Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 447 Copyright War
[Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi announce their relationship and plan to get married next year]

[Storm Player changes hands; Wu Zhuo takes over]

Following Maoyan, Wu Zhuo has made another big move, officially entering the video industry.

[Wu Zhuo acquires Baofeng Video, adding another disruptor to the video industry]

[Storm Player Announces 50 Million Yuan Investment in Original Drama Production]

Wu Zhuo did not conceal the fact that he acquired Baofeng.com.

To stabilize morale after the company's acquisition and to boost user confidence, Wu Zhuo also held a special press conference.

Immediately after the press conference, related news reports increased.

Unfortunately, they still couldn't beat the news about his relationship announcement.

However, for those within the industry, the news of Wu Zhuo's acquisition of Baofeng Technology had a greater impact than his marriage.

Especially the current largest video platforms.

Upon learning that Wu Zhuo had become the owner of Baofeng Video, everyone immediately became wary.

They had no choice but to be vigilant.

If Wu Zhuo were just a simple international superstar, that would be fine.

But the fact that he is also the owner of Legendary Entertainment makes these platforms have to take him seriously.

Legendary Entertainment is one of the largest film companies in China, and in the past two years it has also started to get involved in the TV drama industry.

After Wu Zhuo acquires Baofeng.com, Legend Entertainment will almost certainly cooperate with Baofeng.com.

This collaboration is essentially a powerful alliance.

Legendary Entertainment has dramas, while Baofeng has users.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is exactly like a wolf.

That same day, several major video companies immediately convened an emergency meeting regarding the matter.

Tencent Video, Inc.

Several vice presidents and senior executives were all present and sat neatly in front of the conference table.

"You've all seen the news, right? Wu Zhuo acquired Baofeng Player and has made sweeping reforms to it."

Unlike before, after Wu Zhuo took over, Baofeng's cash flow will be greatly improved.

It seems that another competitor is about to emerge in the online video industry.

Wang Juan, co-chairman and chief content officer of Tencent Online Video, tapped the table with a solemn expression.

In the middle of the conference table, a senior executive, somewhat dissatisfied with Wang Juan's decision to hold an emergency meeting specifically for this matter, retorted:
"That's probably not true! Wu Zhuo is indeed very famous internationally and is very good at songwriting, but the video industry is not about songwriting."

I don't believe he can have much of an impact on us.

Moreover, I don't think he has that much money to fight us in a copyright war.

As far as I know, he only has a little over a billion yuan in funds, all of which were cashed out after Legendary Entertainment went public.

"Most of that money went to acquiring Baofeng Player. How much more money will he have left to compete with us for copyrights?"

"Old Liu, you seem to have some misunderstanding about superstars!"
Do you know how much Wu Zhuo charges for endorsements each year?
Do you know how much he can earn from one record?
Also, do you know how much money he can earn for a movie?

Do you know how much he earns annually from copyright revenue overseas?

A man wearing glasses was tapping on a table not far away.

"Let me tell you how much money he makes every year."

In terms of endorsements, he has a total of seventeen top-tier endorsements across various industries worldwide.

The average endorsement fee for each product is 3000 million.

He earns 5.1 million yuan a year just from endorsements.

Then there's his record sales revenue. Last year, his total record sales were 2100 million. He earned an average of 30 yuan per record, so his income was approximately 6.3 million yuan.

Then there are movies. His current salary has risen to 8000 million plus box office revenue share, which is no less than 1.2 million per movie.

Then there's his song copyright income. In China alone, Tencent paid him 3000 million yuan in copyright fees last year. Including other platforms, his copyright fees in China are no less than 1.3 million yuan.

As is well known, Wu Zhuo's main market for his records is actually overseas.

He earns the most money overseas, where copyright revenue is even higher.

As far as I know, his overseas song copyright fees are no less than 6000 million US dollars, which is more than 4 million RMB.

In total, Wu Zhuo's annual pre-tax income is now at least 17 billion yuan.

Even after deducting taxes, he still has personal income of around 14 billion.

And this is just his income from his acting career. Wu Zhuo has been keen on investing in recent years, and he has shares in many companies.

Even Tencent, damn it, they have shares in it.

You said he has no money?

As soon as the bespectacled man presented these sets of data, the conference room fell silent.

