As the forerunner of triple play, Internet TV is highly anticipated by TV manufacturers and network video content providers. While TV manufacturers are trying to sell a new generation of Internet TV sets, many companies that used to engage in online video have also sniffed the smell of profits and taken measures to make Internet TV unpopular.

The last round of financing before Youpeng Pule's transformation of Internet TV brewing and listing.

According to informed sources, as many as 14 cultural industry funds and industrial giants are negotiating with Youpeng Pule.

In the era of video websites, Youpeng Pule is just an ordinary member of large and small video websites. Although its traffic and influence are far from those of Youku and Tudou, it still tries its best to maintain a "clean life"-no piracy. Youpeng Pule once launched an anti-piracy alliance with Sohu and excited net, which became the "deep-water bomb" of this revolutionary army.

However, this "depth bomb" finally faded out of people's sight. When people talk about PC video websites, they almost never think of its name. At that time, Youpeng Pule was already quietly transforming. Since 2009, the "enclosure" and "breeding" of the Internet TV industry have started.

After being dormant for two years, I turned around and returned to the Jianghu.

In fact, Youpeng Pule really kept a low profile for two years, not deliberately keeping a low profile, but because he was "self-reforming" and didn't know what the result was.

However, today's Youpeng Pule can't keep a low profile, because after "another creation", it will eventually reappear and has actively started preparing for listing. An insider who did not want to be named revealed to Securities Daily that "Youpeng Pule seems to have changed his plan to list on the A-share main board next year". According to the official of Youpeng Pule, the company is indeed in the last round of financing before listing, and most of them are in contact with cultural and industrial funds, but the specific listing time and place have not yet been determined. In this regard, Youpeng CEO Shao was unwilling to make more comments when interviewed by Securities Daily. He only revealed: "In addition to the capital demand, Youpeng Pule needs industrial potential more, and its value is not willing to be underestimated." According to the data, Youpeng Pule's last round of financing was at the end of 20 10, with an amount of about 20 million US dollars and a valuation of about 1 100 million US dollars.

Shao said: "In fact, we give priority to cooperation with Internet giants, and some of them did have two-way contacts. We hope that through this cooperation, we can get through the user's three-screen application faster, thus driving and accelerating the popularization of Internet TV applications. " However, Shao also clarified that "the specific listing time and plate have not been finalized".

The above-mentioned insiders pointed out that if Youpeng Pule plans to start domestic listing in 20 13, according to relevant regulations, it should be profitable at least in 20 10. In this regard, an insider of Youpeng Pule admitted that "the company really started to make profits from 20 10".

Bet on internet TV service

Today, video giants such as Youku, Sohu Video and Tencent Video have not yet made a profit. Why can Youpeng Pule make a profit illegally?

In fact, Youpeng Pule is no longer a pure video website. If Youpeng Pule uses this concept to go public, even if it can be made, it will be difficult to get too high a valuation, because there are too many companies that are stronger than it. Today, Youpeng Pule has transformed into an Internet TV service provider. The so-called Internet TV is a TV all-in-one or TV set-top box with the Internet as the content transmission channel. Users can enjoy Internet video content and various intelligent applications through the TV screen. For the transition from network video to Internet TV, Shao believes that it is from the Red Sea to the Blue Ocean.

Jiang Sihong, CTO of Youpeng Pule, said: "Youpeng Pule's services for Internet TV include technical support for Internet TV broadcast control platform, as well as a set of product service solutions such as CDN deployment, streaming media distribution, market operation and content provision." However, unlike LeTV (18.790, 0.21.13%), Xiaomi Technology [Weibo] and TV manufacturers, Youpeng Pule does not make hardware.

Also focusing on the concept of Internet TV, bestv and China Digital Media are well-known.

Multi-pronged income model

Globally, Apple, Google [Weibo] and Microsoft [Weibo] have been making a big fuss about Internet TV for a long time. Shao said: "We don't regard Google and Apple as competitors. First of all, from a policy point of view, it is difficult for them to enter the China market. Secondly, if such a giant can explore the Internet TV market with us, the cake in this market will be even bigger, which can only be a good thing for us. "

"In fact, a small number of licenses also constitute the threshold for video giants such as Youku and Sohu to enter this field," the above-mentioned insiders pointed out.

According to Shao, Youpeng mainly serves customers through three channels: telecom operators, TV manufacturers and set-top box manufacturers. For telecom operators, Youpeng Puleduo takes the form of bundled sales and joins the broadband package of operators for revenue sharing. As for TV manufacturers, Youpeng Pule has cooperated with Skyworth [Weibo], Haier, TCL[ Weibo] and Changhong [Weibo] and is the earliest Internet TV service provider in China.

