First, general information content charges.
From the end of 2002 to the beginning of 2003, some media reported the same news one after another. According to a survey conducted by the American research institute Innovation International Media Consulting Group, there are 1 18 news websites in North America (the United States and Canada), of which 36% are losing money, 38% are profitable, and 26% are flat. The sum of profit and flat shows that there are 64 news websites. Some operators who expect losses are expected to break even in the second half of 2003 or the first half of 2004. A very important factor in turning losses into profits is that network media operators and network users have gradually accepted the concept that information content is valuable.
Based on the current domestic and foreign online media revenue models, there are generally three types: 1, news information content is packaged and sold to other websites or media; 2. Users can browse the website only by paying; 3. Users pay for database query.
The success of content charging is not achieved overnight, but must be based on high information quality, high content uniqueness (that is, low substitutability), convenient and perfect payment mechanism, sound consumer payment concept, low internet access rate, high speed, clear market segmentation, and the content is not easy to be copied and copied.
Second, the network is dedicated to information.
Network-specific information refers to a professional, practical and effective e-reader customized by network media according to the special needs of relevant governments, enterprises and institutions, and subscribers receive it regularly through network passes (passwords) given by network media. For example, various reference electronic texts edited for financial system, real estate system, automobile, building materials, chemical industry, environmental protection and other industries can also appear with printed materials. Subscribers usually subscribe for half a year or a year at a time, and the fees for such information are generally higher. People's Daily Online and Xinhuanet both have this service at present. For example, People's Daily Online's latest policy information e-reader has a good sales momentum.
The key to run this kind of special information well is accurate market positioning and unique editing content, that is, the content of news can not be found on the internet or in general media and materials. At the same time, a competent distribution supervisor is also very important.
Third, live webcast.
This marketing model was introduced and developed from TV and radio. According to the needs of government departments or enterprises, online media send people to the scene to broadcast their activities online, and text, pictures or audio-visual content can be obtained online in the first time, which has its unique advantages compared with other media. It doesn't need expensive TV live broadcast equipment, nor does it need a huge live broadcast team, and the charge is relatively low. You can also communicate with readers directly through the network, and the live content can be read many times. After a long time, you can watch it at any time.
This way of webcasting is in the ascendant. Sina, Sohu, People's Daily and Xinhua are all doing this business. They broadcast live all kinds of festivals and activities held by enterprises in various places, which are more and more praised by users.
Fourth, jointly launch online topics with the government and enterprises.
Online media provides a publishing and technical platform, and there is a lot of room to jointly launch online topics within the business scope with the government and enterprises. This idea is based on the brand and influence of online media. With the help of a bigger and better network platform, the government and enterprises can publish their own information, expand their influence and promote their products, which is much better than their own websites, saving a lot of manpower and expenses. Why not?
If the talent factor is excluded, the key to the success of setting up a network topic is that you must find a partner purposefully according to the positioning of your website, and what you provide to it must be very needed. For example, if you cooperate with a talent exchange center and an intermediary to start an online topic, the users of your website must have a large number of young netizens who care about their work.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) Syndicate manuscript
Syndicated manuscripts have been developed abroad, and the largest syndicated websites in the world include iSyndicate, ScreamingMedia, YellowBrix and so on. Syndication of manuscripts is the simplest way to enjoy online media resources. News articles, in-depth reports and columnist articles can be jointly published or purchased by various websites. This kind of manuscript can be aimed at both the mass market and the niche market.
For example, Zhongqing. Com made a very detailed in-depth report and information base on the enrollment situation of colleges and universities nationwide this summer. These information and manuscripts can be jointly provided to other websites. Syndication of manuscripts can not only enrich the content, reduce the cost and increase the income, but also increase the number of clicks by clicking on the manuscript of syndication. Syndicated headlines are more likely to increase the number of clicks than the logo of the website.
Sixth, turn traditional media content into a source of wealth for online media.
People in charge of news media often worry that putting too much content of traditional media on the internet will have a negative impact on the operation of print media and the protection of the most commercially valuable resource content of traditional media. However, if the development of newsworthy content on the internet is excessively restricted, "it will disappoint netizens, because netizens are more and more picky about the content of the website and their appetite is growing."
