Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3132 Stable Cash Flow

Zhou Buqi said: "The difference in this hacking incident lies in the way it is handled, which can serve as a signal. If I win, then technology leading Hollywood can become a natural trend. Even if Warner and Fox are unwilling, they have to follow my footsteps. To some extent, I have helped them and can guide them to transform their businesses faster."

Zhang Chaoyang said slowly: "There are also many streaming platforms in the United States, right?"

"Yes, there are some, but the ideas are different." Zhou Buqi shook his head. "Now Hollywood's view on streaming media is more of an additional profit channel and the last link in the distribution channel."

"The final stage?"

"Yes, Hollywood's film and television content is still distributed through traditional channels. First it goes to theaters, then to on-demand channels and TV stations, and then to the DVD and videotape markets. After a year or two, when all these channels have been exhausted and no additional profits can be squeezed out, the film and television works will be pushed to streaming media to make the last profit."

"That won't work. The promotion period has long passed."

Zhang Chaoyang shook his head. He immediately realized the conceptual error that Hollywood was making in its approach to the streaming industry.

Many excellent film and television works will undergo a lot of publicity when they are launched into the market.

Especially for Hollywood blockbusters, the publicity budget is very high, often hundreds of millions of dollars.

With so much advertising money spent, the driving effect in the market will be very strong.

Movie fans will be very interested in this type of film.

The heat can be maintained for a long time.

Relying on its popularity, a movie can be shown in theaters for at least half a year. After being shown in theaters, it can be promoted to TV stations for the first, second and third rounds of broadcast, and DVDs can also be released... The effective use of these distribution channels is all related to the early promotion of the film.

If the early publicity is good, the later distribution will be smooth, so publicity and distribution are collectively referred to as "publicity and distribution" and are considered to be the same thing by the industry.

But the existing model is incompatible with streaming media.

After the traditional distribution channels have been used and enough money has been made, the film and television works will be pushed to the streaming media platform... At least a year and a half will have passed, and the publicity of the movie will have passed! At this time, the relevant film and television works will not be able to enjoy the early publicity effect, and it will be difficult to drive the development of the streaming media platform.

Zhang Chaoyang smiled and said, "But it's not surprising. Netflix has nothing to do with Hollywood. Hollywood blockbusters often cost hundreds of millions of dollars in publicity, and this part of the expenditure is borne by Hollywood giants. Of course, they want to reap all the benefits. It's impossible for Hollywood giants to do the publicity and then let Netflix enjoy the huge benefits. During the protection period of the publicity effect, do the internal distribution system, and after the publicity protection period is over, cooperate with other streaming media platforms such as Netflix."

Zhou Buqi said: "Netflix has nothing to do with Hollywood, but Hulu was co-founded by several Hollywood giants, and it was treated the same way, right? Those people just don't pay enough attention to streaming media, and they are still sticking to the traditional way of the past. Many Hollywood bigwigs are at least in their sixties or seventies, and their thinking is rigid. They don't realize the importance of technology in changing Hollywood."

Zhang Chaoyang now basically understood what was going on, and said with a smile: "I see you are a little too confident. The traditional distribution system must be very large, and there are interest groups in every link... For example, the DVD market, how many DVD manufacturers, transporters, and sellers can this market support? If we go directly to streaming media, won't everyone in this industry line be unemployed?"

Zhou Buqi laughed haha.

Lao Zhang's words can be said to hit the nail on the head.

Many times, some people are unwilling to reform, not because they cannot see the benefits of reform, but because they have been colluding with the interest groups of the past for too long, and have long formed a pattern of you in me and me in you.

It’s too difficult to change.

Zhang Chaoyang said unhappily: "Tell me the truth."

Zhou Buqi whispered: "Fundamentally speaking, it is a battle between TV stations and streaming platforms."

Zhang Chaoyang said seriously, "I guessed it." Zhou Buqi said, "Ziweixing Global has no TV stations. The most important reason why I was able to integrate Ziweixing Global so smoothly was that I divested the TV station business. Otherwise, those TV stations... at least have to get hundreds of TV licenses from different places, which takes too long. As a foreigner, I face too much resistance to operate, so it's better to give up completely. But this has caused Ziweixing Global to have certain business gaps in strategy."

Zhang Chaoyang nodded. "The mediaization of Hollywood giants is all tied to large TV stations, relying on TV stations to provide stable cash flow. This has been the trend of Hollywood in the past 20 years."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Yes, I know him well enough."

"Well, your consideration makes sense. Although Ziweixing Universal is doing well now, there are indeed considerable risks. Once a black swan like the 911/ incident occurs, movie fans all over the world will not dare to go to public places to watch movies. Ziweixing Universal has no TV stations, which may be a huge crisis."

Zhang Chaoyang is indeed a veteran who has been immersed in the business world for many years and has a unique vision.

This one sentence clearly stated Zhou Buqi's concerns.

This is indeed the case.

Ziweixing Global is developing very well and smoothly now because it is not experiencing risks. Under the arrangement of Boss Zhou, it has launched one Hollywood blockbuster after another, and each blockbuster can make a net profit of at least several hundred million US dollars. On average, 5 blockbusters can be released every year.

The strong performance of commercial blockbusters in the market has provided Ziweixing Global with strong cash flow.

  But what should we do if we encounter a black swan event?

For example, the 911/ incident, or the global pandemic.

Movie fans can no longer go to the cinema to watch movies.

This will bring disaster to the film companies, which is a huge threat to their survival. Even the best movies will suffer a box office collapse when encountering such a black swan event.

Therefore, over the past two decades, Hollywood giants have joined forces with TV giants to share this risk, providing a stable cash flow through TV stations to counter various black swan events that may suddenly occur.

Ziweixing Global does not have any television station business.

This is the strategic flaw.

Fortunately, Zhou Buqi has now completed the supplement of this missing strategy - Peacock will be launched soon.

It doesn’t matter if there is no TV station, Ziweixing Global can have a streaming platform!

It will take three years to quickly grow Peacock to 1 million users worldwide. In this way, there will be a stable income of at least US$100 billion in membership fees each year, which will be enough to cope with various black swan events that may occur in the future.

Zhou Buqi and Lao Zhang did not need to hide anything, and whispered: "Regarding this hacking incident, I hope Hollywood will listen to me. The main reason is that I hope to gain Hollywood's collective recognition and transform from tradition to technology, so that this recognition can be transferred to the streaming media business, so that more people can realize the potential and future of streaming media, and more film companies, producers, directors and actors are willing to cooperate with streaming media platforms, not just TV stations."

“No wonder it’s so difficult!” Lao Zhang immediately realized the complexity of this. “The Hollywood giants all have TV stations. If you ask them to downgrade the TV station’s business and then work with you to promote the development of the streaming media industry, it would be strange for them to agree! Now you not only have Netflix, but Peacock is also about to be launched. You are about to dominate the streaming media market. They are not stupid. It’s obvious that they will agree to do something to help you!”

Zhou Buqi laughed, "It's basically done."

Zhang Chaoyang was very surprised, "Done?"

Zhou Buqi said: "This afternoon, I just got accurate information that Disney has compromised. You will see later that Disney will stand with me and become a key force in promoting the streaming of Hollywood."

"How could it be?" Zhang Chaoyang was incredulous. "Disney is full of idiots. No one understands the Internet? The Internet has a first-mover advantage. How can they not understand this?"