It is still unknown who will win the smart TV competition

After the first round of reshuffle, LeTV and Baofeng, which were once very popular, gradually disappeared from people's sight along with their founders.

Jia Yueting, nicknamed Accountant Jia, went to the United States to build cars, Li Huaiyu, who entered the industry with huge capital, left for WeTV, Feng Xin of All for TV was arrested and imprisoned... Most of the leaders and runners-up in the Internet TV industry 7 years ago have faded out of people's sight. From the "Hundred Regiments Offensive" to its sad exit, the Internet TV industry has come to a new crossroads.

The clock goes back to 2013. In May and September of that year, LeTV and Xiaomi successively launched their own Internet TV brands, LeTV Super TV and Xiaomi TV, and later successfully reaped the first dividends of China's Internet TV industry, which officially opened the first year of China's Internet TV development.

Having tasted the sweetness, the first batch of Internet TV players such as LeTV and Xiaomi continued to increase their investment. Stimulated by this, new players also flocked in. Weijing, Baofeng, Fengxing, PPTV, Lenovo and others entered the market one after another. For a time, the Internet TV market changed from a competition among a few players to a melee among dozens of players.

However, the good times did not last long. Starting from 2017, China's Internet TV industry ushered in its first trough. At the end of 2017, LeTV's parent company was exposed for financial fraud. As a result, LeTV's super TV market share plummeted. In 2018, Baofeng TV's parent company suffered a net loss of nearly 100 million yuan. After that, the development of Baofeng TV was not satisfactory. In July 2019, Feng Xin was arrested and imprisoned...

After the trough, the big players in Internet TV at that time faded out of people's sight one after another. After the failure of LeTV and Baofeng, Xiaomi became the only dominant player. In July this year, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi TV achieved the excellent result of No. 1 sales in China in half a year, becoming the only TV brand with half-year shipments and sales exceeding 4 million units.

However, the Internet TV market has never lacked competitors. This month, Honor officially launched the Honor Smart Screen TV to enter the Internet TV market, and Huawei also announced that it will launch its own smart TV in September. After a few years of silence, the market may usher in a melee again.

The Internet TV craze that emerged in 2013 reached its seven-year itch in 2019. After experiencing peaks and troughs, the Internet TV industry has not been dormant. If the first seven years of Internet TV are called Internet TV 1.0, then the participation of players such as Huawei and Honor announced the arrival of the Internet TV 2.0 era.

1. After Xiaomi and LeTV, many other players entered the market

When we talk about Internet TV today, we may think more about the product itself. However, it is obviously not appropriate to call Internet TV a product. I think Internet TV is just a concept, specifically referring to the Internetization of television.

Internet-based television can free traditional television from the constraints of wired connections, and provide users with access to a wealth of video, audio and other resources through the Internet, expanding the content that users can choose from. However, Internet-based television did not emerge out of thin air. The development of content, systems and hardware are all important nodes on the road to Internet-based television.

▲7 Internet TV license holders
　　

In March 2010, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the first Internet TV license to CNTV, and the license holder was responsible for building an Internet TV integration platform. Since then, six companies, including Shanghai BesTV, Zhejiang Wasu, Southern Media, China Radio International, China National Radio, and Hunan Television, have been awarded Internet TV integration licenses, and these seven platforms have become integrated providers of Internet TV content.

At this time, operating systems for Internet TV were also being prepared. At the Google I/O conference on May 20, 2010, Google officially announced its Android-based TV operating system, Google TV (predecessor of Android TV). The emergence of Google TV was a revolutionary event in the field of Internet TV, and Google TV later became the preferred operating system for most Internet TVs in China.

▲Comparison of three screens

In addition to content and system, hardware is also crucial for Internet TV. After CTR screen and plasma screen, LCD screen was widely used before the birth of Internet TV. LCD screen has the characteristics of large size, light weight and low energy consumption. Most importantly, the price of LCD screen is much cheaper than that of plasma screen, which also reduces the cost of Internet TV.

Under the triple influence of content, system and hardware, the launch of Internet TV became a natural outcome. In 2011, domestic color TV manufacturers such as Skyworth, TCL, Konka and Changhong collectively launched Internet TV based on the Android operating system.

