Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 720 Hidden Crisis
Of course, saying that the short video field is still a little immature at this point in time is simply Zhou Dongsheng’s “personal opinion”.
After all, with the 4G mobile network finally experiencing a qualitative leap, coupled with the penetration of major domestic mobile phone manufacturers into the lower-tier markets, 4G smartphones priced at around 1,000 yuan are rapidly taking over the market.
The feedback this brings to the Internet industry is that a huge amount of users and traffic are gushing out as if a valve was suddenly opened!
This surge in traffic has not only impacted the existing Internet landscape, but the emergence of a large number of "new users" has also given some newly emerging software the opportunity to reshape user habits!
After all, unlike the old netizens who have been around since the Internet era, they basically retain the habits accumulated step by step from the Internet era. Once this user inertia is formed, it is almost irreversible.
It also creates a kind of user inertia. Even if users try new things for a while due to the temporary novelty, most of them will eventually choose to return to their comfort zone.
Just like Tenda's dominant position in the social field, even though many dating apps have emerged in recent years, like carp crossing the river, it is still difficult to shake its position.
After users’ sense of novelty wears off, they can only survive by finding new ways, and it is difficult for them to become mainstream.
Similarly, this is not only true in the social field, but also in other fields such as e-commerce. Once users develop a habit, they basically will not switch platforms at will.
After all, relearning and adapting to a platform is also a potential cost, not to mention the sunk costs accumulated on the old platform. Loss aversion is undoubtedly human instinct.
However, both the new platform of mobile Internet and the large number of new users are far from reaching the stage of forming user habits, let alone inertia.
Breaking into this huge Internet, they are like a group of novice drivers who have just hit the road. They are full of novelty and excitement about steering and driving, and have an endless desire to explore.
Unlike experienced drivers, as we all know, experienced drivers generally don't drive if they can avoid it. After all, their desires have already been fully satisfied through long-term driving, and their desire threshold has also increased accordingly.
As the old saying goes, a person is strong when he has no desires. Desire itself is the source of power that drives people forward.
New drivers who have just hit the road are at the stage where their desires are highest. Even older elders still find it difficult to extricate themselves from the world of mobile Internet.
They have completely forgotten that they once regarded it as a scourge and despised it. This is another typical manifestation of the "law of true fragrance".
As social animals, social desire is always the first need of human beings, and products with social currency attributes that circulate in social situations will naturally stand out.
Especially the novel music short video format such as Tik Tok, the magical music and the explosive pictures fully realize the short, flat and fast product characteristics.
This kind of product strength that is a culmination of all the best is undoubtedly the true essence of short videos. Even experienced netizens find it difficult to control themselves in the face of such temptation.
Just move your fingers and slide up and down to turn on the dopamine switch and get mental pleasure and satisfaction, which is really hard to extricate yourself from.
Even experienced drivers can't resist the temptation, let alone new drivers who have just started on the road. It's like they just walked out of the novice village and ran into a big boss at the level of the seven deadly sins.
This is also why Douyin was able to accumulate 100 million users in a short period of time and catch up with the first echelon in the short video field.
Oh no, to be precise, the data of 100 million users is already outdated. During this period, the number of Douyin users still maintained a high growth rate.
Especially with the help of the social fission effect, when you have 10 million users, completing a 50% fission can bring you 5 million user growth.
As for the user retention rate, it depends on whether the platform's high-quality content can meet user needs. At this point, the Golden Second Award has the "paying a fortune" effect.
At present, the ratio of content creators to users on the Douyin platform is second to none, even surpassing Kuaishou and Meipai.
After all, on the road of traffic monetization, the leading role played by [Papi Jiang] is undoubtedly immediate. As long as it is profitable, people will naturally flock to it.
Under the dual stimulation of high user growth and high retention rate, it is conceivable that the speed of Douyin's user growth is very fast.
It is precisely the unique product characteristics of music short videos that have made Toutiao, which has been planning for a long time, set its sights on this piece of fat meat.
As the saying goes, you have to pick the softest persimmon to squeeze. Compared with competing with industry leaders like Kuaishou and Meipai, which have solid foundations, the newly emerging Douyin obviously does not have as solid a foundation as the former.
