Chapter 241: This is killing me! Stepping into the abyss!
Every application launched by Facebook is undoubtedly a high-quality one.
Qianqian Jingting, Kuaibo, and now there is also YY Voice.
Almost as soon as it appeared, someone discovered it and downloaded it immediately.
Especially on Renren, not only did they start downloading, but they also began a comprehensive analysis.
Wu Lingxi pays close attention to Facebook's every move in real time.
After testing for almost several hours, Wu Lingxi listened to everyone's reports.
"Mr. Wu, this software is very good, very good, extremely mature, and it's not even a BETA version, so it's obvious that it has been in the works for a long time, but it was only released now."
"But... I don't understand why Facebook is launching this at this time."
"The celebrity strategy was proposed by Lin Xiao, but it was ultimately implemented by us. We intercepted his strategy, so Facebook is in urgent need of traffic now."
"And this thing doesn't bring any traffic to Facebook. It even relies on Facebook's traffic."
"It increases Facebook's value and moat."
Wu Lingxi is also using YY Voice and made almost the same judgment as the engineers.
But Facebook’s value is already very high, and its moat is deep and wide enough. Why are they still expanding their moat at this time?
Wu Lingxi: "According to your idea, what is its application scenario?"
The engineer thought for a while and said: "Hold a meeting, an online meeting."
"Just now, dozens of people in our group held an online meeting using it. It is extremely useful."
"But I really can't see what impact it will have on Renren."
………………………
Most Facebook users also discovered this problem after downloading the app.
I don’t think I really need this YY voice.
This is not like Qianqian Jingting and Kuaibo, which are absolutely necessary.
However, there is a group of people who feel like they have found a treasure after downloading it! They are gamers.
Especially for those who play Legend, it is extremely useful for commanding during siege battles.
Of course, this group is still a minority at present.
Because online games have only just emerged in the past two years.
Next, with the popularity of online games, this application began to develop by leaps and bounds, and even QQ felt a huge threat at one point, with a huge number of users.
Historically, YY Voice had hundreds of thousands of online users within a few months of its launch, and the number of online users exceeded two million in the second year.
In just two years, the app had over 100 million downloads, and soon after, it was listed on the Nasdaq, with a market value of around $600 million on the same day.
However, it also faces a big problem, which is the difficulty in monetization.
As many games have built-in advanced voice systems, its rigidity has gradually decreased.
Moreover, it is under great pressure to make profits, which forces it to do many things that kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, destroy user experience, and so on.
But under the Lightning Group, it can thrive and does not need to have money-making tasks for a long time.
First, it serves a large number of gaming users and online meetings.
When the PC game live streaming trend arrives, it can transform itself into the largest game live streaming platform, or even a full-category PC live streaming platform.
………………
Facebook's online video website YouTube has launched a new service that allows users to upload and share videos themselves.
At present, this is still the privilege of a few people.
Because the current camera phones are not mature, let alone the video function. If you want to shoot videos, you can only buy a DV or some digital cameras with video function.
but……
Those sensitive young ladies on Facebook, especially those with a lot of fans, have already caught on to this trend.
They already had a relatively expensive digital camera, and they used to take beautiful photos regularly to share.
Now that this function has been activated, they can directly shoot videos and upload them to YouTube.
Facebook also has this function. After uploading the video on YouTube, it can also be updated synchronously on the user's personal column.
First, you can attract your fans on Facebook to watch.
Secondly, you can also attract fans on video sites and follow her Facebook account.
Almost within two days of its launch, the number of videos on Facebook Video doubled.
However, most of the videos are pretty crude.
It's just one person standing there or sitting there saying hello.
The smarter girl wore sexy clothes and filmed a sexy and enchanting dance.
Then, the click-through rate went up rapidly.
Until the fifth day!
A magical video appeared.
A brother who looked very abstract bought an electric mosquito swatter and used it to shock his younger brother, who then screamed.
Depend on……
This is a typical live video.
As a result, the number of views on this video skyrocketed and exceeded several million.
And this guy's Facebook fans increased by 100,000 overnight.
