Can free movies prevail on the Internet?

by longchamp69 on 2012-02-22 21:11:42

Author: Chen Yongdong Recently, famous director Michael Moore released a documentary online, and Hong Kong-born director Wayne Wang also held a free movie premiere on YouTube. Some industry insiders exclaimed that the Internet is about to welcome the era of free movies. However, Chen Yongdong believes that there will be more and more free movies on the Internet, which may become a trend or tendency, but it is still too early to judge whether free movies can prevail on the Internet, as the digestion of production costs, copyright granting, and commercial goals still have a long way to go on the Internet.

1. Free Movies on the Internet: One after another

Recently, video sharing sites have frequently welcomed fresh air in the form of free movies. In September, famous director Michael Moore (Michael Moore) released the documentary "Slacker Uprising" online, which netizens could download and watch for free. Recently, Wayne Wang will premiere his latest work "The Princess of Nebraska" on YouTube.

Originally, video sharing sites like YouTube were mainly for videos uploaded freely by netizens, and movies generally required authorization. Directly releasing them for free on the Internet is still in its infancy. Although some industry insiders have analyzed that after free music, the Internet is about to enter the era of free movies, many netizens question whether free is a trend? Is the film industry willing to make big strides into the Internet?

2. YouTube is special, other sites find it hard to imitate

It should be admitted that in recent years, domestic and foreign video sharing sites have developed very rapidly, and it is normal for movies to be released or even watched for free on these platforms. But whether free movies can prevail on the Internet is still a big question mark, at least it's hard to draw conclusions temporarily.

In this regard, the particularity of the YouTube site deserves attention, as it was acquired by Google, inevitably being incorporated into Google's overall free strategy. That is to say, Google provides software and various services as much as possible for free, but this is based on Google's already very powerful online advertising system, which other video sharing sites cannot quickly imitate.

Therefore, YouTube may provide an increasing number of free first-release movies, but not every video sharing site can provide them in large quantities.

3. Free movies need operation, how to recover costs?

Traditional film distribution and screening have their profit models. Distribution copies are one source of income, while another part comes from box office revenue during cinema screenings. However, when films are distributed on the Internet, their profit model needs to be re-examined.

Apparently, if it's a free movie, on the Internet, it would continue to attract clicks and thus increase ad clicks for commercial operations. As for specific ad formats, they can be various ads on the video website page, or like videos, insert ads at the beginning, end, and middle of the movie.

This model obviously requires a very powerful advertising system. However, even with Google's backing, YouTube's current ad placement situation is not very satisfactory, so whether the involvement of free movies can recover costs still needs observation. Moreover, the production costs of different movies may vary greatly, depending on the situation.

Of course, both film companies and video websites need to keep brainstorming for operational creativity. Only when both sides have opportunities for profit will free movies possibly have a space to survive on the Internet. Among these, advertisements still need more creativity, as currently advertisement revenue is still the most important part for many websites. Additionally, copyright granting and monitoring are also very noteworthy.

4. Video websites also face winter, multiple models need exploration

It should be acknowledged that free movies are a beneficial attempt at the profit model of video sharing websites. Currently, the days of domestic and foreign video websites are not going well. Domestically speaking, among the 200+ video websites, only a few remain, with 90% of video websites eliminated. In this financial storm, domestic video websites are suffering even more, and several mainstream video websites are preparing to raise the price of advertisements. Therefore, video websites must also get through the winter and consider exploring multiple profit models.

In the exploration of profit models for video websites, some video websites have started transforming into video news websites, some video websites have started trying to connect with the recently popular SNS social websites, some video websites have started attempting to align with e-commerce, and some video websites have started accepting brother TV shopping. Additionally, it is understood that a well-known art college domestically is negotiating with some mainstream video websites, preparing to hold an internet film festival and display and select excellent short films. These attempts are all beneficial. For video websites, the scariest thing might be long-term lack of profit and no hope of profit.

5. Connect with mobile internet, deal with telecom operators

When discussing various operational mode attempts of video websites, Chen Yongdong suggests that many video websites should pay attention to connecting with the mobile internet and actively conduct business negotiations with telecom operators, striving to open up more mobile internet markets.

On one hand, many video websites have already begun providing some convenient services. For example, videos shot with mobile phones can be easily directly uploaded to video websites. Perhaps people who are enthusiastic about mobile phone videography and upload directly can be called "video enthusiasts." Also, can some scientifically categorized video libraries be provided? Can advanced search functions for videos be provided (for instance, searching for all videos featuring a certain person, of course, these require video websites to extract relevant information from all videos).

On the other hand, video websites need to actively negotiate with telecom operators. This is not just the responsibility of video websites, but rather a negotiation between the entire internet industry and telecom operators. Now, mobile internet fees are unreasonable and have a significant room for reduction. However, this requires communication, understanding, and foresight between the internet industry, including video websites, and telecom operators. If mobile data charges can be significantly reduced or even abolished, it could lead to the comprehensive popularization and promotion of mobile internet use, and perhaps telecom operators and the internet industry would see a much broader market.