With a market size exceeding 1.15 trillion CNY, the network audiovisual industry has broken through the trillion-yuan mark for the first time, becoming an increasingly important driving force in the digital economy.
From the popularity of short dramas to the emergence of Sora, it's evident that the forms of expression and production tools in the audiovisual industry are evolving rapidly. Content creation is truly becoming democratized, and business models are being reshaped.
In the past decade, the industry has experienced rapid growth, but what will be the new growth points in the next decade?
At the end of March, the annual China Internet Audiovisual Conference was held in Chengdu, attracting over 2,000 industry institutions and nearly 10,000 participants. As a nationally significant event that sets the direction for the industry each year, this conference serves as a vital platform for exchanging ideas and discussing both the present and future of the industry.
In the midst of uncertainty, where can we find opportunities for certainty? This year, many attendees turned their attention to the rapidly developing HarmonyOS ecosystem. During the conference, Huawei hosted the HarmonyOS Activation Forum for Innovative Audiovisual Industry, focusing on empowering content experiences and distribution through technology.
Zhu Yonggang, President of Huawei's Terminal Cloud, stated that by integrating Huawei's PanGu AI capabilities into the operating system and empowering over 15 subsystems, HarmonyOS NEXT has built a native intelligent foundation, enabling native AI capabilities at the edge to further enhance service distribution efficiency.
Under the HarmonyOS ecosystem, how will the empowerment of technology elevate content experiences and enable comprehensive distribution, bringing about new changes and values to the network audiovisual industry, and sparking innovation?
Behind the "colorful darkness," multiplying technology and experience
Currently, every industry is focusing on developing new productive forces, and the network audiovisual industry is no exception.
Whether it's the large-scale application of 5G, the breakthrough in 4K/8K ultra-high definition, or the implementation of AI models, they all fundamentally point to one thing: the continuous iteration of the underlying infrastructure and core capabilities supporting network audiovisual.
For Huawei, which invests billions in research and development each year, these cutting-edge technologies are not only its main battlefield but also the core leverage for empowering the industry.
A typical example is the continuous evolution of Huawei's Video AiMax technology.
With the upgrade of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and large screens, watching dramas and movies anytime and anywhere has become increasingly common. Many details in film and television works, such as an actor's micro-expressions or the arrangement of scenes and props, may contain hidden details waiting to be carefully examined by the audience. Such experiential feelings are closely related to the technical capabilities of the devices.
As a result, we see more and more manufacturers continuously improving screen performance, focusing on aspects such as screen size and visual experience.
Starting from the core demands of consumers for viewing, in 2020, Huawei Video officially launched the AiMax Cinema on smart screens, followed by layouts on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
AiMax, as a high-quality audiovisual service provided by Huawei Video, integrates Huawei's over 20 years of research and development advantages in the audio and video field. As a contributor and staunch practitioner of the dual Vivid standards of HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid, Huawei Video leverages its technological advantages in software and hardware coordination to occupy the technological high ground, replicating a cinema-like audiovisual experience.
HDR Vivid dynamically optimizes the color, brightness, and contrast of the picture frame by frame according to the display hardware and video scenes. Audio Vivid, as the world's first AI-based audio codec standard, accurately reproduces sound at any position in three-dimensional space, delivering an exceptional auditory experience.
Together, they not only allow users to "see colorful darkness" but also "hear the visuals of the story," providing a truly immersive, high-quality, full-scene viewing experience.
Leveraging the features of HarmonyOS NEXT and powerful AI capabilities, Huawei Video is further optimizing AI capabilities and algorithms, exploring applications of 8K ultra-high-definition picture quality and 120-frame super-smooth frame rates. Especially, 8K technology is becoming a crucial direction in the audiovisual industry, and Huawei, with its technical prowess and open content ecosystem, is pushing 8K standards into millions of households, further advancing the industry.
All advancements in user experience and ecological evolution often come with innovation dividends.
