Chapter 506: Crazy Money Spending
All the guests attending the WeChat video promotion conference were mentally prepared and knew that WeChat would increase its investment in WeChat video.
But when Zhang Ning, president of WeChat, stood on the stage and announced a series of plans for WeChat video in 2013 to everyone present, everyone, including partners and advertisers, was stunned.
Zhang Ning’s speech first brought up the internal strengths of WeChat video.
For example, how to provide users with the best viewing experience, and WeChat Video’s huge investment in servers and other aspects.
These are even better than those of industry competitors such as Youdou and Baidu.
Especially with WeChat, which has more than 300 million users in China, everyone has realized that WeChat video will provide a social interaction advantage that other video sites and platforms cannot match.
This advantage alone is enough to make everyone excited.
But if that’s all, it would be an underestimation of WeChat Video’s ambition and strategic layout!
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Ning announced that WeChat Video had reached a strategic partnership with Warner Bros. and Fox in the United States, and would become the exclusive broadcasting platform in China for movies and TV series from these two Hollywood companies, available to all WeChat Video users.
This major move immediately shocked everyone present.
Oh my god, this is a huge deal!
There is no need to mention Warner Bros.' works in the film industry. The famous Harry Potter, Superman, Lord of the Rings and Batman series are all their works. It is the most powerful film company in Hollywood.
Take the two TV stations under Warner Bros. for example, one is HBO and the other is CW.
HBO's American TV series have countless fans in China. The previous Spartacus, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and the current True Blood and Game of Thrones have all caused a huge ratings sensation in China.
Compared to HBO, CW TV station is not as well-known, but I believe many American drama fans will know all of its dramas by heart as long as this company's dramas are mentioned.
Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Veronica Mars, and Nikita to name a few.
This is also a very powerful TV station, and its audience is targeted at young audiences aged 18 to 34.
In addition, The Big Bang Theory is also owned by Warner Bros.
As for Fox, although it is not as good as HBO, it is equally impressive.
This WeChat video has won the exclusive broadcasting rights of two major American drama companies in one go. How much money did that cost?
Yang Huan sat down below, legs crossed, listening to the exclamations and uproars from the audience, feeling extremely proud in his heart.
Winning the exclusive broadcasting rights from Warner Bros. and Fox would be the most painful blow to all competitors.
Although American dramas still seem to be a niche in China, in fact, their overall popularity is on the rise.
More importantly, the target audience of American TV dramas are white-collar workers with higher education and upper-middle income levels, or college students.
And this group is exactly the one that online advertisers value the most.
A large number of high-end brands, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Cadillac, Chanel, Dior, etc., are very happy to invest in advertisements in American TV series.
Therefore, even though the cost of introducing American TV series is not low, there is still profit to be made.
This is the same principle as Sky TV broadcasting the Premier League, as long as it is the exclusive broadcasting rights, there will be profit!
More importantly, as a time traveler, Yang Huan knew better than anyone that signing this contract now would be absolutely a great deal.
Take Game of Thrones for example. This series is quite popular in China now, but compared with the past two years, it is just a small hit now. After all, in the next two years, the development momentum of American TV series in China will be rapid.
By taking advantage of this time difference, WeChat Video made a lot of money on the introduction costs.
There is also the CW TV station. Not to mention The Vampire Diaries, the company's Arrow and The Flash, which were launched in the next two years, have attracted a lot of American drama fans in China.
In addition, CW TV's America's Next Top Model is also a very popular entertainment program in the United States.
This time, the WeChat Video-invested "Fall in Love with Supermodel" will be supported by CW TV.
Fox will strongly support WeChat video in the broadcasting of events and the production of supporting programs. These are Fox's strengths and were also the reasons James Murdoch used to convince Yang Huan.
What's more, given Yang Huan's relationship with James Murdoch and the many cooperative projects they have, the cooperation on American dramas and entertainment programs seems a little insignificant.
In addition to Warner Bros. and Fox, WeChat Video will also cooperate with the BBC to introduce not only TV series but also BBC documentaries, which is another very attractive aspect.
For example, BBC's most popular TV series, Sherlock Holmes!
In addition to announcing these exclusively imported copyrights, Zhang Ning also announced that WeChat Video will invest more funds to participate in the introduction of copyrights for other excellent European and American TV series and films.
But just when everyone was amazed at WeChat Video's generous investment in introducing European and American copyrights, Zhang Ning announced another major news.
That is, WeChat Video has reached a strategic partnership with South Korea's SBS TV station and will become the exclusive broadcasting platform for SBS TV series on the Internet in China.
This was undoubtedly another bombshell, which immediately caused an uproar in the conference hall.
SBS TV station is the most influential TV station in South Korea. This time, WeChat Video will cooperate with SBS. In addition to introducing dramas, it will also cooperate on variety shows, which is also SBS's strong point, such as Running Man.
This was another decision made by Yang Huan himself, because the price offered by SBS was very cheap.
After contact and negotiation, the two parties finally decided that WeChat Video would buy out the exclusive online copyright of SBS's TV series for the next five years at a price of US$5,000 per episode.
As a bargaining chip, Yang Huan agreed to let Yoona film a drama for SBS after obtaining her consent.
Of course, even though there was a big discount, the film remuneration still had to be paid!
Currently, the price of online copyright for Korean dramas in China ranges from one thousand to three thousand US dollars per episode.
Among them, three thousand dollars corresponds to the copyright of the most popular Korean drama, so WeChat Video bought the exclusive online copyright for the next five years at a price of five thousand dollars, which gives people the feeling that it is quite a loss.
