Internet TV has been tossing for another year. Compared to dozens of 2015's grand occasions, there is less and less continuous sound. Especially the panel's sudden price increase this year has caused many Internet TV brands to agonize. Looking back at this year, are they doing well? Was the ambition of the year still there?

Last year, Liu Hongxin, president of Hisense Group, and popular founder Luo Jiangchun gave such a judgment: In the future, there will only be 3-5 TV companies left. When interviewing Internet TV brands at the beginning of the year, it was almost always believed that no more than three Internet TV brands could survive.

Before the final verdict was announced, in 2016, Internet brands continued to focus their efforts on the resources, funding, and the methods and methods of their efforts. Each had its own achievements. Let us review the 8 major Internet brands (in no particular order) with current sales and volume still rising.

First, LeTV: Internet TV pioneers in the storm

Internet TV has received much attention because of LeTV, and LeTV's model has been questioned. However, there is no doubt that the revolution of traditional television networks by Internet TV has greatly activated the television industry, which has rekindled China's color TV industry.

Although LeTV encountered storms, LeTV did not receive any impact on television, but it became an important fulcrum for LeTV to get out of trouble. And whether it is from the sales, or operational capabilities, is still the mainstream of the current Internet brand play, is also being emulated. For LeTV, apart from the continuous launch of new products, the continuation of TCL's strategic cooperation, the acquisition of Vizio, the US television manufacturer, and the expansion of Lepar's layout under the line, will allow LeTV to deeper into the industry chain.

In 2016, LeTV Super TV, in addition to its consistent ecological drive in marketing, took a stake in TCL at the end of last year, opened up the supply chain, and solved TV production. According to statistics, as of the end of October 2016, the cumulative sales of LeTV Super TV have reached nearly 9 million units, making it the No. 1 in the pure Internet brand.

In addition, in July of this year, LeTV announced in the United States Los Angeles to purchase US TV manufacturer VIZIO for US$2 billion. This is considered by the industry to be the largest acquisition plan in the history of the global TV industry, accelerating the internationalization of LeTV.

At the same time, LeTV’s continued sales increase has laid the foundation for LeTV’s profitability in the next step. In August of this year, LeTV opened a new era of big-screen shopping. In the case of widespread Internet TV loss, LeTV Super TV has the potential to lead the industry to land quickly.

Comments: LeTV's blinding madness drove the development potential of the television industry. However, for LeTV, it is also necessary to continuously strengthen the control of the supply chain to avoid the passive price increase of TV panels. As an important line of business undertaking LeTV’s profit-making mission, whether it can achieve the desired effect of LeTV is not only important for LeTV but also a benchmark for the entire Internet TV.

Second, millet TV: Gradually increase the status quo and consumer expectations

Backed by this big brand of millet, Xiaomi TV was initially high hopes for everyone. However, the development of Xiaomi TV is not as brilliant as everyone imagined.

Lei Jun said that Xiaomi was first a mobile phone company and then a new retail company. The strategic position of smart phones for Xiaomi is undoubtedly that Xiaomi TV can only be ranked in the second strategic level product, which has led to millet TV being tied with Xiaomi's brand, or the tilt of strategic resources is not as good as Xiaomi's mobile phone.

It's safe to say that this year, Xiaomi TV has increased its efforts in product research and development and marketing, and has even spent a lot of thought on content that was not dominant in the past. Judging from the amount of content, Chen Hao joined the industry to a certain extent, pulling through content to enhance the stickiness of millet TV to consumers.

However, the amount of content has gone up, and the increase in sales volume is not obvious, because consumers are more concerned about whether they have exclusive premium video content. Xiaomi wakes up. In January this year, Xiaomi Cinema was formally established. Million co-founder Li Wanqiang is in charge. The degree of attention is evident. However, Xiaomi Filming has not seen much action so far. How to get rid of the strong forest, how to feed back high-quality content for Xiaomi TV is still an unknown number.

In addition, in October of this year, Chen Hao retired after Xiaomi served as vice president for 2 years, returning to the media. In addition to his passion for the news media, he may not be satisfied with the ecological construction of Xiaomi's content, or he did not realize the concept of Lei Jun: This investment of 1 billion US dollars to string together the entire industry of the content, so that it has a better performance on the TV.

Fortunately, influenced by the thinking of Lei Junkuo, Xiaomi TV has been very hard at product innovation. In September, it took the artificial intelligence express train and launched an artificial intelligence television. Perhaps, artificial intelligence TV will be a weapon that Xiaomi TV corner surpasses. Just as millet MIX pulled up on Xiaomi's overall mobile phone.