Everyone around was stunned. Damn, is this still possible? Then...
Another brother in Europe came up with a brilliant idea. He took a DV to the red light district in Amsterdam.
I didn't go in, I just walked around outside.
But in this day and age, how could most netizens have ever seen this?
The number of views on this video quickly surpassed the video of using an electric mosquito swatter to shock the younger brother, and the number of this brother's Facebook fans skyrocketed again.
He was overjoyed and immediately continued to shoot similar videos.
Visit various red-light districts.
It has even evolved to the point where we can chat and communicate with young ladies from foreign countries who have special professions.
Moreover, they were allowed to perform.
Then, he became completely famous.
All I can say is that the creativity of the people is truly endless.
Of course, the review team behind YouTube is also extremely busy.
Because after seeing the traffic, this group of people are moving more and more towards curiosity and the edge of the line.
Facebook will be relatively relaxed about the standards, but anything that crosses the line will not be allowed to pass review.
at the same time!
Facebook in East Asia also updated its YouTube system synchronously, and the video standards there are more relaxed.
so……
There was an immediate small traffic explosion.
Of course, in the beginning, since it relied entirely on user-generated videos, the quality was relatively low.
In order to launch this new system, Lightning Group has already trained and signed hundreds of video UP hosts.
These people are divided into many tracks.
Car reviews, food tracks, rural tracks, curiosity tracks, unique skills tracks, foreign adventure travel tracks, etc.
Moreover, in the previous few months, they had produced dozens of relatively professional videos. After the video website system was updated, they uploaded videos regularly.
Their income comes from two parts: one is the fixed salary given by Lightning Group, and the other is the share of video traffic.
………………
Although we don’t know the specific traffic of Facebook, it is obvious that the video system has been extremely enriched after YouTube upgraded its system.
More and more videos are added every day.
And there are more and more videos that have exceeded one million hits.
Renren immediately sensed a huge crisis.
Liao Feng spent an unknown amount of money on Renren Video and purchased a large number of TV series and movie copyrights.
So Renren has always boasted that the size of Renren Video is more than four or five times that of Facebook and YouTube.
As a result, in just a few days, the number of videos on YouTube exceeded that of Renren Video.
Moreover, it is growing exponentially every day.
Suddenly, Renren held another emergency meeting.
Do you want to follow? "Just follow, of course no problem, just upgrade the video website system to allow users to upload videos themselves."
“However, to recruit a group of professional reviewers, a team of at least dozens of people is needed.”
"Secondly, and most importantly, spending money!"
“Because Facebook directly shares traffic revenue from users’ videos.”
"Moreover, these videos have not yet been advertised, which means that there is no income at all, and it is purely a waste of money."
"This means that the more successful this video site is, the greater its losses will be."
The entire senior management of Renren Group was faced with a difficult decision.
If it were before, they would definitely choose to follow without hesitation, completely copying Facebook's model, opening the SNS system, and sharing traffic from users' videos.
But now…
Renren's capital chain is already very tight.
It has cost 130 million to buy out the "Perfect World" game.
Inviting a large number of celebrities to join requires a huge amount of money.
They are competing for the exclusive rights to World of Warcraft, and they need to prepare tens of millions of dollars.
"I think..." Chen Zhouyi said, "Renren is already far ahead in terms of traffic and users. Facebook will not be able to catch up in a few months."
"The most urgent task before us is to demonstrate our profitability."
"Our capital chain is already very tight, so we need to spend our money wisely and focus on being the agent of World of Warcraft and launching Perfect World."
“We can’t be scattered anymore.”
This is not only Chen Yizhou's opinion, but also the opinion of most shareholders.
Now everyone is eyeing that target, the $300 million or even $500 million from Yahoo and SoftBank Group.
With this investment, it will hit Nasdaq by the end of next year and its market value will soar to US$2 billion.
Then everyone’s previous investment can be multiplied many times, even about ten times.
Miyazaki: “I think our energy is limited. At least for now, we should focus on two games.”
"Don't make any more trouble!"
