The first merger and acquisition in the reshuffle of video websites was born. Shanghai News from this newspaper (Reporter Zhou Yuwu) Under the global financial turmoil, domestic mainstream video websites are under operational pressure and are seeking new ways out by means of "downsizing," transformation, and improvement of product lines.

Yesterday, entertainment video media Amber.com announced in Shanghai that it has officially merged with Mofile and will enter the entertainment industry across the board.

It is reported that this is the first merger and acquisition of a video website after the advent of the Internet "winter".

Previously, the "license gate" has caused video websites to undergo a cruel baptism, and the number has been reduced from the initial two to three hundred to the current five or six mainstream video websites.

The industry believes that in 2009, the video website platform will undergo a large-scale reorganization, and Amber.com's acquisition of Mofile is just the beginning of the industry reshuffle.

Amber.com CEO Li Xihao said, "I believe that the upcoming 2009 is likely to be the first year of profitability for video websites."

Video websites are being reshuffled and are considered to be the most likely to go bankrupt. Recently, industry sources said that more than 400 domestic video websites are facing "financing" thresholds. When the impact of the global financial crisis is increasing, many venture capital investors are the first to focus on video.

The investment in the website is listed as a "cost savings" item.

Video websites "increase revenue and reduce expenditure" have become a common practice. Video websites are considered to be one of the four types of websites most likely to go bankrupt at the moment. The other three types of websites are SNS social networking sites, life search and web games.

It is generally believed that the most affected by the financial crisis are Internet companies with insufficient funds. These four types of websites often burn money too quickly but lack a successful profit model.

According to surveys, in the third quarter of 2009, the number of investment cases in China's venture capital market has dropped significantly, falling back to the level of 2006.

Video websites, which are mainly supported by venture capital, are the most affected.

Analysts point out that there are no profitable video websites at this stage, and it is difficult for them to survive without relying on venture capital. However, with the increase in bandwidth, copyright and other costs and the impact of policy issues such as licenses in recent years, video websites

Websites like these have long become worthless in the eyes of investors.

At a time when money is becoming increasingly tight, such website projects must first be included in the "spending savings" column of most investors.

In this regard, some foresighted video websites have already responded.

Tudou.com, which has been competing with Youku.com for the top video spot, recently reported a massive layoff.

Faced with financing difficulties, the company laid off 20% of its employees in September, and due to cutting off some bandwidth, its website traffic also decreased significantly.

Li Xihao, CEO of Amber.com, also said that although the investment in the website at this stage is all in place, they were aware of the financing bottleneck at the beginning of the year, so they have already implemented cost control measures such as saving bandwidth.

The financial crisis may accelerate the second round of "shuffle". Li Xihao said that video websites are among the most expensive types of websites. If the business model is not mature enough, profits will take time.

At this stage, they have not yet achieved profitability and are still relying on venture capital to maintain it, but they are not far from profitability and are expected to achieve profitability by the end of next year.

Following the strategic partnership with Baidu and MSN, a number of major cooperation agreements are being signed.

Regarding the impact of the financial crisis, Li Xihao believes that it will accelerate the integration and standardization of the entire industry.

Domestic video websites have changed a lot compared to 2007.

At that time, there were said to be more than 200, but now there are less than 10 that are operating stably and normally.

He predicts that there will be clearer integration in the second year, and those "retained" after the integration will enjoy huge advantages because competition has been reduced, there is much more room for negotiation with copyright owners, and bandwidth costs have also been reduced a lot.

GGV Capital participated in the two rounds of financing of Tudou.com (Tudou.com completed the fourth round of financing). Its managing partner Fu Jixun also said that in various sub-fields of the Internet, whether it is online games, communities or video websites, the future market will only be

It can accommodate 1 to 2 successful enterprises, and the collapse of small and medium-sized enterprises due to market selection can, to a certain extent, bring scale effects to the survivors, such as increasing advertising revenue.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the former Ministry of Information Industry jointly issued the "Internet Audiovisual Program Service Management Regulations" in 2007, establishing a license system for the operation of video websites.

This is considered by Li Xihao as the first round of "shuffle" for video websites.

On the afternoon of March 20, 2009, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced the random inspections of Internet audio-visual program services. 32 video websites including Tudou were warned and punished due to content violations.

In addition, 25 websites including Xunlei China and Maopu Video were ordered to stop video program services.

When the list of violations covers nearly 60 websites for an unprecedented time, most of the video industry has realized that the investigation and rectification of violations cannot be just a simple action. It will be related to the implementation of new regulations and the issuance of licenses in the future.

Since then, “everyone strives to obtain a license” for private video websites.

Li Xihao said that it will obviously be more difficult for unlicensed video websites to continue.

"The license at least proves that your business is legal." On the whole, purely user-sharing websites will be more affected by the country's "new regulations" because of their uneven quality. In the future, the proportion of content uploaded by netizens on each website will definitely increase.

decline; and homogenized websites with similar business models will also have difficulties in the future.

Websites that already have their own content are better.