode. Do you think this price is within a reasonable range?

Ma Zhongjun: I think it's a reasonable range, because TV dramas are also divided into several stages, which is a relatively rational average price.

Reporter: But some big dramas far exceed the above prices, and are even very amazing. For example, the exclusive online broadcast rights of "Win the World" are 8 million yuan per episode, and the contemporary urban drama recently announced by Ciwen Media has also sold for 384 million yuan.

Ma Zhongjun: Ciwen sold not one, but multiple, so it cannot be said to be sky-high. Fan Bingbing starred in "Win the World" because of the unique theme. Fan Bingbing had previously starred in a very popular drama called "The Legend of Wu Mei Niang", so everyone had high expectations for her and her price would be higher. However, the high price of a certain drama does not mean that the entire market should be this high. If this is the case, it will become a bubble, because the entire market has not reached such a high carrying capacity.

Reporter: The rising tide of copyright fees for TV dramas is an obvious business format. So, have the copyright fees for some super dramas hit the ceiling? Is the sky-high copyright also related to the sky-high salary of stars?

Ma Zhongjun: It is normal for a small number of S-class (super drama) products to have high prices, but there are very few. This is not the case in all industries. In addition, excellent actors are scarce, especially those with appeal. When they act, the price is likely to be higher. I think this is a market behavior, but it does not mean that as long as an actor has a slight name, he should shout at the sky-high price. This is not the case. So I think whether the buyer, producer or actor, they all need a rational judgment.

"NetDa" is not the mainstream.

Movies dedicated to online broadcast are

the most popular Internet movies (referred to as "NetDa") are regarded as a vast "blue ocean" in the film and television industry. Their production costs are much lower than those of theater films. The producer will not be covered in bruises just because of the failure of a film. From time to time, a few hits that suit Internet tastes appear, which can also allow producers to obtain a high return on investment. For example, the 2015 film "The Taoist Goes Out of the Mountain", which is named after Chen Kaige's film "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", cost 280,000 yuan to produce. The final box office reached 24 million yuan, with the producer sharing the account of 5 - 6 million yuan, with a return on investment ratio of more than 20 times.

The audience of "Internet University" is the Internet audience, and its works are required to conform to the taste of online communication. This is just like Ma Zhongjun said that works must have a "network feel". Ma Zhongjun likes to discover high-quality IP from a large number of online novels to create very popular online dramas. Ma Zhongjun is first-class in his "Internet sense", and he is also very optimistic about the development prospects of "Internet University". However, at present,"Netcom" still has chaos such as homogenization. What standards should the popular "Netcom" in Ma Zhongjun's eyes be?

Reporter: You are optimistic about the future development of Netcom. Currently, there is a statistic that less than 20% of Netcom can recover their costs. Examples like "Taoist Down the Mountain" that have little investment and achieved high box office prices should be rare in the future. In addition, there is still a lot of chaos in "Internet University" at present, with serious homogenization and widespread imitation. What do you think of this?

Ma Zhongjun: It has a process. Why is there chaos? In the early stages of "NetU", everyone was not optimistic about it, so quite a lot of productions were relatively low-cost, and there were not so many excellent early works. Only excellent online dramas such as "Diaosi Men" brought reputation and click-through rates., and its composition is basically composed of paragraphs. Today, the development of online dramas is becoming more and more formal and high-quality, with higher and higher investment, showing the status of dramas. The same is true for "Internet University". Whether it is "Taoist Out of the Mountain" or "Three Cannons", they all use a famous movie to gain IP, resulting in individual phenomena of making huge profits at relatively low costs. This situation will continue to happen over time, but it should not be the mainstream. The real mainstream is that there should be a group of young friends to make good movies broadcast online. All of its production requirements are the standards of movies, just to be broadcast on the Internet. What it brings is a revolutionary concept, which I think is the most important thing. Once such a movie appears on the Internet, it may become a hit in online movies. When I was chatting with Gong Yu and Tencent from iQiyi, we talked about when the first year of big online movies began, and that was when there were hits.