Huawei hopes to open new business avenues for all partners and will integrate capabilities such as super-resolution, frame interpolation, enhancement, noise reduction, and restoration into the underlying layers of HarmonyOS, making them standard capabilities open to partners. In addition to providing production tools like HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid to boost content production efficiency, Huawei will also offer a series of incentives and support policies for high-quality content creation.
Meanwhile, Huawei Video's AiMax Theater collaborates with partners to bridge upstream and downstream, having already introduced over 2,000 domestic and international blockbuster films.
Between users, premium content, partners, and developers, Huawei has effectively built bridges with technology.
Breaking down scene barriers, HarmonyOS's three-pronged approach opens up new increments across the board.
In the era of mobile internet, user demands for content are diverse, and touchpoints are extremely varied. However, the red-hot online traffic dividends are waning, and the difficulty of experience innovation and user conversion is increasing day by day. User data retained by different terminals and applications are like isolated islands, underutilized and disconnected from each other.
Developers and content creators urgently need to find new incremental opportunities.
Breaking away from the inertia of the traditional "operating system-application-user" mode, HarmonyOS Ecology has adopted a new set of experience rules, reorganizing all entry points of the operating system with the aim of dismantling barriers between different scenes and becoming the unified language of the era of ubiquitous connectivity.
Its three-pronged approach includes full-scene cross-terminal distribution, new high-quality content experiences, and AI-empowered high-quality content creation and distribution.
Based on the capabilities opened up by the HarmonyOS system, such as kits, engines, tools, and platforms, partners and developers can reach hundreds of millions of Huawei terminal device users across different scenes with just one integration, leveraging HarmonyOS's full-scene traffic distribution capabilities to truly deliver content and services directly to users at a lower cost.
Under the full-scene environment, partners can tap into "scene traffic" characterized by continuity, real-time interaction, and intelligence.
From entertainment and daily commuting to news consumption, various aspects of users' daily lives are covered by Huawei's browser, game center, weather app, and other traffic entry points. This all-encompassing scenario penetration provides over 3.5 billion daily opportunities for partners and developers to showcase high-quality content and information to Huawei users.
Based on the seamless coordination of multi-terminal devices across different scenarios, users logged into the same Huawei account can freely navigate and continue consuming IP content across multiple devices. This smooth transition experience also helps in creating new modes of interaction, forming multiple user touchpoints.
Take the recent hit drama "Yu Feng Xing" as an example. Users can first binge-watch the series on Huawei Video, then seamlessly transition to Huawei Reading and Huawei Music through recommendations. They can listen to the theme song "Ru Chu," delve into the novel world, and even encounter deconstructed short videos and in-depth analyses of "Yu Feng Xing" on the browser.
In this process, partners can precisely target and efficiently market to high-value audiences through multiple full-scenario entry opportunities and media combinations provided by the HarmonyOS ecosystem, thus facilitating commercial conversions.
For instance, the browser serves as a traditional information hub, with Huawei integrating various traffic entry points including weather calendars, magazine lockscreens, smart search, and negative one-screen into its browser-based full-scenario information flow. In addition to timely access to quality content and information across different domains, users can also plan their daily work and travel routines by combining Huawei Weather's forecasts and Huawei Calendar's schedule reminders.
In this process, different content and services shuttle across scenarios, leading to new modes of interaction and precise user engagement, thus opening up new business opportunities.
Leveraging the system-level AI capabilities of the Huawei Pan Gu model, the intelligent distribution under the HarmonyOS ecosystem continues to evolve.
With AI support and the integration of Huawei's full-terminal information flow entry points, the result isn't simply a cumulative scale of 1+1=2, but rather a differentiated information flow experience tailored to the personas of various scenario entry points through user preference recognition and recommendation algorithm optimization. This allows suitable products to reach the users who need them most through appropriate devices and applications in appropriate scenarios, achieving timely full-scenario intelligent distribution.
