On April 20, a new round of price increases for Tencent video members officially took effect. The reporter noted that since the second half of last year, major video platforms have raised membership fees.
How to achieve breakeven? After canceling the controversial advance on demand mode, it seems that the only feasible solution now is the increase of membership fee.
Tencent video members welcome price increase
On April 20, Tencent video officially launched the price adjustment for VIP and super film and television VIP members.
The reporter noted that in the price increase, the VIP selected by more users increased by 5 yuan per month, up 25% from the previous 20 yuan per month.
In addition, the continuous annual package and the continuous monthly package of super film and television VIP have been slightly increased, while the prices of several packages of VIP monthly card and super film and television VIP remain unchanged.
Previously, Tencent video officials said that users who have been in the automatic renewal status of Tencent video VIP or super film and television VIP before 0:00 on April 20, 2022 will enjoy the renewal price discount before adjustment until October 23, 2022 if they do not change the current automatic renewal status.
The reporter noted that this is another round of price increase of Tencent video after April 2021. At that time, the monthly package of Tencent video rose to 20 yuan, or more than 30%, while the monthly package of non continuous packages rose to 30 yuan, or 50%.
In October last year, with the cancellation of the controversial advance on demand mode, major platforms have opened a round of silent price increases.
According to the reporter’s incomplete statistics, in mid December last year, iqiyi updated the subscription price of gold VIP members. The price of monthly card ordinary users rose from 25 yuan to 30 yuan, and the price of continuous monthly package rose from 19 yuan to 22 yuan, with price increases of 20% and 16% respectively.
Mango TV also raised the price of its members from 1 yuan to 20 yuan at the end of December last year.
On February 1 this year, Migu video also announced to adjust the prices of some products. Among them, the price increase of diamond membership card was the highest among all platforms, rising from 175 yuan to 218 yuan, an increase of nearly 25%.
In this regard, many netizens do not buy it. Some netizens even joked, “obviously you can grab it directly, but you still give me one more member.”
profit and loss difficult to be solved
Round after round of price increases, negative effects have emerged.
Although the price increase measures have kept the income of members of several platforms growing slowly, the cost is the loss of users.
According to Tencent’s financial report, by the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of paid members of Tencent video was 124 million, a decrease of 5 million compared with the third quarter, and the growth rate changed from positive to negative.
On the other hand, iqiyi’s number of paying users also fell below the 100 million mark after a round of price increases. According to iqiyi’s financial report, iqiyi paid 97 million users in the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 7.7 million month on month.
“Mainly since last year, there has been no phenomenal explosion on major platforms, so everyone will feel that the money is not worth it.” A person in the video industry believes that the price increases of the previous platforms have always matched with the popular dramas, “there are good dramas to cover, and the audience can accept some.”
While member income is in jeopardy, advertising revenue has also declined.
According to the financial report, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the advertising revenue of Tencent media decreased to 3.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 25%, mainly due to the decrease of advertising revenue of Tencent video and Tencent News. On the other hand, iqiyi’s advertising revenue is also declining. In the fourth quarter of last year, iqiyi’s advertising revenue was 1.665 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5%.
Nowadays, getting rid of losses as soon as possible and realizing profits as soon as possible has become the common goal of several major ministers’ video platforms.
The key to the solution still lies in the content. As a model of the global long video platform, Netflix’s membership price is also rising year by year. However, behind the price rise is the continuous increase of content investment.
According to the financial report, in 2021, Netflix’s cost on content was $17.469 billion, an increase of $5 billion over the previous year. Behind the high investment, it brings explosive income. Among the top 10 TV dramas searched by Google in 2021, there were 6 from Netflix, of which squid game ranked first.
Today, Naifei has more than 200 million paying users worldwide, and the company has also made a profit. “Pricing should match users’ expectations for content, which will be a long-term process, and each platform needs to explore constantly.” The aforementioned insiders said.