Comments: In the year that Xiaomi TV tossed, except for the constant release of products and content, there has been no sales expectation and there is almost no sales data released. Perhaps as consumers tend to rationalize the consumption of Internet TV, millet TVs that have precipitated on the products will show some improvement in the second half of Internet TV. After all, Xiaomi, as an eco-chain company, has more than 15 million sales of millet boxes and millet TVs, plus millet smart audio and other entertainment equipment, has already occupied a certain family market share, and has the basis of word-of-mouth marketing.

Third, the storm: close to VR, content reinforcement + ecological cooperation

After Storm Technology was listed, no one thought that it would become a demon stock. Of course, the rise in the stock market after the listing has also provided ammunition for the expansion of storms to more areas. A software company is striding toward the hardware and entertainment sports industry on such a stride.

In the eyes of the outside world, whether it is capital play or industrial layout, the non-storm in the Internet TV brand that is most similar to LeTV is none other than the storm known as Xiao Leshi. Its platform structure also includes sports, entertainment, video industry video platforms, etc. The hardware includes TV and VR hardware. At the same time, Storm has also spared no effort to acquire through the copyright, supplementing the content of the Superstorm TV with content ecology. Even in the way of marketing and LeTV are exactly the same.

Jia Yueting will sing “Wild Man” in the annual meeting. Feng Xin is not to be outdone. He sang “Wild Man” at the storm science and technology strategy conference and called “Take this song back”; LeTV launched the “Yue Yue Chuan” and the Prince of Peace Edition. Storm launched the "X-Men: Apocalypse" edition. LeTV layout Internet finance, there are storms.

It is certain that Storm's layout in VR is ahead of its rivals. Not only is it early in time, but it also has a very high strategic position. It is also a more futuristic business in the four core businesses of sports, VR, TV, and film.

In May of this year, the first VR TV of the Storm was launched, and it was the first to open the integration of VR and TV. Not only did it grab a new concept, it also allowed VR to jump out of the glasses and the limitations of the display, leading to a broader family entertainment interactive scene.

However, Storm TV, which mainly focused on the Internet camp, did not jump out of the Internet TV price war. Due to factors such as the increase in raw materials such as marketing and panel, TV business weighed on earnings, which caused the company's net profit to decline, affecting the stock price.

Comments: As far as TV business is concerned, Storm TV has accumulated a certain number of original users by following up strategies. However, Storm TV urgently needs to create its own unique style. VR is highly hopeful. However, as far as we can see, VR is still the education period and the investment period. There is still a long way to go from the consumer's needs. Coupled with the fact that AI TVs continue to jump out and rob the drama, how long can VR TVs eventually catch fire? Can we bear the future? The big dream is still unknown.

Fourth, micro whale: continuous focus, there is a boundary extension

Unlike most Internet TV brands, which are responsible for the diversification of companies, micro-whales are born for Internet TV and also have the core element of Internet TV - focus.

Focus on smart home entertainment micro whale, all products, technology, content are released around this scene. In the hardware, software, content synchronization attack, forming a matrix effect. But it will not jump out of this scene, whether it is VR or projection technology, the implementation is targeted at the new home entertainment upgrade just needed.

The advantage of concentration is that the reuse rate of resources, technologies, and big data between the internal ecology is extremely high, which reduces the large amount of capital consumption of the enterprise, and provides the scene for the consumers to stimulate the scene.

From the product layout, micro-whales focus on the breadth and depth of the smart home sector. For example, from TVs, VR all-in-ones, to smart projectors, micro-whales have to do more than just a cup of “living room economy,” but in a higher dimension, occupy the user’s “vision” and then The "visual economy" expanded.

Of course, it takes time for the Internet companies to thoroughly understand the hardware. However, for the Internet brands, the most urgent is the time. For this reason, it seems that the strategic alliance with traditional television has come faster. This point, LeTV investment TCL has opened a good start. The micro whale also invested in Konka earlier this year. The micro whale can acquire technology, and Konka can get the system and content for the transition to Internet TV, a win-win deal.

Another example is that on October 20th, Microwhale launched the new "Kifang K1" projector, which has a projector, TV box, and mobile speaker function products. It has got rid of the shackles of the living room, including family scenes such as bedrooms and bathrooms. Especially for the "little couples who often move", but also broaden the other imagination space: business trips, camping, car and so on.

At present, the micro-whale has formed a family-wide entertainment front that includes a multi-product smart terminal matrix (television, micro-projection, VR helmet, smart audio, smart home), smart TV software system, and micro-whale production and home-made programs.

