How deep is the ＂pit＂ of video website members with ＂stopping more＂ and ＂adding more＂ routines？
Many paid members of video platforms are suffering from falling into the "pit" where their rights and interests are greatly discounted and their consumption is forced and opaque. Xu Junzuo (Xinhua News Agency)
"I bought a video member, and I still have 15 seconds of movie recommendation advertisement", "Some movies, members have to pay extra for watching" and "the auto-renewal button is very hidden, and it will automatically turn on for several months if you are not careful" … … In the "Video Website Member Service Questionnaire" activity carried out by Zhejiang Consumer Protection Committee, netizens started the "Spitting Mode" one after another. Many users who buy members have fallen into the "pit" where video members have insufficient "gold content" and consumer rights are difficult to protect.
Exclusive advertisements come to my face.
Forms always play new tricks.
"Don’t I buy members just to block advertisements? However, after buying a member, there are still advertisements in the title and text. " Mr. Li in Shanghai is a "fan of drama". He wanted to follow the drama after finishing his membership, but he didn’t expect that there were still advertisements.
In fact, although most video websites use the gimmicks of "no advertisements", "members skip advertisements" and "VIP can turn off advertisements", they can only avoid or skip the advertisements before the feature film is played, but they can’t really "shut out" the advertisements.
Some advertisements put on VIP "vest" and turned into "exclusive for members". "After purchasing a member, a VIP exclusive recommendation is inserted at the beginning of the video, which must be closed manually, otherwise it will be played all the time." Ms. Jia of Heilongjiang is very dissatisfied with the practice of Iqiyi video. "If you click on it yourself to close the advertisement, can this be called advertisement-free?" Moreover, the time periods such as "Previously on" and "Next Preview" have also become the "hardest hit" for the flood of advertisements.
The endless stream of "variant" advertisements is even more unpredictable. The reporter found through experience that some hit dramas will suddenly play "small theaters" during the broadcast. This kind of advertisement, which is called "creative insertion" in the industry, is starred by the original players in the play. On this basis, a variety of advertising forms such as "progress bar" and "screen pressing bar" have also been derived.
According to the questionnaire of Zhejiang Consumer Protection Committee, "free advertising" is the main reason for users to buy members, accounting for 83.3%. However, 71.04% of users said that after purchasing members, they will often encounter advertisements when watching videos.
The website doesn’t look good
Lack of protection of member rights and interests
If you buy a member, not only advertisements are inevitable, but also you can’t "watch blockbusters at will", and you have to pay extra for good movies. The data shows that as many as 76.15% of users have encountered the problem of "members still need to pay for it".
"After purchasing members, some films still need to be paid separately." Ms. Gao from Beijing has purchased the members of several video websites, such as Tencent Video, but she found that many new cinema films and classic old films need to be paid separately to watch, ranging from 1 to 10 yuan.
Sometimes, there are even "additional terms" for paying for watching movies. "Many video resources require users to watch them within 48 hours or a fixed time, and they need to pay again after they expire." In this regard, Ms. Gao said, "This is quite unreasonable, which is equivalent to spending money to buy browsing rights for a short time."
The reporter found that in order to induce users to "automatically renew their fees", some video websites set up a "blind eye" on the purchase page. For example, when you open the Youku video membership purchase page, the system will check the "continuous monthly VIP" option by default. The "non-automatic renewal" of Tencent video and iQiyi video is hidden behind the "automatic renewal" and can only be seen by swiping the option to the right.
Moreover, if member users want to cancel the "automatic renewal fee", they must also go through a lot of "maze". Take Youku as an example, the button of "renew the fee immediately" on the user’s "Personal Center" page is very conspicuous, but the option of "cancel automatic renewal" is missing. After much trouble, the reporter found that the "automatic renewal fee" opened on the video website can only be cancelled through the corresponding payment platform such as "WeChat Payment".
Video websites "don’t keep their promises" will also make members "eat dumb losses". The hit drama "He Tai Hua Ting" originally promised to update the exclusive episodes of members with 6 episodes per week, but Youku suddenly said that it only updated 3 episodes a week due to "media reasons", and then it was urgently "added" to 8 episodes per week.
Service agreement "save one hand"
Industry supervision should be strengthened
"Advertising-free" is not worthy of the name, and there are many traps of "automatic renewal". Members encounter "secondary payment" when they watch movies, but they make promises but renege on them … … Video websites have a deep routine, precisely because they "left behind" in the membership service agreement.
The reporter found that many terms in the video website membership service agreement are overbearing. For example, "Tencent has the right to modify the terms of service at any time … … If you continue to use the video service provided by Tencent, it will be deemed that you have accepted all the amendments to this agreement. "Iqiyi has the right to unilaterally decide and adjust the VIP membership service content based on its own operating strategy" … …
Can a video website "do whatever it wants" by leaving enough room for explanation in the agreement? Li Weimin, a lawyer of Beijing Weibo Law Firm, said that video membership service agreements are mostly format contracts. According to the provisions of the Contract Law, if there is a clause in the standard contract that obviously aggravates the other party’s responsibility, reduces and exempts itself from responsibility, then the clause shall be regarded as invalid and has no legal effect.
Zhang Dezhi, director of the Complaints Department of China Consumers Association, pointed out that if the video can’t go online as scheduled due to media problems, it is obviously a breach of contract. In this case, the video website should negotiate with consumers to fulfill the contract and compensate in time.
Although the video website has detailed provisions on "advertising privilege" in the membership service agreement, the propaganda words such as "members are free of advertising" can still be regarded as a service commitment to consumers. Li Weimin believes that if these promises cannot be fulfilled, video websites will infringe consumers’ right to know, to choose and to trade fairly, and consumers will get three times compensation for membership fees.
However, the loss suffered by members’ rights and interests is insignificant compared with the cost of safeguarding rights. When the rights and interests of most members are infringed, there is no other way but to complain. In this regard, Zhang Dezhi said: "The state is vigorously promoting the class action system, and consumer associations are also actively promoting this work. Through class action litigation, the cost of individual rights protection can be reduced and consumer rights can be further protected. "
"Focusing on the future, relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of video websites, especially in terms of the compliance of membership agreements, whether the service content is comprehensive and true, and whether the propaganda words are easily misunderstood." Qu Xiangdong, a lecturer at capital university of economics and business Law School, suggested.