It is worth noting that the video features a total of 10 episodes, and users can only buy out a one-time buyout, and cannot buy an episode alone. The paid videos launched this time will be updated once or twice a month, and the update will be completed within the year. The total price of 10 videos is 30 yuan. The full series of video titles are as follows:
1 The Difficult Soviet Dyatlov Incident
2 Chongqing Red Boy and Zombie Boy Incident
3 The Legend of Blue Kerr and the Hotel of Horrors
4 The incident of Zhu Xiuhua and Wu Lin’s reinstatement
5 The Roswell Alien Incident
6 cat-faced old lady horrors
7 Rainy Nights 90 Horror Photos Disappearance
8 Genting Hotel Malaysia Horror Legends
9 Memories to Kill: Video of a Paranormal Car Crash in Portugal
10 The Apocalypse and the Tunguska Explosion
It can be seen from the homepage that “Duncan, the old hooker” is a UP master who specializes in explaining supernatural events. He once defined his video type as “large-scale entertainment programs go out of science”. He is known for his humorous style of explaining bizarre events. In this period, highly praised videos such as “Xiamen Ghost Ordering Incident, Baidu Tieba Horror Legend” have been released, and the video playback volume ranges from 500,000 to 1 million.
In contrast, the data of paid videos is much inferior. According to the number of broadcasts on the front desk of station B, the latest video “Analysis of the sensational event of Zhu Xiuhua’s resurrection across Asia” has only been played 20,000 times.
Although the video playback volume is far lower than the previous videos, but with the blessing of paid attributes, at the price of 30 yuan, the income of this series of videos is as high as 600,000.
In addition, the reporter found thatAt the beginning of the release of the video, there were still 1.186 million fans of “Hooking Old Man Duncan”. As of press time, the number of fans dropped to 1.174 million, and the number of fans dropped more than 10,000.
What’s wrong with paid video?
In the face of the sudden paid video, user feedback was mixed. Some fans in the comment area expressed their support, but more users did not buy it.
“A large member can buy a movie ticket for only 25 or 30 yuan. After paying for it, I found out that I have heard this story and can I get a refund? Can the video be credited now?”
To sum up, users’ doubts about the UP main paid video are mainly divided into 4 points.
1. Video content quality issues
Taking this issue of “Zhu Xiuhua’s Resurrection of the Dead” as an example, in the nearly 20-minute video, 70% of the content is to explain the ins and outs of the story, plus some point of view analysis and live shooting.
The story itself is not exclusive content, but a public resource that can be found on the Internet. In the words of some fans, it is “after paying and discovering that I have heard this story.”
In addition, there are not a few UP masters who talk about supernatural events in station B. For example, “X Survey, Ying Daji”, etc. are the same type of UP masters with millions of fans. If the video itself does not have particularly prominent content, the audience will vote with their feet over time. .
2. Material copyright issues
Different from previous videos, a large part of the material in this video has been shot in real scenes, but some of the materials are still taken from some former science and education columns, and the compliance of their copyright use needs to be discussed.
As a paid video, the importance of content copyright is self-evident. If the material used in the video itself is not compliant, then charging the audience will inevitably lead to controversy.
3. Pricing issues
In the opinion of the video author, the price of 3 yuan per episode is reasonable based on the cost of one episode of the program.
But for the audience, the price of 3 yuan for one episode and 30 yuan for 10 episodes seems to be too high, and the audience can also have other better choices. After all, the price of a movie ticket is only 30 yuan.
In addition, video users can only buy out at one time, and cannot buy a certain episode alone. In addition, the video update cycle is too long, and the waiting process greatly reduces the audience’s experience.
4. Double payment
For content creators, video payment is undoubtedly a way to increase revenue and monetize, and it is also a good direction for platforms.
However, station B currently has major members. If the major members still need to “pay to watch”, it will inevitably lead to a “poor” user experience for some major members.
As far as the video payment function is concerned, major members are not required to watch for free, but at least they can provide discounts and the rights to try paid videos. If there are no differentiated products and services, then the significance of the existence of large members seems to be less significant.
In response to the doubts from the outside world, the UP host “Hook Old Man Duncan” also responded: “This time it is a brand new attempt, mainly because I have been engaged in creation for so long, I have always wanted to devote more energy to making more high-quality content, However, due to various objective factors, it has not been possible. But the idea has always been that if there is an opportunity to increase some income for our small group, maybe we can expand our production capacity and do some more interesting things. Because there are such difficulties, So this time I took the plunge and made this collection.”
“The difference from previous videos is that they are usually produced in a small workshop at home, but this paid video has achieved a high investment in live shooting and is difficult to return.” He said that in fact, he didn’t want everyone to buy it, just I hope that some people who are financially independent, have good money and really like Duncan spend money to buy this series, and hope that everyone can do what they can.
Average monthly paying users exceed 27 million
Who said that B friends are all “white prostitutes”?
In fact, the video payment function is not the first of Bilibili. For example, Douyin’s previous short drama payment function, in addition to being unlocked by the number of episodes, also supports a one-time buyout of the whole drama. Paid skits can be watched repeatedly without time limit.
In recent years, more and more platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and iQiyi have opened the paid subscription function in order to improve their commercial monetization capabilities, and now Station B has also joined this camp.
According to the data of the first quarterly report of station B in 2022, the company achieved revenue of 5.054 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%. At present, the four major sectors that support the main revenue of Station B are mobile games, value-added services, advertising, and e-commerce.
Among them, value-added services have surpassed games, with revenue reaching 2.052 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37%, becoming the largest source of revenue for Station B. This business module mainly includes live broadcast business, large membership and other paid business.
In addition, in the first quarter, the average monthly active users of station B exceeded 294 million, a year-on-year increase of 31%. The average monthly paying users was 27.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 33%, and the paying user ratio also reached 9.3%.
Although the mouth shouts “white whoring” all day long, the data will not deceive people. Facts have proved that users of station B have a strong willingness to pay, so that it directly drives the value-added service section to become the largest source of income for station B.
In terms of creators, with the rapid growth of the community and the virtuous cycle of the content ecology, the number of active UP masters in the first quarter of Bilibili also reached 3.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 75%; the number of creators with more than 10,000 fans increased by 44% year-on-year .
The online video payment function can be seen as another test of the value-added service section of station B. Although there are some disputes at this stage, with the continuous improvement of the platform’s functions and systems, paid video may become the main UP leader in the future. important part of realization.