Then, everyone's eyes fell on Liao Feng's face.
Liao Feng is in his happiest moment recently, making rapid progress and moving from victory to victory.
And the final victory is getting closer and closer.
So his whole spirit was in a state of excitement, and he felt as if he was helped by God.
The closer it gets to this point, the more he pursues leadership qualities.
After a long silence, he slowly raised his head.
"I think..."
Pause for a moment and let everyone listen.
“Don’t ever underestimate Facebook.”
“A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step.”
"Although we have seen the dawn of victory, we must not take it lightly at this time."
"Although Facebook's traffic is still far ahead, the number of new videos and traffic added every day on Facebook's video site YouTube is astonishing."
"Of course, most of this traffic is now Facebook's internal traffic."
"However, once the content accumulates to a certain level, the quantitative change will lead to qualitative change and break the circle."
"By that time, there will be a lot of external traffic pouring into Facebook."
"So, we must not only win the battle for profitability, but also not take the battle for traffic lightly at all."
"We absolutely must not be complacent and let Facebook catch up. We must leave them far behind."
"So, let's follow the SNS system of the video website!"
"Cultivate dedicated video UP masters, and we will follow!"
"We will share the user's video traffic!"
Renren's top management and shareholders were immediately terrified.
This...how much does this cost?
Then, everyone looked at Wu Lingxi again.
At this time, the shareholders were expecting Wu Lingxi to step forward and stop Liao Feng's behavior.
As a result, Wu Lingxi said calmly: "I agree!"
Suddenly, the shareholders sighed.
Once Liao Feng and Wu Lingxi agree on the same direction, it will be really difficult for them to resist.
So, Renren passed this resolution.
It also opens the SNS sharing system of Renren Video.
In addition, an announcement will be made on the homepage of Renren.
So far, only one week has passed since the YouTube video website was upgraded.
Of course, it will take some time for Renren Video to cultivate specialized video producers or even upgrade the system.
But the next day...
A huge announcement appeared on the Facebook homepage and YouTube homepage.
200 million RMB support plan! In the next year, Lightning Group will use 200 million in cash to support the majority of video producers.
On the basis of the original traffic sharing, an additional RMB 200 million in support will be provided.
The announcement also clearly stated that there would be no advertisements in YouTube videos in the next year of 2005. Moreover, the video website would not have any fee-charging plans, not even a VIP membership system.
As soon as this announcement came out.
The senior executives at Renren began to curse violently.
I fuck your mother...
Lin Xiao, are you crazy? The original cost of such a video website is very high, and you are going to spend 200 million to support it? Are you going to keep burning money like this?
The key point is that we have just announced that we will follow the SNS sharing system.
We at Renren Video have pledged that we will definitely not lag behind others. We must also have what YouTube has.
Now you have launched a 200 million yuan support plan. Should we follow it? Our capital chain will explode.
Don’t follow?
We claim to be the world's number one social networking site and number one video site.
It would be unreasonable not to follow.
…………
Renren had to hold another board meeting.
Should I follow? If I follow, where will the money come from?
The key is to spend 200 million on such a video website? Are you crazy? "Follow!"
Liao Feng said firmly: "Our support plan is not just 200 million RMB, but 300 million RMB!"
“But I’m not prepared to pay that much money.”
"At most 100 million!"
"Anyway, we are going to completely defeat Facebook within a few months."
“Users won’t know how much money we’ve invested.”
Many shareholders gritted their teeth, even if it was one hundred million, it would be a lot.
No one is willing to invest any more money.
We can't oppose you.
But you can't force us to pay.
As for the money, you figure it out yourself.
………………
Mr. Zhu from Jiucheng came to visit Lin Xiao.
The game "Miracle" has declined this year, and Jiucheng's revenue has been greatly reduced, so President Zhu is determined to win "World of Warcraft".
But now Renren Group is so rich and powerful that he really can't bear it anymore.
The most important thing is that The9 is also in the most critical stage of its IPO.
