Author | Candied Hawthorn
Editor | Li Xunhuan
The news that the advance party of "Escape Room 6" needs to be paid separately really caught Xiaomeng, a double "Escape" and "Houseman" fan, off guard.
"I didn't expect that even "Escape" would cost extra money, so what does my v8 membership count for?" She wanted to watch the star version and the master version of the advance party, which would cost 24 yuan. Previously, she had already paid for "Year-Around Plan 2": 12 yuan for single-episode membership (24 yuan for non-members), 48 yuan for all 6 episodes (73 yuan for non-members).
After much struggle, she chose the "pickup code" on the Internet - pirated resources. Entertainment unicorns have also noticed that on platforms such as Douyin and Weibo, along with paid messages, although there are many "phishing messages", the comments about "pickup code" and "pickup code" are really popular. Wave.
When she learned that the content of the feature film was still available to members, and that the Master Edition only used svip's advance viewing mode, her mind returned to "on track." A relatively unified saying on
Douyin is exactly how she feels: "Don't watch pirated copies. VIPs can watch them after 18:00. If the number of views doesn't increase by then, there may be no next season. Seniors, please rely on me." This is it.” The doubts about the ugly appearance of the
platform, the sadness of being cut off from the leek, and the entanglements of the cultivation system are indeed difficult to explain in one word. However, Xiaomeng also accepted some opinions while surfing the Internet: 's "Escape" this season does not have brand sponsorship, and even old partner Mirinda has "run away"; although the master version has the exclusive title of Nanbo Wan , but it is also a self-operated brand. In other words, for the show to continue, someone has to foot the bill.
Why is it "Escape 6"? Is mango "ugly to eat" or "hard to survive"? Are member-paid variety shows an irreversible new trend?
"Escape 6" takes over the battlefield: Has Mango's paid variety show matrix been completed?
Of course, "Escape 6" is not the only one that requires separate payment. Mango has already created a diversified membership-paid variety show matrix with a strong platform label.
So far this year, members of the advanced gathering experience chapter of "Beat the Wind 4" need to pay separately 9.9 yuan (non-members 18 yuan). "Chengfeng 2024" has launched a payment system for unexpected additional live broadcast games, annual seat preemptive live broadcast nights, and Chengfeng Night dance live show. The first two single games are 6 yuan for members (12 yuan for non-members), and the last one is 6 yuan for members. 9.9 yuan (18 yuan for non-members). "Year-round Hospital Plan 2" is also a paid content.
In the past two years, Mango has tried to pay to watch variety shows participated by the Academy and 0713. The 0713 trial version of "Escape Room 4" and "Year-Around Plan 1" are available for members to purchase a single episode for 8 yuan, and for 12 yuan to purchase 1-2 episodes (double for non-members), and svip can watch for free gameplay.
Then why is "Escape 6" at the forefront of the limelight, and also promotes the membership-paying variety show model to the public? From the perspective of entertainment unicorns, it is not only because of its influence as the leading IP in the entertainment industry, but also because it can dissect the platform’s testing ideas for member-paid content.
On the first level, compared to pan-entertainment variety shows, the user base of Myth Variety is more fixed and more sticky. In particular, Mango’s deep cultivation in the Myth Variety track over the years has allowed it to accumulate the most stable fans on its platform. group, which determines that the willingness of these people to pay will not be too bad.
If you choose to pay for content such as Advance Party, even if you don’t watch this part of the content, it will not affect the overall integrity, thus avoiding the possibility of large-scale rollover.
To put it simply, for the top variety show IP, uses "additional content" to leverage the willingness to pay of highly sticky audiences among a wider range of users. At the same time, it also provides word-of-mouth insurance for the variety show IP, which is full of testing nature.
The second level is that continues to leverage the wallets of specific user groups through the development of vertical content.
Take the academy variety show as an example. It debuted as a spin-off program in 2019, and later became a multi-program matrix and formed a year-round program for the academy. This year, a large-scale planned program for the academy members to participate in various mango variety shows By brushing your face, you have accumulated a considerable fan base. This is the cultivation of guests and fans.
The "education" and "cultivation" of users that have been carried out through trial version payment and other models since the past few years are the "cultivation" of users' paying habits. The influence of the Academy staff at music festivals and concerts this year has once again confirmed the fans’ ability to make money. All these are indicating that now is the harvest season.
Facts have proved that many people still choose to pay for their love. Up to now, "Escape 6" Star Edition and Master Edition Advance Party have received 62.54 million and 13.71 million views respectively on Mango Station, basically the same as the fourth season (there are 4 episodes of Season 5 Advance Party Star Edition and Master Edition, traffic Inconvenient for comparison). In other words, payment does not actually affect the willingness to watch, and it also brings considerable new income to the platform in addition to membership income.
With its unique content and user base, and its gradual testing of the waters, the Mango variety show does have its cleverness. It is not difficult to understand why he has rapidly expanded his variety show this year: currently on air or has been completed, there are "Cube New World" composed of famous detectives, escapees, and actors, and the "Treasure Hunt" variety show "Busy" "Looking for Treasures" and so on.
Just the feedback from the market cannot be ignored. Behind the ugly appearance and widespread piracy, even senior fans like Xiaomeng who are worried about the commercial development of the academy’s variety shows, time and time again said, “If I can spend some money to allow the seniors’ variety shows to be recorded for 100 seasons, I will "To convince myself to pay for , it is inevitable that I will be discouraged by the high frequency and high charges.
The investment promotion platform is in trouble. Is the membership payment model feasible?
