Recently, Mango TV announced that it would raise the membership price. Before that, long video platforms such as Youku, Tencent , and iQiyi have also completed price increases. Faced with the rising membership fees, many users are discouraged, not only because of the increased cost of watching TV series and watching movies, but also because the quality of the platform content does not match the price after the increase. Not buying members or "lifting" members has gradually become a consensus among some long video users. Some people stay at zero every day to exchange for a limited-edition membership weekly card, while others acquire a "shared member" from official members at a low price through second-hand transactions...
These "fleece" practices reduce the economic cost of watching dramas and movies for users, but is it really sustainable for users and the industry? Is the practice of lending or reselling member accounts compliant? Some experts said that the long video industry needs to achieve sustainable development by paying. "Only when users spend money and the platform makes money, the platform can give users better content, and users are more willing to pay for the platform. Such a positive cycle is the future development path of the industry."
phenomenon: long video platforms have increased prices, and users "abandon buying" and not "abandon watching"
"Mango TV members have increased again! Can a cup of milk tea afford to buy video members?" On July 26, Mango TV announced that it will raise member prices from August 9, which is the second time that Mango TV has raised its prices this year. In January this year, Mango TV members will just increase their monthly subscriptions by 1 yuan to 19 yuan/month, and this time they will continue to increase by 3 yuan to 22 yuan/month. The various paid items for continuous seasonal, continuous year-on-year and full-screen members will also be increased to varying degrees.
Just two months ago, Youku announced a price increase after 5 years. Beijing Youth Daily reporter noticed that since 2020, Tencent Video and iQiyi have raised member prices twice, and Migu Video also completed the price adjustment at the beginning of this year.
At this point, in terms of the continuous monthly membership price, iQiyi is 22 yuan/month, Mango TV will tie after the increase, and Youku and Tencent Video are both 25 yuan/month. For drama lovers, since film and television resources are scattered on multiple platforms, if you want to catch up with all the popular dramas, you have to buy members from several platforms. Some netizens have done the calculations and said that the monthly membership fee of "iyou and Tencent" plus Mango TV will reach 96 yuan. If you purchase it on an annual card, it will cost nearly 1,000 yuan per year. Many users said, "The wallet can't bear it."
On the other hand, many netizens' first reaction to the platform's price increase is: "Do you match?" The content quality of the video platform has become another reason why users are discouraged in the face of membership fees. Some netizens reported: "I just want to watch a popular drama, and the platform has no other content worth watching. It's a waste to add a member of a platform for a drama." Some netizens even said, "Based on the content provided by the platform, nine yuan can't be more." Whether the quality of the platform's content is consistent with the rising price is a major measure for users to view the price increase of the platform.
Survey: "Picking" has become a "consensus" for users. The three "Picking" methods are the most popular
accompanied by criticisms like this, and there are also various ways for users to share with video members. Not buying members or "lifting" members seems to have become a consensus among many video platform users. After sorting out various methods, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily found that some people targeted various welfare activities on the platform, guarding zero every day to redeem a limited membership weekly card with points; some people acquired a "shared member" from official members at a low price through second-hand transactions. In order to "get out" a free member, this drama-watcher worked very hard.
Method 1
Receive official member benefits: Ask for member experience cards and give away opportunities
In the Douban group such as "buy group" and "group group" gathered by the "wool party", netizens have built "special buildings" for each video member experience cards to send each other. Every day, more than 10 netizens "squat" a membership experience card here, and more than 10 "video Bodhisattvas" share the link to collect experience card.
In fact, many video members do not know that one of their rights as members is to make others "experience members".Taking Mango TV as an example, members with V2 level and above can receive 1 exclusive red envelope every month, and the exclusive red envelope contains 6 to 15 experience members to receive opportunities to share with friends. After receiving the friends, they will receive a random length of Mango TV experience members, usually 1 to 5 days. According to the rules, it can reach up to 50 days. In addition to Mango TV, "Ii, You and Tencent" also has a similar "experience membership" welfare mechanism.
But becoming a "experience member" does not mean enjoying all rights and interests of the official member. Mango TV’s experience members can only enjoy advertising-free and Blu-ray quality privileges, and cannot watch official member exclusive content and paid on-demand content.
In addition, members also have "File Gift Rights". They can select videos from the video list specified by the platform to give to friends. Friends who are given away can watch videos exclusive to the platform members for free.
