Pricing Strategy Of Video Platform Considering Pre-VOD

As “Binge-Watching” behavior in the digital age has become more common,preVOD services have emerged in China.Pre-VOD service is a new paid-for-content service.The general rules of this service are as follows: on the basis that consumers are platform members,they can pay an extra price to watch future updated film and television content in advance.The service has been gradually recognized and accepted by consumers,butmajor platforms are still in the exploratory stage for preVOD.How to understand and analyze "Binge-Watching" behavior is of great significance to the platform's pricing decision for pre-VOD.This dissertation mainly uses the "Rational addiction" model to explain consumers' decisions to purchase pre-VOD services.This dissertation discusses the two commercial decisions currently adopted by the platforms,i.e.a package sale of all pre-VOD viewing rights and multi-stage sale of pre-VOD viewing rights in stages,to solve the optimal pricing strategy.In addition,in the multi-stage pricing strategy problem,the influence of the outflow and return of consumers on optimal pricing decisions under different update cycles is discussed.Then,theoretical and numerical analysis are used to understand the changes in the platform's maximum revenue under various market conditions and consumers' consumption behavioral characteristics for pre-VOD.Finally,the advantages and disadvantages of the two business decisions are compared.The results show that:(1)In the case that the update cycle cannot be maximized,the platform adopts multi-stage decision-making for pre-VOD,which can bring greater benefits;(2)Before the launch of pre-VOD,the platform should allow consumers to experience content for free and accumulate addictive capital,and then the platform can obtain greater benefits;(3)When consumers purchase pre-VOD services,there will be a phenomenon of delayed outflow;(4)From the perspective of a mature market and only considering revenue,the platform's strategy for pre-VOD services should be to only allowing watching content if you paid for it,like what the Netflix is doing.Even if the utility is reduced,consumers will not choose to suspend consumption until the addictive capital accumulates to a certain extent.The results of this paper can provide some enlightenment for video platforms.