The Chinese entertainment start-up that aims to be the ‘Alibaba for movie directors’
Veteran media professional looks to whet growing appetite for video content and encourage upcoming filmmakers to unleash their creativity
Entertainment start-up Ergeng has captured its Chinese users’ attention by putting five-minute compelling videos online every night. The clips tells engaging stories about people from all walks of life. The one-and-a-half-year-old firm, which attracted an investment of 50 million yuan (HK$60 million) last month, is now valued at half a billion yuan. Founder and veteran media professional Ding Feng, who aspires to make the Hangzhou-based firm an “Alibaba for movie directors”, tells Jack Liu about his dream.
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You didn’t have much experience before launching your start-up. How did you get started?
I spent a decade as a television writer, and another in management roles at newspapers. During the last few years of my media career, I largely dealt with advertising clients at a newspaper.
Once, I helped a carmaker organise a screening of its promotional video in local cinemas, when I realised what a powerful medium video can be. The clip told an interesting and moving story and people loved to share it, despite knowing that it was an advertisement. That screening was the turning point. However, I started on a small scale since I did not know a lot about video production. In 2010, I was able to persuade my employer, a state-owned media company, to set up a joint venture with me and became a production contractor for a local television station. I was doing alright because I was
in the media business for a long time and so could hire talent quickly. Three years later, I bought the remaining stake from my employer and went independent.
What kinds of video attract the most views and shares in China?
It has to be bite-sized, which users can consume and share as they go about their busy daily lives. It also needs to be positive to strike a chord with users. We have made sketch comedies that attracted millions of views. But that won’t take us far. Videos need to exude some class. Typically, we tend to cover topics of public interest and those related to culture. This positioning distinguishes us from the rest of the pack. Many of our directors want to make movies for the big screen, and experiment with different kinds of formats. We plan to do different things in the future, but now we’re keen to consolidate the Ergeng brand with a consistent style.
Ergeng is competing with quite a few sectors such as advertising agencies and online streaming companies. How will it keep pace with competition?
Advertising is a highly competitive sector, but the good thing is that it is also a large enough market that can support many players. What it needs are well-established production brands, which people can count on. Online streaming websites are more like our clients than competitors. They invest a lot in content, but they usually buy them off the shelf or outsource. They don’t have the expertise in managing content teams or nurturing creatives.
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Videos are expensive to make. Do you have enough funds to cover high production costs and aggressive expansion?
I wanted to make advertisements in the beginning. I wanted to make well-produced and powerful advertisements. We shot more than 400 videos last year, and notched up 500 million views. This year, we plan to make 1,500 videos. Of those, half will be paid by advertisers.
We are now working like a regular production company, making tailored videos suited to clients’ needs. In the future, we will be an online marketplace that matches advertisers and directors. However, this traditional model will be enough to support our initial public offering plans.
The Chinese economy is facing slowing growth. How will that affect your business?
It has been difficult for start-ups to attract investment in recent months. We received a lot of assistance from local government, including rent-free office space and low-interest loans. A struggling economy may also provide us with more opportunities. With limited budgets, advertisers tend to avoid massive campaigns and focus more on niche promotion, which is what we are good at.
How do you plan to become the Alibaba for directors?
It is not easy for directors to work in China. They rely heavily on guanxi or personal connections to get work and also the commercial inclination of internet companies leaves little room for creative and artistic pursuits. Even established directors have to spend a lot of their energy to attract investors.
We wanted to build a platform for directors to align them with the resources they need and help them market their work. As former media professionals, my colleagues and I are good at creating synergies. The directors will only need to focus on their creative aspect. Besides, there is an increasing number of media outlets hungry for video content. And, if we can satisfy their needs, then we will be like Alibaba when it was helping private Chinese enterprises to grow a few years ago.
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