Chapter 263: Chen Yansen's Dark Move! Group Buying Three Kingdoms Kill, Three Advance to Two

"Boss, the Jinri Toutiao Creator Platform includes four modules: creator incentives, content quality improvement, user growth, and commercial monetization, and has added a credit score and violation penalty mechanism."

In a spacious, bright office, Liang Bo said slowly.

On the large screen directly ahead, the creator level classification and rights system were displayed.

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, signaling Liang Bo to continue the introduction.

To put it plainly, the underlying logic of this thing is exactly the same as Mama Ali; the core is the secondary distribution of traffic and profit.

For instance, Mama Ali is essentially a shopping guide e-commerce platform, also known as a traffic transfer station, providing shopping guide services for users.

For a product priced at 100 yuan, if the merchant sets a commission rate of 60%, Mama Ali only releases 40%; the buyer completes the order and receives a 40 yuan rebate, Mama Ali deducts 10% of the commission as a technical service fee, and the remaining 14 yuan is the platform's pre-tax revenue.

The Jinri Toutiao Creator Platform designed by Liang Bo basically adopted Mama Ali's revenue-sharing model for commercial monetization.

Ad revenue is split into two parts: one part rewards content creators, and the other part is kept as project profit.

"Regarding incentives for high-quality original content, it can be divided into traffic rewards and cash rewards..." Liang Bo continued.

"Once the function goes live, self-media articles will cover the sky and earth; how do we judge whether content is high-quality or original?"

Chen Yansen interrupted Liang Bo and asked straight to the point.

"I have considered this issue; at that time, an original content review mechanism will be launched simultaneously, adopting a system-plus-human review mechanism to reduce the proportion of plagiarism, content washing, and low-quality content.

Additionally, for a piece of high-quality content, clicks, completion rate, interaction, and page dwell time are definitely better the higher they are."

Liang Bo was well-prepared and replied without hesitation.

"Okay, as for the traffic allocation mechanism, use the plan we discussed last time: first test and release on a small scale, select the batch of content with the best data from it, and then invest it into a larger traffic pool."

Chen Yansen said calmly.

"Okay, boss, next is the ad revenue sharing system." Liang Bo clicked the mouse and switched the projection screen.

Ordinary creators: 0.5 yuan per thousand reads;

High-quality creators: 1 yuan per thousand reads;

Top creators: 1.5 yuan per thousand reads.

Besides the basic ad revenue share, there are various high-quality content subsidies, with rewards ranging from 0.3 to 3 yuan per thousand reads.

"Have you calculated it with finance and the data department? Can ad revenue cover cost expenditures?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"Boss, no problem. Last year, the CPM charging standard in the advertising industry was 2-10 yuan per thousand impressions; from exposure to reads, the conversion rate is only 10% to 20%; our actual revenue-sharing ratio is between 5% and 20%."

Liang Bo said with a chuckle.

Chen Yansen roughly calculated: for an original piece of content with over 100,000 reads, the author's earnings range from 50 to 450 yuan; it's not much, but in 2012, it was still full of attraction for self-media.

"Huang Zheng is recently building the Pinbei Alliance; once he gets it sorted, you can talk to him and try adding a product shopping guide module in content with high relevance to further improve profitability."

Chen Yansen gave the order casually.

The Pinbei Alliance benchmarks Mama Ali, Jingtiao Guest, and Suning Alliance, and is considered Pinbei's official ad alliance product.

Previously, we didn't do it simply because we were too busy; as the Pinbei business scale expanded and human resources became sufficient, Huang Zheng immediately put the development work of the Pinbei Alliance on the schedule.

First, introduce external traffic to break the traffic growth bottleneck; second, integrate long-tail traffic, excavate potential consumer demand, and convert long-tail traffic into actual purchasing power.

Platforms like Mama Ali, Mogujie, and Meilishuo provided stable third-party traffic for Taobao and Jingdong.

If Pinbei doesn't do it, it will at least lose 5%-10% of sales performance.

For Pinbei's settled merchants, they can improve conversion rates through precise promotion methods and broaden sales channels.

After the Pinbei Alliance is established, Pinbei merchants can report brand group activities for Mama Ali, Mogujie, and Meilishuo, or publish product recommendations on "What Is Worth Buying" to obtain more off-site traffic and sales volume.

Furthermore, Pinbei can also deduct a 10% technical service fee from the proceeds, following industry norms.

"Okay, I'll find Mr. Huang to communicate later."

Liang Bo responded.

