"Don't look too ugly", "don't watch the play in the future", "it can rob money, but it has to give VIP" Long video platform, scolded again. This has something to do with two recent events. First, the price of Tencent video members has increased. Since April 20, the monthly price of VIP has increased from 20 yuan to 25 yuan, the monthly price of super film and television VIP has been adjusted from 30 yuan to 35 yuan, and the price of VIP annual card has been adjusted from 253 yuan to 258 yuan. Only some prices remain unchanged. Second, Youku sparked controversy over the way the new play was updated. Youku's new play "my name is Zhao Jiadi" tries a new update mode. VIP users need to invite five friends to help them on the basis of members' preemptive viewing, so as to unlock the latest episodes 23 and 24. The result is that Tencent video once again announced the price increase, make complaints about micro-blog's hot search, and the way of unlocking the new cool drama of Youku was ridiculed as "chopping a knife". The long video platform has been pushed to the cusp again. On the other hand, from the perspective of consumers, users' opinions are not unified. There are ways to update users' tucking platforms, and users want to see the play, hoping for fancy updates, and even make complaints about paying extra money. Recently, the popular "the story of Yu Shai is just like the return of an old friend", which is updated three days a week and two episodes a day. Near the finale, it is called for by netizens to add more and more topics, and even rushed to the hot search. Some netizens joked, "if I cut a knife, can I play the finale of" just like an old friend returning "this week?" How should the video platform meet the needs of users? How much can users pay for video products? Different groups have different acceptances. Some people in the industry complained about the video platform, "for the long video platform, content is an important asset. When meeting users, we have to weigh whether we can recover the cost." In his opinion, since some users do have the phenomenon of urging and requiring more for popular dramas, the video platform should also have the space for users to operate hierarchically and find value-added services on the premise of respecting and ensuring the user experience. "If only services are provided without considering the cost of the platform, such services will not last". However, he stressed that the premise is that the content quality should be affordable. Every time a member's price rises or the adjustment of member's business, the long video platform will fall into a vortex of public opinion. This time, is the long video platform unjust? Why did you get scolded again? It is not new that the long video platform is scolded. In 2021, when the collective price of video platforms increased, users began to be dissatisfied. Take the subscription fee of continuous monthly subscription members as an example. On April 10, 2021, the price of Tencent video increased for the first time. The subscription fee of continuous monthly subscription members has increased from 19 yuan to 20 yuan, and now it has increased to 25 yuan. On December 15, 2021, iqiyi announced that the monthly package price was increased from 19 yuan to 22 yuan; On December 22, 2021, mango TV announced a continuous monthly price increase of 1 yuan, from 18 yuan to 19 yuan. The increase is not big, and make complaints about it. More large-scale dissatisfaction occurred in the advance on demand event that became popular in 2019. This is a value-added service of the video platform. Users need to pay extra on the basis of members to unlock the content of the episode in advance. The price of an episode is about 3 yuan. This led to the first mock exam of the players by many members. The final mode was cancelled after being named by the Consumers Association. After the resumption, users will pay more money and spend more cost to pursue the drama, which will set off a storm of public opinion. The same is true this time. Whether the price rise of Tencent video members or the fancy update of Youku can be attributed to the pull of the buyer and the seller. If the video platform is regarded as the seller, the user as the buyer, and the drama content on the platform is regarded as a commodity, this event is equivalent to the seller adjusting the pricing strategy of the commodity out of revenue pressure. The high content cost of video platform can not be ignored. Iqiyi alone will cost 20.7 billion yuan in 2021. But let the buyer pay more costs, in the case of no significant improvement in the experience, it is regarded by some users as not talking about "martial virtue". Source / Vision China Shenburn has communicated with many people in the industry, and everyone has different views. Some station users. Working for more than 20 years, sun Wenji, a senior producer, has cooperated with the actors in "I'm Zhao Jiadi". Their acting skills are commendable. She said that ordinary stars and online celebrities can't let the audience pay the bill. In terms of production, the industry is returning to the essence of content. She admitted that users have the selfishness of "saving as much as possible", but in her opinion, "the action of the platform is a commercial behavior. After users pay the bill, it is important to get a better user experience". At present, the overall production quality of dramas in China has not been significantly improved. There are also platforms. Although he did not fully agree with the operation mode of the long video platform, the boss of a film and television company complained for the long video industry, "just like passengers flying, divided into first class and business class, they spend different prices and enjoy different services, which is no different from the situation of the video platform, but everyone wants to spend less money." Wang Ke, a person from a video platform, doesn't understand, "the cheapest way to order a cup of Starbucks coffee is 30 yuan. At present, the price of a monthly card on the video platform is not as good as a cup of coffee". In Disney, Universal Studios and other theme parks, in order to reduce queues, tourists bought tickets, others will choose to buy express tickets and express cards. "I don't understand what's going on in video industry," he said. Platforms and users are full of grievances. What is the fundamental reason behind this? Hu Shicheng, an international investor in the Far East, explained that the domestic video platform started the payment mode to emulate the foreign platform Naifei. However, the difference is that foreign users have always been in the habit of watching paid channels on TV. Naifei only needs to complete the migration of user habits, but in