In fact, most visitors to news media websites are not subscribers to print media. Most of the people who oppose putting printed content on the Internet come from the publishing and distribution departments of newspapers, not the editorial department of newspapers.
When readers buy magazines or newspapers, they pay not the content cost, but the printing and distribution cost. Online media has reduced the cost of media to zero, opened the door to new audiences and opened the door to readers who didn't have the opportunity to see your content in the past. These new audiences will become a new source of your wealth.
Seven, practical consumption information function charges
Internet has powerful functions of various practical information services. In the past, in order to attract users, they mostly provided users with free email and home page space. But at present, paid service or paid VIP service has become the starting point of website management. For websites with great credibility and influence, enterprises and institutions in social, economic, cultural and other fields will think of using their communication platforms. Therefore, the prospect of service charging or achieving "win-win" through various cooperation is very broad.
For example, since March 6th, 2002, Hongkong has provided "Online Express Visa" service for tourists from Taiwan Province Province. It used to take 7 to 10 days to complete the visa formalities. Now, as long as the Taiwan Province residents have complete information, they can enter Hong Kong in the afternoon after being approved, and the processing fee is greatly reduced. As of April 2004, the HKSAR has issued more than 654.38+600,000 speedpost cards to tourists in Taiwan Province Province.
Obviously, the information of online media drives consumption and produces a value chain, which can reflect its own value and bring economic benefits. With the process of digitalization, new consumption areas and value chains will inevitably be formed, such as online expansion of digital photography and electronic photo albums.
Eight, SMS charges
Nowadays, mobile phone is not only a communication tool for two-way voice communication, but also a popular information dissemination tool. The title of "the fifth media" seems to belong to it, and the growth of SMS in China is a magnificent scene. In this emerging field and market, in addition to mobile telecom operators, the biggest beneficiaries are various content providers. Nowadays, SMS revenue has become an important source of online media revenue.
The biggest inspiration of SMS revenue is to make timely and accurate judgments on new technologies and new markets. As early as June 19, 2000, the Japanese and English versions of People's Daily (renamed People's Daily in August of the same year) were officially opened in Japan, becoming the first website in China to send short messages to subscribers through mobile phones. However, after two years, it was not until the World Cup in May and June 2002 that People's Daily Online promoted SMS news subscription in China. News media websites often lose opportunities for development because of the indifference of profit consciousness and the inflexibility of their own mechanisms.
Nine, e-commerce platform
As one of the revenue means, building an e-commerce platform is also a common mode of online media. Among the news media websites, Dayang.com's book sales (Guangzhou Daily website) and YNET.COM's "group buying" platform (Beijing Youth Daily website) are representative.
Ocean. Com is the first news media website with obvious e-commerce nature in China, and has achieved considerable scale. Its symbol is the "Ocean Book City" established in 2000. At present, in addition to Guangzhou main station, there are two substations in Shanghai and Beijing. After receiving the customer's online order, the staff will confirm it by phone, and then use Guangzhou Daily to set up a distribution team of nearly 3,000 people to deliver the goods to consumers in a short time. In terms of payment, Ocean Bookstore cooperated with Guangdong UnionPay to establish an online payment system supported by more than 12 banks. With various methods such as cash on delivery and post office remittance, readers can choose more flexible and convenient payment methods. It solves two major problems of distribution and payment in e-commerce. At present, Dayang Bookstore can provide more than 654.38 million kinds of books, CDs, software and other publications, and its online sales in 200 1 year have reached nearly 10 million yuan. The phenomenon of "group buying" realized by individual consumers for the same purchase intention is a new market phenomenon and purchase phenomenon in domestic economic life in 2002. Its appearance is closely related to network communication, which is the most ideal intermediary and communication platform for the former.
