TV industry will be redefined in the Internet plus age

The poster of the TV Festival [File photo]

"In the past 20 years, the Chinese TV industry developed rapidly because we monopolized the channel. Now we have to change," Wang Jianjun, CEO of SMG (Shanghai Media Group), told Chinese media during the Shanghai TV Festival.

SMG recombined two subsidiary corporations into a new listed enterprise in November 2014. It is a Internet ecology enterprise with a market value of 174 billion yuan ($28 billion). SMG also set up an Internet program center which integrated content from traditional media to fit the needs of Internet TV.

Mango TV, the only Internet video platform in HBS (Hunan Broadcasting System), in 2014 proved in practice that qualified content is also important in the field of Internet video.

Nie Mei, the deputy of HBS, said that the main content of Mango TV is trump card programs from HBS as well as Mango TV's self-produced programs.Now it has about 500 million users, and is quite popular with the young generation.

"In the Internet industry, video might be the hardest part. What's more, it is really hard to make profits. But we really need this chance. We need to dialogue with the Internet," Nie said.

According to Wang Jianjun, though the TV industry may have less cachet than before, it still has its own advantages.

"Good programs like I am a Singer, Chinese version of Running Man get high evaluation in the industry and from the audience. Their premieres are all from TV. We should take full advantage of such programs, and explore ways to the new transformation in the future," Wang said.