Although Douyin has Zhou Dongsheng and Zhuchang Capital behind it in terms of capital, but...
Who doesn't?
Toutiao, which has also emerged in the mobile Internet in recent years, was valued at US$500 million two years ago.
Now, times have changed. After two years of accumulation and development, the two flagship products have become increasingly mature, the business model is on the right track, and the company's valuation has naturally achieved earth-shaking growth.
At present, in order to continue to meet the company's needs for rapid growth, Toutiao has once again started another round of financing.
There is no wall that is impenetrable. According to industry insiders, Toutiao, which is no longer a powerful entity, will inevitably be valued at more than 10 billion US dollars in the new round of financing!
Rounding off, he is already one step away from being a trillionaire . The same is 10 billion. Compared with Zhou Dongsheng, the billionaire, the gap is huge. It's because the units are different.
At least at this stage, Dongsheng Group, which has just completed resource integration, is still a dwarf compared to it.
Such a Toutiao system is naturally qualified and confident to treat the current TikTok as a soft persimmon, and the "A.me" product is one of their attempts.
Once certain results are achieved and a new round of financing is completed, the powerful Toutiao will naturally choose to send in a large number of troops and play the role of another disruptor in the short video field.
The fact that they were able to come up with such an elaborate imitation product clearly shows that Toutiao had been planning this for a long time. It was deliberate but unintentional. At the moment, neither Yang Luyu nor Zhou Dongsheng were aware of the impending crisis.
The two were sitting opposite each other at this time, having a pleasant conversation in Yang Luyu's office at the Wenxue Network headquarters.
"Time flies. Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye. It seems like the first Golden Second Award was just yesterday, and we have already started preparing for the second one..."
Yang Luyu smiled and sighed, not only expressing his emotion about the Golden Second Award, but also about the earth-shaking changes in Wenxue Network.
Now that Wenxue Network Company has Douyin, its flagship product with hundreds of millions of users, it is naturally a completely different place than before.
For the office area alone, they have rented an entire building in this industrial park and have also absorbed a lot of fresh blood.
After all, talent is the primary productive force. Any company that wants to maintain rapid business growth cannot do without a steady stream of fresh blood as support.
In this regard, Internet companies have performed particularly well, which is also the source of their strong vitality.
The biggest beneficiary of the changes in Wenxue Network is naturally its founder Yang Luyu, who has truly experienced what it means to reach the pinnacle of life.
All this is thanks to this young man. If he had not listened to Zhou Dongsheng's advice and returned to the domestic market in time, and implemented a series of localization strategies under his advice...
Then there would not be the current success of TikTok. Currently, among Wenxue Network’s corporate businesses, TikTok has already come from behind and surpassed its predecessor, musical.ly!
Under the booming explosive power of the domestic market, the domestic market's business has unexpectedly developed and surpassed the overseas market that Wenxue Network has been cultivating for many years!
Although musical.ly is extremely popular in overseas markets, after one or two years of accumulation, the number of users still does not exceed 100 million, and the user group is still mainly teenagers in Europe and the United States.
However, in just less than a year after entering the domestic market, it has accumulated hundreds of millions of users!
This is enough to prove how correct this strategy is. Of course, it not only refers to returning to the domestic market, but also to making Zhou Dongsheng a strategic investor of the company...
"Now it seems that the first Golden Second Award, which lost money but gained publicity, has achieved remarkable results. Mr. Yang needs to put more thought into the second one. As long as we can make it the best benchmark in the industry, it will be enough for us to be invincible..."
As a strategic investor, Zhou Dongsheng also tried his best to give advice to Yang Luyu. After all, the short video platform Douyin is undoubtedly a crucial position.
Whether it is related to personal interests or out of long-term strategic planning, Zhou Dongsheng could not sit idly by and ignore the original intention of "making a quick buck and running away".
After the establishment of Dongsheng Group, it was already outdated for Zhou Dongsheng, or in other words...
Making a quick buck and running away can no longer satisfy Zhou Dongsheng's appetite, he wants more!
"President Zhou...don't worry about this. This is related to the future of the company. As the founder, I naturally have no choice but to take responsibility. With the good example set by President Zhou, if I don't pay attention, wouldn't I be letting President Zhou down?"