YNET also keenly seized this opportunity and provided powerful support services by using its own platform. On July 16, 2003, the car "group purchase" webpage was officially launched, and users began to accept purchase registration. Since the opening of the webpage, the daily click rate has remained above 60,000. By August 6th, 2430 users were officially registered, and the number of registered car buyers reached 1543. More than 200 car buyers paid the deposit within one week to become official group purchase members. As of August 12, 63 people finally completed the car purchase procedures. On August 13, the first car delivery ceremony was held. YNET completed the process of car group purchase in less than a month. By the end of 10, in just three months, * * * sold 326 cars, including more than a dozen brands such as Jetta, Bora, Santana, Passat, Fukang, Sail, Chery, Pariaud and POLO, and the sales volume was equivalent to that of medium-sized car dealers in Beijing. On this basis, YNET went a step further, and announced the establishment of a brand-new e-commerce platform "Group Buying Network Business Center" based on "Group Buying" on 10/22 October, and formed a strategic partnership with Bank of China. At present, Tuangou.com Business Center has officially launched three business platforms: car group purchase, real estate group purchase and building materials group purchase, and will also launch a digital product group purchase business platform for high-end markets and avant-garde products.
In 2004 1 quarter, the sales of an industrial company in Dalian, which mainly focuses on mechanical and electrical products, were not good. So I tried to establish a relationship with a large domestic website in late April. Unexpectedly, only one week later, I received emails from two buyers in Korea and Australia, saying that they urgently needed a batch of mechanical and electrical products. After online discussion, the two sides booked more than 300,000 US dollars of products. This is a typical e-commerce success story.
E-commerce has experienced a long period of "burning money" and finally began to pick up, and it can be profitable in many ways. If the membership system is implemented, it is one of them.
The membership fees of industry websites are varied, and some can collect tens of thousands of yuan. For example, Sinochem. Com, the' Internet access fee' for each member is10.2 million yuan, and a service fee of 6,000 yuan is required every year. This alone, the annual income of the website will reach more than 40 million yuan. Other websites make money by charging an initial fee. Whether to open a franchise store online or share resources together to get a corresponding proportion of returns. For example, the 8848 website has set up an online alliance, and customers can open stores on it at any time. The lowest price is only 1 yuan per day. Some alliance stores charge rent or income door fees, which vary in quantity. Because they make money by scale, the general expenses are relatively low. Websites like Yi Bei, which focus on B2C (business-to-individual consumer), mainly rely on collecting platform usage fees. Such as merchant's commodity login fee, reserve price setting fee, commodity recommendation fee, transaction service fee, etc. In addition, charging the difference fee is also favored by some websites. Such as Zhuo Yue and Dangdang. Through online logistics and distribution, customers buy and deliver goods to their homes to earn the difference.
Judging from the whole situation, e-commerce has gone out of the misunderstanding of "making eye-catching attraction" in the previous two years and started to make profits. In 2003, the online shopping transaction volume in China was about 790 million yuan, an increase of 1 16.2% over the previous year. Some experts predict that it will reach1600 million yuan this year. Ma Yun, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba, predicted: "The pattern of e-commerce industry in China will change dramatically! The Internet in China will change from the era of "netizens" to the era of "online merchants". "
X. network access
The largest network access operators are telecommunications and radio and television. That is to say, the technology and market scale of telecom transmission network and cable TV transmission network determine the growth and decline of ADSL and cable modem at present.
From a technical point of view, ADSL is accelerating. For example, in July 2002, major ADSL operators in Japan announced that they were prepared to provide services with transmission speed exceeding 8Mbit/ s, and in March 2003, Centillium Communications announced the latest ADSL technology "eXtremeDSL MAX". Its characteristic is to improve the maximum transmission speed of uplink and downlink at the same time and extend the distance between ADSL service and base station. In terms of transmission speed, the maximum transmission speed from the base station to the user's residence (downlink) is 50Mbit/ s, and that from the user's residence to the base station (uplink) is 3mbit/s.. In addition, the downlink transmission speed of 192kbit/ s beyond ISDN can still be guaranteed when it is 7km away from the base station. From the domestic market, although the bandwidth provided by ADSL is limited at present, the momentum of telecom promotion is aggressive. Although cable TV transmission network has some innate advantages in broadband network access, whether it can become the "big brother" in the fierce competition still needs to answer this challenge with its own actions.