But Yang Huan knew better than anyone that the Korean drama market was still quite sluggish in 2012. But in 2013, with the popularity of a series of excellent Korean dramas such as My Love from the Star and The Heirs, the copyright fees for importing Korean dramas also rose sharply.
From $10,000 per episode at the beginning of the year, to $30,000 later, and then to the record-breaking $40,000 per episode of My Love from the Star.
But is that it?
No, in 2014, the movie "He's Lovable" starring Rain directly set a record of $200,000 per episode.
But this is not the highest!
The real record for a single episode is $280,000, which is still Pinocchio on SBS.
It was precisely because Yang Huan knew that the copyright fees for Korean dramas would skyrocket to an astonishing level in the next two to three years that he decided to sign a contract with SBS TV station for the next five years of TV series at a price of US$5,000 per episode, which seems to be a very high price now.
Because it’s so cheap!
Equally cheap and cost-effective is the exclusive cooperation agreement signed by WeChat Video with many domestic TV stations including Capital TV, Mango TV, Litchi TV and Blueberry TV.
Among them, WeChat Video has acquired the exclusive online copyright of all variety shows of Mango TV, and the fee is 200 million per year!
In addition, WeChat Video has also reached cooperative relationships with many domestic film and television companies, signing exclusive online copyrights in advance at the current market price, but at a price that will seem quite low in the next one or two years.
In Zhang Ning's words, WeChat Video must have what others have, 100% coverage of popular resources, and then use the advantages of exclusive copyright to establish WeChat Video's competitiveness and market share in one fell swoop.
All these cooperation projects, one after another, have been put on the table, and they are all calculated in billions!
Everyone sitting in the audience was stunned and couldn't believe it.
Especially the bald beast, he kept slapping his face and muttering to himself.
"I'm not dreaming, am I?"
How much money does it take and how willful does one have to be to be able to invest so much money to run such a huge plan?
Without saying anything else, just for the copyright fees, how much do you have to pay every year?
This is just burning money, and it’s crazy burning money!
Everyone was stunned!
Compared with the huge investment in copyright fees, the budget invested in supporting original videos is nothing at all.
It was only at this moment that everyone clearly realized that WeChat Video was serious this time!
Unlike Yang Huan, they are not time travelers, so they naturally don't know. The current price is indeed generous, even high, but in the next one or two years, when Internet video companies start scrambling for copyrights, the price will be quite low.
Are you kidding? You're watching a popular American TV series that costs 10,000 yuan per episode, or a popular Korean TV series that costs 5,000 yuan per episode. Why don't you buy them and try?
As for the variety shows on Capital TV and Mango TV, will they sell them to you unless you offer a sky-high price?
But there are also smart people who, although not time travelers, have very accurate and sharp vision and can grasp another level at once.
For example, the thirty-year-old man wearing glasses sitting next to Yang Huan.
He realized that Master Huan was setting up a copyright barrier.
The mobility of online video users is quite high. They will go to watch videos on whichever platform has good video programs and provides a better experience.
If it is a program that you, I, and everyone else have, there will not be much competitiveness.
But now, WeChat Video has spent huge amounts of money to sign exclusive online copyrights, including set-top boxes.
In other words, in the future, these fields and programs will only be available on WeChat Video. If you want to watch them, you have to go to WeChat Video.
This will be a devastating blow to other video platforms.
For WeChat video, this will be a godsend.
If after spending such a huge amount of money and introducing numerous programs and resources, WeChat Video still cannot catch up, rush to the forefront of online videos, or even become the market leader, then it will be truly a hopeless case.
It is probably because of this that WeChat Video is trying every means to poach its own talents through headhunting companies.
Thinking of this, the young man with glasses couldn't help but turn his head and glance at Young Master Huan who was sitting next to him, with admiration in his eyes.
This plan is too advanced!
It will deal a devastating blow to competitors!
It may even explode into slag!
He could even foresee that the entire Internet would go crazy as soon as the media announced it tomorrow!
only……
"Master Huan, is your plan too hasty? After all, the investment is so huge, and the current market environment is..."
After hearing this, Yang Huan couldn't help but laugh. "Old Ma, you are absolutely right. The current market environment is not good enough. Netizens have not yet developed the habit of paying. Piracy is everywhere, but so what?"
Lao Ma frowned and smiled bitterly in his heart. I am only in my early thirties and I have become Lao Ma!
Please call me Pony!
"I tell you, this market won't improve on its own. We need to manage it!"
This made Lao Ma nod his head continuously to show his agreement.
"If someone pirates, I will sue him until he goes bankrupt. It doesn't matter if users don't have the habit of paying. I will cultivate them step by step. I have enough patience and financial resources to support them. I believe everything will be fine in the future."
Old Ma now nodded sincerely, his eyes full of admiration.
"Also, my dad always says that the biggest advantage of doing business is the time difference. You can't wait until all the conditions are ripe and all the resources are ready before you start. It will be too late then!"
"So, what I do is, once I've picked a business I'm interested in, I don't care whether it makes money or not, I'll just go for it first!"
Old Ma nodded heavily, this was indeed the truth.
It’s easy to say, but very difficult to do!
I'm afraid that only someone as wealthy as Young Master Huan has the ability and courage to do this.
"From now on, everything about WeChat video will be left to you!" Yang Huan smiled and patted Lao Ma's shoulder encouragingly.
It feels like being entrusted with an important task!
Old Ma was so moved and excited that he kept nodding his head.