2014 video site three big steps: smart TV, smart hardware and film and television investment

In 2014, only a few remaining video sites were more active. Youku Tudou, iQiyi, Leshi, in addition to increasing investment in the original video business, strengthening self-control, and continuous innovation, the constant expansion of business channels has also become the direction of various efforts.

For LeTV, 2014 was a year in which the Super TV business established its market position and promoted the successful model of Super TV. For iQIYI, Youku Tudou and Sohu Video, the exploration of smart TV and smart hardware is Improve profitability and seize more entrances and opportunities for a year. Smart TVs and smart hardware have become the focus of competition for video sites. The investment in film and television is undoubtedly indispensable to consolidate and strengthen the market position of existing video websites.

Smart TV

LeTV TV Super TV is undoubtedly the most successful smart TV brand in 2014. From X60, S40, to Max70, X50 Air, S50 Air, S40 Air, X60S, Super TV has completed a full-size product layout. From the sales of 100,000 mad fans at the "919 Crazy Fan Festival" to the "Double 11", the Tmall TV Champion was won with more than 158 million in sales, and the sales target of 1.5 million units in 2014 was completed one month ahead of schedule. Super TV has completed the transition from the Internet cross-border TV brand to the public TV brand.

With the traditional strength of TCL, iQiyi has also successfully entered the field of smart TV. In 2014, TCL and iQiyi released the full range of TV+ products, and announced the goal of selling millions of units in 2014. However, so far, no data have been seen in this area. How much did iqiyi get from the cooperation with TCL? It is still a "mystery". It is worth mentioning that the recent iQIYI accepted the investment of USD 300 million by Xiaomi Company. It was said that it was to make up for the shortage of TV content of Xiaomi. For iQIYI, Xiaomi TV has also become a big winner.

Since the beginning of this year, Youku Tudou Group has also joined the smart TV field. It has successively formed strategic partnerships with domestic appliance giants Changhong, Haier, Konka, and broadcasting and TV operators Tong Chau Electronics, Digital Video, and the licensee Fang Hua Group, and has also accepted Xiaomi. The company’s valuable investment provides partners with content and a multi-screen viewing experience in the form of built-in online video services. It is said that Youku Tudou also invests RMB 50 million in the Guangdong side of the Internet TV broadcast control platform license, and holds 16.67% stake in the Guangdong side.

Intelligent hardware

With its first-mover advantage in the hardware field, LeTV is also leading the way in the field of intelligent hardware. Le Bao's parent-child intelligent hardware product Le Xiaobao is undoubtedly the biggest bright spot for LeTV to enter the field of intelligent hardware. Le Xiaobao is a story light machine that can help users tell stories to children through the mobile app and low brightness projector. Relying on the rich content of LeTV's parent-child channel, it provides users with videos of 160,000 children covering education, adventure, fairy tales and pets for 2.4 million minutes. According to the story template provided by LeTV, users can record a story-telling video in advance and then push it to their baby as if it were a story version of karaoke. In addition to storytelling, the mobile app also has parent-child voice communication capabilities. In the Christmas Thanksgiving special opening for the first time, 2000 Le Xiaobao quickly sold out in a short period of time. Not long ago, LeTV announced its entry into the smart car, aiming to replicate the success of Super TV in various fields.

In 2014, Youku once worked with China Guangdong, Unity, and Huawei to launch the "Smart Home Entertainment Alliance" to enter the video game market. It is also reported that Youku Tudou will release tablet computers, expand its game business in the field of tablet computers, and promote movie member services on the big screen. The potato also announced that it will jointly launch smart phones with Duo Wei.

iQiyi has also entered the field of intelligent hardware through integration with the 100+ (100+) series of mobile phones, and at the same time built a market barrier for content competition among mobile phones of the 100+ (100+) series. Xu Guoxiang, the founder of the mobile phone brand in Bajia, stated that Bacardi and iQiyi have conducted in-depth integration of content and realized the seamless adaptation of hardware and software to jointly create the first truly mobile video phone.

Film and television investment

For LeTV, which started with content, film and television investment has never been interrupted. In 2014, LeTV not only acquired Hua Film and Television to consolidate its strong position in professional TV dramas; in the movie industry, Le Vision Films, a brother company, not only provided professional movie resources for LeTV, but also expanded the film industry for LeTV. The network and resources have contributed a lot. According to Gao Fei, president of the LeTV Internet Business Group, in 2015, LeTV will pay more attention to content and will explore content and tap into the areas of copyright, self-control, sports, music, and film.

In July, iQiyi announced the establishment of iQiyi Film Company, which tried to integrate the Internet video and film industries. According to foreign media reports, iQiyi will also invest in domestic well-known film and television production and distribution company Huace Film and Television. IGI's parent company Baidu will lead the progress of the negotiations, informed sources, Baidu shares, iQiyi and China policy film or film will set up a new joint venture.

Youku Tudou also announced the establishment of a film company in August, dubbed "One Film Industry." Youku Potato hopes that "One-on-One" will strengthen the Group's multi-screen cultural and entertainment ecosystem. As China's largest application and online video platform, Youku Tudou leads the development trend of multi-screen integration, and is committed to building an O+O (online and offline integration) cultural entertainment platform. In fact, Youku Tudou has also become a part of Ali cultural empire while developing the strength of film and television production. Youku Tudou has obtained a strategic investment of US$1.22 billion from Alibaba and Yunfeng Fund, Alibaba’s shareholding ratio is 16.5%, and Yunfeng Fund’s shareholding ratio is 2%. This not only eased the pressure on Youku Tudou, but also found a strong backing for its own development.

Whether it is smart TV, smart hardware, or film and television investment, it's not an imprudent move. We can see that the video sites have all gone out of the old PC era and are no longer stuck to the original video services. Instead, they are constantly expanding outwards to seek new entrances, while consolidating and strengthening their content advantages. Opportunity to explore new business models in order to seek greater development.