Here is a brief introduction of Taiwan Province Dongsen Media Technology Group (hereinafter referred to as "Dongsen Group"). Under the trend of global integration of communication industry, information industry and telecommunications industry, Dongsen Group has taken the lead. From 1995, it quickly changed from the initial role of traditional cable TV operators to a cross-media operator combining mass media, information networks and telecommunications. After five or six years of development, it has become a "four-in-one" media group covering radio, television, print media and online media. Dongsen clearly put forward the concept of 4C media, that is, the integrated marketing service of media content, network and communication, the integration of customer resources, community and e-commerce. In terms of network services, there are mainly two companies, ETToday and ETWebs. The former focuses on Dongsen TV news, especially audio and video content resources; The latter is mainly engaged in broadband Internet service, network interactive TV service, broadband platform and content provision, website M&A investment and other services. Both of them have their own broadband portals and sub-websites, providing all-inclusive information content and various network services. Dongsen began to invest 5 billion yuan on 1998 to complete the infrastructure construction of the island's optical fiber coaxial hybrid transmission network. 1999 officially launched broadband internet access service, and users developed rapidly. At the same time, it aimed at the telecom market of 500 billion yuan in Taiwan Province Province. Dongsen Broadband Telecommunication Company was established in 2000, and ADSL broadband Internet access was launched in 200 1. Thus, the business tentacles are rapidly expanded from the original CableModem market to the general dial-up and ADSL fields, which is equivalent to covering all ISP's network access services and launching strong competition with other competitors. (Note: Taiwan Province Province calls "network" as "network"; Call "broadband" as "broadband")
XI。 diversification
Online media, like other media, can carry out various businesses related to or unrelated to themselves. Related businesses, such as online advertising production, domain name registration, hosting, space leasing, etc., can also use their mature technology to provide website construction services for other customers. In April, 20001year, Shanghai Dongfang. com took advantage of its brand and launched the "Dongfang. com" project. In February of the same year, Shanghai Oriental Network Chain Management Co., Ltd. was incorporated. In 2002, the chain stores of Dongfang Network took shape. At present, there are 238 franchise chain stores, accounting for one-third of the total number of Internet cafes in Shanghai. This will not only properly solve the problem of "Internet cafes" criticized by the society, but also open up new income fields for Oriental companies. com。 In short, how to develop the offline business field is also one of the things that online media should observe.
Twelve, broadband new services
Broadband network can provide richer and more diversified content and service modes. For users, the initial selling point of broadband network is of course high-speed internet access, but after realizing high-speed internet access, users will immediately face higher and more requirements, and whether service providers can provide users with the content and services they need will be the most important factor related to their growth. In a word, the value of broadband Internet access lies not in the Internet itself, but in its content and service provision.
A big change brought by broadband network is that the entertainment function of the network has been greatly improved. At present, the most obvious performance is the online watching and downloading of online games and film and television works.
In 2000, the output value of online games in Korea was as high as 1. 1 billion dollars, which was six times that of 1.999. The rapid growth of the output value of online game industry in South Korea is a miracle created by the strong interaction between the prosperity of Internet cafes and the popularity of broadband networks. At present, Korean online games are aggressively entering the domestic market. Many websites have identified online games as another profit growth point after short messages.
Radio and TV media are the largest owners of audio and video program resources and should play the role of the main provider of broadband content in the market. What's more, in June 5438+10, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the order 15, which imposed strict restrictions on market access. However, we must see that, driven by interests, there are many websites that provide audio and video programs today, and their contents are either pornographic, novel and exciting, or infringe on copyright. However, it is customary for users to register and pay. While radio and television network media are discussing how to face the market, these alternative websites are collecting money to steal fun. Radio and TV departments and media have inherent advantages in broadband network access, broadband network content and service provision, but we have to admit that how to find a suitable market entrance as soon as possible and get some benefits is always a difficult problem.
Thirteen. online advertising
In the advertising market, although online media can't compete with traditional media at present, it is an aspect of its revenue that can't be ignored after all, and it has been growing in recent years. Since 200 1, there have been many innovations in the form of online advertising, and the business philosophy has also changed greatly, laying the foundation for competing for greater advertising market share in the future. Here we will focus on this online advertisement with huge profit imagination.