All improvements in user experience represent an endless journey of refinement. At this conference, Huawei's information flow introduced the upgrade of the "Daily Morning News" to the "Full-Scenario News Listening" product, targeting the time period from when users wake up to when they start working, helping users quickly grasp important news from the previous night and early morning, allowing users to listen to it on their phones while getting ready or having breakfast; during the user's commute, the news content seamlessly transitions from the phone to the smartwatch and car infotainment system, achieving scenario-based distribution, aiming to become the preferred "news breakfast" for Huawei users.
Open sharing to expand the ecosystem cake
Facing the demand for refined user services, solo efforts are not feasible. Huawei has always realized that "when the ecosystem thrives, HarmonyOS thrives." It chose to expand its "circle of friends," aiming for ecological symbiosis to achieve mutual success. Under the HarmonyOS ecosystem, while leading industry partners in promoting the establishment and improvement of standards, Huawei also promotes the implementation of a series of incentive plans, yielding many phased achievements.
Firstly, in the joint efforts with industry partners to build technical standards and promote new industry models, Huawei has spared no effort.
Huawei Video's AiMax Theater PVOD model seamlessly connects movies to Huawei Video during the theatrical window period, allowing users to pay for on-demand viewing of content online.
This PVOD model, which goes beyond release windows and offers convenient viewing anytime, anywhere, naturally caters to the fragmented nature of user content consumption, giving users greater choice. However, industry pain points are also apparent, mainly concerning content copyright protection and transparent revenue sharing data.
In response, Huawei Video teamed up with innovative companies in the field of digital copyright protection, such as Huan Yu Trust, to build a complete DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection scheme and third-party trustworthy reconciliation system based on ChinaDRM copyright protection technology.
This comprehensive end-to-end security protection measure provides a reliable, transparent, and secure publishing environment for premium content, achieving a win-win situation for Huawei Video, content producers, distributors, and various partners in the HarmonyOS industrial chain.
Secondly, to continuously attract like-minded individuals to join and expand the boundaries of the HarmonyOS world, Huawei is not hesitant to invest substantial resources.
At the end of 2017, Huawei launched the "Shining Star Plan," with a $1 billion incentive to encourage global developers to innovate. As of January this year, the "Shining Star Plan" has undergone 63 sessions, incentivizing tens of thousands of applications/services. This year, the plan has been upgraded again, with an investment of over 7 billion RMB to incentivize collaborative innovation in HarmonyOS native applications, essential services, SDKs, and more.
During this conference, eight partners, including Migu Video, Tangdou, Red Star News, Yu Video, Flash News, Xinwang Bank, and Internet of Things Treasure, signed HarmonyOS ecosystem cooperation agreements with Huawei. Coupled with the rapid expansion of the HarmonyOS ecosystem in recent times, with thousands of applications and services already integrated into the HarmonyOS ecosystem, covering essential areas such as government services, convenient living, financial management, and travel, it's evident that various sectors have a consistent optimism about the HarmonyOS ecosystem. In the future, they will also promote the development and popularization of HarmonyOS native applications from different dimensions. With an efficient, simple, open, and win-win HarmonyOS ecosystem, rapid growth will accelerate the arrival of a more enriched era of network audiovisual.
After a decade of meticulous crafting, the sails of HarmonyOS are now set in motion.
The fully independent "Pure HarmonyOS" made its dazzling debut in January this year, with the HarmonyOS NEXT Galaxies Developer Preview officially open for developer applications. With an ecosystem encompassing over 800 million devices, HarmonyOS has already enticed more than 2.2 million developers to join its ranks, poised to unleash their connectivity and innovation. With the backing of AI technology, the vitality of this intelligent foundation has reached new heights.
"The comprehensive launch of HarmonyOS native applications marks a historic leap forward in the mobile application ecosystem," remarked Wu Hao, CEO of Huawei's Interactive Media Corps and President of Huawei's Terminal Cloud Interactive Media BU, during the event. The "HarmonyOS-ification" of applications across various industries is gaining momentum.
This rising star is not merely reshaping the technical landscape of operating systems and industry competition. Quietly but profoundly, it is unlocking new growth spaces for content consumption innovation. The long-awaited democratization of content and the public's anticipation are taking another step forward.