"Launch it as soon as possible; constantly using data sources from Penguin, Sina, and Sohu, Jinri Toutiao will find it hard to develop."

Chen Yansen stood up, patted Liang Bo's shoulder, and said.

Generally speaking, the content of a portal news website or information platform mainly consists of three parts: UGC (user-generated content), BGC (brand-generated content), and PGC (professionally generated content).

BGC is equivalent to Weibo's brand official accounts, while PGC is mainly traditional newspapers, journals, and broadcast e-commerce, producing content that is more professional and readable.

The proportion of these three must be coordinated well; none can be missing.

If the proportion of UGC content is too high, platform content quality will be uneven and fake information will fill the sky; if the proportion of PGC and BGC content is too high, interactivity will be too poor, leading to low user stickiness.

Chen Yansen chose to leave the balance of this nuance to Liang Bo.

At 6 PM, the Jinri Toutiao creator section went live; in just one hour, page exposure reached over 3 million, attracting a huge wave of content creators' attention.

Obtaining a portion of the platform's ad revenue based on read volume was not new in 2012; previously, when NetEase, Sina, and Sohu launched blogs, they implemented this policy.

Backed by Senlian Capital, Jinri Toutiao, which reached a daily active user level of ten million in less than two months of launch, instantly became a delicacy in the eyes of self-media.

Everyone understood in their hearts: for a brand new information platform, early competition is low and unit prices are high; register first, make money first.

By 24:00 that night, only 6 hours after launch, the total registration volume of Toutiao accounts broke through 100,000.

The number of original content in channels such as entertainment, technology, automotive, finance, and novels saw explosive growth.

Among them, an article titled "The Absurd Past of Mountain Villages in Those Years" even pierced the traffic pool; with only six thousand words, it depicted four beautiful country girls so vividly they seemed to leap off the page, making users restless.

Fortunately, this author knew very well how to keep within bounds; it looked glamorous but not vulgar, leaving not a shred of reason for the review team to ban it.

The read volume reached over 600,000, with a daily revenue of 1,100 yuan.

The entertainment channel was filled with content such as Andy Lau's daughter being born, Mayday concerts, and the top ten albums of the Chinese Golden Melody Awards.

Of course, there was no lack of various fake news either.

For example, Jet Li dying of a heart attack, Sammo Hung passing away from a cerebral infarction, Xiao Shenying passing away in a car accident, etc.; Toutiao's review team bans one, bans one.

Many big Vs from the tech, digital, and sports circles moved in, accumulating fans across the entire network while also earning a lot of money.

The next morning, Chen Yansen arrived at the office and plopped down into his seat.

As usual, he checked data and processed emails; only after finishing these did he lean back, take out his phone, and kill time.

"Group Buying Industry Shaken: Meituan Rises to First Place! May Group Buying Transaction Volume Reaches 1.77 Billion Yuan!"

Chen Yansen blinked slightly and couldn't help but curse silently: Could Qiu Junping of Meituan Investment be any more useless?

In just two months, Lashou. com's market share had plummeted from first to third, with Dianping even stepping over Lashou's head.

It seems the times have chosen Wang Xin!

Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes; he knew clearly that once Wang Xin freed up his hands, he would absolutely charge from the group buying track into the higher-frequency food delivery industry.

Just as Ele. me was ushered out the front door, was Meituan Delivery about to target them next?

Although Wang Xin would not enter the food delivery industry for the time being, a potential crisis had already arisen; he had to cause some trouble for Meituan.

Thinking of this, he dialed Zhu Xiaohu's number and offered the other party a few strategies.

"Mr. Chen, this... is a bit ruthless!" Zhu Xiaohu let out a dry laugh, feeling a chill in his heart.

"Businessmen only look at profit, not morality or right and wrong," Chen Yansen said, unconcerned.

"So, is Meituan blocking Kuai Pao's path? How about this: I'll help you make the connection. For 300 million US dollars, acquire Lashou. com outright."

Zhu Xiaohu proposed.

Compared to the last offer, the price had dropped by a full 300 million US dollars.

Chen Yansen smiled carefree and decisively refused. With Jin Sha Capital, Meituan Investment, and Renite Fund acting as his 'enforcers' and 'cannon fodder' in front, how could he possibly make a move himself?

Seeing that Chen Yansen wouldn't take the bait, Zhu Xiaohu could only silently hang up the phone.

But he knew that the few strategies Chen Yansen offered were indeed accurate and ruthless, striking Meituan exactly where it hurt.