On March 23, 2011, TCL launched a mass-produced Internet TV based on the Android+ operating system; on March 29, Skyworth announced the launch of a new generation of Coocaa smart 3D TVs equipped with the "Android" operating system, and Changhong launched a full HD smart 3D TV using the Android operating system; on March 31, Konka launched the Android-based Zhiwangrui smart health 3D new product; on April 13, Hisense launched six series of flat-panel TV products including the XT68 and XT69 smart 3D cinema TVs...

Although traditional big manufacturers made concerted efforts, the Internet TVs of these traditional manufacturers did not bring much waves to the market. The products themselves were still some distance away from true Internet TVs, so they did not take off. This situation did not change until 2013.

▲LeTV X60
　　

On May 7, 2013, LeTV's first-generation TV, the X60, was officially released, marking the beginning of the first year of Internet TV. The LeTV X60 was equipped with a 60-inch large screen and a quad-core processor, and was priced at 6,999 yuan. Once released, it quickly became a hit in the market. At that time, TVs with the same configuration were basically priced at more than 10,000 yuan. In the end, LeTV X60 sold more than 300,000 units.

However, LeTV's road to making TVs was not smooth. Although it released the LeTV X60 in May of that year, due to the constraints of hardware and its own experience, it was not completed and officially put on sale until July.

Compared with LeEco, Xiaomi is much more relaxed in developing Internet TV, thanks to the resources it has accumulated from making mobile phones. In September 2013, Xiaomi, which was only three years old, launched its first Internet TV. At that time, LeEco was being criticized for its product workmanship and quality, and the market generally believed that LeEco TV would soon be overtaken by Xiaomi TV.

Things took a turn for the better at this time. 2013 was a turning point in people's attention to copyright. The large number of high-definition genuine resources on LeTV TV formed a sharp contrast with Xiaomi and traditional TV manufacturers who basically had no copyright of their own and could only solve the problem through other means. LeTV also successfully opened up the market.

In 2014, LeTV TV sales successfully exceeded 1.5 million units, far exceeding Xiaomi's 300,000 units. Jia Yueting also made a bold statement that LeTV TV sales would reach 3-4 million units in 2015. According to the data released by LeTV itself that year, its sales exceeded 3 million units that year.

Of course, in addition to LeTV and Xiaomi, there is another early player that must be mentioned, that is Coocaa, which was launched by Skyworth and Alibaba in 2013. It is estimated that Coocaa's sales in 2015 were around 1 million units, equivalent to Xiaomi's sales in that year, but Coocaa was not as high-profile as LeTV and Xiaomi, and not many people knew about it.

Driven by brands such as LeTV and Xiaomi, the dividends of Internet TV began to emerge. Players who saw the opportunity flocked to Internet TV, trying to get a piece of the pie from LeTV, Xiaomi and others. A large number of players also brought huge amounts of capital, and the Internet TV industry entered a period of explosive growth.

▲Statistics of major Internet TV players
　　

In a short period of time, Baofeng, Weijing, PPTV and others entered the market one after another, and the Internet TV field, which originally had only a single-digit number of players, became a melee among dozens of players.

There is one player that must be mentioned here, and that is WeTV. WeTV was founded by Li Ruigang, Li Huaiyu and others in 2015. At the beginning of its establishment, WeTV positioned itself as an Internet TV and received 2 billion yuan in start-up funds from China Media, Alibaba and Tencent. Its lineup is luxurious.

Before founding WeTV, Li Huaiyu was the CEO of Shanghai SMG BesTV and also served as the Chief Investment Officer of China Media Capital. So it is not surprising that Li Huaiyu, who has licenses and funds and is keen on investing, joined the game.

The entry of a large number of players made the Internet TV market at that time a mixed bag. Those who made videos, websites, and even those with little experience all tried to get a piece of the Internet TV pie, but they did not expect what consequences this behavior might bring in the future.

2. Internet TV development encountered setbacks, LeTV and Baofeng gradually declined

Although Internet TV has been developing rapidly in 2015-2016, supply chain issues have been plaguing all brands entering the market, especially new players without accumulation.

Taking panels as an example, it is understood that the general strategy of panel manufacturers is to give priority to whoever has the largest volume. It is difficult for small players to get sufficient panel supply first. LeTV and Xiaomi, which have been working in the Internet TV field for many years, are relatively relaxed in this regard.