With the popularization of broadband network, streaming media and multimedia web page production technology can transform traditional online advertisements into interactive modes, which can not only use video on demand, but also use live broadcast to attract the attention of netizens. For example, in June this year, 5438+ 10, there was a webcast underwear conference in Taiwan Province Province, which created a record of 65438+ 10,000 people watching online at the same time. Interactive design is also the focus of online advertising. For example, Coca-Cola Company launched a new online advertisement at the end of February, in which netizens can enjoy three theme songs with different styles and vote for their favorite songs online. "Extended interactive advertising" is different from the previous compulsory viewing mode. Its characteristic is that advertising creativity and information can only be fully presented through the active click of netizens. Because netizens have the right to choose, they can increase brand goodwill. Recently, Taipei Media Service Agents Association interviewed 107 advertisers and people above the media management level and made a survey report on the development of advertising industry and media trends in 2003. The conclusion shows that the Internet and TV are the most potential media in the future, and even more than half of advertisers think that the Internet is the most potential media in the next five years, while media people think that the Internet and TV have the same potential. Advertising forms derived from traditional media are not the focus of this paper. Let's analyze two brand-new advertisements with obvious network characteristics, namely bidding advertisements and search ranking advertisements.
Bidding advertisement: Shanghai Dachang Trading Company is the general agent of Bentley Motors in East China. Last year, they did a lot of publicity in newspapers, TV and other media, but none of them were sold. In March of this year, they participated in online bidding advertisements. Who knows that it only took two weeks in 500 yuan, and an order came from afar, with a turnover of 24 million.
Fourteen Online distance education
The so-called online distance education is to realize a brand-new education system and teaching mode across regions and schools through the combination of computer network, multimedia and remote communication technology. China's online media can make full use of its existing advantages and cooperate with domestic and foreign educational institutions to carry out online distance education.
Now all countries in the world, especially developed countries, attach great importance to online distance education and invest a lot of money in infrastructure and applied research. For example, 1995, only 28% universities in the United States offer online courses, but by 1998, it has soared to 60%. Now, not only unknown universities recruit students through the Internet, but also well-known universities such as Columbia University and Stanford University are scrambling to provide online courses and compete for this "new field" of Internet education. According to American media reports, more and more universities teach students through the Internet, and online universities are becoming more and more popular.
China is also actively preparing for online distance education. It is reported that the goal of modern distance education project in China is to form an open education network, a lifelong education system and a learning society. To this end, the Ministry of Education will allow 30 institutions of higher learning that set up graduate schools in 2000 to carry out online distance education on the basis of six pilot schools in Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Zhejiang University, Hunan University, Peking University and China Central Radio and Television University, and the Ministry of Education will invest 40 million yuan to support the construction of online teaching materials and online education teachers. There are already online schools in primary and secondary schools, such as 10 1 online schools in Beijing and so on. In the online school, online students can be provided with synchronous teaching and review contents of key middle schools through the network, and irregular tutoring can also be provided according to students' requirements. Because the teachers who teach online are all excellent teachers in the front line, they are very attractive to parents and students.
Compared with the traditional teaching method which takes teaching as the center and blackboard, chalk and teacher's teaching as the main means, online distance education can not only replace its main function, but also has its incomparable advantages.
It broke the closed mode of traditional education. On the Internet, you can choose any excellent teacher and study any course anytime and anywhere. Its characteristics of "separation between teachers and students", "student-centered", "universality of communication" and "openness" are beyond the reach of traditional education, which is conducive to alleviating the contradiction of difficult education in remote areas and realizing lifelong education: it can provide new learning channels for students who cannot receive education because of space, time, work and family relations, economy and other factors, especially those who are married. This is conducive to encouraging students, especially those who study in their spare time, to attend and complete these courses more quickly.
Online distance education enables teachers and students to communicate in real time or non-real time across space. This is also the most significant difference between modern distance education and traditional education, and it is also its advantage. Teachers' teaching and students' learning can be carried out in different places at the same time, and there can be full communication between teachers and students: students can ask questions in their study at any time and get answers in time. Teachers can keep abreast of students' learning progress and understanding of courses and answer students' questions.
Online distance teaching is conducive to enjoying educational resources and improving the efficiency and benefit of education. Online distance education can effectively give play to the advantages of existing educational resources and realize the rational allocation of resources. According to experts' investigation, this teaching method can make students learn 30% more courses, improve 80% learning efficiency and save nearly 50% funds for the school. China is a poor country with large-scale education, with nearly 300 million people studying in schools, accounting for 23% of the world's total educated population, but the investment supporting this large-scale education system is less than 2% of the world's public education expenditure. At the same time, the number of citizens surfing the Internet in China has doubled every year.