Many people looked on in astonishment.

Everyone knows that Wu Zhuo is the highest-earning celebrity in China.

For many consecutive years, he has topped the Forbes list of highest-paid artists and has long been among the top ten on the celebrity list.

But no one ever imagined that Wu Zhuo would have such a large annual income.

It's fair to say that Wu Zhuo's total assets may not even be as much as some people in China.

But when it comes to working capital, very few can compare to him.

Tencent now has a high market value and has become a giant company in China.

However, the industries they've entered into are numerous. If spread out, they might be able to compete with other platforms in a financial war, but compared to Wu Zhuo, they're really not that impressive.

If Wu Zhuo were to pour all his annual income from the entertainment industry into Baofeng Player, probably no other platform in the industry could compete with him.

"Wu Zhuo isn't that stupid to throw all his money into video platforms."

However, what Mr. Wang said was indeed correct; we need to pay attention to Wu Zhuo and Baofeng.

With Wu Zhuo's support, Baofeng will certainly not be content with the status quo.

I have received inside information that Baofeng will undergo a complete transformation, abandoning its previous resource integration model and adopting a content-centric model.

This can be seen from the fact that Han Zhijie immediately announced that he would produce his own drama series after becoming president.

In addition, I have received information that Wu Zhuo is actively negotiating with major film and television companies.

I think he's eyeing the copyrights held by these companies.

Vice President Sun Zhonghuai shared the same thoughts as Wang Juan and also expressed his emphasis on Baofeng.

"Old Wu, you need to pay attention to the copyright issue. Communicate more with film and television companies and don't be stingy with your money."

Baofeng is now a disruptor; their entry means we have another powerful competitor in the copyright competition.

But we cannot back down, as the public is increasingly aware of copyright protection.

In less than two years, this industry will become one where whoever owns the copyright will be the industry leader.

If we take a step back in the battle for copyrights, the consequences could be far more serious than just falling behind.

Ignoring the arguing among the crowd, Wang Juan looked at the department head in charge of copyright acquisition.

In fact, Wang Juan knew that Wu Zhuo had a lot of money, but she had no choice but to go along with him.

The current video platforms are already in a period of fierce competition.

In order to attract more users, various platforms are spending money on copyrights almost like crazy.

Tencent has already invested a lot of money in this area.

Now, even knowing that Baofeng Video will be joining in with a large amount of cash, they have no choice but to bite the bullet and follow suit.

In the current situation, no one can back down.

This retreat could mean falling behind, or even being completely crushed by other platforms. "Wu Zhuo is crazy to join at this time."

Now that he's in, film companies will definitely raise their prices, and the already high copyright fees will surely go up even further.

Someone below couldn't help but angrily curse Wu Zhuo as a madman.

To everyone here, Wu Zhuo was indeed a madman.

This year, in order to attract users, major platforms have driven copyright fees to astronomical levels.

Originally there were hundreds of video websites across the country, but now there are fewer and fewer due to this chaotic situation.

A large amount of capital withdrew because they couldn't compete, leaving less than a third of the original capital.

The current situation is that the capital that was originally in this industry could not withstand the chaos and has withdrawn. Capital that originally wanted to enter has also stopped in time and does not want to participate anymore.

But Wu Zhuo, this madman, is different from others.

He not only came in, but he also made it clear that he was bringing a large amount of capital, as if he wanted to compete with the most dominant platforms.

"Whether he's crazy or not, we have to keep up. Copyright laws are becoming more and more comprehensive. If we want to gain a foothold in this industry, we must own a large number of copyrights."

This is a blatant, overt conspiracy.

"Yes! We have to follow along!"

……

When Tencent was determined to wage a copyright price war with Baofeng.

iQiyi has also adopted a similar strategy.

They also do not want to see Baofeng, this disruptor, affect the existing landscape of video websites.

Moreover, iQiyi itself was the initiator of the copyright price war.

Since Baidu took over, iQiyi has been the first to launch a copyright battle this year.

Because of its early entry into the market, iQiyi gained considerable benefits, breaking through the ranks of numerous video websites to become one of the most popular content video websites.

Having already reaped the benefits, iQiyi naturally wouldn't give up the fight for copyrights. Just like Tencent, it immediately dispatched personnel to compete with Wu Zhuo for the copyrights.