Yang Luyu also changed his words. As a person who had close contacts with Zhou Dongsheng and had interests tied to him, Yang Luyu was naturally aware of the establishment of Dongsheng Group.
"Golden Second Award, we are the only one that holds an award ceremony in the short video field. The value of the award is naturally not inferior, but as an Internet company, not following the rules is our specialty..."
“In the future, the Golden Second Award may not be limited to one award ceremony. We hold it on New Year’s Eve, so in the future we may also be able to work towards an Internet New Year’s Eve party…”
"As a platform, we only need to provide a stage for short video creators to perform. With such a good opportunity, I believe that many talents will stand out..."
"Aren't young people nowadays complaining that the Spring Festival Gala is getting worse and worse? In the future, why don't we try to work towards 'making a Spring Festival Gala for young people'!"
Zhou Dongsheng proposed a very constructive suggestion. As for where this idea came from, there is no need to elaborate. Thousands of words can be summed up in one sentence: Uncle, I am going to start copying again...
Upon hearing this, Yang Luyu couldn't help but take a deep breath, and once again felt from the bottom of his heart that the idea of letting Zhou Dongsheng be the strategic investor might really be the most correct life choice he had ever made!
Although it seems unreliable and far-fetched at first glance, if his subordinates proposed it, Yang Luyu would most likely choose to laugh it off.
But this is what Zhou Dongsheng, a strategic investor, said! That means something different.
"Jay's idea is as bold as ever, to make an online Spring Festival Gala... Not to mention that this idea is quite tempting, and the profits it can bring are definitely considerable, and he can also sell the title of the gala..."
Yang Luyu followed Zhou Dongsheng's idea and said that this was undoubtedly the same as the advertising monetization idea brought by [Papi Jiang].
If the path that Internet celebrities take is to move the path of celebrities to the Internet and walk it again, then...
It may be possible to move the traditional TV station's approach to the Internet and follow it again.
It’s just that because of the different audiences, the form will naturally change, but the essence remains the same.
This also reminded Yang Luyu of a lofty statement that Teacher once said:
Any business is worth redoing!
"It's not difficult for me to just talk, but it's hard for you to do practical things. However, the evening party will be held next time at the earliest. If it is really done by then, you don't need to worry about the naming!"
Zhou Dongsheng patted his chest and assured confidently that, after all, when it comes to sponsorship, there is no doubt that Pinxixi will be there sooner or later!
In this kind of situation, it is natural that the benefits will be kept within the family.
Now that the matter has come to this, Zhou Dongsheng took the opportunity to tell Yang Luyu about the public welfare plan on which he and Huang Zheng had reached a preliminary agreement on cooperation.
After all, in this public welfare plan, Douyin, as a live broadcast platform, is naturally an indispensable part.
However, unlike Huang Zheng, Yang Luyu did not think that the tip of the iceberg revealed by the big net in Zhou Dongsheng's hands was just a small part.
It was just Zhou Dongsheng's suggestion, and since charity activities are always beneficial to enterprises, Yang Luyu naturally took the lead.
"Mr. Jay is so righteous. I didn't expect that the first thing Dongsheng Group did after its establishment was to give back to the society. I am really ashamed of myself. If there is any place where I can be of use, just ask. I will definitely do my best."
"Okay, your words are enough. I will provide the people, Huang Zheng will provide the channels, and you will be responsible for the platform. With the three of us working together, we will definitely be able to accomplish this beautifully!"
"Not only can we help others in a practical way, but I believe everyone will benefit greatly from the process," Zhou Dongsheng said meaningfully.
Compared with the spirit of boundless love without asking for anything in return, Zhou Dongsheng asked himself if he had yet to reach that level.
Moreover, if you just give without reward, there will always be a time when you can't continue. In contrast, Zhou Dongsheng feels that as long as he can really help others and gain something from it...
After tasting the sweetness, it is a good idea to continue to invest to form a virtuous circle.
A gentleman's deeds are not determined by his heart. The original idea that good people should do good things without leaving a name and without asking for anything in return should also keep pace with the times.
After all, good people shouldn't be pointed at with guns.