Reporter: You are good at making online dramas and have also made hit movies. Are you also preparing for a hit movie for "Netda"?

Ma Zhongjun: Actually, everyone is preparing for this. We have already had two "Old Nine Gates" releases this year. First, big online movies have been released on the market, and the click rate is OK, but they have not yet reached our so-called hit expectations. But I believe this will happen sooner or later and soon. As long as it appears and meets the needs, then I think it will bring everyone a share, so everyone is planning and preparing.

Reporter: Is it possible that this kind of big online movie hit comes from a well-known online IP?

Ma Zhongjun: Not necessarily. It may be original or IP. We are also looking for some themes and are working on them. But we don't want to make an online movie that is close to the edge. It should be an online movie that has a topic on the Internet and can attract attention. I think this is the direction we should pay attention to.

China's film and television industry has a low starting point and

future investment targets focus on "rejuvenation."

In 2016, the film and television industry bid farewell to the high growth rate of the past few years and began to return to rationality. The total box office of mainland movies has not yet exceeded the 44 billion yuan in 2015, and TV dramas have not produced hits like last year's "Flowers Thousand Bones". The magic of major IP is no longer true, and the audience's judgment is constantly improving, making the film and television industry seem to have reached a new turning point.

The capital market responded sensitively to this. Many financial investors have difficulty in selling film and television industry targets. There are not many financing cases. Many listed companies 'merger plans for film and television assets have been put on hold for various reasons. This is not only due to market policy changes and strengthened supervision. The essence is the irrational high valuation of film and television targets and the unachievable performance gambling promise.

The double cooling of box office and capital may prompt the outside world to observe the film and television industry more rationally. So in 2017, how do the film and television industry bosses view the development of the film and television industry, and do they have any favored acquisition targets?

Reporter: You came to the Listed Company Leaders Summit this time and participated in the M & A Forum. This year, we have paid attention to many mergers and acquisitions in the film and television industry. Whether they are within the industry or cross-border, the number of suspension or failure cases has increased compared with previous years. Most of the reasons are related to the high valuation and high performance commitment of film and television targets that have attracted the attention of regulators. Does this phenomenon reflect that the industry will develop relatively calmer this year?

Ma Zhongjun: There were many failures, which means that there were many impetuous people in the previous period of work. Everyone rushed into action and felt that the ground was covered with gold. With a bend, they could pick up a kilogram of gold. There is such a feeling. But in fact, I think that no matter any industry, there is basically a rule of 28. Only 20% of the outstanding objects worth choosing are at most, and these 20% may not belong to you, so I think this may still be relatively rational.

Reporter: You said that the truly valuable industry target is only 20%, which is a relatively scarce situation.

Ma Zhongjun: Yes, because the film and television industry is relatively small, China itself is not as complete, developed and healthy as the United States. As a film and television industry, quite a few places have not yet been opened, and the starting point is relatively low, so progress is rapid and relatively easy, which gives everyone the illusion that the industry is already prosperous. In fact, it is not the case. It is because the starting point is too low.

Reporter: In the film and television industry, looking at 2017, if there is still certain development and investment potential, what kind of film and television targets will be favored by capital? Or rather, you personally prefer it.

Ma Zhongjun: The entire industry itself is in an era of transformation, so it needs a particularly new and young talent and team to carry out effective exploration. I think this is the first criterion. The second criterion is that such a young team has an international background and vision, so this will make us feel that it is an excellent target. Third, such a young team has an accurate grasp of high-tech and the mobile information era, and has unique knowledge of fragmented information processing. If we have such a team, it should be an excellent team in the future and an object we will consider.

Reporter: You specifically mentioned the point of rejuvenation. Does it mean that rejuvenation is relatively closer to grasping Internet trends, including tastes?

Ma Zhongjun: For them, this is a kind of consciousness that grows out of their own bodies. This is how he learned it himself, which is very important.

Editor: yvette