At the Toutiao executive meeting, Zhang Ming asked his subordinates.
"Mr. Zhang, the testing has basically been completed and it will be officially launched in May."
Zhang Ming nodded and said: "We must speed up! I heard that Kuaishou's daily active users have exceeded 20 million.
Although DouShi has not announced the specific number of users, it is estimated based on the download volume in major application markets that there should be tens of millions of registered users.
If we take our time any longer, we may not be able to catch up with this wave of short video trends.”
A subordinate muttered, "Didn't we discuss not making short videos for the time being?"
Zhang Ming glanced at the subordinate and admitted his mistake frankly, "In 2014, we discussed internally whether to launch short videos, but I considered that the network and smartphone coverage were not mature at that time, so I decided to temporarily
The proposal was suppressed."
Speaking of this, Zhang Ming's face was filled with regret, "Now that I think about it, I did make a wrong move."
All the executives in Toutiao were very moved. It is difficult to admit one's mistakes, especially when the person in charge criticizes himself in front of so many subordinates.
"Mr. Zhang, don't blame yourself too much. Didn't Penguin's Weishi shut down last year?
At that time, everyone thought that the trend of short video had not yet come, so it was normal to be negligent.”
A subordinate comforted Zhang Ming.
The executive who just whispered also knew that he had made a mistake, and quickly made up for it: "Yes, Mr. Zhang, it's not too late for us to launch the short video now.
With our many years of technology accumulation, as well as Toutiao, Neihan Duanzi and other apps to attract traffic, I believe we can catch up with the data soon."
Zhang Ming's face looked a little better and he said again: "If you are wrong, you are wrong. There is nothing you cannot admit.
What I fear the most is not knowing how to repent when I make a mistake.
I hope everyone can take this as a lesson in future work!”
All the executives were in awe, and Zhang Ming continued: "The success of Kuaishou and Dioshu shows that this is a successful track.
However, the gap they have left us behind is not that far away. As long as we catch up, it is still possible for us to catch up or even surpass them.
Next, I will make some arrangements to tilt our group’s resources towards headline videos.
First of all, in addition to the headline video, the technology department will start to develop a second short video, temporarily named "Volcano Short Video". I hope it can erupt like a volcano...
The focus of Huoshan Short Video is different from that of Toutiao Video... Whichever software data will grow faster in the future, we will give priority to which party we will allocate resources to."
All senior executives are familiar with Zhang Ming’s model, which is the “APP factory” model within their group.
Copy and launch the APP in batches. After a few months, we will look at the user retention rate, stickiness, and input-output ratio. If you can make money, those with greater growth potential can get more resources, and those who can't will be ruthlessly abandoned.
It seems cruel, but it's actually fair.
The company's resources are limited, so it will definitely focus on teams and projects that can help the company make money.
If you don’t make money, will you be allowed to celebrate the New Year?
Just like raising gu, those who emerge from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood are the real "warriors" who can adapt to the fiercely competitive business environment.
Penguin also has a similar mechanism. Two teams working on the same project conduct internal PK.
Although it is suspected of being a waste of resources, the products produced under this mechanism are undoubtedly the best of the best and are more effective.
Zhang Ming continued: "All products within the group, including Toutiao APP, Neihan Duanzi, etc., all enable advertising diversion for Toutiao videos.
In addition, Toutiao Video announced the launch of the "1 billion yuan creative subsidy plan."
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and a senior executive asked: "Mr. Zhang, how can we have 1 billion?"
The last round of financing was US$100 million invested by Huayi Capital the year before last. Our total financing amount did not add up to 1 billion."
Zhang Ming sighed helplessly. There were too many senior technical geeks in the company, why were they so honest?
"Mr. Zhang, do you mean to announce the 1 billion creative subsidy and make a fuss about the actual investment amount?"
Zhang Ming glanced at this executive with a pleased expression. He was indeed from the media operations line, but he was a little more bad-tempered than the executives from the technical line.
Other technical geeks have also reacted. This is a cannon fire. Can it work?
The senior executive of the media operation line followed Zhang Ming's words and said: "For short videos, we only need to recruit more Internet celebrities in the live broadcast circle and students from art schools. It won't cost a lot of money."
Zhang Ming nodded, "Yes, it doesn't cost much. As far as I know, this is how Dou Vision operates.
In addition, Toutiao is preparing to start the next round of financing. You don’t have to worry about money, just build the product and run it well.”
…
Su Hua has been very troubled recently. Since receiving investment from Qiandu, Qiandu has sent a group of programmers to Kuaishou to help build the advertising distribution system and introduce advertisers.
Logically speaking, this should be a good thing! But contrary to expectations, Kuaishou's advertising revenue just cannot be raised.
Of course, this inability to do things is also related to Su Hua's relatively conservative style of doing things.
Kuaishou does not dare to recommend too many ads to users at once, but only dares to test the waters in small quantities.
The opposite of the results of the advertising test is the live broadcast business. With hundreds of millions of users and 20 million daily active users, Kuaishou's live broadcast business attracted a large number of anchors to join the business as soon as it started.
Among them, the most famous one is MC Tianzuo. Tianzuo was born in 1994, one year older than Zhang Yida.
