PPTV wants to become the first Youku potato in video industry

“The PPTV appointment did not receive specific targets from the board of directors, but I told my colleagues at PPTV that we must achieve the leading position in the Internet video industry within three years, and lead is the first.” Su Ningyun Shang (002024) vice president and PPTV Chairman of the Management Committee Fan Zhijun recently told the Xinhua News.

According to Fan Zhijun’s previous internal open letter, he has been a “Veteran” for 15 years in Suning. Before and after this interview, PPTV experienced two major events: Su Ning’s capital increase was absolute holding, and Suning’s senior management team was comprehensive. Politics.

At the end of November last year, Fan Zhijun was appointed chairman of the PPTV Management Committee and acted as CEO (CEO). The former CEO and former senior vice president of Lenovo, Lu Yan, left office after taking office for the first half of the year.

At the end of October 2013, Suning and Hongyi Investment jointly invested 420 million U.S. dollars in PPTV strategy. Among them, Suning invested 250 million U.S. dollars, held 44% of PPTV shares, and became the largest shareholder; last December, Suning announced the increase in the shareholding of PPTV again. The shareholding ratio increased to 64% and became an absolute controlling shareholder.

At the time of the shares, Suning put forward the idea: "A complete implementation of the Suning Internet Roadmap will help Suning to seize the multi-screen portal of the Internet and enrich the management of digital content products." According to the previous understanding of Xinhua News, in the first year of the acquisition of PPTV, Suning focused on financial integration, and therefore did not engage in excessive operations.

Fan Zhijun said that after Suning’s shares, PPTV's strategy has been formulated. After that, it is looking for the right people to do the right thing.

In the entire video industry is still burning money, PPTV is also difficult to escape. According to the data released by the Suning Yunshang 2014 semi-annual report, PPTV's revenue for the first half of last year was 354 million yuan, which is still at a loss.

For the current competitive landscape of the online video industry, Fan Zhijun does not seem to have an industry leader. He said that in the absence of a good business model, everyone is on the same starting line.

So why is PPTV better than Youku Tudou, iQiyi and other video websites?

News: Why does Suning let you handle PPTV operations?

Fan Zhijun: Since Suning invested in PPTV last year, I began to serve as a director of PPTV. I have been involved in PPTV's operational decisions and strategic checks for the past year. Therefore, I have a certain understanding of the company's status and industry trends.

In addition, I am still concurrently the vice president of Suning Cloud Business, and also specifically responsible for Suning's operations in East China. Under the current integration trend, my dual status will be conducive to fully mobilizing the resources of both Suning and PPTV. Explore new business profit models.

News: PPTV has experienced several rounds of personnel changes within one year. What impact does this have on the company's development strategy?

Fan Zhijun: The development strategy of PPTV has a very clear idea after Suning and Hong Yi’s capital entry. Only in the process of implementing the promotion, some teams can't satisfy investors and employees. Therefore, there are personnel adjustments. . The adjustment of this part of the staff will not affect the strategic decision of the company.

Suning and Hong Yi are in agreement on the development of PPTV, and Suning also needs to consider the issue of value from the industry.

澎湃 News: At present, from some data considerations such as the number of users, how many Internet video sites have seen PPTV before the competition in the industry?

Fan Zhijun: Many people love to use user data ratio, I think it is not appropriate, because those users follow the broadcast video content, they are users of the content, not users of Internet video companies.

The video industry has yet to explain when it is profitable. This is an argument and excuse given by the industry. In essence, it has not found a suitable commercial profit model. Today's Internet video companies basically rely on burning money to buy copyright, play life and sell ads.

News: So what do you specifically think about PPTV operations?

Fan Zhijun: Traditional internet video companies rely on content to generate traffic for their survival, and then introduce the advertising fee model. We will not focus on using it. We need to develop rigid users, lock in the crowd, and deliver accurately.

In addition, investment in smart hardware will also increase. In 2015, the PPTV hardware sales target was more than 4 million units.

Of course, the advantages of PPTV content are not obvious enough, and a lot of self-control and purchase of copyright are still required. Specific projects will be announced at appropriate times. In general, the company will invest 3 billion yuan in rich content in 2015 to establish PP Film Company.

News: Rigid users seem to be present in the sports section of PPTV?

Fan Zhijun: I hope that the sports section of PPTV can give people a natural and instinctual association. That is, video websites that do sports are PPTV.

In the sports sector, apart from continuing to purchase sports copyrights, we will also develop some sports-related business and hardware products such as functional smart devices and interactive experiences that are closely related to running and fitness. At the same time, sports will also hold a number of self-owned brand events in 2015. The event will be deeply integrated with the platform of PPTV and will be extended to the sports products sold by Suning.