Joy of Life VVIP provokes controversy： ＂Video websites may constitute VIP fraud＂

Recently, Joy of Life, a costume drama, has been controversial because it costs 50 yuan to order it in advance, and some people even sued the video platform for it.

In addition, many users accused the video platform of "drinking poison to quench thirst", and some users said that they would switch to pirated platforms.

As of December 17th, Joy of Life scored 7.9 points in Douban, ranking first in the hot search list of mainland TV series of Tencent Video. According to the data of online film and television media data platform, as of December 17th, the popularity of the whole network in Joy of Life reached 51.26, far exceeding the costume dramas such as "He Lai Hua Ting" and "Sword Dynasty" broadcast in the same period.

At present, on Tencent and Iqiyi platforms, you have to pay 50 yuan to "unlock" 6 more episodes of Joy of Life than members.

On December 17th, Wang Juan, vice president of Tencent Video, talked about the recently controversial "VVIP" model in Joy of Life, saying: "The reason why we are controversial this time, I think it may be that we are not considerate enough to members’ consumption psychology. This piece is indeed our bug or something we have not done well enough."

Joy of LifeThe popularity is over the same period of costume drama, and members still need to pay for 50 yuan’s "unlocking" drama series.

On the evening of December 11th, Joy of Life needed to spend 50 yuan to board the hot search in Weibo due to the advance on demand.

Joy of Life is a costume drama directed by Sun Hao and starring Ruoyun Zhang and Li Qin, which premiered on November 26th, 2019 on Tencent Video and iQiyi. Production companies include Tencent Pictures, Xinli TV Culture Investment Co., Ltd., Deep Blue Film and Television, Reading Group, Huayu Times, Hainan Radio and Television, etc.

At present, on Tencent and Iqiyi platforms, it is necessary to pay 50 yuan to "unlock" six more episodes of Joy of Life than members, which has been hotly debated by netizens. As of December 17th, the drama has been broadcast to 29 episodes on both video platforms. However, at present, non-members can only watch the 17th episode, while members can only watch the 23rd episode. Only by paying 50 yuan to order in advance can they watch the 29th episode.

On the evening of December 14th, the People’s Daily client published an article entitled "Video website routines emerge in an endless stream, which is too ugly to eat", saying: "VVIP is set up outside VIP, and extra money is needed to enjoy advance on-demand video. Video websites are creating anxiety and inducing user consumption. Is there such an agreement in the previous agreement to purchase VIP? If it is not marked, this extra charge is actually a violation of consumer rights. "

On December 17th, Wang Juan, vice president of Tencent Video, said when talking about the recently controversial "VVIP" model in Joy of Life: "The reason why we are controversial this time, I think it may be that we are not considerate enough to members’ consumption psychology. This piece is indeed our bug or something we have not done well enough."

Facing the way of advanced VOD, Wang Juan also said: "The way of advanced VOD that we hope to explore has been challenged and criticized. But in the face of these things, a sense of crisis and creativity coexist. It is very important for the mining of user consumption, but we hope to think in a more scientific, more orderly and more respectful perspective. "

In addition, on December 17th, after the 4th Annual Summit of New Entertainment and New Consumption in China in 2019, Ying Dai, vice president of iQiyi and general manager of the self-made drama development center, said in response to the dispute over advanced video-on-demand in Joy of Life: "The content of video platforms is becoming more diverse, and the needs of users are becoming more diverse. Our original intention is to meet users’ more diverse content needs, but it may not be done well. In the future, we hope to take more account of users’ psychology and do a good job in the design and notification of scheduling. "

In fact, this is not the first time that the video platform has launched the "advance on demand" service.

At the end of the drama of the popular The Untamed, Tencent Video has launched a marketing strategy of an episode of 6 yuan and a total of 30 yuan’s pre-on-demand finale, testing the water for pre-on-demand.

Lawyer: After the appearance of VVIP, the propaganda promise of video websites constitutes fraud against VIP.

Zhao Zhanling, deputy director of Beijing Zhilin Law Firm, told the The Paper reporter: "The main problem in providing advanced on-demand service outside VIP is that purchasing VIP service means that you can watch 6 episodes first. According to consumers’ common understanding, this kind of preemption means that VIP members can watch 6 episodes first as long as there is a new episode update. However, due to the existence of advanced on-demand service, VIP members’ preemption of watching 6 episodes has only become relative to non-members and not relative to VVIP. Therefore, the propaganda promise of the video website about VIP members’ preemptive viewing of services is suspected of violating the Consumer Protection Law and constitutes fraud to consumers. "

It is worth noting that on December 16th, Weibo law blogger @ Wu Shengwei wsw, who has 670,000 fans, has taken Aiqiyi to court for pre-ordering. He said: "Joy of Life, who has been watching the hit of Iqiyi recently, is particularly good. After catching up with the latest episode, I found that I have to watch not only the patch advertisement, but also pay to watch it in advance. One episode is as high as 3 yuan. Only then did I realize that today’s members have become ordinary users. Nowadays, VIP members of iQiyi can’t automatically skip advertisements and watch hit dramas in advance. The original membership rights are gone, and many membership privileges are castrated in disguise. "

He also said: "I have always been a loyal user of iQiyi. I went through iQiyi’s VIP Member Service Agreement and found many problems and full format terms, so I am going to try it by legal means. I feel that if no one comes forward, there will be VVVIP, vvvvip in the future. The prosecution materials will be sent to the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing by mail in the near future. "

Under the "film and television winter", the capital side is cautious, and the income pressure of video platforms is great.

On December 17th, Wang Juan, vice president of Tencent Video, admitted that the capital market gave less support to video websites this year, and the advertising growth rate was also slowing down.

"It’s true that the business support given by business friends to video websites is much less this year. Because last year, our variety show, our head network drama, can be said that every investment can basically achieve the goals we set for it, but this year is particularly difficult, because the budget you may have in your pocket has been reduced, and what is even more difficult is that everyone’s requirements for the delivery effect have gone further, so from the data point of view, our overall advertising growth rate has slowed down. "

Similarly, the third quarter report of iQiyi shows that online advertising revenue reached 2.1 billion yuan this quarter, down 14% year-on-year.

At the conference call after the financial report was released, Gong Yu, founder, director and CEO of iQiyi, expressed his expectation of advertising revenue in 2020. "Brand advertising accounts for the vast majority of iQiyi. There is no better sign of brand advertising next year as a whole, but effect advertising will be more optimistic next year because of iQiyi’s own efforts in technology and products. "

Gong Yu said: "The bottleneck of brand advertising revenue is not inventory, but the advertiser’s budget. So the utilization rate is not high. "