Many people in China are not optimistic about "World of Warcraft", but the US capital market is very optimistic. Once the agent of "World of Warcraft" is successful, it will have a huge driving force for The9's listing on NASDAQ, and it may even be decisive.
However, Jiucheng really cannot come up with the money.
Because of the competition from Renren Group and Tencent, Blizzard's appetite has been whetted, and the offer is much higher than before.
"Boss Lin, we are all from the Magic City, and I am here to ask for help." Boss Zhu kept bowing, "As long as you help me get the agency rights for World of Warcraft, I will definitely give you a huge reward."
In Mr. Zhu’s view, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
The Lightning Group and the Renren Group are irreconcilable, so the Lightning Group should support me, Jiucheng.
However, Mr. Zhu is not very willing for Lightning Group to invest in Jiucheng, because the other party obviously has a big appetite and will directly ask for several tens of percent of the shares.
So, he wanted to borrow money.
Lin Xiao looked at the other party for a long time, then smiled and said, "Boss Zhu, go ahead and make an offer, go ahead and fight for it, I will fully support you."
Mr. Zhu was overjoyed and said in disbelief, "Really?"
Lin Xiao: “Really!”
The reputation of Lin Xiao of Lightning Group has been a golden sign till now.
However, in Lin Xiao’s plan, he hoped that The9 and Renren Group would raise the price crazily, driving Blizzard to a state of disbelief.
If the crazy competition continues like this, the release of "World of Warcraft" in China will be delayed later and later, and it would be best to postpone it for a year.
In that case, the market for "Zhu Xian" will be completely stable and it will be able to make huge profits.
In fact, he doesn't care who gets World of Warcraft.
Mr. Zhu: “Then I feel relieved.”
………………
Next, Mr. Zhu of Jiucheng announced to the outside world that he had reached a strategic cooperation with Lightning Group.
Then he turned around and offered a higher price to Blizzard Entertainment, which was 25% higher than Renren Group.
Blizzard Entertainment was immediately overjoyed.
In the first half of this year, when they came to promote "World of Warcraft", they were somewhat coldly received. At least Shanda didn't pay much attention to them.
I didn’t expect that in the second half of the year, there would be a scramble for it, and the prices were getting higher and higher.
In this way, they are not in a hurry anymore.
On the other hand, Renren Group started cursing once again.
You are so good, Lin Xiao.
He is deliberately making things difficult for us.
What should we do now? Should we continue to follow? We had to call another emergency meeting.
"Do you want to follow this time?" Liao Feng asked.
The shareholders present fell into silence.
This time it’s different. In the video website war, they are not very willing to follow and burn money.
However, they were determined to obtain the agency rights for World of Warcraft because they wanted to show it to Yahoo Group and SoftBank Group, and World of Warcraft was really popular in the US online game market and even in the global market.
But if we follow, how much money will we spend? "We are not afraid of The Nine Cities, as their financial resources are limited. What we are worried about is Lin Xiao." Chen Yizhou: "What if Lin Xiao is trying to divert attention and attack the west instead of supporting The Nine Cities? He wants to grab the agency rights of World of Warcraft himself. Then we will be in a passive position."
Another shareholder asked, "Lightning Group, how much money do you have left?"
Miyazaki: "I don't know. Their income comes almost entirely from Lightning Entertainment. They make a lot, but... they spend even more."
"I feel like their funding chain has run out."
"They are probably just bluffing. They probably have no money left."
“You know, they have several large projects launched at the same time!”
……………………
The Lightning Group’s capital chain is indeed running out.
Because they spent too much money.
YouTube videos, Facebook, Squid Games, Bright Sword, The Chinese Paladin, Fallout 3, Zhu Xian, Dungeon Fighter, these projects are being promoted almost at the same time.
A huge amount of money is burned every day, and not long ago, it just invested 5 million US dollars in CDPR.
Not only that, but they also had to prepare tens of millions of dollars to acquire the struggling Android company.
but……
It was at this time.
Shuanglin Production and Jiangnan TV announced that they will launch an advertising bidding for the two quarters of If You Are the One next year.
