Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1418 No Gratitude
Frank said: "The emergence of the website Hulu originated from two TV stations, NBC and FOX. They discovered that there were many video websites on the Internet, with a lot of TV drama content. They realized that they should build a video website by themselves and disseminate their content legally. , so as to obtain due returns in the online advertising market.”

"Oh? Two TV stations?"

Zhou does not know that the initiators of Hulu are two media giants - NBC Universal and News Corporation.Unexpectedly, it was actually two TV stations owned by two media giants.

Frank nodded, "Yes, the TV station, they want to make up for the loss in TV ads through online ads."

"No wonder!"

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized.

Movies and TV dramas in the United States have to spend money to watch.But Hulu's model is different, it is an "advertising + free" model.It turned out to be from the TV station mode!

Both NBC and FOX are free to air.

That is to say, there are a large number of advertisements on these TV stations, attracting users through content, and earning income through users watching advertisements, that is, the "advertising + free" model.Some streaming media platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are different. They are pure subscriptions, and you can only watch them if you pay for them, without advertisements.

"What's going on with the infighting between Universal and NBC?"

This is a secret that Zhou Buqi is most concerned about, and it may help the next split of NBC Universal and the acquisition of Universal Pictures.

Frank hesitated for a moment, and whispered: "Mr. Zhou, you may not know much about the policies of the United States. In terms of anti-monopoly mechanism, movies are the strictest, followed by TV dramas, and then music and literary works."

Zhou Buqi immediately understood, "Who said that there may be pirated content of TV series on the Internet, but it is difficult to find pirated movies?"

"Correct."

"interesting."

"Because of the existence of pirated TV series, NBC and FOX have to do Hulu, disseminate content legally, and earn profits in their own hands, instead of cheapening some pirates. But movies are different, and there are almost no pirated movie resources. "

"So..." Zhou Buqi seemed to understand, "NBC has launched Hulu, so they want to put Universal Pictures' content on Hulu in order to promote this website, but Universal is unwilling."

Frank smiled and said, "That's right, that's the reason. Now Hulu has movies from Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, Sony Columbia, and Disney, but there are no movies from Universal Pictures."

Zhou Buqi was very surprised, "Not even some obsolete movies with black borders? No silent movies?"

"No, this is a difference in concept. Universal is firmly opposed to Hulu. The relationship between NBC and Universal under NBC Universal has never been good." Frank began to flatter him again, "I heard that Mr. Zhou intends to promote NBC and Universal Pictures. A split of the industry? That's right, it should be easy. Just like the CBS-Paramount split a few years ago."

Zhou Buqi nodded, and said "hmm".

This is easy to understand.

Just profit.

This kind of unlisted film and television company is a traditional company, which does not issue options to executives, and the executives have no shares in their hands.They only receive salary and dividends every year.

Dividends are directly linked to the company's profits.

The more profits, the more dividends.

But here comes the problem.

For example, the merger between Universal Pictures and NBC, and the merger between Paramount and CBS must be blood transfusions from content providers to channel providers. Anyway, they are all one company, left handed and right handed.

NBC gets to stream Universal's content for free, and CBS gets to stream Paramount's content for free.

This has resulted in the loss of the interests of the film department, which has also led to a reduction in the dividends of the film business executives, and this contradiction has arisen.

Well, NBC took the content of Universal Pictures to broadcast for free, that's all, after all, he is a brother of his father, and the son has to listen to his father.But what about Hulu?

Want to give the content of Universal Pictures to outsiders?

Firmly refuse!

At this time, Zhou Buqi's mood was mixed.

The good news is that this group of people in Hollywood are really idiots. They are all short-sighted and only focus on immediate interests. They are not only sticking to the past, but also resisting the emerging Internet streaming media model.

The worry is that they are really stupid and lack the big picture.Just like Universal is unwilling to cooperate with NBC's work, this is NBC Universal, it is a company!

If a company uses some content, it has to send a negotiation team to quote, buy, negotiate repeatedly, and even formulate various detailed reports. Wouldn't this efficiency be reduced?Doesn't it add a lot of extra overhead costs?
He only cares about his own interests and disregards the interests of the company, which is a proper big company disease.

It seems that when "Ziweixing Global" is started in the future, similar operations should be done cautiously. When "left hand turns right hand", try to satisfy both parties as much as possible.

"week!"

At this moment, someone patted him on the shoulder from behind.

Zhou Buqi turned his head and saw that it was an acquaintance - Megan Fox.

"Megan?"

"Zhou, I have contacted you many times."

Megan Fox had a resentful look on his face. Frank, the vice president of MGM, saw this and immediately found a reason to leave.