Method 2
points to be accumulated to members: make full use of points for each platform
long video platforms usually have a point system, and video membership cards are common products in the video platform points mall. On Mango TV, 200 points can be redeemed for 1-day membership, and 7-day membership requires 1,400 points. The redeemed membership rights include advertising-free, Blu-ray quality and viewing of official member exclusive content. Points can be earned by doing tasks: you can get 50 points by watering once on "Mango Farm", you can get 10 points by watching designated videos for 10 minutes, you can get 20 points by inviting friends to watch videos, and you can get 5 points by sharing videos...
However, the membership cards of the points mall are usually limited to daily, and the Mango TV 1-day membership card is limited to 3,000 points per day, which is only redeemed; 500 members are limited to 7-day members. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily noticed that many netizens complained about "hard to grab" and "too small in number", and some netizens said, "It will not be able to grab it after 0:00 or 20 seconds."
Some banking, communications, aviation and other platforms can also be redeemed for video members. For example, 780 mobile points can be redeemed for iQiyi Gold Member Weekly Card, while 2140 points are required for monthly cards. ICBC , China Merchants Bank points, China Southern Airlines , Air China, Sichuan Airlines and other airlines can all be redeemed for membership cards.
In addition, you can also "accumulate members" by the number of days for phone bill recharge, purchase of takeaway monthly cards. On iQiyi, you can save 1 day membership by spending 99.99 yuan to charge 100 yuan for phone bills; in terms of life, you can save about 1 day for members by buying Ele.me Super Member Monthly Card, Meituan Takeout 5 yuan coupon, and Qingju Bicycle Weekly Card.
Method three
Member Easy Member: Moments, Douban Group trading platform
In the matter of buying video members, it is not only that the membership fee increases, but also that the film and television resources you want to watch are scattered on multiple platforms. Even if you already have multiple platform members, you may still need to open another platform member for a show. Based on the current monthly membership prices of each platform, the monthly membership fee of "iyou and Tencent" plus Mango TV will reach 96 yuan.
: Exchange members of one platform with others to another platform membership, so you can get free members without wasting existing resources. The circle of friends and Douban groups have become platforms for "wool parties" to conduct second-hand transactions.
. Users with members can also sell idle members to users in need at a low price, or bid for users in need to share a membership account with themselves. According to the reference price of Douban's "fa Group", the monthly card price of Tencent Video and iQiyi is 8 yuan, and the two share no more than 4 yuan; the monthly card of Mango TV and Youku is 5 yuan, and the two share no more than 3 yuan, which is far lower than the official price.
follow-up: Member "sharing" has been restricted, and the same account can log in to up to 2 devices at the same time
So, how does the platform view the behavior of users "pulling" members? In fact, whether it is through membership experience cards or platform points to "pull" members, although the platform does not make direct profits, these benefits themselves are mechanisms set by the platform to attract traffic and enhance user stickiness. However, users’ private second-hand transactions have different natures. Some industry insiders told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that the phenomenon of sharing members is indeed a problem.The "membership service agreement" of each video platform can be found that each platform clearly states that users are not allowed to obtain membership services by borrowing, renting, selling, sharing, or transferring membership services.
At the same time, many users have also found that video platforms are limiting the number of device terminals that can be used by different member types, which also limits users' sharing behaviors such as lending and reselling accounts. Taking iQiyi as an example, the same VIP member account can log in to up to 5 terminals, and the mobile app can only log in to up to 2. If the user is a Golden VIP member or a Platinum VIP member, the same account can be played simultaneously on up to 2 device terminals at the same time. The trend of
seems to be further refined. Recently, some Youku member users found that if you can only try to cast VIP membership content onto a large screen for 6 minutes. If you want to watch the whole movie, you need to upgrade from Youku VIP to Kumao VIP. The Youku VIP Member Service Agreement also shows that "Youku VIP membership service can be used on mobile phones, tablets, and computers, and cannot be used on TVs."
On the other hand, "shared members" are no longer limited to transactions between individuals, and have even become one of the tools of black and gray industries. As early as 2020, iQiyi sued the "Make Play" app. It is understood that the "Room Now" App will rent iQiyi VIP account in time. Through this platform, users can obtain VIP video services without paying iQiyi. In the end, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled that the practice of "playing immediately" App constituted unfair competition and should compensate iQiyi 3 million yuan. It is reported that this case is the first new type of online unfair competition in the country where time-sharing video VIP accounts are used for a long time.