It was almost very temporary, announced only three days in advance, and brands and advertisers were notified.
result……
When the day of the advertising bidding came, the venue was still crowded.
Not only did all the previous advertisers and brands come, but many new brands also came to try to take advantage of the opportunity.
The person who presided over the bidding meeting this time was still Deputy Director Zhang Yan.
"Next, we will start bidding for the naming rights of If You Are the One in the first and second quarters of next year. The naming fee for the two quarters is 100 million!"
Last season's naming rights were 39 million, but now they have risen to 50 million per season.
The extent of the price increase this time is considered to be quite drastic.
But compared to the highest peak in history, it is still a small one. When "If You Are the One" was at its peak, the title sponsorship fee in a single quarter reached about 130 million.
Moreover, the ratings of "If You Are the One" have risen again recently, reaching 4.3%.
This cannot be compared with the more than 6% in the finals of "Super Girl" and "The Voice of China".
But, it was the finals.
"If You Are the One" is broadcast twice a week, and the ratings are so amazing in almost every episode.
So even though it was a sky-high price of 100 million for two seasons, someone immediately raised their hand.
"Congratulations to Bird Mobile for winning the naming rights for two seasons of If You Are the One."
Finally, we changed the title sponsor. Previously it had been Panda Mobile, and for more than a year, they felt that the publicity had reached saturation.
In fact, the private price of 100 million yuan had been known to everyone for a long time, and three companies had been competing fiercely for it.
Bird phones, Gionee phones, Sony Ericsson phones.
Among them, Gionee Mobile Phones made a comeback in 2004, and the total sales volume was estimated to reach more than 1.7 million units, so it was a big gamble and they were determined to win the naming rights.
However, its sales volume is inferior to that of Bird mobile phones. This year, the sales volume of Bird mobile phones has exceeded 10 million units.
Therefore, in the end, Frost Productions decided to give the naming rights to Bird.
"The next bid is for the sponsorship fee for If You Are the One for the first and second quarters of next year, 56 million!"
This price has also risen sharply.
Almost as soon as I opened my mouth, someone started holding up a sign saying "Semar Clothing".
The Yager Group finally felt that the publicity had been saturated and no longer competed for the sponsorship rights.
Next, in just less than an hour.
All the advertisements have been auctioned off.
The total advertising revenue for the two quarters reached a staggering 380 million! 60% of it went into the pocket of Shuanglin Production.
……………………
The media quickly made a big fuss about it.
The advertising expenses of If You Are the One once again broke a new record.
Advertising expenses in a single quarter exceeded 190 million. Lightning Group earned nearly 230 million! However, this news has not yet spread.
Almost the next day, Shanghai TV launched an advertising bidding for the second season of “China’s Got Talent” next year.
Finally...the entire advertising fee was announced.
210 million! This number once again made the entire industry tremble.
The advertising expenditure record of "If You Are the One" in a single quarter was broken in just one day.
It's just crazy.
Although I know that advertising on Shanghai TV is expensive, this is still too expensive.
But even so, they were still sold out.
Because the first season of "China's Got Talent" was so successful, the finals had a viewership rating of 6.3%.
That’s not all. The key point is that the success of “Britain’s Got Talent” has greatly increased the value of this IP, causing advertising fees to soar further.
The advertising fees for If You Are the One are still rising slowly after all.
And "China's Got Talent" directly doubled it.
Lightning Group once again received approximately 120 million yuan.
However……
It’s not over yet!
Shuanglin Production and Zhijiang TV held a joint press conference, and both parties decided to launch a new variety show "The Voice of China" next year.
Similarly, advertising bidding for this program will be launched in a week.
Even the bid amounts for the two advertisements had already been announced: 180 million! Everyone was shocked again.
This time it was a bit too much.
Your program doesn't even have a shadow of its own. You just created a PPT, right? Or even just a new folder? And you put it up for bidding, and you want 180 million? ………………………………
That's the benefit of having powerful allies.
That’s right, now is the crucial decisive battle, and our Lightning Group’s money is about to run out.