Zhou Buqi was a little strange, "Really? What's the matter?"

Megan Fox said softly: "Zhou, you promised to give me a gift."

"what?"

"A Ferrari."

"Oh, yes." Zhou Buqi slapped his head, how could he forget about it, the last time he slept with her at Old Trafford, it has been more than half a year, "No problem, tomorrow I will I'll send someone to follow you. I've been too busy recently, so I didn't take care of it."

Megan Fox happily took his arm, "Thank you."

Zhou Buqi didn't want to get entangled with her, saying that he still had to meet important people.

Megan Fox pulled him and asked coquettishly, "Mr. Zhou, will you buy DreamWorks?"

"Huh?" Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "Who said that?"

"I heard it too."

"Nonsense."

"Then...then if you buy DreamWorks, can you do me a favor?"

"what happened?"

"I still want to participate in the next "Transformers", but the producer and director don't seem to want to renew my contract."

"Really?" Zhou Buqi shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't do anything about it. Even if I really bought DreamWorks, I won't interfere with the creation. Well, Megan, I'm going to meet a friend."

"Transformers 2" will be released worldwide next month, and the publicity has been vigorous.

There is a publicity point that this may be Megan Fox's last movie in the series. Fans who want to see this peerless stunner should not miss it.

In fact, it's because of the salary.

In the first two films, Megan Fox was a newcomer and received a basic salary. The combined salary of the two films was only 200 million US dollars.This will be different in the next "Transformers 3". The film contract has expired, and if the contract is renewed, more money will be required.

But the production team of "Transformers" thought that the focus of this movie was the Autobots, and it didn't matter who the heroine was, so they didn't want to pay a high salary, and the two sides were at a stalemate.

Not to mention that Zhou Buqi is not good at intervening, even if he could, he would not help.

This Megan is really a bit big-chested and brainless.

After sleeping with her once, she didn't express her gratitude, as if someone owed her money!
Such a super-friendship relationship, she didn't cherish it, and wanted a car, turning a good relationship into a transaction, this state is really too bad.

It's better than some female stars in China, such as Xu Qing, Qin Lan, Che Xiao, Deng Jiajia, etc., who have nothing to do with Boss Zhou several times, and said that it is an honor to be respected by Mr. Zhou. He makes friends.

How clever!
Is it worth more than a Ferrari to make friends with Boss Zhou?
Zhou Buqi has come into contact with some Hollywood actors, both men and women, and the overall impression is very bad, all of them are more mercenary than capitalists.

After throwing away Megan Fox, Zhou Buqi went to tonight's host, Jason Kilar, who was born in Silicon Valley, a former Amazon executive, and the current CEO of Hulu.

Both of them are from the Internet, and they have a special sense of identity when they meet.

In particular, Jason Kilar likes the Chinese very much. Most of the executives of Hulu are Chinese, and even opened a research and development center in the capital.

There are too many people, it is not easy to talk too much.

Only brief exchanges.

Zhou Buqi asked, "What's the status of Hulu's current movie library?"

Jason Kilar sighed, "It's not good. The TV series are okay. There are a few well-known sitcoms, but the movies are not good at all. Let's put it this way, as long as DVD movies can be sold on the market, the content is not good. may be given to us."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Nothing is impossible, it's just more money and less money."

Jason Kilar said helplessly: "It's just that there is no money. The major shareholders are not willing to pay, and the content they give is only leftovers."

Zhou Buqi tentatively asked: "What about the charging model? Have you not considered it?"

"It has been considered, but the board of directors has not approved it."

"why?"

"Ha ha."

Jason Kilar's brow showed decadence, helplessness and sarcasm.

Zhou Buqi is very happy.

Of course he knew why.

Selling content on the Internet for a fee is a new model!The traditional model is that users have to pay to subscribe to cable TV stations, and then watch high-quality content.

Wouldn't it be a blow to Hollywood's traditional model if you could see high-quality content by spending money on the Internet?

Jason Kilar said: "Shareholders' positioning of Hulu is just a business supplement to free TV stations, and they want to earn advertising fees through low-end content. For real high-quality content, they have traditional distribution and revenue-generating models."

Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "It feels like you're in a lot of trouble."

Jason Kilar nodded, "I'm still fighting for it. It's best to follow the 'free + paid' model. Low-end content is free to watch, and high-quality content is paid to watch. Only in this way can Hulu develop."

Zhou Buqi sighed, pretending to empathize with him, and took a deep look at him, "The ideas don't match. This is the cultural cognition gap between Silicon Valley and Hollywood. It may be difficult to reconcile."

(End of this chapter)