Internet platform ecological battle, no shortage of content

After announcing its entry into the mobile phone and new energy automotive industries, LeTV.com's stock price has soared recently, and it has become the leading stock of domestic GEM. As of the close of March 30, LeTV's market value reached 76.54 billion yuan. At the same time, Qihoo 360's market value is only worth 6.5 billion U.S. dollars, and only about half of LeTV. What is even worse is that the market value of Youku potatoes has fallen to $2.712 billion, only 1/4 of LeTV.

The author believes that most Internet companies have already recognized the importance of ecology and have started to construct ecosystems by building platforms. However, many Internet companies have noticed the importance of platforms and hardware, but often overlook the important link in the ecological chain - content. After BAT first built the Internet ecosystem, LeTV, Xiaomi and 360 all took the initiative in building the Internet ecosystem. Millet and 360 have also laid down their blood on the content side. Whoever will integrate content with the Internet ecosystem in the future will run ahead. However, the content end must be integrated with the Internet company's genes, and gene matching is the key. Without Internet-based content, I am afraid it will be difficult to integrate into the Internet ecosystem and the ecology that cannot be integrated. I am afraid that the future is worrying.

Easily ignored ecological deployment points: content side

A viewpoint on the valuation methods of Internet companies has been circulating for a long time, and has increasingly become the consensus of the industry: Product-based Internet companies are valued at 1 billion, platform-based Internet companies are valued at 10 billion, and eco-friendly Internet companies are valued. One hundred billion. There is a saying that the platform is the entrance. On the road to win over users, Internet companies have spared no effort in setting up platforms and have established video platforms, browser platforms, and mobile phone system platforms.

After the heel of the platform has stabilized, the next step is to move toward the overall ecological situation. Therefore, we have found that a series of platform companies, regardless of whether or not they openly chant the “ecological” slogan, are stepping up the ecological layout in accordance with their understanding. This year, the most eye-catching is the ecological dispute between LeTV and Xiaomi. In addition, 360, Iqiyi, Sohu, Sina Weibo, etc., are also looking for various breakthroughs both inside and outside.

Some people analyzed that Xiaomi's layout in the smart home field has a point of view, because smart homes can become an important entrance for the family. Some analysts believe that LeTV will have a promising mobile layout. Mobile phones and cars will become important entrances in the future. Others think that 360 The layout of the Internet, such as browsers, search terminals, and routers, has its point of view. Currently, it is also expanding into online video and mobile phone markets.

These analyses are all very reasonable. The competition of the next few platform companies will also be clearly seen in the ecological construction. However, many observers and even Internet bigwigs have neglected one important point: content.

Because content is the most important entry, there is no content, and users simply cannot keep it. If you look at the actions of the big players on the Internet, you know that they have finally realized that there is a lot of significance in retaining users because they compete for content rights and gain more content.

In terms of classification, the author finds that platform-based Internet companies generally fall into the following four situations. First, there is no ecology and no content; second, there is no ecology and content; third, there is no content yet; and fourth, the ecology has just been built. There is already content.



On the Internet battlefield, there is no future for the ecosystem-free platform providers, and the decline is inevitable. As of March 30, Renren's share price was only 2.45 US dollars, leaving only 895 million U.S. dollars in market value. In 2011, Renren, which had a stock price of up to 11.32 U.S. dollars, still had a market value of more than 4 billion U.S. dollars. As a social platform for user-generated content, Renren has become a publishing platform for photos of “Baby Babes” and “Baby Life Overseas”. Most users have abandoned this platform and it has been a matter of time before they are abandoned by the capital market.

Companies with no ecological content have a hard time. Typical examples are Youku Tudou, which has recently been strongly questioned by the market. After the merger of Youku Potato, it was claimed that it was the largest video site in China with a large number of users. At once, YOUTUBE, although it had massive video content, was still a pure video platform so far, resulting in a single channel and entrance. On the other hand, the content can not be transferred and the cost of the content is too high. The loss of Youku potatoes this year is the result of this situation. At the beginning of the listing, LeTV, which is also a video platform, has been profitable for several years.

