'Internet + Movies' = ?

Introduction: The National Day and summer seasons are both booming. China’s film industry continues to rise and its profits increase, which promotes the progress from a “film power” to a “film power”. At the same time, Internet companies such as Maoyan, as the Internet pioneers of entering the film industry, have also achieved particularly bright market performance - the dual-effect kinetic energy has gradually become prominent, and we can’t help but look back and look forward: What does “Internet + film” bring? Where will it be taken?

Text | Uncle Circle

In addition, the box office performance of this year’s summer program is also intriguing - the data shows that the box office of 17.653 billion has created an unprecedented “strongest summer file”, an increase of 7% year-on-year. From the perspective of market macro, micro and other multi-dimensional data, this It’s the best summer vacation in recent years.

China’s film market continues to rise and revenue increases, driving the transformation from a “big film country” to a “film powerhouse”. People can’t help but wonder: What are the driving forces behind the development of the film market? A few days ago, Phoenix Satellite TV’s iconic column “Phoenix Big Vision” conducted a comprehensive review of the development of the domestic film industry. Policy guidance, capital influx, and the struggle of Chinese filmmakers have jointly formed the main driving force. Among them, the tide of Internet innovation in China has also intersected in the film industry, forming a clear difference from the development history of the film market in other countries.

As a member of the “Internet + Film” field, Maoyan CEO Zheng Zhihao was interviewed by the Phoenix Satellite TV documentary. What exactly did the cat’s eye do? For the Chinese film industry, what real changes and future possibilities have the power of the Internet brought about? These are all meaningful and realistic propositions worthy of exploration.

Industrial turn

hematopoietic capacity is essential

Speaking of Maoyan, there are several things that impressed the industry: online seat selection, the world’s first second-level real-time box office data monitoring, and data-based movie announcements. Among them, online seat selection is the most significant. It is closely combined with the dividends of the mobile Internet, turning a large number of people who have never been in the cinema into moviegoers, helping the number of moviegoers to quadruple in just a few years. It is precisely the Internet companies including Maoyan that make the greatest contribution to the entire industry.

From 2012 to 2017, the total number of moviegoers in China increased from 452 million to 1.621 billion. At the same time, the penetration rate of movie ticketing in China also increased from 18.3% to 81.7% in 2017. The boom brought by the Internet has stirred up the fiery development of the film industry.

Of course, the hematopoietic energy supply of Internet companies represented by Maoyan for the film industry does not stop there. Zheng Zhihao, CEO of Maoyan Entertainment, said in an interview, “After 2016, the development of the entire film industry has gradually shifted from the original large-scale expansion and brutal growth to connotative growth.” The so-called connotative growth is to tap the diversified value of the industry by improving efficiency and value gains. After using the Internet to achieve industrial restructuring and market expansion, Maoyan proposed a “one vertical and one horizontal” strategy, extending to the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, from a simple ticketing platform to a full-text entertainment service platform.

“We hope to be a service platform that truly serves the industry, from the film industry to the full-text entertainment industry. It is precisely this positioning that allows us to dare to go from ticketing to publicity, publicity, and entertainment from the very beginning. Distribution, throwing, screening, theater empowerment, e-commerce, and commercialization are all links in the industry chain.” Zheng Zhihao said.

“Born to the Sun”

To be a platform that truly serves the industry

What Zheng Zhihao said to be a platform that truly serves the film and full-text entertainment industry is not empty talk.

Under the blessing of these advantageous resources, the existing market practice of Maoyan is particularly eye-catching. In 2016, the film “Donkey Gets Water”, which was not favored at the box office, was raised to a box office of 170 million, becoming the biggest dark horse of the year.

Consumption upgrade

The future of Chinese films can be expected

This reshaping force is still at work today.

Maoyan data shows that after the 2018 summer season’s third- and fourth-tier and other cities’ proportion of visitors dropped by 0.9 percentage points year-on-year, the 2019 summer season rose to 43.1%, basically the same as in 2017, which indicates that the market for movies will sink again. Launch, users of the sinking market are being discovered.

At the same time, sales of special movie theaters represented by IMAX also achieved significant growth. It can be seen that the consumption upgrade of the film market has been going on, and this is the beginning of the Internet. When the consumer demand is continuously stimulated, the vitality of the market will never end.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen cultural self-confidence and promote the prosperity of socialist culture. Driven by the Internet, the structural adjustment of the film industry has become more and more thorough, and the industrialization system with innovative efficiency has been continuously improved. The ever-growing film industry will also play a new chapter in the melody of the times, promote socialist culture in a more active and effective way, and tell the story of China to the world.

It is worth mentioning that “Internet + Film” not only brings unprecedented activity in the film market, but also opens up a new development path for the Internet industry. It can be seen that while the Chinese film market has repeatedly set new records, Maoyan’s financial report has also shown good market results: the adjusted net profit in the first half of 2019 was 380.4 million yuan, successfully achieving its first profit - “Internet + Film”. The dual-effect kinetic energy is gradually highlighted.

In the future, what possibilities will the Internet and the film industry bring to each other? Everything remains to be seen, practiced and explored, but what can be believed is that “Internet + film” is the direction that both the two major industries can go through, go fast, and go far. It has become a major focus of film power and Internet power.