DouTeng and Reconciliation’: If You Can’t Win, Join

On April 7, Douyin Group and Tencent Video announced a partnership. The two companies will cooperate on promoting the integration of long and short videos, as well as creating derivative content from short videos.Had this been announced on April 1, many media professionals might have questioned the authenticity of such a significant collaboration. After all, the two companies are typical rivals in the video streaming space. Now, instead of clashing, they are not only reconciling but also collaborating on “secondary creations of short videos.” Observers who are used to seeing these giants argue might find this quite unsettling.How should we view the “DouTeng reconciliation”? To put it diplomatically, the video industry has shifted from a competitive relationship to a “competition + cooperation” model, marking a new milestone in China’s internet competition. To put it bluntly, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Tencent, holding the rights to IP, can’t stop Douyin’s content creators, so it might as well strike a deal and collect some copyright fees. To borrow a line from Hong Kong gangster movies, the landscape of today’s industry is no longer about “fighting and killing.” The big players can now laugh off past grudges, join hands, and look ahead. This, it seems, is the future of the industry.Short video platforms are flooded with content like “One-Minute Movie” or “One-Minute Drama.” This format is said to have originated from a Taiwanese creator and has remained popular ever since. That pioneer has long since made his fortune, and even the Tencent Video executives who once criticized these secondary creations of movies and TV dramas have now taken the real step towards resolving the issue—by calmly negotiating collaboration with Douyin.

On one hand, since the birth of the internet, piracy has been its natural twin. The “One-Minute Movie” is essentially no different from the MP3 copyright disputes of twenty years ago. It’s just a new form. IP owners who once proudly claimed copyright and battled piracy are now facing reality. Rather than let content creators (the “repackagers”) gain free traffic, it’s better to engage in deep cooperation with the platforms. This is, after all, the inevitable choice in an internet-driven world. “Shouting and fighting” might win the argument, but it loses both the present and the future. From this perspective, the “DouTeng reconciliation” is inevitable.On the other hand, as short video production quality continues to improve, especially with the addition of AI editing technology, creating secondary video content is becoming technically easier. However, coming up with creative ideas and scripts is increasingly challenging. For users, watching mass-produced “One-Minute Movies” can get boring. Therefore, after the “DouTeng reconciliation,” platforms can now license these IPs to truly creative and capable secondary creators, allowing them to fully unleash their creativity.Most importantly, secondary creation of movies and TV shows is essentially “old wine in a new bottle.” Many old films have been revitalized through secondary creation and even reinterpreted. This is not only an artistic trend but also a commercial rule. For IP owners who are relying on their “golden bowls,” this is certainly a good thingTake the example of Stephen Chow’s A Chinese Odyssey from the late 1990s.

Back when the internet was not as widespread, these two films became legendary thanks to word-of-mouth among university students. Even though the vast majority of students watched pirated versions, the copyright holders still benefited from the enormous popularity. After the film’s box office failure, it continued to earn revenue for years, influencing the entire Journey to the West culture of the 21st century and shaping the views of an entire generation. This example shows that movie and TV show copyrights are never “dead.” They must be “alive” to have value, and short videos are a major tool in breathing new life into these IPs.Returning to the main players, for Douyin’s parent company, in the context of TikTok facing intense global scrutiny, paying some copyright fees is also a way to gain favor with major content owners, including Hollywood. After all, both Tencent and Alibaba have long been key investors in Hollywood films. For Tencent Video, since it can’t eliminate secondary content, it might as well join in. Business is grounded in reality, not in ideals. Tencent’s vast IP library can be reactivated through secondary and tertiary creations. As for how to divide the revenue, that will be determined at the negotiation table.Finally, after the “DouTeng reconciliation,” since the two biggest rivals are able to sit down and talk, there will likely be more actions to follow. Looking back at how Alibaba and Tencent opened up the mobile payment sector to each other, the competitive mindset of the past—based on medieval-style battles with castles and armored knights—is gradually being replaced by covert battles and alliances of interest.