经济学人下载:中国网络视频 主流媒体

Business
商业报道

Online video in China
中国网络视频

The Chinese stream
主流媒体

China's online-video market is the largest and most innovative in the world.
中国的网络视频市场是世界上最大的最创新的，

It is also the most competitive
同时也是最具竞争力的

LATER this month PPTV, a Chinese online-video firm, will release a new reality show called The Goddess Office about four young women living together in a house, trying to create their own e-commerce company.
本月下旬，中国的网络视频公司PPTV会推出一档名为女神办公室的真人秀。故事讲的是四位同住的年轻女性尝试开创属于她们自己的电子商务公司。

Viewers will be able to ask the stars questions and send them money and ideas for their start-up.
观众可以向主角们提问，并向她们贡献金钱和想法来帮助她们创业。

The show will employ familiar television elements: the comedic rapport of the characters in Friends and the commercial ambitions of contestants in The Apprentice.
这部剧将会引用熟悉的电视元素：《老友记》中演员间的诙谐，《学徒》中竞争者的商业雄心。

But this television show will run exclusively online, rather than on a traditional TV network.
但是这部剧只会在网络上映，而不是在传统电视上播出。

Around the world online video is becoming a bigger and more sophisticated business, but nowhere is that truer than in China.
在世界范围内，网络视频正逐渐成为更大更先进的产业，不过在中国更是如此。

The country has the largest number of online-video viewers: around 450m, or nearly 80% of the internet-connected population.
中国拥有最多的网络视频观众：将近4.5亿，或者是网民数的80%。

Their numbers will rise to around 700m by 2016, according to iResearch, which tracks the industry.
根据追踪这个行业的艾瑞咨询公司的调查，到2016年这个人数将会上升至7亿。

In America and Europe, online video has yet to supplant broadcast- and pay-TV, but in China it seems rapidly to have done so.
在美国和欧洲，网络视频还未取代免费与付费电视，但是在中国似乎很快就要取代。

A government news source has said that in 2012 only 30% of households in Beijing watched TV, down from 70% three years earlier—although official figures are not always reliable.
来自政府的消息称2012年，北京看电视的居民从三年前的70%下降到仅仅30%，—虽然官方数据并不总是可靠。

Google's YouTube video service is blocked in China, but local companies, including Youku Tudou and Sohu, are wildly popular.
谷歌的YouTube视频服务在中国是被屏蔽的，但是本土公司包括优酷、土豆、和搜狐广受欢迎。

There is lots of user-generated content, but viewers spend most of their time watching professional shows, such as the full-length films, television dramas and comedies that the websites license from China and around the world.
有许多视频内容是用户自制的，但是观众大多数时间还是收看网站得到中国和世界其他国家授权的专业节目，如长篇电影，电视剧和喜剧。

Media gluttons can devour all this content without charge, as long as they sit through the advertisements.
只要观众能耐心等到广告结束，传媒大亨们就能够不付代价地买下这些内容。

Online-video sites in China owe much of their popularity to the government's tight regulation of the TV industry:
中国网络视频网站的流行应功于政府对电视业从紧的规定：

all of the 3,000-plus stations are state-owned and their programmes are heavily censored.
3000多个电视台都是国有的并且台里的节目都经过严格审查。

Rules about content range from the predictable.
对于节目内容的规定从可以理解的到令人费解的。

It takes months for programmes to get official approval for broadcasting, and only an estimated 30% of shows that are made get aired on TV.
节目播放通过审批要历时数月，大概只有30%制作的节目能在电视上播出。

Online-video sites, in contrast, need a government licence to operate, but are left to police the content on their sites themselves—perhaps because the government never expected them to attract such a mass of viewers.
相反，网络视频网站虽然需要政府许可证才能运营，但却能自主决定在网上提供的内容—或许政府从来没有想到这些网站能够吸引这么多观众。

In principle it's the same, but in reality it's very difficult to say what the standards are for the online-video content players, says Victor Tao, the boss of PPTV.
PPTV的总裁陶闯说：原则上讲两者一样，但是事实上，对网络视频内容提供商来说，没有一定的标准。

For example, last month the government ordered television channels to edit episodes of Pleasant Goat and the Big Big Wolf, a long-running children's cartoon, because it was deemed to be too violent.
例如长期播送的少儿卡通节目《喜羊羊与灰太狼》，上个月政府要求各电台剪辑该节目，原因是内容太暴力。

But online-video firms that host episodes of the show seem not to have been given the same instruction.
但是提供了该节目的网络视频公司没有收到这项指示。

Around five years ago Chinese online-video firms started competing directly with television by making their own programmes, and this year they will spend a combined 1 billion yuan on shows like The Goddess Office, according to Jiong Shao of Macquarie Securities, an advisory firm.
大约五年前，中国的网络视频公司开始通过制作他们自己的节目来直接与电视竞争。据来自麦格理证卷的邵炯透露，今年网络视频公司将为女神的办公室这一类节目投入总共10亿元。

Online-video shows resonate more with the people aged between 15 and 40, who flock to their sites.
年龄在15岁到40岁之间的群体更容易对网上视频节目产生共鸣，而他们正不断地涌向视频网站。

For example, Surprise, a series made by Youku that parodies such things as university entrance exams, has been viewed 260m times since it premiered on Youku in August.
例如，惊叹是由优酷网站制作的模仿类系列节目，其中有模仿高考等场景，八月份在优酷首发后，观看量达到2.6亿。

This year the number of people watching online video on their mobile devices has surged.
今年，通过移动设备观看网上视频的人数激增。