This young man dropped out of junior high school before graduating from junior high school, and was sent to a vocational high school by his parents, but in the end he did not continue his studies and began to "muck around" in society.
Since then, Tianzuo has sold skewers, sold used cars, opened a billiards hall, and worked as a cashier in an Internet cafe, but he has never made a name for himself.
However, he has one skill that is quite powerful, that is, he is very good at talking.
This is a skill he has developed over the years by chatting with dozens of netizens online.
Later, with the popularity of live streaming, Tianzuo also followed the fashion and started his career as an online anchor.
He is a eloquent man who quickly rose to prominence in the online anchor industry, and won the "No. 1 Best Male MC" award from YY Live for two consecutive years in 2014 and 2015.
Tian Zuo, who got lucky, suddenly became an Internet celebrity. He held fan meetings, released a solo single, and appeared in movies. He became famous all over the country.
Of course, he also made a lot of money. Tian Zuo also set up a personal company to accept advertisements and handle various brokerage matters for him.
The two main platforms where Tianzuo is active are YY live broadcast and Kuaishou short video, and he has many fans on both platforms.
In the past, he usually posted short videos on Kuaishou, and his live broadcast was always on YY Live.
However, once people are popular, there are not many people. Where there are people, there is a world. Recently, he had a slight conflict with YY's senior management. He came to the live broadcast channel just launched by Kuaishou and prepared to hold a live broadcast to put pressure on YY's senior management.
If you don't straighten things out for me, I will switch jobs to Kuaishou. This is probably what he really thinks.
Facing the camera, Tianzuo, who had a short haircut and was wearing tights, sang on the Kuaishou live streaming platform:
My dear, don’t you want to be with me?
I want to be with you but you can't give me what I want
…
This recording is dedicated to those women who betrayed our men because of money.
In real society, there is a material called money, and a human being called woman. In this society, many things are overturned by money.
Women, your natural beauty will buy you a lifetime of wealth...
Tianzuo sang very hard, his face was full of sadness, and he was very devoted.
This song is called "Women, Listen Up." It was inspired by his ex-girlfriend's divorce with a rich second-generation man who drives a BMW.
Tian Zuo shed two sad tears while singing.
This was not a deliberate act, it was something he really felt. He remembered the girl who used to sit on the back seat of his motorcycle and cling to his back.
Now that I have money, I can drive a sports car, but I can never find that innocent love again.
The male compatriots watching the live broadcast in front of the screen were also full of indignation. Listening to this "sad pop music", they silently took out a pack of red plums and lit one. While listening to the music, they took themselves back to that period.
The dusty memories of my youth.
Listening to this song, the men watching the live broadcast thought of the various phenomena of money worship in society and the sky-high price of gifts... many people burst into tears.
Everyone has an unbearable past in their hearts, and Tianzuo’s song aroused such strong emotional resonance.
Someone started to post barrages for Tian Zuo:
"Brother Tianzuo, forget about love!"
"Don't bully young people into poverty, thirty years to the east of the river and thirty years to the west of the river!"
"Tianzuo is now rich, let that woman regret it!"
Flowers, lucky stars, Mumada, Beer Blue Enchantress, Little Golden Man, Heart of the Ocean... all kinds of gifts kept coming.
The number of viewers of the live broadcast is also rising, and Su Hua is also watching the live broadcast in the office.
When Su Hua listened to Tianzuo's song, he felt a little emotional. His father was a civil servant in a small town, and later resigned to go into business. He had a good family background when he played with the Bully learning machine when he was a child.
Later, he was admitted to Aoki University. He was addicted to programming and was also a technical geek, so his presence in the school was very low.
Even if he later went to Google, Qiandu, and earned an annual salary of millions, he was still just an ordinary graduate of Aoki University.
It was not until Morningside Venture Capital introduced Chen Yixiao to him, who became the CEO of Kuaishou, and received 50% of the shares transferred from the original team and investors, that he slowly began to rise to fame.
Born in 1982, he is now only 34 years old and owns a Kuaishou company with a valuation of over US$2 billion.
Soon, the alumni circle remembered him, and various circles have been inviting him recently.
Including various influential figures in the school at that time, they established relationships with him and established friendships with him.
Isn't my situation similar to what is sung in the song? Although I haven't been dumped by a woman, I have been looked down upon by others.
Su Hua dismissed the thoughts in his mind, clicked the mouse, and filled the Tianzuo live broadcast room with 100 Ocean Hearts, which quickly raised the atmosphere in the live broadcast room.
Rich people from all walks of life also began to buy expensive gifts in large quantities. Tianzuo looked at the various gifts that filled the screen and showed a satisfied smile.
"Thank you guys for the gifts!"
Tianzuo cupped his hands and said, "I'll sing "I'm Drunk When I Drink Alone" for you guys."
"One person, I drink wine and get drunk."
"Drunk beauty pairs up."
…
Su Hua closed the live broadcast interface and began to look at the live broadcast operation data and income submitted by his subordinates.
Seeing this, Su Hua got excited. Live broadcasting is so profitable, even if it is split 50-50 with the host, it will be more profitable than information flow advertising.
Su Hua further strengthened his determination to engage in live broadcasting and secretly said that the live broadcast business must become the pillar income of Kuaishou's commercialization.