Image source: Official photo
"Mist Theater" has created several acclaimed films and TV shows for iQiyi. Now, iQiyi is trying to follow this successful path again.
On January 31, iQiyi held the "Action Master Season". Previously, iQiyi officially launched the "Action Master Season" on January 18, launching four action-type movies, including "Block the Horse and Seize the Knife", "Defiant 2", " " and "Strange Knife", covering martial arts. , kung fu, modern, crime, drama and other elements. Among them, "Blocking the Horse and Seizing the Sword" produced, produced and specially starred by Wu Yue premiered exclusively on iQiyi Cloud Cinema on January 25. It is the first work of the "Action Master Season".
Brand Operation Accelerates Internet Development
iQiyi Senior Vice President Yang Haitao said at a media exchange meeting that the logic behind "Action Master Season" is the same as iQiyi's "Mist Theater" and "Love Theater", " We choose as wide a track as possible for brand operation, which can bring a brand with stronger perception to users."
"Action Master Season" is a brand launched on the iQiyi Cloud Cinema platform. iQiyi launched cloud cinema in 2021, which can be understood as moving theater movies online. Film producers can list movies here to obtain revenue sharing, and users can pay to watch on-demand through the platform's cloud cinema entrance.
From 2020 to 2022, theatrical movies will be hit hard. At the same time, many profound changes in the film industry also occurred during this period, and the rise of online movies was one of them. From 2020 to 2021, online movies have generally shown a trend of improving quality and increment. Long-form video platforms including Tencent Video, Youku and iQiyi are all investing in this track, and pvod (pay-per-view on demand) has become keywords within the industry. It was also during this period that Tencent Video launched its first cloud service, and iQiyi launched its cloud cinema.
iQiyi will launch the cloud cinema pvod model in 2022. This year is also the year that iQiyi carries out drastic reforms in the cloud cinema cooperation model. In April 2022, iQiyi upgraded its online movie distribution cooperation model. After the upgrade, iQiyi began to implement two distribution models: "Cloud Cinema Premiere" and "Member Premiere". Among them, "Cloud Cinema Premiere" films can Get pvod+svod (membership viewing) dual-window online distribution income. At the same time, the "member first broadcast" will cancel the platform rating, and the member's viewing time will directly determine the filmmaker's income. In September of the same year, iQiyi also announced that it had increased the proportion of the studio’s accounts during the on-demand accounting period of the cloud cinema premiere model.
Last year, the premiere box office box office of "Zero" and "Northeast Police Story 2" released by iQiyi at cloud theaters exceeded 46 million yuan and 35 million yuan respectively, which can catch up with theatrical movies. In addition, "Northeast Police Story 2" has a rating of 7.2 on Douban, which is a good result among online movies.
Male users contribute more than 60% of the online viewing time
Including the four action movies launched today, iQiyi Cloud Cinema’s path to building a brand is very clear, but why action movies?
In this regard, Yang Haitao said that male users have greater demand for online viewing, and their contribution to the movie business exceeds 60% of the playback time. In addition, according to data from the platform’s movie channel, action movies accounted for 40% of the top 20 movies watched by members within 30 days. In addition, the number of orders for platform action films in 2023 will account for 91% of all films. The audience determines the strategic direction of the platform.
Yang Haitao also used "Mist Theater" as a comparison, saying that there are three reasons why "Mist Theater" can be successful: 1. Typification, focusing on suspense tracks with a large audience, ensuring scale and attention; 2. Premium quality; 3. Serialization is also about building a brand, such as today’s “Action Master Season”.
According to iQiyi Vice President Song Jia , there are many projects in preparation for Cloud Cinema in the new year, including military action films. “We still need to make some breakthroughs. Can military actions only occur in In the tropical rainforest or the sea? How to reinterpret Jin Yong's works?"
In terms of going overseas, Song Jia said that action movies have a huge mass base internationally.Previously, the distribution of iQiyi-related projects was usually based on overseas new media platforms or TV stations. In the future, it will continue to cooperate with theater chains in Southeast Asia and other regions. "It is not ruled out that domestic cloud cinema projects may be launched overseas, and theater chains may be used overseas." ."
On November 21, 2023, iQiyi released its third quarter financial report for 2023. In the third quarter of last year, iQiyi's total revenue was 8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%; net profit was 475.9 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Turn losses into profits. According to "latepost", Tencent Video's annual revenue in 2022 will exceed 10 billion yuan, and it began to make money in October of that year. Under the general trend of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, domestic long-form video platforms have gone through a "long season."