China, users have been used to obtaining content for free for a long time. The video platform should not only complete the migration of user habits, but also cultivate users' payment awareness. "Just cultivating payment awareness, you have to come a little bit". How to cultivate? Due to the different payment environment at home and abroad, the charging mode of domestic video platform has been adjusted locally. Hu Shicheng concluded, "if the video platform is priced according to the way it can earn back the cost, users will be scared away. They can only attract users at a low price, and then continue to let them pay money or pay other costs." From the results, the number of members of the video platform with more than 100 million is the result of the growth of users' awareness of paying. However, in the environment of long-term free consumption of content, users' understanding that content is also a commodity and has high cost also needs to be strengthened. At the same time, the high-quality content provided by the video platform to satisfy users is limited. "The paying consumption habits of users lag behind, and the production of high-quality content is also relatively backward. There are deficiencies in both supply and consumption terminals," Hu said. Therefore, the member pricing of the video industry has formed the current state, and the "layered operation" of users has become an inseparable step. Are there any mistakes in layered operation due to different user needs? At present, compared with foreign video platforms, domestic video platforms play a little "flower" in terms of payment methods. This is also the most serious disaster area that users make complaints about. Zhang Feng, a senior industry person familiar with the video platform membership system, introduced shenran that the operation logic of the domestic membership system was born step by step. In its early years, iqiyi was the first to explore the membership model. He recalled that at that time, pirated CDs were 5 yuan a piece. Assuming that users watched a movie four weekends a month, it would cost 20 yuan. At the same time, iqiyi conducted user research and asked users to fill in the membership price of how much yuan they can accept. The final answer is 15 yuan a month. "Users must have written lower, and later decided to set 19.8 yuan. This figure can be attacked and defended. If the market thinks that 19.8 yuan is set higher, it can also be discounted," he said. The membership price of Tencent video and Youku is similar to iqiyi. The membership price of about 20 yuan has been maintained on the long video platform for 8 years. Such a price is obviously not enough to cover the cost. On Netflix, only subscribers can consume content, and you can watch the full collection at one time. From 2013 to 2015, its top membership price was US $11.99, which is 77 yuan in RMB. In China, there is a lack of payment soil. The long video platform attracted users to pay by movies from 2012 to 2014, but the results were poor. According to Zhang Feng, the platform has tried to pay for the series since 2015, and is worried that the payment will lead to the loss of users. "It has made a stratification. Ordinary users can follow the platform week by week, and paying users can watch the whole episode at one time". "Since paying for TV dramas, the number of members has soared," Zhang Feng said. The most typical case is the popular "tomb robbing notes" in 2015. In the mode of members watching the full collection, users crowded and crashed iqiyi's server. From 2015 to 2016, the number of iqiyi members increased from 10.7 million to 30.2 million. This mode is the first mock exam platform. But this is not the end of the payment method. The mode of releasing the complete collection at one time was not fully launched on a large scale later. During this period, various platforms have explored to varying degrees. In 2019, Tencent video launched the advanced on-demand mode on the popular drama "petition order", and the filmmaker said at the celebration banquet that the profit of advanced on-demand was 156 million. The first mock exam is widely used in Iqiyi, Youku, mango TV and other platforms, but the platform has been cancelled since the mode is controversial. Source / poster of petition order Youku's practice of "inviting friends to help unlock" has also appeared on other platforms before. In 2019, when the youth love drama "exclusive memory" is popular, when it is updated to 12 episodes, non members chase the drama at the normal speed, and members can see the number of remaining episodes that have not been released publicly, provided that they need to do a task and invite 5 friends to unlock. The time comes to 2022. The recent price increase of video platform and member change activities are also the way for the platform to explore users hierarchically. However, due to the need to improve the payment awareness in the general environment and the unstable supply of high-quality content on the platform, the long video platform has been exploring the payment method and is in a dilemma. Although referring to Naifei and setting the payment mode, the payment ecology and membership system at home and abroad are different. In the eight years from 2012 to 2020, the cost of content has soared, and the price of video platform members is still hovering at 20 yuan. On the other hand, Naifei's price of the most senior member in 2012 rose from $11.99 to $19.99, which was converted into 130 yuan, an increase of 66.7%. Zhang Feng explained that around 2018, iqiyi studied Naifei's price increase method, rising by about 15% at a time, trying to follow suit. "But there is no confidence. I'm worried that users will run to other platforms. By the first half of 2020, iqiyi felt that it had to rise, but in case of an epidemic, it was not suitable to announce the price rise, which was delayed for some time.". Until the end of 2020, iqiyi took the lead in raising prices. Even in terms of price increase, there is also the idea of layered operation of users. Referring to Naifei, in order to prevent the loss of members, the old members who have purchased members can continue to buy for a period of time at the old price, while the new members who enter the site need to buy members according to the new price. "We should return the content to a reasonable valuation within the range that users can afford," Wang Ke said. Zhang Feng still feels sorry for the video platform, missed the opportunity to raise prices and fell into today's passive situation. What is the way out for the long video platform that has been rejected? Lei Ming, CEO of Aimeng film, said he was worried that "if the long-term video industry loses money for a long time, it will not be able to find new products