"Nowadays, variety shows do not solely rely on investment, but membership income is also very good," a variety show practitioner said to the entertainment unicorn more than once. It has long been a default reality in the industry that investment is difficult and advertising revenue cannot cover content costs. Toc's member variety shows have also become a battleground for the platform. For example, Mango TV recently announced a new member variety show brand "Xiao Fun Variety", which also It is regarded as another innovative exploration of its business model in the field of membership payment.
’s svip and single-episode payment models that continue to increase membership rights are also revenue points that the platform is targeting. The former of is a "re-upgrade" of member variety shows and is also the main focus of this year's video platform. Mango TV's "Cube New World" and "My Girl" and other variety shows, and Tencent Video's "Half Lovers 3" and " Happy Wonderful Night " and other variety shows all use the svip sneak peek strategy, aims to leverage membership renewal and motivation to upgrade.
The latter can match the screening model of the drama market. However, the drama market is based on final screening, while the variety show market is mainly based on advance screening, or payment based on "people". Here we can answer a question: Is there room for reversal of membership-paid variety shows?
The answer seems to be no. Regardless of the fact that content payment is becoming a global trend, even in the drama market, which has been suspended from advance on-demand and now has returned to "renaming", the audience's acceptance is increasing day by day. In fact, is also a habit of users to pay. problem. Even on the barrage of various popular dramas, we can see the spontaneous shouting of the audience, "Go beyond it, I am willing to spend money."
The current audience is not stingy about paying for the content they like. Just like they reject advertisements but will spontaneously advocate for brand owners for their favorite content. This is the content cost awareness and content awareness that video platforms have cultivated in the past few years. Paid habits . However, there are many problems when it comes to implementation.
Member-paid content in the variety show market is mainly based on Mango layout, with a small dabbling in Tencent Video., the latter is the group drama " is now in operation·Special show with Fengxing " produced by " and Fengxing ". It adopted a paid model after it was launched. However, in terms of gameplay, is more inclined to the drama side. "Big Gift Package" mode , which binds variety show content, drama finale viewing tickets, behind-the-scenes content, etc. It is slightly different from the single-episode payment on the variety show side, but it is still an exploration.
We just need to see that there has been no new development in the exploration of in the past six months. Because itself is highly dependent on the market effect of the broadcast of the drama, it is also closely related to the cooperation and schedule of the popular drama actors during the broadcast. This is why although Tencent Video still has many dramas with good market feedback such as " Celebrating More Than Years 2", " Rose Story ", " Sauvignon Blanc 2", it has not continued to promote post-sale dramas. Not to mention paying to try.
Mango’s paid content layout, header IP and vertical content go hand in hand, and the scale is gradually increasing. Brother Pi and Sister Lang relied on their sufficient star power and the IP of Brother and Sister's variety shows to become exclusive to Mango Variety Show, gathering a deep user base, and the paid content brought a very considerable "extra income": Brother Pi gathered ahead of schedule The playback volume of the experience chapter (Part 1 and 2) is 130 million. Comparing with non-member exclusive content, the 920 million views of the first episode (top, middle, bottom) may seem like a serious decline, but it is actually a successful attempt to leverage a wider range of users to pay for content based on a large base.
Through the continuous testing of the head variety show IP, member-paid content will be accepted by more people. From the user side, it satisfies the deeper pursuit needs of advanced users without affecting the normal viewing of the vast majority of users. But there are also many problems faced.
is the most prominent and most relevant to users’ willingness to pay. For example, how to determine the price: takes "Escape 6" and "Yuanren Year-round Plan 2" as examples. The price of membership payment is basically maintained at 12 yuan for a single episode. Unlocking the full episode requires a large amount of money, or even It has exceeded the price range of dramas and movies that the market is familiar with.
Another example is how to clarify user rights among membership, svip, individual payment and other gameplay methods, and how to prevent users from feeling overly cut off during high-frequency payments. After all, if the trust and favorability of users are destroyed and they turn to piracy, it will be a great damage to the platform, and even the membership awareness cultivated before will "return to before liberation."
Of course, in the end, all the accumulation points still fall on the quality of the content. Only content can become the most stable bridge between business interests and user experience. The controversy of 's "Escape 6" itself is also related to the decline in its IP influence and the major change of guests this season. In particular, the absence of veteran guests such as Yang Mi and the addition of new guests also mean the loss and influx of audiences to , and all of this will take time to verify.
At present, the suspicion of Tongzilou in the first case has basically established the reputation of the program. The 360 million views of the celebrity version are basically not affected by the lack of traffic stars, and new sparks are also bursting out among the guests. However, on the data platform, we are still concerned that this program not only topped the Maoyan popularity list on the first day of its launch, but also hovered outside the 15th place even on the update day. lacks a national topic.
In addition, IPs of the same size may have completely different results in terms of user willingness to pay. Even if "Chengfeng 2024" adopts the "live broadcast" eye-catching mode, the single playback volume of the three paid live broadcasts has just exceeded 10 million. Comparing the playback volume of feature films and other paid variety show content, is at the bottom. Of course, this may be related to the fact that it was crushed by the topic of "Singer 2024" during the same period during the broadcast, and the timing of paid content was improperly selected.
To put it simply, the payment trend is irreversible, but how to find the best balance between content costs, commercial interests and user experience, and how to find the subject types, time nodes, and gameplay modes that the audience is willing to pay are all the next variety shows The market needs to be explored urgently. After all, one-time business is easy to do, but it is not a long-term solution after all.As for how far this model can go, we always believe in the eagerness and sincerity of audiences to pay for good content.
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