(Image source: Station B APP)
The emergence of paid videos has attracted the attention of many users of station B. Many users are worried that in the future, will the high-quality videos of station B be changed to a paid model? In the initial stage of the function’s launch, in addition to the paid video of “Hook Up Duncan”, there is also a test video that can be searched, but this video was quickly removed from the shelves, and only the paid series of “Hook Up Duncan” remains. You can pay to watch normally.
Can the paid video of station B be accepted by users, and can it become a new profit point of station B?
Pros and Cons of Paid Video
The emergence of paid videos is indeed beyond the expectations of many people. Although there was some news earlier that station B will launch paid videos, it has not attracted much attention. In the eyes of some users, paid videos should be like movies. high-quality copyrighted works.
However, the first paid video content to be launched is a popular science video based on “spiritual events”, and it is known from users who purchased the video that most of the video content of “Hook Up Duncan” comes from CCTV and other news media. Reports, while the manuscript part is mainly the integration and retelling of related content on the Internet, which is not eye-catching compared with the same topic content produced by other UP masters.
(Image source: Station B)
Many netizens pointed out thatThe CCTV video material and music used in the paid video produced by “Hook Up Duncan” may directly constitute an infringement problem.In this regard, the UP master did not directly respond to the user’s question, but directly modified the content of the relevant video, deleted the video material of the “Approaching Science” column, and uploaded a new source.
(Image source: Station B)
In fact, user-made uploading of videos is already the hardest hit area of the infringement problem, but most of the previous videos are free to watch, and the income of the UP master mainly comes from the reward program of station B rather than the on-demand income brought by the video. Therefore, after considering the cost of rights protection, most copyright owners turn a blind eye to this kind of infringement problem, but the benefits brought by paid videos are obviously different, and the seriousness of the infringement problem will be highlighted at this time.
Judging from the video playback volume of “Hooking Uncle Duncan”, his current income should have exceeded 600,000 yuan (including the share for station B). This amount has already allowed the copyright owner to set up a team for copyright processing. At that time, copyright will become the first problem that UP owners need to face. Once the video payment rate is insufficient, the UP owners will lose more than time cost and production cost.
For UP owners, the current paid video is obviously a tasteless rib. Although it can greatly increase the revenue of a single video and allow the team to have more funds to produce better videos, if the user does not pay, then the resulting The negative impact is also huge.
In the comment area of the preview video of the paid work of “Hooking Old Man Duncan”, although some fans expressed their support, there are also more fans who do not approve of the paid video of this kind of content. The data obtained from relevant platforms shows that in the two days after the announcement of the upload of the paid video, the number of fans of “Hook Master Duncan” has decreased by more than 10,000, and it is foreseeable that the number of fans may increase in the foreseeable future. continue to fall.
(Image source: Flying Gua Data)
(Image source: Flying Gua Data)
However, there are also many netizens who hold the same view as me. They do not oppose video charging, but they are against charging for videos that do not have a lot of original content and nutrition, and the current video charging mechanism is obviously unreasonable.
For example, the video does not provide a preview function, so that users cannot understand the quality of the video, and it is difficult to guarantee the user’s paid viewing experience, and it is obviously unreasonable that a series of collections can only be purchased in combination and cannot be purchased individually.
In a nutshell, the disadvantages of paid video are that the charging standard and charging method are unclear and there are many problems, and users cannot determine whether the paid video has sufficient quality support.
However, the positive side of paid videos cannot be ignored. First of all, it can increase the income of UP masters. Taking “Hooking Old Man Duncan” as an example, the income of a series of videos can easily reach hundreds of thousands or even millions, even for the top For UP masters, this may be the income that can only be obtained in the past six months or even a year.
UP owners have higher income. In order to maintain the recognition of paying users, they must produce higher-quality videos. If a virtuous circle can be formed, it will obviously help to push up the overall video creation level of Bilibili. Some cannot be produced due to cost. Video projects also have the possibility of landing.