At present, on trading platforms such as Taobao and Xianyu, a large number of video member sales information can still be easily searched. These sellers all claim to be "high-definition", "screen projection", "automatically send in seconds", and even "one member watches the entire network" and "one purchase, free for life".
Beijing Youth Daily reporter also noticed that the member service agreements of each video platform stipulate that member services must not be obtained through robot software, spider software, crawler software and other automatic programs, scripts, software, etc. It is understood that these methods are common methods for black and gray products.
Focus: Personal information may be leaked, "fleece" hidden risks
"Enjoy the membership weekly card at 0:00 every day. This is within the scope of the platform's rules, and the platform is willing to let users fleece." pan and Lin , co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International United Business School, told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that Internet platforms either occupy users' money or their time. Users who fleece through the platform welfare mechanism are just using time to exchange members, which is understandable. However, for users, although sharing accounts is unlikely to be held accountable, they need to bear certain risks.
Pan Helin told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that "sharing an account between strangers is risky for both parties to share. For the account owner, personal information may be leaked due to account sharing." If users want to lend their own account, they must provide their mobile phone number, WeChat account and other personal information. In addition, according to the member service agreements of each video platform, if a member user lends his or her account, his or her "acts under the account are deemed to be the behavior of the member user himself, and the user shall be responsible for activities occurring under his or her VIP account or activities carried out through the account."
"For the user of the account, the permissions may be taken back by the account owner at any time." Pan Helin said. Many users who share accounts with others have had this experience: they suddenly dropped during the show. If a user purchases a membership account from a stranger, since the transaction has almost no guarantee and the account is taken back after payment, it will be difficult to protect his rights.
Follow: Users are unwilling to buy members, how can the dilemma of "fleeing" be broken?
Internet independent analyst Ding Daoshi said that price increase is not only the current move of various video platforms, but will also become the trend of video platforms in the future. "Compared with overseas video platforms, the price of domestic video membership is simply too low," said Ding Daoshi. Judging from the price alone, the prices of domestic video platform members are generally low, and have always changed little.Taking Netflix as an example, even an entry-level member who can only watch 480P standard definition videos has a price of US$8.99/month, equivalent to about RMB 54/month, which is more than twice the membership fee of domestic video platforms. Standard and Premium members prices reached $13.99/month and $17.99/month, respectively.
Why are people still unwilling to buy members when facing such a "good price"? Previously, some netizens had told the "truth": "Based on the quality of the content provided by the platform, there is no more than 9.9 yuan." Ding Daoshi told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that in order to make users willing to spend money to buy members, the platform needs to have the ability to continuously output high-quality content. "Some platforms may release a hit product this month, but it will be gone next month, and users will feel that the money is being spent unfairly." Compared with overseas Netflix, "it can launch some highlights and high-quality hot content every month or even every week, and continue to give users a sense of gain and satisfaction, so that users are willing to pay continuously."
Ding Daoshi believes that in order to attract users and cultivate the market in the early stage, domestic video platforms have set lower price standards. After reaching a certain scale in the market, the video platform can enter a "reasonable business track", increase prices, and then achieve profitability. iQiyi's case fits this point. In the past two years, iQiyi has shifted from pursuing market share to pursuing profits. After two price increases, iQiyi finally announced its first full-year profit this year, temporarily getting rid of the 11-year loss "curse".
"Only when the platform is profitable can it strengthen its ability to produce quality products, and consumers can eventually see more and better content products." said Ding Daoshi. After making profits, iQiyi launched products such as " People in the World ", " Annual Comedy Competition ", and " Xinju " at the beginning of this year. They have enabled iQiyi to achieve a double harvest in economic and social benefits. Although it is understandable that the "fleece" behavior of
users is not difficult to understand, but in the long run, if users want to continue to see high-quality content, payment is the king. "Users' 'fleece' cannot promote the development of the long video industry. This industry must rely on high-value and quality content supply to develop," said Ding Daoshi. "Only when users spend money and the platform makes money, the platform can give users better content, and users are more willing to pay for the platform. Such a positive cycle is the future development path of the industry."
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxiao
text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia
edit/tianye
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxiao
text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia
edit/tianye
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxiao
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxiao
text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia
edit/tianye
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxia
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxia
text/intern reporter Gu Xiaoxia