Yes, the focus is still offline. In the new micro whale release conference in March, Li Huaiyu, CEO of Micro Whale Technology, announced in a high-profile announcement that it will work together with Tmall to build an O2O system and expand offline channels, infiltrating the brand into 2354 cities and even the following markets, and plans to nationwide The establishment of 1,000 county-level service centers, the collection of 100,000 township youth development television sales business.

Comments: The micro-whale is a product of the Internet TV era. Unlike other Internet brands, which bear the historical burden of developing existing businesses, micro-whales are more likely to gather on their own platforms. Concentration may be the key to a startup company's ability to gather strength and seek outbreaks.

Fifth, popular: another way, copy OV mode, underline breakout

In 2016, the lowest-profile Internet brand is none other than popular, and in addition to the limited number of new TV releases, it has almost never appeared on the Internet, and even consumers have forgotten the existence of popular television. So many media have misunderstood the popular trend.

According to popular insiders, escaping from the Internet is deliberately done. Different from Internet TV brands' excessive emphasis on online, popular CEO Zhou Kun highly praised OPPO and vivo mode and devoted more resources to the longer-term future instead of short-term price warfare, thus increasing the layout of offline channels. The important strategy that has become popular this year. It is understood that the popular layout of 10,000 experience stores has been online, will reach the fourth and fifth-tier markets, the offline layout has been in the industry's leading position.

Again, from the point of view of popular television shareholders, including Siu Chi shares, Haier, Oriental Pearl, popular, Gome, covering the content + license + hardware + brand + operating + channels, more open, especially Mega, let popular Become one of the few brands in China that have mastered manufacturing capabilities. On November 14th, Zhao Chi shares announced that Haier plans to invest 47 million yuan to increase capital on-line according to the assessment price of Mega International's acquisition of popular online, showing that investors are optimistic about the future prospect of the popular television business.

Comments: Popularity increases the offline layout, in addition to seeing the success of OPPO and vivo in the field of smart phones, but also saw Levision's ability to further resist market risks by using offline channels. Moreover, for popular television, it has mastered the manufacturing supply chain and increased the anti-risk ability of popular television to cope with panel price hikes. Of course, the rapid impact on sales and expansion of brand exposure is also a task that needs to be reinforced.

Six, look at still: licensee "pro-son", adequate resources, quality strategy needs to take a step

Doing Internet TV must not bypass the broadcast control platform. Among the seven major platforms in China, CIBN Internet TV is the product that directly launches TV terminal products. Its Internet-ready TV network has also become an important layout for CIBN to explore home entertainment. It can be said that there is still a huge aura.

Earlier, the founder of Qian Shangfa, Qiang Qiang, mentioned in an interview that backed by the licensee, there is plenty of resources, technology, capital, and operational capabilities. However, more pressure is exerted on him. He must come up with excellent products. The sign of the licensee's brand has been watched, and there is still enough confidence to start Internet TV.

In addition to watching super-powered TV products, in the extension of the ecological chain, we still have announced the Internet smart terminals such as the Super Cloud Sound Box and Ultra Sound Blaster. In September, the announcement of Shangshang Audio was also a scene of family entertainment, which promoted an important product line where the “sound” strategy was still to be seen.

However, too rigorous style of work, the background of state-owned enterprises, but also let the Internet TV in the early Shantou marketing does not prevail. At least, for consumers in the past two years, the concept of Internet TV hype affects their purchasing decisions. This is LeTV's advantage and is also an important factor in LeTV's leading position in the world.

For the dealers, the second half of the development is of utmost importance. According to the 3-5-year update cycle of Internet TV, the consumers that have been tried in the previous period are more rational and more willing to see the value of the products themselves than marketing. The gimmicks have survived the ups and downs of the previous period, and when it comes to real competition in product quality and platform services, there is even greater opportunity to look at the market.

Comments: How to make differentiated marketing and promotion programs for TV brands such as TV and TV, not only allow users to include products in alternatives, but also allow consumers to experience products for the first time. skill. At least focusing on the product, we can cut a product that is close to the market and postpone listing for half a year. We have already seen his determination on the product. In addition, it is worth mentioning that, is still looking to increase the layout of the offline market, currently has 1,000 experience stores, to see the line has opened a good start, help to promote the return of Internet TV experience value.

VII. PPTV, continuation of the high forcing of internationalization of Suning, sports marketing hold high

In the entertainment marketing position, LeTV, Microwhale, Cool Open, Watch, PPTV, etc. appear frequently, brushing presence, each has its advantages. However, unlike many Internet brands, which are closely related to entertainment marketing and the introduction of TV and entertainment customized TVs, in terms of differentiation, PPTV has chosen sports marketing. Taking sports content as a breakthrough, and in June of this year, it launched the first sports IP custom television, which is not unrelated to Suning’s acquisition in international sports.

