5G acceleration and VR mobility: what changes will digital audio-visual content undergo?

Every innovation in media technology drives the spread of social culture, economic development and changes in lifestyle. Recently, the Beijing-Henan Digital Audiovisual Investment Alliance hosted a roadshow for audiovisual innovation projects in China. Some of the participants were big investors and some were new entrepreneurs. This event was not just a simple roadshow, but also a brainstorming event for in-depth communication.

The roadshow had just begun when Chai Sen, executive vice president of the Beijing Digital Audiovisual Investment Alliance, who served as the host, shared his views on the trends in the audiovisual industry: in a future driven by data and algorithms, there will no longer be a distinction between Internet companies and traditional companies. There will only be one type of company - digital companies. At the same time, audiovisual-related content, technology and equipment companies have formed a new industry - digital audiovisual.

What changes will the audio-visual industry undergo with the continuous development of new technologies such as 5G? How will digital audio-visual content change accordingly? The industry leaders gathered together and brought their own insights.

[[404831]]

Information dimensionality upgrade is inevitable in the industry

When people are asked about their impression of the audio-visual industry, most people will think of film, television and music. However, in recent years, as some leading audio-visual companies continue to make efforts, multiple fields such as live broadcasting, e-commerce, and education have gradually penetrated. Where is the boundary of the digital audio-visual industry? Wang Sheng, partner of Inno Angel Fund, believes that from an investment perspective, the audio-visual industry is essentially the same as the Internet, mobile Internet, and the current video Internet and live broadcast Internet, and has media attributes. But audio-visual technology is becoming more and more Internet-based and video-based.

"The value of media is actually very simple. We need to look at information density and efficiency." Wang Sheng believes that with the support of underlying infrastructure such as bandwidth and 5G, the higher the information density, the greater the value of the media. Video is the medium with the greatest value at present, and in the longer term, there are AR and VR, which will have even higher information density.

TT Voice is one of the earliest game voice tools in China. Later, it gradually developed game social networking based on the platform attributes, and in recent years, it has also begun to lay out in the e-sports ecosystem. Ren Shaofeng, vice president and editor-in-chief of TT Voice, believes that to understand "boundaries", we need to analyze from two aspects. One is content. The main direction of expanding audio-visual boundaries is the verticalization and diversification of content; the other is technology. The evolution of technology has enabled people to continuously evolve their ability to accept information, and has also promoted the further development of demand. Technology and demand are "promoting each other".

"VR and AR experienced a round of rapid development in the past few years, but then cooled down because the demand was not that strong. From a business perspective, 4G can currently fully meet users' needs for watching videos, live broadcasts, and movies. There will only be lags when playing games or e-sports. Therefore, demand may promote the further development of technology and equipment," said Ren Shaofeng.

Nie Dongchen, partner of Genesis Partners Capital, mentioned the concepts of "driving force" and "resistance". After all, "boundaries" have been constantly evolving. Driving force is the higher-level demand of end users for richer content categories and more substantial content consumption scenarios; resistance is how many carriers or interactive methods can enable end users to consume content quickly and efficiently.

Zhang Gaonan, partner of Huaying Capital, believes that we should pay more attention to the disruptive opportunities brought by the transformation of audio-visual technology, rather than just focusing on the content. The trend of audio-visual technology transformation can be divided into two categories: the first is large-screen display, including TV and projection; the second is macro and micro display. "Combined with the development of 5G communications, new audio-visual technology will bring about fundamental changes in the way of interaction, involving the emergence of sensory technologies such as vision, hearing, touch, and smell, which are all disruptive opportunities."

The bottleneck of the VR industry lies in the scarcity of content

As far as the audio-visual industry is concerned, it should be based on digital content, and through digital technology, it should have a wider extension and be integrated into medical care, education, military industry, etc. After experiencing the industry trough, with the breakthrough of 5G technology and the launch of high-quality content, the AR and VR industries have regained vitality. "AR and VR should be viewed separately. AR has certain difficulties, and the industry's overall ToB port is also later than VR in terms of time point." Ren Shaofeng said.

Not only is technology driving the development of content platforms, but content is also driving the evolution of technology. "In the field of gaming, the new wave of VR and AR industries is being driven by high-quality content. For example, e-sports players are now more tested on their hand-brain coordination abilities. After the development of VR and AR, the new generation of gaming terminals may require the coordination of the entire body. Gaming e-sports requires the same high level of physical coordination as sports, which gives the e-sports industry a great opportunity to transform into a sports industry."

Nie Dongchen also believes that the AR industry is a relatively traditional ToB business model, while half of the problems in the VR industry have not been solved in the past seven or eight years. "The hardware infrastructure has not really satisfied users and cannot be used in daily life as deeply as mobile phones. In addition, the VR industry content side has not had a good business model, which has led to a vicious cycle in the VR industry. For example, it is difficult for back-end content producers to concentrate on producing excellent content, and front-end users are unwilling to pay."

In addition, Zhang Gaonan mentioned that from a technical point of view, the VR industry has two constraints: one is the low resolution, which used to be 720P or lower, and the viewing granularity is large; the other is the long delay, which is 90 milliseconds. "After the all-in-one machine comes out, these technologies will be broken, and the entire VR market will explode. However, a big bottleneck in the VR industry is the scarcity of content. AR is the real future, and we have also invested in AR companies, but we still have to wait!"

Finding hot spots: Content can also be “digital twins”

The development of hardware equipment needs content support. What will be the explosion points of digital audio-visual content in the future? Wang Sheng believes that it is a "long and short" change. The long one is no longer a long video. At present, the long video business is under pressure and it is difficult to change; the short one is a short video. Fragmentation has formed a huge invasion and squeeze on consumers' time. The trend of short videos is undoubted. The other is live broadcasting, including game e-sports live broadcasting, entertainment live broadcasting, e-commerce live broadcasting, etc. These are all short-term directions.

The 2020 China Game Industry Report shows that the actual revenue of the Chinese game market has reached about 280 billion yuan, an increase of about 20% year-on-year. "With the transformation and upgrading of the e-sports industry to the sports industry, the audience can reach more audiences, and I believe it will become a content explosion point." Ren Shaofeng said.

Nie Dongchen listed "two lines": one is to find new content directions according to population classification. For example, last year he invested in an online platform for the middle-aged and elderly; the other direction is along the technology line. With the improvement of technologies such as motion capture, some new opportunities may emerge in the virtual human industry.

Zhang Gaonan mentioned three fundamental changes: First, 3D and holographic, for example, online concerts allow you to see the singer from all directions, so you can buy different types of tickets; second, digital twins, everything in reality will have a counterpart in the virtual world, not only for industry and manufacturing, but also for content creation; third, virtual IP, the change in audio-visual interaction can construct a brand new "world" in the online world, similar to Ready Player One. (Guangming Online reporter Li Zhengwei)