Pity the other party refused to take over Lashou; otherwise, with Chen Yansen's management capabilities, Wang Xin would likely only have the option of passively taking hits.

Beijing, No. 6 Teacher Wang Jing East Road.

Shan Jiawei, who managed Meituan's ground promotion iron army, was unexpectedly contacted by a headhunter: "Meituan is already number one in the group buying industry; do you think I would jump ship?"

At first, Wang Xin thought Ma Liyun had sent Shan Jiawei to Meituan to seize power.

But a year later, to his surprise, Shan Jiawei's capabilities in business development were nothing short of genius; under his leadership, Meituan conquered territory across the country.

One could even say that for Meituan to rise to the top of the market, Shan Jiawei deserved half the credit.

"Mr. Shan, how much equity do you hold at Meituan? What is your annual salary? The company I recommend for you is valued at 1 billion US dollars; joining grants 2% equity, with pure cash income of no less than 10 million per year," the headhunter replied with a smile.

2% company equity?

Shan Jiawei felt the other party must be crazy!

"Is it Lashou or Dianping?" Shan Jiawei asked tentatively.

The other party's words struck his weak point; he had left Mama Ali to join Meituan, and although his position was not low, he truly held very little equity.

He knew clearly that Wang Huiwen was Wang Xin's 'own person'.

And he, he always carried the label of a Mama Ali person.

"If Mr. Shan agrees, I can arrange a meeting time for you; you will know then," the headhunter kept a tight lip.

"Fine, help me schedule a time." After some thought, Shan Jiawei decided to meet the other party.

Working for others, whoever pays more, he works for!

If not for money, was it for ideals?

What Shan Jiawei didn't expect was that the ground promotion heads for Meituan in the North China, East China, South China, and Central China regions all successively received calls from headhunters, offering generous stock options and base salaries; although some refused, more than half were tempted.

At the same time, the Beijing Market Supervision Association received a joint complaint reporting Meituan for 'false advertising' and 'failing to deliver offline services as promised in group buying'; Meituan's public relations department went to handle it, only to find this group refused mediation entirely, acting as if they were determined to take it to court.

Penguin, Sina, NetEase, and Toutiao, among others, followed the story throughout, digging up all of Meituan's negative news.

False rumors like "Meituan's capital chain has broken" and "Merchants complain Meituan owes payments" spread wildly for a time.

"Damn it! Who exactly is messing with me behind the scenes?"

Seeing the stormy situation where the wind fills the building before the rain, Wang Xin understood clearly that this was absolutely retaliation from competitors after Meituan ascended to the throne of industry number one.

Lashou. com and Dianping were the most suspicious!

On the other side.

Sitting in the CEO seat of Lashou, Qiu Junping announced that starting today, an exclusive cooperation agreement would be launched: whoever signed would receive a three-month commission-free period, forcing merchants to 'choose one of two' to restrict Meituan from the supply side.

Merchants who wavered by joining both Meituan and Lashou would be subject to traffic restrictions, diverting the excess traffic to merchants who signed the exclusive cooperation agreement.

Poaching, forcing a choice between two, public opinion warfare, and subsidy wars were the few dark tactics Chen Yansen taught Zhu Xiaohu; the methods were vicious, but the effect was obvious.

Wang Xin was beaten by this combination of punches into a wretched state!

It wasn't until three days later, when Shan Jiawei submitted his resignation, that he realized the opponent's outside-the-box moves went far beyond this.

Half of Meituan's ground promotion iron army backbone, including Shan Jiawei, had been poached by Lashou. com.

For this, Lashou. com also paid a considerable price.

With this shift in balance, Lashou. com's market share actually showed a faint trend of rising to catch up.

To cope with the price war between Lashou and Meituan, Dianping could only follow suit by increasing the merchant revenue share ratio and launching flash sale activities like "1 Yuan Group Buy" and "9.9 Yuan Group Buy".

Under Chen Yansen's stirring, competition in the group buying industry became increasingly fierce.

Zhu Xiaohu and the others had no choice; their three venture capital firms had invested a total of 200 million US dollars in Lashou; if they didn't fight Meituan, that money would be wasted.

After all, this was 200 million US dollars; the loss was too great.

On May 28, Shan Jiawei joined Lashou. com and began reorganizing agents and ground promotion teams across the country, starting to imitate Meituan's model and fully transition to a direct operation model.

The Thousand Group War officially entered the Three Kingdoms Kill mode!

(End of Chapter)