騰訊“三個百億計劃”重金打造用戶內(nèi)容平臺

Tencent has grown into a company with a stock market capitalisation of $470bn by building a social media platform that combines messaging, payments and other apps. Now it is taking a step into the world of YouTube, earmarking billions of dollars to amass a catalogue of user-generated content.

騰訊(Tencent)通過打造一個集消息、支付等多種應用于一體的社交媒體平臺，已經(jīng)成長為一家擁有4700億美元股票市值的公司。如今，騰訊正在向YouTube所在的領(lǐng)域進軍，專門撥出重金用于匯聚“用戶原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容”。

The move follows a period of rampant professional content acquisition, spanning streaming rights to the US National Basketball Association to music from major record labels. Content is a key tool for keeping users within Tencent platforms but the current big-ticket purchases “just aren’t economic”, says one analyst.

騰訊也曾大肆購買專業(yè)內(nèi)容——從美國男子職業(yè)籃球聯(lián)賽(NBA)的網(wǎng)絡直播權(quán)到主流唱片公司的音樂。一位分析師表示，內(nèi)容是吸引用戶留在騰訊旗下各種平臺內(nèi)的一個關(guān)鍵工具，但是目前的大手筆購買“并不劃算”。

The push into user content, which Tencent calls “open media”, comes as the group flagged its lossmaking, but strategically important, video offerings when it unveiled third-quarter results on Wednesday that blew through analysts’ expectations. Net profits rose 67 per cent year on year to Rmb18.05bn ($2.72bn) on the back of a 61 per cent jump in revenues to Rmb65.2bn ($9.8bn).

騰訊宣布進軍用戶原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容(騰訊稱之為“內(nèi)容開放平臺”)之際，該集團在周三公布第三季度財報時強調(diào)了雖然虧損但具有戰(zhàn)略重要性的視頻業(yè)務。騰訊第三季度業(yè)績超出分析師預期，收入同比大增61%，至652億元人民幣(合98億美元)，凈利潤則增長67%，至180.5億元人民幣(合27.2億美元)。

Mark Ren, Tencent’s chief operating officer, told app developers at the company’s annual conference this month that it had invested “a lot of time and money into open media and we predict next year we will invest Rmb10bn in this ecosystem”.

騰訊首席運營官任宇昕(Mark Ren)在本月舉行的2017騰訊全球合作伙伴大會上對APP開發(fā)者們表示，該公司已經(jīng)向內(nèi)容開放平臺投入了大量時間和資金，預計明年將向這一生態(tài)系統(tǒng)投入100億元人民幣。

The company says it will distribute the content across all of its platforms, handing wannabe stars potential exposure to WeChat’s 963m monthly active users — half of whom spent more than 90 minutes on the app every day.

騰訊表示，將在旗下所有平臺分發(fā)內(nèi)容，有志成為網(wǎng)紅的創(chuàng)作者將有機會讓微信(Wechat)的9.63億月度活躍用戶(其中半數(shù)每天使用微信的時間超過90分鐘)看到他們的內(nèi)容。

Tencent is also promising to protect their copyright, in an attempt to provide another attraction to would-be internet stars.

騰訊還承諾保護他們的版權(quán)，從另一個方面吸引想要成為“網(wǎng)紅”的內(nèi)容發(fā)布者。

Backing up these pledges is the so-called “3 x 10bn plan”, whereby Tencent will invest Rmb10bn a year in revenue sharing with content creators and devote a further Rmb10bn into resources such as start-up spaces and providing intellectual property protection. The third Rmb10bn relates to the traffic Tencent says it controls by counting the same user multiple times across platforms.

支撐這些承諾的是所謂的“三個百億計劃”，即騰訊將以“100億流量、100億產(chǎn)業(yè)資源和100億元資金”扶植內(nèi)容創(chuàng)業(yè)者。

The pledges underline the lengths China’s biggest tech groups are going to in the land-grab for content. In August, news feed app Toutiao poached 300 internet celebrities from Zhihu, an online question-and-answer forum similar to Quora. According to one microblogger who made the switch, they were signed “at a compensation higher than that of an average white-collar worker”.

這些承諾突顯了中國各大科技集團在爭奪內(nèi)容方面都使出了渾身解數(shù)。今年8月，新聞推送應用今日頭條(Toutiao)從類似Quora的在線問答論壇知乎(Zhihu)挖走了300名網(wǎng)絡大V。一位轉(zhuǎn)投今日頭條的原知乎大V表示，他們簽約今日頭條的年收入比普通白領(lǐng)高。

User-generated content is important, says Matthew Brennan, analyst and co-founder of China Channel site, which trains companies to use WeChat. “Each of the big players is trying to say ‘Come to us and we will provide you with ways to get traffic and monetise it, and sometimes pay you directly as well’.”