According to the data from Youpeng Pule, at the operator level, Youpeng Pule has cooperated with operators in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country, and it is estimated that by the end of this year, there will be 65,438+10,000 paying users every month. In the field of set-top boxes, the market coverage of Youpeng Pule has reached over 90%.

"Internet TV has entered a period of rapid growth, and our plan is to reach' double hundred' users by 20 13. The number of paid users in cooperative channels of telecom operators reached 1 10,000, and the number of paid users in direct consumer-oriented channels reached 1 10,000. Shao revealed that our goal is to have more than 5 million paying users by 20 14. "

According to the report of CITIC Securities, in the next three years, the number of people covered by Internet TV mode in a single year is expected to exceed 50 million.

Internet companies have been "electrocuted", and the first year of Internet TV came.

Google, Apple, Baidu, Alibaba, iQiyi, Xiaomi, Haier, TCL, Skyworth, Lenovo, Shanghai Wenguang Group, etc. Not only Internet companies, but also traditional TV manufacturers, IT manufacturing companies and broadcasting companies have joined the "TV War". 1October 28th, 10, China Mobile Sichuan Internet TV service was officially launched, and telecom operators also joined the battle for the living room. What they are interested in is the huge home Internet market behind TV.

At present, users want to realize the intelligence and internetization of living room TV, and there are two choices. The first option is more economical, adding a "box" to the TV. Available products include Xiaomi Box, LeTV Box, Huashu Rainbow jointly created by Alibaba and Huashu Media, Youpeng Pule, bestv and PPTV. And Baidu's new Baidu movie stick.

The second option is to upgrade the TV directly to Internet TV. There are mainly LeTV, TV+ and cool open in the market.

The data shows that smart TV in China has entered a stage of rapid growth. It is estimated that the sales volume of smart TVs in China will reach1971000000 in 20 15, and will climb to 30.55 million in 20 15.

"This is a market that grows at a' double speed'." Yi Hao, CEO of TCL Multimedia said. In this regard, Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi, said that the birth of smart TV was supported by the strong demand of users. "At present, the viewing habits of video users are shifting from PCs and mobile terminals to TV screens, and the traditional TV industry is facing the transformation of living room entertainment." In his view, the first year of smart TV is coming.

Learn from the business model of smart phones and make profits through content, application, advertising push and added value.

Xiaomi's 47-inch 3D smart TV is priced at 2999 yuan; Letv TV, 39-inch, dual-core CPU, only 1999 yuan ... Internet companies always take people as the price. This is reminiscent of the scene of a price war when Internet companies got together to make mobile phones last year. Now it seems that the Internet for mobile phones has been forgotten by the market.

"The reason why smart TVs dare to price like this is mainly to reduce the high channel and circulation costs." Zhuo Saijun, an analyst at Analysys International, said, "But only from the foreseeable shipment of Xiaomi, it is more likely to take a low-price route to meet Xiaomi's ambition in the import dispute and maintain its product position in the market. Sharing and rapid popularization. "

In reality, the rapid popularization of Internet TV still faces some problems. On the one hand, the cultivation of users' usage habits still needs a process. On the other hand, the user experience becomes the key. Previously, due to insufficient network speed and bandwidth, some smart TVs faced the embarrassing situation of "some people bought them but no one used them".

"In recent years, it is the blowout stage of the rapid development of smart TV, but the activation rate and actual utilization rate of smart TV are not high. So content developers are reluctant to enter this market. Instead of watching Internet companies may muddy the water, it is better to cut the big cake of home Internet together. " Zhuo Saijun said, "In the past, TV made money by terminal hardware. Now, smart TV draws lessons from the business model of smart phones, and gains profits through content, application, advertising push and added value, and becomes an application platform. This will be an innovation in the TV profit model. "

The cooperation between hardware manufacturers and internet companies involves several levels: platform cooperation, such as cloud platform and application open platform; Content cooperation, such as videos, games, etc. Cooperation in payment, shopping and other application services. "Soft and hard cooperation will become a powerful boost for the development of smart TV industry, promote the establishment and improvement of industrial ecosystem, and lay the foundation for multi-screen integration. Smart TV brings the direction of content making money, from hardware as the core to content as the core. " Zhuo Saijun said.

New media has changed the news, e-commerce has rewritten shopping, and Alipay has hit the banking industry ... When Internet companies turn their attention to traditional TV, can people expect a "living room revolution"? It takes time to verify.