Initially built ecological Xiaomi and 360 are all lacking in content, and are currently vigorously deploying content. Leading domestic GEM LeTV. As of March 30, the market value of LeTV, a listed company under LeTV Holdings, has reached 76.54 billion renminbi. LeTV is currently entering the field of mobile phones and new energy vehicles. In addition to BAT, Internet companies that initially built up ecosystems, LeTV is one of the earliest card content. LeTV Holdings's LeTV Films is currently the top three domestic private film studios, and is also the first private film company to become a movie internet company. In addition, LeTV also has self-made dramas, flowers, movies and music. Sports, music as music and other content platforms.

So, can Xiaomi and 360 compare with LeTV after establishing their own content line? The author believes that the key to the content's ability to play an enabling role in the development of the ecology is the content of the gene.

With the end of the content, genes are the key

After the layout of the ecosystem, Internet companies have exerted their efforts on the content side, especially cultural and entertainment content, with a view to building the right to speak in the cultural industry. According to a statistic, Ali spent a staggering 20 billion yuan on the acquisition of cultural industry in the acquisition of its contents last year, including the acquisition of two traditional film companies, Hua Yi and Guang Guang, and the acquisition of Hong Kong-listed corporate culture in China, which was changed to Alibaba. Film industry. With the recent storming video on the GEM, IPO financing will also be part of the copyright purchase.

For the aforementioned millet and 360, there are two recent actions on the content side that merit close attention. First, on March 26th, Xiaomi Vice President Chen Hao announced that it would enter into a cooperation agreement with Huace Film and Television and will also participate in a traditional film and television company. In addition, some time ago, 360 announced that it will jointly establish an online video site with RayLights to provide paid-to-watch video content.

It's not time for me. The Internet guys realized that if there is no content, it will be late.

However, after Alibaba’s shares in the Huayi and Guangguang two traditional film and television companies, they still heavily invested in the establishment of Ali Pictures. Why? The author speculates that Ma Boss has also found that cooperation and participation in stocks are very inefficient, and it is even more difficult to allow partners to match their genes with each other, so that integration between different companies is a major problem.

Letv put forward an interesting concept in the ecological field: "reverse", that is, chemical reaction. Only when each link of ecology is integrated into the ecology can it produce explosive effects. The author also wanted to put forward another concept: "matching", in organ transplantation, in order to allow transplanted organs to integrate into the human body, first of all must match at the genetic level, otherwise there will be serious rejection, not only the organs can not be used, It will also endanger life.

Xiaomi realizes that the lack of content is deadly to ecology and forms strategic cooperation with China Policy, but the significance of strategic cooperation is very small. In fact, Chen Xiao of Xiaomi himself realized that, in an interview, Chen Hao said that the purchase of copyright owners would be limited by the validity period, and cooperation at the capital level would be long-term. Therefore, Xiaomi said that he would also invest in a traditional film and television company.

Recently, Alibaba shares in light, and 360 is just a joint venture with Raylight to establish an independent video site. It can be said that the video site itself and the ecology that 360 wants to build are independent, separated by several layers. I am afraid that it will take some effort to integrate.

In gene matching, the least problematic is the match between LeEco's ecology and LeTV's representative content. Early in the year when LeTV was founded, it was a transition from a traditional film company to a movie company in the Internet era. Last year, it was even a direct transition to becoming a movie internet company. It has long since done its part with traditional movie companies such as Huayi and Light. . This content, which also grows on the Internet, is seamlessly integrated with the music ecology itself. In the future, LeTV, home-made dramas, flower and television, music, sports, etc., will be linked together on five screens of LeTV's PC, TV, mobile, cinema, and automobile, resulting in an inestimable eco-efficiency.

Time is the best catalyst for chemical reactions, and it is also the touchstone for testing the matching of organs. In the future, in terms of content, whether Xiaomi and 360 can match foreign content into their own genes is the key to determining whether their ecological chain can be integrated with foreign “content”. Millet and 360's current partners are traditional film and television companies. How to get them to melt into the blood of the Internet is very difficult. In any case, the ecology of LeTV has run ahead, leaving little time for Xiaomi and 360.