Jingdong - TCL Thunderbird Baidu - Skyworth Coolstart
Internet giants competed for the battle of hardware manufacturers to the color TV field, a group of cross-border CP also came into being.
Yesterday, TCL Group announced that its smart television operating platform Thunderbird TV and Jingdong Group reached a strategic cooperation intention. Jingdong Group subscribed for Thunderbird TV's new shares for RMB 300 million, and obtained a 6.67% stake in Thunderbird TV after the capital increase.
Not too long ago, a similar plot was staged between Baidu and Skyworth. The two parties reached a strategic cooperation. Baidu Strategic Investment Skyworth Holdings Co., Ltd. Shenzhen Kukai Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Occupying the family scene, the ever-expanding tentacles of Internet giants have made television this traditional 'big screen' more and more intelligent.
'The two parties will establish a strategic partnership at the business level. 'About the specific content of this cooperation with JD.com, TCL said that the two parties will jointly explore the AI technology research and development as well as the application research under the smart big screen and smart home scenarios. Complementary advantages and win-win cooperation.
Thunderbird TV was founded in May 2017 and is the business unit of TCL's TV+ smart TV platform. Public data shows that as of March 2018, Thunderbird has accumulated 25.59 million active users. July 2017, Thunder Bird TV has won Tencent 450 million yuan in strategic investment.
In recent years, the cooperation between home appliance companies and internet companies has become more and more close.
Tencent is not only a cool open shareholder, but also a shareholder of Thunderbird. Ali is a strategic investor in Haier TV and also has a systematic level of cooperation with Sharp Internet TV. Baidu and TCL, Haier, and Polar TV have a cooperative relationship. Skyworth's capital cooperation has become even closer. Li Yanhong personally collaborated on the platform for the two parties and stated that 'though on the surface it is a tactical cooperation, but I believe that this is very much in line with the development strategies of the two companies.'
In 2013, LeTV launched Internet TV to bring this new category to market. Since then, traditional color TV companies have also transformed to meet the new trend. Nowadays, the function of TV has undergone great changes. With AI entering various fields, Internet TV has also been As an entrance to the future smart home, the application scenario will be broader.
In the eyes of Internet giants, smart screens have become one of the channels of information exchange for Chinese families. The number of users continues to grow, and users' payment habits are gradually being established. For Internet companies, technologies such as AI are deployed to require more equipment. More Scenarios and more users. Widely investing in Internet companies to win partners, improve the ecological layout of an important means.
For traditional color TV companies, how to stay in the downturn of the industry is the common challenge they face.
In 2017, according to different statistical standards, the sales volume of the domestic color TV market fell more than 5% to 10%. In the third quarter, it also set a historic year-on-year decline of nearly 13%. Except for a few leaders, the performance of most traditional enterprises and innovative brands Fall or loss. At the same time, in 2017, the market price of TVs has been increasing, the market consumption base has shifted upwards, the sales volume of high-end products has increased, and the low-end reductions have been made. Bundled Internet companies have become shortcuts for traditional hardware manufacturers to become smart and high-end transformations. Liu Yinghua