Chapter 410 Streaming Media Platform
"Pumpkin Movie is an online streaming media platform developed by us in 2015, focusing on suspense, thriller, and horror works worldwide. The operating model is 'no advertising + user fees', benchmarking the US Netflix..." In
the meeting room of Ruyi Films, Ke Liming switched the display interface on the projection screen and enthusiastically introduced his own products to Meng Bai who was sitting opposite.
Although he had decided to invest in Ruyi, it was a big business of several hundred million after all, so he still had to have some understanding of the investment target's assets first. On the Ruyi side, when they learned that Meng Bai was coming to visit the company, the boss Ke Liming and the general manager Chen Zhixi came out in person to greet him, and their attitude was extremely enthusiastic.
Before, they had a cooperative relationship with Huguang, and it was okay for everyone to be casual. Now he has become his sponsor. Although he is only a small sponsor, it is still very precious in this situation of the film and television winter.
But after all, they have cooperated many times, so the two parties are not so unfamiliar. Knowing that Huguang wanted to inspect Ruyi's assets, Ke Liming and his team showed all their assets very straightforwardly.
Not to mention, Ruyi has a lot of background to develop to this day. In addition to the pile of investment projects and film and television copyrights, the most eye-catching is a streaming platform called "Pumpkin Movie".
Unlike the mainstream "free + advertising" model of several other domestic video websites, this Pumpkin Movie adopts a charging system. All users of the platform pay a unified fee, and then they can browse all the resources of the platform at will.
Meng Bai looked at the main interface of "Pumpkin Movie" on the projection screen. Except for the somewhat gloomy pumpkin head logo in the upper left corner, the rest of the part, including the UI design of the entire page, is almost exactly the same as Netflix's style.
Looking at the film and television resources displayed on the homepage, there are mainly two parts-
one is Ruyi's own various movies and TV series, such as "Nirvana in Fire", "No War in Peking", "Sewing Machine Band", "Animal World" and other previously invested and produced.
The other is Netflix's new works "Love, Death, Robots" and "Kingdom", the high-scoring British drama "Black Mirror", and many global classic dramas including "House of Cards", "The Walking Dead", "Prison Break" and so on.
Meng Bai couldn't help but complain in his heart. This is not a benchmark, this is clearly a copy of Netflix.
"How many users does the website have now?"
"So far, there are about 7.68 million users."
Meng Bai was a little surprised: "That's quite a lot!"
This result is naturally incomparable to the three major platforms of Qiyi TV, Tencent Video, and Youku, but it is not a small number among second-tier platforms. After all, even the newly emerging Mango TV in the past two years has just exceeded 10 million in the number of paying users.
And this Pumpkin Movie, Meng Bai had not even heard of it before, but it was able to quietly win more than 7 million paying users, which is indeed a very good data.
In this way, he also understood why Evergrande was so interested in Ruyi. I am afraid that in addition to the film business, the streaming platform of this Pumpkin Movie is also a very important advantage.
It's just...
"How did you solve the copyright of these dramas?" Meng Bai pointed to those classic American dramas and asked.
Chen Zhixi coughed lightly: "Many dramas on the platform have not been introduced in China, so the copyright ownership is still blank. Many dramas we put on the platform are also based on online resources."
She said vaguely, but Meng Bai understood it in his heart.
To put it bluntly, there are two words: piracy.
Ke Liming on the side also explained in detail that not all dramas are pirated. In China, because it is close, they don't touch anything except their own works.
As for foreign movies and TV series, more than 80% are cheap works purchased directly from overseas film and television channel dealers. As for the top well-known dramas and movies, they are not considered film and television works in name, but "online resources" collected by the platform.
Anyway, foreign countries are far away, and Pumpkin Movie is relatively niche. Not to mention the copyright holder, even most domestic users may not know that there is such a platform, let alone hold them accountable.
In fact, most video websites have grown up this way. At the beginning, they attracted traffic through pirated popular resources, and after the scale has expanded and formalized, they will remove these pirated resources and change their appearance.
It has to be said that Colin Ming was very visionary. He founded Pumpkin Movies in 2015, when the mobile Internet was booming.
Unfortunately, unlike the Big Three, it did not have the capital support behind it, and the "fee-based" model was not suitable for local conditions, so it failed to grow.
Netflix was formerly a disc rental company, which itself cultivated a large group of paying users. In addition, American audiences are also accustomed to paying for content, so the development of a "fee-based system" is a natural progression.
However, China itself lacks this kind of audience soil, and most platform users are accustomed to the "free + advertising" system cultivated by several major Internet giants. Pumpkin Movies is naturally facing a very low scale ceiling.
Colin Ming is naturally aware of this, but he doesn't care much.