Analysts expect the arrival of fourth-generation mobile networks to accelerate this trend.
分析家预测第四代移动网络的到来将会加速这一趋势。

People who watch shows on mobile devices spend more time viewing, overall, than those on desktop PCs, according to Victor Koo, the boss of Youku.
优酷老板古永锵，说那些拿着手机看视频的人，会比用电脑看视频的人观看更长时间。

The main challenge for him and his rivals is to lure more advertisers.
不过，古永锵和他的竞争者们所面临的最大的挑战，是如何去吸引更多的广告商。

The size and innovation of the Chinese online-video industry may be unique, but its economics are not.
中国网上视频产业的内容和创新可能是独一无二的，但其经济收益却未见得。

Like all online-video companies that rely on ad revenues, Chinese firms find it hard to make much money, if any.
和所有依赖广告收益的网上视频公司一样，即便是有钱赚，但这些中国公司很难挣到大钱。

Although the industry had revenues of around 9 billion yuan in China last year, few firms are profitable.
尽管去年此产业获得90亿的营收，但几乎没有公司是盈利的。

This is because their costs are so high. Buying bandwidth to deliver content to so many users is expensive, and so are the rights to license content.
这是因为他们的成本太高了。购买带宽来为如此多的用户传送内容实在是太昂贵了，版权也是。

As a result there have been nearly as many mergers as there are elimination rounds on The voice of China, one of China's most popular TV shows.
这样的结果是，中国最受欢迎的电视节目—中国好声音的淘汰赛有多少轮，那么就有多少兼并案。

Last year Youku and Tudou, the most popular online-video sites, merged.
去年，优酷和土豆，中国最受欢迎的网上视频网站合并。

In May Baidu, an internet-search giant, bought PPS, a video site, for $370m and merged it with its existing video service, iQiyi.
五月，网络搜索巨头百度以3.7亿的价格收购了视频网PPS，并兼并了其现有的视频服务商爱奇艺。

Self-interest has helped change the treatment of copyright in China.
自利动机让中国人改变了对版权的看法。

Several online-video firms are stockmarket-listed, and as a result they take content licences seriously, especially since as makers of their own shows they now have intellectual property to protect.
一些网上视频公司都是上市公司，他们自然更把版权当回事，尤其是自己做节目后，他们不得不保护知识产权。

They are suing those who pirate their content and are thus stealing some of their potential traffic.
他们把那些偷走他们流量的盗版行为告上法庭。

Youku alone has several hundred copyright lawsuits on the go.
单是优酷就已经有几百个侵权案正在处理。

Turning the channel
换个频道

Online-video firms are also setting their sights on the living room.
网上视频公司还把目光放到卧室里面。

Several firms are designing internet-enabled set-top boxes; LeTV is making an internet-enabled television.
一些公司设计了能接入网络的机顶盒；乐视电视制造出互联网电视。

By invading TV stations' home turf they can make themselves more valuable to advertisers—and may even be able to start charging subscription fees.
通过抢占电视台的后方，他们让自己更受广告商青睐—他们还可能会开始收订阅费。

However, there is no guarantee that this will make the industry profitable.
但是，这并不意味着该产业就能盈利。

The biggest enemy to the online-video service providers is consumer behaviour, says Mason Xu of Heyi Capital, a venture-capital firm.
网上视频服务供应商最大的敌人是顾客的习惯，合一资本的徐梅森如是说。

Because the government runs the television business, consumers are used to paying little for cable—the equivalent of around $3 a month for digital cable.
因为政府掌管着电视产业，消费者习惯只花一小笔钱—每月的数字信号差不多为三美元。

So it is unclear if they will pay much for online video, even if it comes with extra benefits such as ad-skipping.
所以，尽管他们能因此享受跳过广告等额外好处，但他们是否愿意为网上电视掏多少钱还尚未可知。

A study by McKinsey, a consultancy, suggests that around 15% of Chinese viewers might subscribe to online video on an internet-enabled TV set if it cost no more than 30 yuan a month.
麦肯锡咨询公司的研究显示，在每月花销不高于33元的前提下，大约15%的中国观众有可能愿意订阅互联网电视上的网上视频。

But even that is probably optimistic.
即使这样都可能是过于乐观的。

Getting slaughtered in the ratings by online video has prompted China's TV channels to try harder.
网上视频抢占了收视率，这使得中国的电视台更加卖力。

A wave of singing competitions and dating shows—some of them adaptations of successful Western ones—have come on air in recent years, particularly on provincial satellite channels.
一系列唱歌比赛和相亲节目—一些模仿了西方的成功模式—近年来在荧屏上走俏，尤其是那些省卫视台。

Meanwhile CCTV, the central government's giant channel, continues to lose viewers.
同时，中央电视台，中央政府的主要频道，依然在流失观众。

Last month officials scolded other stations for their vulgar and excessive entertainment and pushed for more morality-building and educational shows.
上个月，官方指责了其他电台的豪放和过火的娱乐节目，他们推行更多的道德建设和教育节目。

Some singing contests are being forced off the air, and from next year satellite stations will be limited to one foreign show a year.
一些唱歌比赛被迫停止播放，明年起，卫星电视台每年都只能播出一个国外节目。

This will only accelerate the broadcasters' decline and the switch to online viewing.
这只能会加速电视台的衰落与向网上观看的转移。

TV is useless now, one person posted on a Chinese weibo, or microblogging site. Fortunately we still have computers.
有人在微博上说现在的电视没什么用途了，幸好我们还有电脑。