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how long has it been since you watched tv?

when your attention is taken away by short video platforms, advertising revenue also quietly flows out of tv stations.

under the impact of the internet, tv advertising revenue fell from 111.9 billion yuan in 2013 to 58.3 billion yuan.

the financial reports for the first quarter of 2024 released by listed companies in the radio and television sector showed that half of the companies suffered losses.

in order to save themselves, tv stations began to shut down channels intensively.

the tv station’s transformation challenge has just begun.

starting from midnight on august 10 this year, shenzhen radio, film and television group officially stopped broadcasting shenzhen tv’s public channel and entertainment channel.

shenzhen tv suspension announcement

shenzhen tv's public channel and entertainment channel were founded around 1995 and have a history of nearly 30 years.

no matter how profound the historical heritage is, it cannot resist the rolling tide of the times.

before shenzhen tv, tv stations across the country had already taken action against their channels.

be gentle and adjust.

zhejiang radio and television merged the film and television entertainment channel with the education and technology channel into the education and technology film channel. shanghai radio and television merged the entertainment channel and the star fashion channel into the "metropolitan channel", and integrated the xuandong cartoon channel and the haha children's channel into the "haha xuandong satellite tv".

shandong radio and television station upgraded its film and television channel to a cultural and tourism channel, focusing on reporting on culture and tourism; hunan radio and television station’s public channel was transformed into the aiwan channel to serve the elderly.

the moganshan district radio and media center of tangcheng city integrated the cultural tourism life channel and the variety channel and renamed it the cultural tourism life and variety channel.

announcement of tangcheng moganshan district radio and media center

if the condition can be adjusted, it means there is still hope. more often than not, the patient is “given up” and the condition is simply shut down.

dalian radio and television stopped broadcasting its comprehensive video channel and children's channel. guizhou radio and television shut down its urban radio and photography channels.

tianjin radio and television station shut down six tv channels at once, including the international channel, hd fighting, times fashion, times food, times home, and times travel.

media statistics show that by the end of 2023, at least 140 tv channels in my country will be shut down, merged into other channels, or moved online.

this trend continued in 2024, with 20 tv channels going off the air.

city-level tv stations drastically cut channels

before 2020, most of the channels cut were from municipal tv stations.

after entering 2020, provincial tv stations also began to cut channels.

this shows that even provincial tv stations can’t handle it anymore.

as the carrier of tv station's broadcast content, the channel is the key way for tv station to provide services to audiences and is also the core asset of tv station.

tv stations, why are you cutting channels?

because times are hard.

the tv station’s income mainly includes advertising income, copyright income, paid subscriptions, government subsidies, etc.

among them, advertising revenue is the main source of income.

at its peak, my country’s television advertising revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan.

under the impact of the internet, tv advertising revenue has gradually shrunk, leaving only 58.3 billion yuan in 2023.

changes in tv advertising revenue

the most representative one is hunan satellite tv, whose advertising revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2015 and 2016, and then declined year by year. it is now estimated to be only around 4 billion yuan.

the reason for the decline in advertising revenue is simple: declining ratings.

it is worth noting that 2013, the year when tv stations had the highest advertising revenue, happened to be the “first year of china’s mobile internet.”

this year, china's mobile internet officially entered the 4g high-speed era. mobile applications emerged in an endless stream and began to compete with tv stations for "national total time."

at the same time, major video platforms such as youku, iqiyi, and tencent video have also entered a period of rapid development, gradually becoming the main way for people to watch video content.

especially in recent years, with the rise of short videos such as kuaishou and douyin, the elderly have also become addicted to mobile phones.

the white paper "social media marketing in the silver economy in 2023" released by the social media management platform kawo shows that 80% of netizens over the age of 60 spend an average of 1.5 hours a day watching short videos.

old people no longer watch tv, and tv has completely lost its last foothold.

in the article "who killed television?", zhengjieju introduced that the complicated operation of television sets has put itself in a dilemma where young people are unwilling to watch and the elderly cannot use them. (click on the title to read)

the tv's various ways of committing suicide have also dug a big hole for the tv station.

you know, tv programs need to be transmitted to the audience through the medium of television.

today's televisions are complicated to operate and have too many advertisements, which directly discourage many users.

in addition, almost all televisions come with their own video playback platform or can provide a lot of free movies and tv series according to video playback software.

video playback platform on tv

this means that many viewers may not be watching the tv programs when they turn on the tv.

the "2024 china smart tv interaction new trends report" released by the forward-looking industry research institute shows that since 2016, the average daily power-on rate of tvs in my country has experienced a cliff-like drop, from 70% to less than 30% in 2022.

if no one turns on the tv, the tv station's ratings will naturally drop.

this creates a vicious cycle:

the tv station's ratings are falling, advertising revenue is falling, there is not enough money to produce high-quality programs or purchase film and television drama copyrights, the quality of tv programs has declined, the ratings continue to fall, and advertising revenue continues to fall...

first quarter financial reports of 2024 released by listed radio and television companies

the first quarter financial reports of 2024 released by listed radio and television companies showed that companies including hubei radio and television, guiyang radio and television network, and guangxi radio and television not only experienced a decline in revenue, but also suffered losses.

the tv station had to start saving itself.

the tv station’s main idea for self-rescue is to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

we should first look at increasing efficiency, which means we should find ways to increase benefits.