"Whether it's paid or not, in the end, it all comes down to who has more quality copyrights. Users are ruthless, they will always only follow good works, not which platform. But good works require a lot of money, without capital support, there is no way to achieve it."
Ke Liming smiled and said: "If it is a product, then Pumpkin Movie is indeed not excellent. But if it is a story concept, then it has a lot of room for imagination."
"As far as I know, many entertainment giants around the world are entering the streaming media field this year. Disney is going to make 'Disney+', HBO is going to make 'HBO MAX', Apple is going to make 'Apple TV', plus the traditional Netflix, Hulu, etc., it can be said that it is a new concept outlet." "
The capital market is always chasing new concepts. Whoever can tell a good story can get the favor of capital. In comparison, Pumpkin Film is currently at the forefront of this track in China. If there are a few more hit works to prove its credibility, I believe the capital market is willing to pay for this story."
At this point, Ke Liming looked at Meng Bai with a sharp eye. Whether in terms of subject matter or strength level, Arclight Films is the most suitable partner, which is why he is willing to accept Arclight's investment.
Similarly, Meng Bai also understood. This brother actually didn't intend to really make a "Chinese version of Netflix". He just found a differentiated track that is different from others, and then raised the price by relying on the concept, and then waited for a suitable buyer.
In fact, in a sense, he has succeeded. At least Evergrande is very interested in Ruyi. If it weren't for the retreat of the capital market and the winter of film and television, it would have already made a move.
Of course, Meng Bai believes that Evergrande is definitely not trying to build a streaming platform. They also see the appeal of this concept to the capital market and can help them raise the stock price of Hengten Network, which is cooperating with Tencent.
This is capital operation. For Meng Bai, this is a new field that he needs to study seriously.
However, no matter how it is operated, it still needs physical products as a basis. For streaming platforms, "physical products" are works.
Coincidentally, Arclight is the one that can produce works.
Meng Bai narrowed his eyes and fell silent, thinking quickly in his heart.
He thought that Ruyi was just a film and television company, and the content of the cooperation between the two parties was mainly movies. Unexpectedly, after actually understanding it, he found that there seemed to be more value to be explored.
As for taking out a few works to try, that's nothing. Anyway, with him, Arclight will not lack high-quality projects.
But in this way, the previously planned indirect shareholding plan is a bit inappropriate.
After thinking for a while, he looked at Ke Liming and Chen Zhixi who were looking forward to it, and said with a smile: "I am looking forward to the cooperation with Ruyi, but we still need to consider the specific cooperation method."
Ke and Chen were overjoyed to hear this, and Ke Liming said without hesitation: "Of course, we are also looking forward to the cooperation with President Meng. As for the form of cooperation, President Meng, just tell us, we will do our best to cooperate."
"Then I wish us a smooth cooperation."
"Smooth cooperation!"
After leaving Ruyi, Meng Bai called Gu Fei over again and told her the latest situation and his ideas.
In the next few days, Gu Fei, as the representative of Arclight, started many consultations and negotiations with Ruyi. It took half a month to finally decide on a new cooperation plan. In
late March, Ruyi Pictures officially announced to the public that it would introduce a new strategic partner Arclight Film. Arclight took over the Ruyi shares held by Houyang Zaihong Fund in the form of acquisition, accounting for a total of 49%, becoming the second largest shareholder of Ruyi.
Meng Bai, the actual controller of Arclight Film, entered the Ruyi board of directors and became a non-serving director with independent voting rights.
At the same time, Arclight Films, the parent company of Arclight Films, will also cooperate with Ruyi's "Pumpkin Film" platform to produce a new streaming series.
This series of news does not matter to ordinary audiences outside the circle, but it has caused a lot of shock in the industry.
Now the industry is in the "film and television winter", and each company is shrinking its boundaries to preserve its strength. Unexpectedly, Arclight Films, a new film and television giant, is not affected at all and is still expanding its scale.
In addition, Ruyi Films is also a first-line film company that has grown rapidly in recent years. It has maintained a good cooperative relationship with Wanda, Tencent, and Guangguang, and has also pressed many box office hits in a row.
Now that the two parties have joined forces, I am afraid that a new force will emerge in the film industry.
Many people have been talking about the future development of these two companies in the film field, but no one cares about the "Pumpkin Film".
It's just a second-rate small video website, with three major platforms pressing on it. No matter how it grows, it will be another Mango TV at most.
But not everyone doesn't care. Dai Ying of Qiyi TV called Liu Jun and asked tactfully what Mr. Meng planned to do. After confirming that it would not affect their cooperation, he finally felt relieved.
Meng Bai didn't care about the speculations from the outside world for the time being, because he had something more important to do.
After 50 days of release, "The Wandering Earth" finally exceeded the 5 billion threshold and topped the domestic film box office list.
(End of this chapter)
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