China Channel是一個為企業(yè)提供微信使用培訓的網(wǎng)站，其分析師兼聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人馬修•布倫南(Matthew Brennan)表示，用戶原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容非常重要。“各大平臺都在傳遞這樣的信息，‘來我們這兒吧，我們會為你提供獲取流量和變現(xiàn)的途徑，有時候還直接付給你錢。’”

For Tencent, a company whose tech roots are defined by Pony Ma, its engineer founder and chief executive, the move marks an inflection point. Its user base is enormous but its heavily domestic slant is seen by some as approaching saturation.

新動作標志著騰訊走到了一個拐點。該公司的技術(shù)基礎(chǔ)是由其工程師出身的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官馬化騰(Pony Ma)勾畫出來的。騰訊有龐大用戶基礎(chǔ)，但明顯偏重國內(nèi)，因此一些人認為其市場正接近飽和。

“The mobile ecosystem in China is quite mature, so the products are all kind of similar,” says Mr Brennan. “What differentiates them now is content, so that’s the way to attract customers from your competitors.”

布倫南說：“中國的移動生態(tài)系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)相當成熟，所以產(chǎn)品也都相似?，F(xiàn)在能把它們區(qū)別開的是內(nèi)容，要從競爭對手那里吸引用戶就得從這里下手。”

Lin Songtao, Tencent’s vice-president said at last week’s conference that what was once an activity — such as shopping or gaming — is now something to watch others doing.

騰訊副總裁林松濤在上周的會議上表示有些事在過去只是自己的活動，比如購物和打游戲，現(xiàn)在卻能看著別人做。

“Watching people playing games was boring, but now people like to see how people play games,” he said, pointing to the growth of esports and online gaming tournaments. “It’s content of games, not games per se.

他說：“在過去幾年我們很難想象有人看別人打游戲也會一直高興，這很無聊。今天很多人休閑的時候特別喜歡看游戲主播打游戲。”他指的是電子競技和網(wǎng)游錦標賽。

“Figures in July showed consumer behaviour has changed,” he added. “Today, ecommerce content-based consumption is growing rapidly. Consumers want more information behind products.”

他還表示今年7月份的數(shù)據(jù)表明消費者的行為已經(jīng)發(fā)生了變化，他說：“現(xiàn)在內(nèi)容電商的模式增長非常快。越來越多的用戶不滿足你告訴我，這個是什么東西?你是不是有精美的圖片?而是背后有故事才能吸引我的購買。”

YouTube and Facebook have already made big pushes into monetising user-generated content. The Google-owned video network pays influencers to make longer content especially for its subscription service YouTubeRed.

YouTube和Facebook已經(jīng)在大力推動用戶原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容的貨幣化。谷歌自有視頻網(wǎng)絡開始付費請有影響力的用戶制作較長的視頻，重點提供給其訂閱服務YouTubeRed。

Facebook recently launched Watch, a video tab within the site, and is paying some users to create entertainment videos.

Facebook最近在網(wǎng)站推出了“Watch”(觀看)視頻標簽，并且付費給一些用戶制作娛樂視頻。

Tencent hopes to woo YouTubers, setting up a studio in Hong Kong kitted out with dubbing and post-production facilities to enable US and other overseas celebrities to access the Chinese market.

騰訊希望能吸引YouTube主播，該公司在香港成立了一間工作室，有配音和后期制作設(shè)施，旨在幫助美國和其他海外名人進入中國市場。

The company hopes attracting them on to its platforms will help keep users within its ecosystem for longer, adding up to bigger revenue streams.

騰訊希望通過將這些人吸引到其平臺上，從而幫助將用戶更長久地留在其生態(tài)系統(tǒng)內(nèi)，增加收入來源。

“Once our partners become dynamic we are automatically the beneficiary,” said Elaine Wang, vice-general manager of Tencent’s open platform. “That’s the logic.”

騰訊開放平臺副總經(jīng)理王蘭(Elaine Wang)表示：“一旦我們的合作伙伴變得活躍，我們就自然會受益。這是順理成章的。”

Additional reporting by Hannah Kuchler

漢娜•庫赫勒(Hannah Kuchler)補充報道