Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 410 Streaming Platform

"Pumpkin Movies is an online streaming platform we developed in 2015, focusing on suspense, thriller, and horror works from around the world. The operating model is 'no advertising + user fees', benchmarking Netflix in the United States..."

In the conference room of Ruyi Pictures, Cole Ming switched the display interface on the projection screen and enthusiastically introduced his own products to Meng Bai who was sitting opposite him.

Although they had already decided to invest in Ruyi, it was a multi-billion dollar business after all, so they still had to first understand the financial situation of the target company. On the Ruyi side, when they learned that Meng Bai was coming to visit the company, the boss Ke Liming and the general manager Chen Zhixi came out to greet him in person, and their attitude was extremely enthusiastic.

We were partners before, so it was fine for us to be more casual. Now they have become our sponsor, even though they are only a small sponsor, they are still very valuable in this cold winter of the film and television industry.

However, they had worked together many times before, so the two sides were not unfamiliar. Knowing that Huguang wanted to investigate Ruyi's assets, Ke Liming and his men showed all their assets straightforwardly.

It is not to be mentioned that Ruyi has been able to develop to this day, and it does have a lot of background. In addition to the numerous investment projects and film and television copyrights, the most eye-catching is a streaming platform called "Pumpkin Movies".

Unlike the mainstream "free + advertising" model of several other domestic video websites, Pumpkin Movie adopts a fee system. All users of the platform pay a unified fee, and then they can browse all the resources of the platform at will.

Meng Bai looked at the main interface of "Pumpkin Movie" on the projection screen. Except for the somewhat gloomy pumpkin head logo in the upper left corner, the rest of the interface, including the UI design of the entire page, was almost exactly the same as Netflix's style.

Let’s take a look at the film and television resources displayed on the homepage. They are mainly divided into two parts:

One is various movies and TV series produced by Ruyi, such as "Nirvana in Fire", "All Quiet in Peking", "Sewing Machine Band" and "Animal World" that were previously invested and produced.

The other type includes Netflix's new works "Love, Death and Robots" and "Kingdom", the highly-rated British drama "Black Mirror", and many global classic dramas including "House of Cards", "The Walking Dead" and "Prison Break".

Meng Bai couldn't help but complain in his heart, this is not a benchmark at all, this is clearly a copy of Netflix.

“How many users does the website have now?”

“So far, there are approximately 768 million users.”

Meng Bai was a little surprised: "That's quite a lot!"

This achievement is certainly not comparable to the top three platforms, Qiyi TV, Tencent Video, and Youku, but it is not a small number among second-tier platforms. After all, even Mango TV, which has only been emerging in the past two years, has only just exceeded 10 million paying users.

Meng Bai had never even heard of this Pumpkin Movie before, but it was able to quietly attract more than 7 million paying users, which is indeed a very good figure.

In this way, he understood why Evergrande was so interested in Ruyi. In addition to the film business, the streaming platform of Pumpkin Film was also a very important advantage.

only……

"How did you solve the copyright of these dramas?" Meng Bai asked, pointing at those classic American dramas.

Chen Zhixi coughed lightly and said, "Many dramas on the platform have not been introduced in China, so the copyright ownership is still blank. Many dramas we put on the platform are also based on online resources."

What she said was vague, but Meng Bai understood it in his heart.

To put it bluntly, it’s piracy.

Ke Liming, who was standing by, also explained in detail that not all dramas are pirated. In China, because they are close to the mainland, they don't touch anything except their own works.

As for foreign movies and TV series, more than 80% are cheap works purchased directly in packages from overseas film and television distributors. As for the top well-known dramas and movies, they are not considered film and television works in name, but rather "network resources" collected by the platforms.

Anyway, foreign countries are far away and Pumpkin Movies is relatively niche. Not to mention the copyright holder, even most domestic users may not know that there is such a platform, let alone hold them accountable.

In fact, most video websites grew up in this way. They started by attracting traffic through pirated popular resources. After they grew larger and more formalized, they removed these pirated resources and changed their appearance.

It has to be said that Colin Ming had a good vision. He created Pumpkin Movies in 15 when the mobile Internet was booming.

It’s a pity that, firstly, it doesn’t have the capital support like the Big Three, and secondly, the “fee-based” model is not suitable for the local environment, so it failed to grow.

Netflix was originally a disc rental company, which has already cultivated a large group of paying users. In addition, American audiences are also accustomed to paying for content, so it is natural for them to develop a "pay-per-view system".

However, China itself lacks such an audience, and most platform users are accustomed to the "free + advertising" system cultivated by several major Internet giants. Pumpkin Movie is inherently facing a very low scale ceiling.

Of course, Colin was aware of this, but he didn't care much.