The video content and production level of many large YouTube channels are significantly higher than those of station B. The main reason is that YouTube’s high income allows creators to recruit higher-level teams and invest higher production costs and production time. As a content creator, I understand and support paid support and on-demand for high-quality content because I understand that power generation with love really has an end.
Paid video is not a monster, and it has positive effects for users and creators.
Can Paid Video Save Station B?
Station B launched the paid video function, and everyone should be able to guess the reason.
On June 9, Station B released its first-quarter financial report. From the data in the financial report, the number of users of Station B reached a new high. The total number of monthly active users increased by 31% year-on-year to 294 million, an increase of 8% month-on-month. Active users increased by 32% year-on-year and 10% month-on-month. Daily active users have reached 79 million, and the average daily usage time of a single user is as high as 95 minutes.
From the perspective of user data alone, station B is indeed the only one in China. The average daily usage time, the growth of the number of users, and the growth of active users are all unmatched by other domestic online video sites. However, while the number of users has skyrocketed, the revenue of Station B has encountered obstacles.
The financial report shows,The total revenue of station B in the first quarter was 5.054 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30% and a month-on-month decrease of 13%, with a net loss of 2.284 billion yuan. For comparison, the loss of station B in the first quarter of 2021 was 905 million yuan.Losses have always been the main theme of domestic online video sites, but in the first quarter of 2022, iQIYI achieved its first profit in 12 years through intensive cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.
In the context of iQiyi’s profitability, although the activity of station B has reached a new high, investors will still worry about one thing: when will station B be profitable? Advertising revenue has grown slowly and game business revenue has declined. Although the future of Station B is promising from the perspective of users, how to increase revenue has always been a difficult problem.
From the perspective of content, station B tried to enter the variety show market and launched a number of variety shows, with high ratings and influence. Dropped significantly. On the other hand, the investment of station B in the game field has not achieved the expected income, and even because most of the games developed and published by itself have not performed well, station B has been dubbed by netizens as the “mobile game cemetery”.
Therefore, station B is eager to find new profit points outside of advertising and games, and after discussion, the answer given by station B is “paid video”. From the perspective of station B, paid videos can not only bring new income, but also solve the problem of subsidy expenses for creators of station B (although the relevant regulations have not been disclosed, but the works that choose the paid broadcast method will most likely not be obtained again. Commission on the playback volume of station B).
If the method of paid video can be recognized by users, then the balance of payments at station B should be significantly improved. However, from the current reactions of users at station B, paid video is obviously not acceptable to most people. Among them, the most The main question is how does Station B ensure the quality of the UP master’s creation to meet the payment needs?
Some netizens believe that whether to pay for a video depends on the creator rather than station B, and there should not be too many requirements for station B. Obviously, these netizens’ cognition of capital and enterprises is still in the “naive” stage.Station B only needs to reduce the click, play, and coin return rate of ordinary videos, and increase the recommendation weight of paid videos, which can easily make most UP owners have to choose the paid video route, thereby affecting the entire content community.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a good time to promote paid videos. On the one hand, there are a large number of underage users at station B. Not only is the ability to pay not high, but the paid content itself may contain controversial clips, which will bring additional legal, Public opinion risk. On the other hand, domestic online video users are not very enthusiastic about paying, and the revenue of paid video itself is doubtful, which will further damage the image of station B.
Of course, I don’t think that creators and station B should not be profitable, but it’s better not to do it with such simple and rude paid viewing. Station B can improve the experience of ordinary non-paying users by adding “payment” methods. For example, users who don’t want to pay can click to watch advertisements to get “on-demand coupons”, or allow UP owners to decide whether to put in patch advertisements and allow paying users to jump Pass.
If paid videos must exist in the future, then I hope that Bilibili can more comprehensively consider content review, sharing, and charging methods, and provide users and UP owners with a reasonable solution.
Whether the paid video can be the key to turning a loss into a profit for Station B, I can’t give the answer to this question for the time being, but if the strength is not well controlled, it may become an opportunity for Station B to enter the downhill road. After all, station A is still alive.