However, the other two major video websites responded differently.

Sohu, the leading video website, paid attention to Baofeng's entry into the market.

However, their plan remained unchanged, and they continued to implement their previous strategy, focusing on acquiring copyrights from Europe and the United States.

This year is a year of major reshuffling for video website platforms.

After iQiyi took the lead in vying for domestic film and television copyrights, the other two platforms, Tencent and Youku, immediately followed suit.

Sohu Video failed to keep up.

The reason is simple: Sohu Video currently has the most copyrighted content among all platforms in China.

As early as the early 2000s, they had already become a leading video platform, and most programs and TV series were broadcast on it at that time.

The more broadcasts, the more copyrights the company owns.

Therefore, after a copyright war broke out on domestic platforms, they shifted their focus overseas, purchasing the rights to a large number of American dramas and becoming the largest American drama streaming platform in China.

During this period, American TV series were undoubtedly very attractive to users.

Sohu, which imports American dramas, firmly holds the top position among video platforms, a position that is unshakeable.

Therefore, Sohu, like a proud big brother, only glanced at Baofeng Player's entry into the market and then ignored it.

Then Youku.

After noticing Baofeng's movements, Youku was actually very keen to follow suit.

But they were willing but unable to do so.

At this time, Youku was being acquired by Alibaba.

The two sides are still arguing endlessly and have no energy left to spare.

As a result, a very strange scene unfolded in the market.

Sohu and Youku, the two giants, remained unmoved.

Tencent, iQiyi, and Baofeng then began a frenzied buying spree of copyrights in the market.

Whether it's movies, TV series, or variety shows.

We'll accept all three platforms without hesitation.

The copyright holders are clearly not fools.

As early as the beginning of the year, when video platforms started scrambling for copyrights, these companies realized the importance of the copyrights they held and basically all compared prices from different vendors.

They only sell to the highest bidder.

Undoubtedly, this behavior by the copyright holders has put the copyright acquisition of several platforms, including Baofeng Player, in a difficult situation.

In order to prevent other companies from snatching the copyright, the three companies directly launched a bidding process, driving the copyright fee to an outrageous level.

For example, Celestial Pictures owns the copyrights to 760 old Shaw Brothers films.

Even though the copyright value of old movies wasn't that high at this point, Wu Zhuo still spent a full 6.6 million RMB to acquire them.

The price was more than double what Celestial Pictures paid when it bought the copyright from Shaw Brothers.

Then there's the Golden Harvest copyright owned by Orange Sky Entertainment, for which Wu Zhuo spent another 9.2 million RMB.

To acquire these copyrights, Wu Zhuo had to withdraw a large amount of money he had invested in the fund.

This caused Wu Zhuo's cash flow to shrink by more than half.

Of course, although it costs a lot of money, the benefits are also great.

With over 1,600 movies, Baofeng Player boasts a vast film library, providing users with a better viewing experience.

Of course, there are far too many pirated copies of old movies circulating online these days.

Even several major platforms have pirated versions.

Therefore, upon obtaining the pirated version, Baofeng Player immediately began to clean up the pirated content.

That's simple. Just go to whichever video platform has pirated content and ask them to take it down.

Generally speaking, larger platforms will remove content after receiving a request from the copyright holder.

If they don't take it down, then it's even simpler—just sue them.

The government is now cracking down on piracy, and almost every case is successful.

However, the platforms that Baofeng Video is cleaning up are mostly legitimate ones.

Piracy on websites, however, is something that can't be controlled too much.

This is something we really can't control.

Even if you sue a website for piracy without an app, they can simply change the URL.

Moreover, website piracy is practically inexhaustible these days.

Just like Biquge.

It is not one person, but countless people.

Anyone with some technical skills can do it.

Therefore, Baofeng simply ignored it and instead focused its attention on several major platforms.

After acquiring the copyrights to 1600 old movies, Baofeng Player officially has its own exclusive content.

However, Baofeng did not stop immediately and continued to compete with other platforms for copyrights in the market.

Meanwhile, on December 8th, the TV series "Nirvana in Fire," starring Wu Zhuo, also officially premiered on Hunan TV.

On the video platform, Baofeng Player, under Wu Zhuo's guidance, obtained exclusive broadcasting rights.

(End of this chapter)