With the further popularization of the network, online distance education will surely become the economic growth point of online media.
Fifteen, online games
Break through the "Korean Wave". Operators of online games are eager for profit. Since the second half of last year, Jinshan spent10 million yuan gambling on "Xia Lian ONLINE" and made a lot of profits; Guangtong's "Legend 3" was smashed into the server on the same day, making a fortune every day. Netease's online game revenue has accounted for 40% of the total revenue.
The profit model of online games mainly depends on the sales of various game cards. In terms of channels, mainly Internet cafes, a business system directly facing end customers has been established. Many websites have also woven a huge sales network throughout the country and sold them through game stores around the country. At the same time, the online payment functions of banks such as China Merchants, Industry and Commerce, People's Livelihood and Construction, as well as functions such as post office and wire transfer have been opened. In terms of price, popular games are basically kept within the price of 65438+ 10 points that can be purchased in 0 yuan, while others are decreasing in popularity; In terms of time, the monthly fee card can surf the Internet at will within the specified time, while the point card is strictly consumed by points, and each point can be played for about 15 minutes. Now the game card timing function is accurate to seconds; In terms of content, major websites are mainly foreign game agents, and domestic games account for less than 20%.
As a new form of entertainment, many websites are reluctant to give in to the situation of "Korean Wave" for a long time, and are trying to break through. "It is too expensive to represent a good foreign game now, and the entry fee is generally between 5 million and 20 million." Zhang Hui, commercial consultant of Sina Game Information Center, was deeply touched: "The share ratio in operation is also distressing. Foreign developers can account for as low as 65,438+00% and as high as 50%. Therefore, taking the road of localization in the future will be the fundamental direction. "
The major websites naturally understand this truth, and have invested huge sums of money to increase their independent research efforts, and have made great achievements. Chivalrous Daoism, Qing Empire, Fantasy Westward Journey, etc. have been released one after another and are going to the market. Shanda's Legendary World has achieved unprecedented success, and its online sales system earns millions of dollars every day. Netease launched its own boutique RPG game "A Chinese Odyssey OnlineII", which also achieved good results and won the best domestic online game award in 2003. Not only that, Netease also created its own game promotion model. According to Zhang Ying, manager of Netease's public relations department, they specially trained a group of online game "promoters" to coach customers all over the country and develop "offline". The more offline, the longer you play, the higher the income of "promoters", and some even reach tens of thousands of yuan per month. She said that this move is very clever. Now Netease has more than 20 million game users, and the maximum number of online users can reach 250,000.
Online games not only bring people pleasure from virtual environment, but also bring unlimited business opportunities to operators. In the eyes of many gamers, the virtual wealth in the game can be measured by real money. A survey shows that 22.64% of users have used real money to buy ID or virtual goods in online games, and the total registered accounts of domestic 10 mainstream online games have exceeded 400 million. If the proportion is 23%, more than 90 million registered accounts will participate in cash transactions. If the transaction amount is 100 yuan, the size of the whole market can reach more than 9 billion. It can be seen that the space of China's game market is very large. If there is a best-selling game, it will bring a lot of money immediately.
Sixteen, multimedia message service (MMS)
The profit mode of MMS mainly lies in its MMS service function. To this end, MMS operators have made great efforts to continuously enrich the service space of this function. At present, MMS has been dyed with numerous attractive colors. On the Internet, merchants have opened channels such as multimedia message pictures and animation classified navigation for customers of various mobile phones, and customers can convert their favorite pictures of stars, pets and scenery into multimedia messages and send them out. You can send music, greeting cards, MMS animations, ringtones, videos, etc. Give it to the person you like; You can not be restricted by word processing, even if you send a 5000-word article to your lover; You can send and receive emails through online MMS, and conduct various friends and business activities; You can also subscribe and download a variety of content, and even take photos and videos. Of course, the price is also high. Send 1 color pictures or greeting cards, at least 1-3 yuan. If you want other services for a month, it is generally between 5 and 25 yuan, which is difficult for most civilians to accept at present. At present, the mainstream position of SMS market is irreplaceable, mainly because of its own price advantage. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that the number of MMS users is growing rapidly, and businesses are eager to carry out various activities.