| With the popularization and development of the mobile Internet,information acquisition has become more active and scattered.Under this trend,mobile platforms for content like short videos emerged.Users can use the fragmented time to watch or create content.Thus,the public recognized the value of the Internet traffic and content industry,which promoted the occurrence of a new commercial form,MCN(Multi-Channel Network).As an intermediate,MCN offers professional services in content production,operation,and marketing for content creators,which is conducive to attracting further traffic and realizing content profit.The institution can also utilize its producer teams to incubate new influencer accounts.In recent years,while the increasing number of MCN in China caused fiercer competition,it brought in new business models.Except for ordinary MCN companies,enterprises from other industries have cultivated their MCN business through transformation or investment.In 2019,NetEase,as an Internet giant initially renowned for the portal,launched a new independent MCN brand named NetEase Cultural?Creative.The incubator is NetEase News app managed by NetEase Media.After that,NetEase Media,the subsidiary,formed a dual-driven value chain of "platform+content IPs."Considering the fact that NetEase Cultural?Creative is China's first transformed MCN brand incubated by the mobile news content platform,to some extent,it is representative and pioneering with particular research value.Based on the research background,this dissertation takes NetEase Cultural?Creative as the object,aiming to refine the business model,analyze the components of it,and discuss its outstanding strengths and development opportunities,by adopting the literature review and single case study methodology.Through literature review,the author noticed that,currently,the research scope of transformed MCN is still narrow.The studies normally concentrate on the cases transformed from traditional media like newspapers,radio and television stations.Few of them applied systematic analysis on the business model structure.As for studies related to business model theories,academia has not reached a consensus on the constituents and the exact model yet,despite the fruitful research results and wide topic range.Therefore,based on the existing business model theories,case characteristics and data sources,the author has erected the four-components business model canvas of NetEase Cultural?Creative.The model includes value proposition,key products,key resources,and revenue sources.By dint of over three-month internship in NetEase Cultural?Creative,the author sourced first-hand data from the direct observation notes and interviews,and sorted out other relevant materials like the open information on the official websites.According to the primary and secondary data,the author refined the case's business model to a detailed description.Firstly,in terms of value proposition,the brand positioning of NetEase Cultural?Creative is to generate "cultural,attitudinal and interesting" contents.To individual users,the brand uses creative content to satisfy the diverse cultural needs of the target segment that aged under 35.While facing business customers,it aims at high-quality advertisers who demand proposals of integrated content marketing.Secondly,the brand's key products include content production,derivatives,and copyright business.Content offered by NetEase Cultural?Creative not only shows a diversified and integrated IP matrix,but also adopts multi-platform distribution,differentiated content forms,and flexible IP life-cycle management strategies.Subsequently,regarding key resources,the vast product matrix developed by NetEase Group provides a critical boost to the MCN department;in the department,the team of skilled and experienced producer and operator talents guarantees high-quality content outputs.Moreover,the four revenue sources are platform subsidies,and incomes from customized advertising,derivative sales,and IP(Intellectual Property)authorization.Compared with ordinary MCN institutions,NetEase Cultural?Creative possesses similar features in the industrialization of content production,specialized operation,and shared internal resources.The upside of the case lies in key resources and value proposition.Supported by the affluent resources and unique content positioning,the brand would rarely be bothered by the challenges to ordinary MCN companies,such as the lack of capital and talents and difficulties in producing creative and high-quality content.In addition,considering the fact that the MCN brand is still on a growing stage,it is needed to enlarge these merits and closely follow the government regulations of Internet contents.To maintain a positive and healthy brand image,the MCN is expected to re-check the contents and avoid intentional torts.The research result in this paper is of practical significance.The business model of NetEase Cultural?Creative could render a new idea of transformation to Internet media enterprises.And in respect of emerging functions like derivatives and copyright business,the case would be a referential proposal to other MCN institutions. |
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