Staying at home with nothing to watch? Which video membership is the most cost-effective, Youku, iQiyi or Tencent?

The outbreak of the new virus has turned many people into homebodies. People often say, "Staying at home is contributing to the motherland!" How to kill boring time at home has become a problem that everyone has been worried about.

I turned on the TV that had been idle for many years at home and wanted to relive the classic movies and TV series of my childhood. The "members-only" screen made us feel unhappy. The same is true for watching movies on mobile phones. Not only are there "members-only", but there are also one to two minutes of advertisements, which makes our viewing experience extremely poor. Is it true that there is really no "movie" to watch at home?

With the improvement of copyright awareness in recent years, after fierce market competition, only a few video platforms have survived. Today, a three-legged situation has been formed among Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video.

The three major video platforms have all launched their own membership benefits, which, on the basis of eliminating advertisements, have added unique video exclusivity and the creation of super IPs.

If you want to break the habit of staying at home without watching movies, which video platform is the most cost-effective? In response to this question, let's discuss it from the aspects of membership rights, membership fees, film and television resources, and picture quality!

Which one has better member benefits?

Youku Video Membership Benefits

iQIYI Member Benefits

Tencent Video Membership Benefits

The three major video platforms all have their own exclusive membership benefits. From the picture we can see that in addition to ad-free videos and member-exclusive content, there are also privileges such as Dolby sound effects and sneak peeks at popular dramas.

For users, the most fundamental reason for opening a membership is ad-free and member-exclusive content.

Video without ads

I believe that no matter you are watching variety shows or following long dramas, the most annoying thing is the 1 to 2 minute long advertisement at the beginning.

If you want to avoid the ads before the main film, you need to become a member. Members of the three major platforms can directly skip the ads and enter the main film.

Some of iQiyi's content requires manual clicks to skip. In terms of ad-free, there is no difference among the three major platforms.

Members-only content

The three major video platforms all have their own exclusive member-only content, including exclusive variety shows, web series, American dramas, and self-made dramas. In addition, some movies are available for free or paid viewing by members.

Summarize:

From the functional point of view, the three major video membership benefits are not very different. For ordinary users, they can all meet our daily needs. At the same price of 198 yuan, how should we choose?

From the table in the above figure, we can see that the annual subscription fees for PC+mobile of the three major video platforms are basically the same, all 198 yuan. There is not much difference between the single-month price, continuous monthly price, and quarterly price. The continuous monthly subscription price of 10 yuan for iQiyi is more suitable for short-term users.

With the popularization of large-screen and intelligent televisions, the content of television and video websites is increasingly integrated. The three major platforms have launched full-terminal memberships for TV, but the price is more than twice that of ordinary memberships.

However, the price difference between the annual packages of the three major video platforms is not that big, and the single-month and continuous monthly packages are roughly the same.

Which one has more video resources?

Before, if you wanted to watch a movie, I believe everyone would buy a ticket to the cinema. But now, with the continuous development of the Internet era, movies currently showing in theaters can be watched on various video platforms after a month or two.

The author selected 20 popular movies at home and abroad in 2019 for comparison. In terms of movie resources, iQiyi and Youku have an advantage in quantity. In terms of domestic movies, the three major platforms are basically on par.

In terms of foreign films, the number of iQiyi and Youku is basically the same, while some TVs of Tencent Video need to use external links to watch.

In general, the three major video platforms do not differ much in the number of resources. Domestic movies can basically be watched on their video platforms. Among them, some foreign films require external links to watch.

Exclusive content

From the above, we have learned about the movie resources of the three major platforms. Since the exclusive content of several websites has different focuses, no comparison is made.

In terms of variety shows and TV dramas, iQiyi seems to be better, while Tencent has stronger resources for American dramas, with popular American dramas such as "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld" being exclusively broadcast on the entire network.

At the same time, it also holds the big NBA IP. Youku has diversified self-made content and broadcasts online dramas one after another. Due to their different directions, the exclusive content of the three major platforms has its own advantages.

In terms of picture quality, what is the difference?

In addition to avoiding advertisements and exclusive broadcasts, people also care more about the picture quality. With the rapid development of 4G and 5G networks, major video platforms have also brought us higher clarity.

From the above pictures, we can see that the film can support up to 1080P resolution on the three major platforms, and there is no difference in clarity and brightness. The color of iQiyi is darker, and there is no difference between the latter two. In general, there is not much difference!

Due to the limitations of the domestic network environment, video platforms must compress the video bit rate. Therefore, the 1080P video we see does not truly represent the clarity of 1080P.

For ordinary users, being able to watch movies normally with the clarity they want is enough.

Through many comparisons, we found that the membership prices of the three video platforms, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku, are almost the same. It seems that the "price war" has become a thing of the past.

iQiyi has more resources in self-produced dramas and variety shows, while Tencent is more balanced in variety shows and TV series, holding the copyrights of many American dramas and NBA.

Although Youku produces fewer variety shows and self-produced TV series, it covers a wider range and meets the life needs of more mainstream figures.

Both are 198 yuan, which one is more cost-effective and how should we choose?

In my opinion, the rates are roughly the same, but the exclusive video resources are different. We still have to make the most suitable choice according to our own preferences. Which video platform will you choose? Welcome to leave a comment below!