Since last year, PPTV Juli announced that it will become the official TV and set-top box partner of Liverpool FC in mainland China from January 1, 2016. The two sides will also launch a limited edition of Liverpool Club's customized PPTV to meet the needs of the most loyal Liverpool fans in the Chinese market.

On the evening of December 4th, the nightclub “Poly-Looking” Liverpool Football Night hosted by Poly-PPTV was launched at the same time in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. It opened a big party for hundreds of Red Army fans and became a sports marketing player. component. Of course, the highlight was the first appearance of PPTV's Liverpool Limited Edition, and PPTV did not make any promises.

In addition, with funds, with the content and flow, the video platform is almost exactly the same way, the introduction of hardware products, and then feeding back the content ecology. Including PPTV backed by Juli Media, it has also launched a series of hardware products such as smart phones, smart TVs, TV boxes, and VR integrated machines. Moreover, in addition to pure online marketing, it has strengthened offline channel expansion and realized online and offline omni-channel integration.

For example, on June 20th this year, PPTV TV held a dealership conference in Harbin, and discussed with more than 200 local dealers on offline channel development strategies, laying the foundation for the offline layout. Including Suning offline store, you can see the figure of PPTV TV.

Comments: From the style of play, backing Suning this big tree, inherited Suning's genes in the sports field, it seems that PPTV TV is trying to establish its position in the sports fans heart, which is also with the depth of sports IP Operation, a differentiated breakthrough in marketing a good strategy. As a result, PPTV is also considered the most sporting and forcing television in China.

VIII. Cool open: Born out of tradition, steadily advanced in the conservative

It is said that the launch of Internet TV has caused traditional TV brands to become chaotic, and the launch of Internet brands is in a defensive strategy. However, for Coolo, it would be wrong to think so. In fact, the launch of Internet TV and LeTV is an era. It can be said that Skyworth is actively promoting Internet TV.

From the efficient integration of resources, there is support behind Skyworth. Cool open has more advantages in manufacturing and supply chain management than pure Internet brands, and it can even rely on Skyworth's resources in promotion. Including some offline shows, we can all see the cool opening.

From the perspective of brand positioning, in October this year, Cool Open puts forward the brand positioning of “Smart Connected Life to Enjoy Home” on the basis of focusing on the needs of users, aiming to create a magical, free and happy experience for users and launching a new game TV. "Super Flash" N series 2 and VR machine "free door" is the positioning of the brand positioning

From the platform operation, the cool open platform influence is inseparable from Skyworth, especially in the big screen operation, Cool open is the lead, throw off other Internet TV a few streets.

In May of this year, Wang Zhiguo revealed that more than 16 million end users have been operating and the daily live is more than 6 million. This year, Skyworth will add 9 million new users and form a new entrance for large-screen economic traffic, making it difficult for other Internet TV brands to reach. .

From the aspect of content layout, the important link of Internet TV is content. In the quantity and operation of content, it is the weakness of traditional TV, and marketing patterns are inferior to Internet brands. Born out of Skyworth's Cool Open, it has taken a lot of effort in content and operation.

For example, on May 24, 2016, Kukai started to mention the "non-ecological big content" strategy, emphasizing returning and focusing on user needs and values. For another example, the recently launched cool content TV can be used in the living room with multiple roles. In addition to acting as a home theater, it can also be a KTV, or even a PS4 game console. In the home Internet entertainment scene is not lost.

The most important thing is that from the capital operation, in September of this year, iQiyi invested 150 million yuan to open a cool investment. It has realized the reinforcement of resources and capital for Coolo, and has also taken an important step in the operation of CoolCapital.

Comments: There are Skyworth backs, Cool TV's craftsmanship, quality and after-sales aspects have nothing to say, plus years of content layout and operation accumulation, as well as a deep understanding of the integration of the Internet and TV, can not make a pure Internet TV The extravagant things that are arbitrarily rising in price make it easier to move steadily towards the established goals.

In short, after the outbreak of concentration in 2015 and the ups and downs in 2016, the tone and behavior of Internet brands have been basically established. The confrontation will become more rational, and the search for their own survival path will be in 2017 through teamwork and resource grooming. The basic competition of Internet TV.

In addition, due to the characteristics of strong Internet TV experience, especially with the integration of Internet broadcast technology, who is closest to the customer, who will occupy a favorable position, it is clear that the offline channel competition of the Internet TV brand will test the capital and resources of the company. Force. At the same time, the ability to control supply chain resources will determine the company’s life and death. Internet TV will be transferred to offline channels, and the erosion of traditional TV brands will become more serious.

Finally, in the next 2017, it is no longer a marketing gimmick to decide whether an Internet brand is dead or alive.