now, many local tv stations have established radio and television groups.

take jiangsu radio and television group as an example. in addition to traditional radio, television and film and television production businesses, it is also involved in investment and financial-like businesses, forming a "three-legged" industrial operation structure.

its subsidiary, happiness blue ocean film and television culture group, is listed on the shenzhen stock exchange, and its cinema chain ranks first in jiangsu and sixth in the country.

jiangsu radio and television's happy blue ocean cinema

jiangsu radio and television also holds a controlling stake in jiangsu international leasing company, and has created cultural complex projects such as qilin lychee plaza, wangjiashan lychee cultural and creative park, and shiqiu lychee cultural tourism.

jiangsu radio and television group's business operations have gone beyond the scope of traditional television stations.

if jiangsu radio and television has blazed a new trail in diversified operations, then hunan radio and television has set a benchmark in embracing the internet.

on april 20, 2014, hunan radio and television made a major decision to launch its own online video platform "mango tv".

at that time, most tv stations were selling program copyrights to video platforms such as youku, iqiyi, and letv in order to obtain considerable copyright revenue.

however, hunan radio and television is clearly aware that the tv station makes money in the short term by selling programs to video platforms, but in the long run it is actually nurturing a tiger to harm itself and handing over the audience to the video platforms.

hunan radio and television launched "mango tv" to do the opposite. it used high-quality programs as bait to attract existing tv viewers to its own video platform.

to date, the number of mango tv's paying users has reached 66.53 million, and it has become the revenue pillar of hunan radio and television.

mango super media, a listed company under hunan radio and television, disclosed its 2023 annual report showing that it achieved operating income of 14.628 billion yuan for the whole year. mango tv's internet video business achieved revenue of 10.614 billion yuan, accounting for 72.56% of the company's total revenue.

mango super media’s revenue structure

it should be noted that before the tv stations went downhill, hunan satellite tv and jiangsu satellite tv were the leaders among my country’s provincial satellite tv stations.

they are strong and resourceful and can support business transformation.

take mango tv for example, its success is also due to the right time, right place and right people.

on the one hand, when mango tv was launched, the competitive landscape of my country's video platforms was not yet determined, and there was still an opportunity to take advantage of.

on the other hand, hunan satellite tv has many high-quality content ips and great brand potential, and can make up its mind to give up its immediate interests and let mango tv broadcast exclusively, thereby driving user growth.

after all, programs like jiangsu radio and television and hunan radio and television are a minority and not so easy to replicate.

most tv stations are also expanding their businesses and launching mobile clients, but they are all lukewarm.

ultimately, the company fell into a dilemma where its traditional advertising business declined sharply and the emerging businesses it expanded were ineffective.

the transformation of a television station is not easy.

the cruel reality is that even if a tv station successfully transforms, it will still have to cut channels.

whether it is jiangsu radio and television’s diversified operations or hunan radio and television’s embrace of the internet, they are all "seeking innovation and change" beyond their original tv station business.

these measures can increase the tv station's revenue, but they cannot effectively improve the tv station's ratings.

when viewers are destined not to return to their tvs, many channels lose their value of existence.

in particular, many tv stations are unable to "increase efficiency" and have to vigorously "reduce costs."

channels that rank last in ratings become “negative assets” of the tv station and will inevitably be included in the list of channels to be shut down.

we can see that most of the channels that tv stations are adjusting and shutting down are variety channels, lifestyle channels, public channels, and film channels.

changsha radio and television station shuts down channels

although these channels have invested manpower, material resources and financial resources in producing programs, they are unable to achieve the desired ratings and advertising revenue, and the benefits and costs are not matched.

some people would say that television stations have public attributes and their costs and benefits cannot be simply calculated.

this is true, but local governments are now living a "tight life" and can no longer subsidize tv stations as generously as before.

some channels of the tv station have very low ratings, the staff are working ineffectively, the channels are broadcasting ineffectively, and they are unable to perform their corresponding public service functions.

television stations should also focus on efficiency, cut ineffective expenditures and make the best use of resources where they are most needed.

in the long run, the reduction of tv channels and even the closure of tv stations in my country is an inevitable trend.

my country has a four-level system of managing television stations, namely central, provincial, municipal and county levels. some economically developed towns and cities even have five levels of television stations.

the four-level station management system activated the enthusiasm of various regions to establish radio and television businesses. at its peak, the number of television channels in my country reached more than 20,000.

the disadvantages are also obvious, leading to duplicate construction, low efficiency and waste of resources.

this is actually an administrative approach to running taiwan.

in the past, tv ratings were high and there was no internet. each tv station "ruled its own territory" and operated quite well.

now, with the impact of the internet on all regions, tv station ratings continue to decline, and many small and medium-sized tv stations have fallen into operational difficulties.

the pressure first spread to more than 2,000 county-level radio and television broadcasting organizations in my country.

the situation was pressing and the tv stations had to save themselves by cutting channels or even shutting down.

hechi yizhou district radio and television station ceased operations

this also means that the career prospects of once glamorous television media professionals will be full of uncertainty.

in the view of the correct solution bureau, the ratings of tv stations are declining, but the audience of audio-visual audiences has not decreased; the platforms on which the audience watches videos are changing, but the demand for viewing has not decreased.

the internet has impacted television stations and also created new opportunities for them and practitioners.

the key is, can you grasp it?

the challenge has just begun.