"Whether it's paid or not, in the end, it all comes down to who can control more high-quality copyrights. Users are ruthless, they will always only follow good works, not which platform. But good works require a lot of money, and without capital support, there is no way to achieve it."

Ke Liming smiled and said: "As a product, the Pumpkin Movie is indeed not excellent. But as a story concept, it has a lot of room for imagination." "As far as I know, many entertainment giants around the world are entering the streaming field this year. Disney wants to make 'Disney+', HBO wants to make 'HBO MAX', Apple wants to make 'Apple TV', plus the traditional Netflix, Hulu, etc., it can be said to be a new concept outlet."

"The capital market is always chasing new concepts. Whoever can tell a good story will be favored by capital. In comparison, Pumpkin Film is one of the most advanced companies in this field in China. If there are a few more hits to prove its credibility, I believe the capital market is willing to pay for this story."

At this point, Ke Liming looked at Meng Bai with a sharp gaze. Whether in terms of subject matter or strength, Arclight Films was the most suitable partner, which was why he was willing to accept Arclight's investment.

Meng Bai also understood. This guy actually had no intention of creating a "Chinese version of Netflix". He just found a differentiated track that was different from others, and then raised the price by relying on the concept, and then waited for a suitable buyer.

In fact, in a sense, he has succeeded. At least Evergrande is very interested in Ruyi. If it were not for the retreat of the capital market and the cold winter of the film and television industry, it would have made a move by now.

Of course, Meng Bai believes that Evergrande definitely does not want to build a streaming media platform. They also see the concept's appeal to the capital market and its ability to help raise the stock price of Hengten Network, which they are cooperating with Tencent.

This is capital operation. For Meng Bai, this is a new field that he needs to study seriously.

However, no matter how it is operated, it still needs physical products as a basis. For streaming platforms, "physical products" are works.

As it happens, Arclight is the one that can produce works.

Meng Bai narrowed his eyes and fell silent, thinking quickly in his mind.

He previously thought that Ruyi was just a film and television company, and the content of the cooperation between the two parties was mainly movies. Unexpectedly, after actually understanding it, he found that there seemed to be more value to be explored.

As for trying out a few works, that's fine. With him around, ArcLight will never lack for quality projects.

However, in this case, the previously planned indirect shareholding plan would be somewhat inappropriate.

After thinking for a while, he looked at Ke Liming and Chen Zhixi who were looking forward to it, and said with a smile: "I am looking forward to cooperating with Ruyi, but we still need to consider the specific form of cooperation."

Ke and Chen were delighted to hear this, and Ke Liming said without hesitation: "Of course, we are also looking forward to cooperating with President Meng. As for the form of cooperation, President Meng, just tell us, and we will do our best to cooperate."

"Then I wish our cooperation goes smoothly."

"Smooth cooperation!"

After leaving Ruyi, Meng Bai called Gu Fei over again and told her the latest situation and his thoughts.

In the next few days, Gu Fei, as the representative of Huguang, started many consultations and negotiations with Ruyi. After half a month, they finally decided on a new cooperation plan.

In late March, Ruyi Pictures officially announced the introduction of a new strategic partner, Arclight Films. Arclight acquired Ruyi shares from Houyang Zaihong Fund, accounting for a total of 49%, becoming the second largest shareholder of Ruyi.

Meng Bai, the actual controller of Arclight Films, joined the board of directors of Ruyi and became a non-serving director with independent voting rights.

At the same time, Arclight Films, the parent company of Arclight Films, will also cooperate with Ruyi’s “Pumpkin Movies” platform to produce new streaming series.

This series of news may not matter to ordinary audiences outside the circle, but it caused quite a stir in the industry.

The industry is now in the midst of a "film and television winter", and each company is shrinking its boundaries to preserve its strength. Unexpectedly, ArcLight Pictures, a new film and television giant, is not affected at all and is still constantly expanding its scale.

In addition, Ruyi Pictures is also a first-tier film company that has grown rapidly in recent years. It maintains a good cooperative relationship with Wanda, Tencent, and Guangxian, and has produced many box office hits in a row.

Now that the two parties have joined forces, I'm afraid a new force will emerge in the film industry.

Many people have been discussing the future development of these two companies in the film industry, but no one cares about the "Pumpkin Movie".

It’s just a second-rate small video website. With three major platforms suppressing it, no matter how much it grows, it will at most be another Mango TV.

However, not everyone was indifferent. Dai Ying from Qiyi TV called Liu Jun and asked him tactfully what Mr. Meng was planning. After confirming that it would not affect their cooperation, he was relieved.

Meng Bai didn't have the energy to care about the various speculations from the outside world for the time being, because he had more important things to do right now.

After fifty days of release, "The Wandering Earth" finally exceeded the 5 billion threshold and ranked second on the domestic film box office list.

(End of this chapter)