On April 9, Tencent video announced that it would adjust the prices of Tencent video VIP and super film and television VIP members at 0:00 on April 20, 2022.
Among them, the monthly price of Tencent video VIP has been increased by 5 yuan, and the price of quarterly, annual, quarterly and annual cards has been increased, but the price of monthly card has not been adjusted.
Upstream news noted that among the 12 member types of the two types of members, the prices of five member types such as Tencent video VIP monthly card and multiple package prices of super film and television VIP remained unchanged, and the remaining seven increased by 5 to 20 yuan.
The price of VIP package has increased continuously from RMB 218 to RMB 238 for 20 consecutive years. Tencent video VIP season card rose from 68 yuan to 78 yuan, and the price of VIP annual card was adjusted from 253 yuan to 258 yuan.
The monthly price of super film and television VIP package was adjusted from 30 yuan to 35 yuan, and the season of super film and television VIP package increased from 88 yuan to 98 yuan.
video websites increase prices in turns
The last member price adjustment of Tencent video was on April 10 last year, with a maximum increase of 50%. It is understood that before the price adjustment of Tencent video, iqiyi, mango TV and Migu video also increased their member prices in the months from the end of last year to the beginning of the year.
On December 15 last year, iqiyi announced that the platform would update the subscription price of iqiyi gold VIP members from December 16, with an overall price adjustment range of 9% – 20%.
Earlier, on November 3, 2020, iqiyi adjusted the price of gold VIP membership service. Among them, the monthly card, quarterly card and annual card increased by 5.2 yuan, 10 yuan and 50 yuan respectively, and the continuous monthly and annual package also increased accordingly, with the price increase range of 25% – 50%.
On December 22 last year, mango TV announced that from 0:00 on January 2, 2022, the price of mango TV PC mobile film and television members will be adjusted. Among them, the price of continuous monthly package will be increased by 1 yuan, the price of continuous quarterly package will be increased by 5 yuan, and the price of continuous annual package will be increased by 10 yuan. In addition, the price of monthly card and quarterly card will remain unchanged, and the price of annual card will be increased by 20 yuan.
Migu video, a subsidiary of China Mobile, also officially adjusted the prices of Diamond members and pass through tickets on February 1, 2022. Among them, the price of diamond member annual card increased by as much as 43 yuan.
keep raising prices and losing money
A Tencent video insider told reporters that on the one hand, the initial member pricing of Chinese video platforms is relatively low. With the continuous rise of content costs and operating costs in recent years, the operating pressure of the platform is also increasing; On the other hand, the cost of purchasing copyrighted content by the platform and the investment in making high-quality products are increasing, and the renewal and iteration of audio-visual technology needs a lot of financial support.
The upstream news noted that the growth rate of Internet advertising slowed down, entered the state of stock competition, and the enterprise advertising budget tightened, which made the advertising revenue of the video platform unsatisfactory. According to Tencent’s financial report, media advertising revenue decreased by 7% to RMB 13.3 billion, while iqiyi 2021q4 online advertising service revenue was the same as Q3, maintained at 1.7 billion, and there was no growth. This means that video platforms may increasingly rely on the growth of member income.
However, from the financial report, after the continuous rise of member prices, it seems that the loss momentum of major video websites has not been curbed.
According to the financial report of the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2021 released by Tencent, although the number of paid members of charging value-added services increased by 8% year-on-year to 236 million, the number of paid members of Tencent video increased slightly by 1% year-on-year to 124 million. However, Tencent admitted in its financial report that Tencent video will alleviate the loss of the video platform by reducing costs. Take measures to optimize costs and reduce the financial losses of Tencent video while maintaining its leading position.
According to the annual financial report of iqiyi in 2021, iqiyi’s total revenue in 2021 was 30.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%, and its member revenue reached 16.7 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 1% over 2020. The operating loss rate was the lowest in three years.
As for Youku, another head video website, according to the latest financial report released by Alibaba group, the adjusted EBITA (profit before interest and tax) of digital media and entertainment in fiscal year 2021 was 6.118 billion and that in fiscal year 2020 was 11.446 billion. Moreover, Youku has not released the data of paying users for a long time, and the outside world estimates that it will not exceed 100 million, and there may even be a big gap with Tencent and iqiyi.
According to the financial report of station B in 2021, the revenue of station q4b in 2021 was 5.78 billion yuan, with a total revenue of 19.4 billion yuan and a net loss of 6.8 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 119% year-on-year.
among mainstream video websites, only mango TV has made a profit on the evening of January 20, 2022, Mango Excellent Media Co.Ltd(300413) released the annual performance forecast for 2021. It is estimated that the annual net profit attributable to the parent company will be RMB 2.04 billion ~ 2.14 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 2.92% – 7.96%. According to the report of economic daily on December 12, 2021, China’s long video head platform “aiyouteng” (iqiyi, Youku and Tencent video) has burned out more than 100 billion yuan in ten years, but so far there is still no profit expectation
price increase or drinking poison to quench thirst
Some analysts believe that if the video platform does not solve the root cause of the loss, it will fall into a vicious circle – if it does not raise the price, the loss will be serious, and the price increase will force away the users who do not follow the drama, and the loss will be more serious.
“Different from the general loss situation of Chinese video platforms, the international streaming media giant Netflix has made profits entirely by relying on the membership model, and has gained a good market response after many price increases.” An insider of Tencent video said.
This person’s view points out the root cause of the loss of Chinese video websites. For a long time, Chinese video websites have adopted the method of “purchasing the exclusive copyright of online Red IP +, obtained a large amount of drama chasing traffic, and created a large amount of revenue in a short time through” creative “business models such as advance on-demand. However, they fall into the strange circle of IP copyright fees, which are more and more expensive and rely on a drama for one year.
Therefore, before there is no high-quality content with controllable cost and sustainable traffic creation, the video website can only be maintained by converting IP powder into VIP members. In addition, in order to create the illusion that the drama is very hot, some platforms also brush their own traffic and change data. Coupled with the impact of short video platform, fewer and fewer people are willing to spend money to pursue the play. Because from the perspective of users, several video websites have raised prices in turn, but they can’t see the improvement of user experience. On the contrary, they just increase the membership fees. Then this behavior can be understood as drinking poison to quench thirst, which will increase the loss of users in the long run.
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Upstream news: comprehensive surging news, daily economic news, economic observer, economic daily, 36 krypton
