The most telling video story
[
](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWI8HogRKB5c8epEV8d1Nr99SEmUJDLDRfeRnrg2y6zPqDk4 -7jqwLzpkq_20AvGZEIEGfASP9qPYRdsLSlfgo_M3uTFvVtAV7lx-qVfynqjvDkCflC2SHY3KN5nq6O6LS9i7V7zbaKWd2/s1600/video.jpg)
Speaking of movies, everyone is familiar with it. I still remember that at the end of May 2017, Meipai, a short video and audio social platform with hundreds of millions of users, released the “[Short Video Talent Development Trend Report] (https://www.smartm.com.tw/article/33363635cea3)”, which mentioned that the group most interested in watching short videos is young people with an average age of 23, of which 66% are women, and 80% of users use iPhones.
这是一个有趣的观察，但不只中国，短影片已经成为全球发展的趋势了。影音内容更迭不断，淘汰的速度也会愈来愈快。 Have you ever thought about how these individuals or teams who make videos can monetize their work?
The monetization model of short videos is still developing and evolving, but generally speaking, it mainly relies on platform profit sharing and subsidies, advertising monetization, and fan rewards.
Large platform accurately exposes audio and video
Due to the rapid rise of audio and video platforms, they not only attract a large number of eyeballs and traffic, but also easily form an economic scale. Therefore, these large audio and video platforms can be seen in the United States, China and even Taiwan. Taking China as an example, Tencent, a company on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, launched the “Manzhong Plan” (http://news.qq.com/a/20170228/055833.htm) in early March last year, claiming to create a win-win media ecosystem that allows media and self-media to publish and operate content. It can be distributed with one click through [Penguin Media Platform] (https://om.qq.com/userAuth/index) on platforms such as Tiantian Kuaibao, Tencent News Client, WeChat News Plug-in and Mobile QQ News Plug-in to achieve more and more accurate exposure of high-quality content.
In order to encourage the creation of high-quality content, Tencent will also provide a total of 200 million yuan in subsidies to the creative team throughout the year, and all advertising revenue on article pages will also be 100% owned by it. From this perspective, it is not difficult to see that Tencent is laying out its plans to build the power and value of the platform. Huang Hai, vice president of Tencent, also said: “We hope to provide better support for the development of media and self-media in terms of content production, traffic expansion, user connections and commercial value.”
Homemade dramas lock into the long tail theory
Another well-known Internet company, Sohu, has also invested a lot of resources in producing self-produced dramas in recent years. Founder Zhang Chaoyang is not only optimistic about the profit model of self-produced dramas, but also believes that this approach is more conducive to the development of video websites.
Zhang Chaoyang believes: “The reason why Sohu is optimistic about the development prospects of the short video field is because the short video model is n to N, that is, the content is provided by the public. Although the business model of short videos mainly relies on medium and long-tail advertising, although it has not yet reached the harvest season, it is still developing.”
After looking at how large Internet companies share profits and subsidize their platforms, let’s think about how short video companies rely on advertising for monetization?
It is conceivable that due to the impact of fragmentation and viewing habits of short videos, it may be difficult to place advertisements before and after the video, and the effect may not be ideal. Although traditional advertising may not be effective, industry players have quickly learned to find new ways to replace it with reward-based advertising. Try to use incentives to encourage viewers to voluntarily watch advertisements and thereby receive rewards.
An addictive reward system
最后说到粉丝打赏，这是许多网红的主要收入方式，想想也不意外。
Tipping mode is actually a common business in the Internet circle The model can also be regarded as a part of fan economy. For example, when readers read a good piece of work on a literary website, they can pay money through the platform to reward the author when they are moved. Since the rise of audio and video platforms, rewards have become more common in live broadcasts or short videos.
Rewards have also become an act of showing off wealth or judging competition. For example, at an event on the “17 Live” platform in early 2017, someone actually spent millions to reward their favorite live broadcasters, just to let their favorite goddess win the championship. There is also a beautiful live broadcast host in China called “A Leng”. Relying on fans’ tips, her income last year was as high as 16 million yuan, which is simply incredible. Although such behavior is exaggerated, it also highlights that live broadcasters or teams that create short videos will find ways to attract the attention of sponsors in order to make profits.
Content e-commerce takes a new approach
Generally speaking, short videos have the characteristics of concisely explaining a certain point of view or event due to their concise content. Coupled with the narrative techniques, they are also consistent with today’s fast-paced life style, giving people a variety of imagination space.
In addition to the three business models mentioned above, the recently popular “一一” adopts a content e-commerce model and builds itself into an IP. “一一” is good at using excellent shooting techniques to tell everyone about the aesthetics of life. Each video will introduce a new lifestyle or utensil, and then make profits through commercial methods or realize it through e-commerce. Have you all begun to feel that “One Piece” is trying to bring changes to our daily lives through high-quality video?
Next time, when we see wonderful short videos again, we might as well think about what other novel business models we can use?
★ Featured image credit: Sam McGhee
★ Article source: This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of “English Island” magazine
★ Want to build your personal brand? Come and sign up for the “Personal Brand Management Practice” online course.