However, our allies are willing to cooperate with us immediately and deposit the money that should be paid to us next year into our accounts several months in advance.
In just a few days, the three major allies were enough for Lightning Group to earn around 400 to 500 million RMB.
but……
This is still not over.
Lightning Entertainment quickly released an announcement.
ITV in the UK has renewed its contract for next year's "Britain's Got Talent". 16 countries including the United States, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Turkey, etc. have purchased the copyright of "Britain's Got Talent"!
Although it is not as good as the forty or fifty countries in history, it is already very impressive.
After the profit sharing, Lightning Entertainment earned $60 million! Suddenly...
The entire media is completely numb.
The Lightning Group wants to tell the entire industry.
Isn’t it just a war of burning money?
We have money, we can fight you to the end! ……………………
"Are you forcing me to death?" Liao Feng yelled! The current situation is that Lightning Group has a cash cow, and Lightning Entertainment can continuously generate huge profits.
Renren, like Facebook, is simply burning money.
Since we are going to have a decisive battle, let's do it more thoroughly.
Completely enter the money-burning competition.
Let’s see who can’t hold on and collapses.
Liao Feng looked at Wu Lingxi.
His family is rich, but...they are actually in charge of public money.
When public money enters a private company, the methods and procedures must be carefully considered.
At least it is difficult to enter so much in the short term.
Wu Lingxi's family is also rich.
However, Wu Lingxi's share has already been overdrawn.
Moreover, both parties are also wary of each other and do not allow the other party to hold too many shares more than themselves.
So the problem now is that Renren Group’s capital chain is in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao continued to escalate the money-burning war.
It's a fight to the death! "I'll go find the money!" Liao Feng said slowly.
"A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step!"
"Now is the most critical moment. We are so close to victory. No matter what the cost, it is worth it."
………………………………
Then, Liao Feng found an acquaintance again.
Wang Fengyou of Ant Power Group.
It’s not because he is the richest, but because his money is the easiest to get.
Of course, Wang Fengyou knew best how much he was worth.
With Mr. Zhao's advertisement, Yili Shen became famous all over the world this year, and it is said that the daily sales volume exceeded 10 million. But in fact, the total sales volume is far less than what is publicized, and Mr. Wang is not as rich as the outside world imagines.
And his money does not come from the sales of Yilishen, but from the deposits from farmers raising ants.
That's a Ponzi scheme.
Liao Feng: "Yahoo Group and Softbank Group want to invest $500 million in us. The market value of our Renren Group may exceed $1.5 billion or even $2 billion. Have you heard about this?"
Wang Fengyou: "Of course I heard about it. It was widely spread outside."
Liao Feng: "We are in a decisive battle with Lightning Group and we are in urgent need of money. The outcome will be decided soon. As long as the game "Perfect World" is successful and we get the agency rights for "World of Warcraft", we will win a great victory."
"By then, everyone's investment will be able to multiply five times, or even ten times!"
"Give me three hundred million!"
"Based on the valuation of one billion US dollars, I will give you shares."
"You should know how profitable and cost-effective this investment is."
Wang Fengyou's heart was pounding, because 300 million was already a lot of money for him, even though he spent over 100 million on advertising.
However, he really needs someone to take him to play high-end games.
And the one in front of us is the biggest high-end game.
Moreover, he also hopes to involve a powerful collaborator in his money-swindling business.
The Mr. Liao in front of us not only controls two giant Internet companies, but is also a top second-generation powerful person.
Pull him in.
Your own money-swindling business will become more stable and more secure.
So Wang Fengyou said casually: "300 million, not much!"
"But I have one condition."
"How about we make cross-investments? I invest in your Renren Group, and you set up a company and invest in my group?"
If Lin Xiao was standing nearby, he would be able to clearly see Liao Feng walking towards the terrifying abyss step by step.
Moreover, he personally forced the other party to move towards the abyss step by step.
………………
Note: Set a limit for myself, and update before 6:30 tomorrow! Benefactor, can you continue to give me your monthly ticket? Please, please! (End of this chapter)
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