Hearing Chris's question, Eric smiled faintly, picked up the pen and drew a simple schematic diagram of the long-tail theory on the clipboard, and said in a firm tone: "Of course it is meaningful, and it is of great significance." You all know that there are a lot of B-grade studios in Hollywood, right?"

Although they didn't know why Eric suddenly mentioned this, several people in the audience nodded their heads and looked curiously at the simple diagram that Eric had drawn on his clipboard.

Eric drew a schematic diagram of the long-tail theory that companies such as Google, Amazon and Netflix relied on to survive in the original time and space, and said: "Take some B-grade Hollywood films as an example, the revenue structure of B-grade films is like this picture, we can call it 'long-tail chart', the head of this picture represents the box office revenue of a B-grade film that is fortunate enough to land in theaters, this part of the income occupies most of the area of the long-tail chart, and for a B-grade film that usually costs only a few million or even hundreds of thousands, it can be shown in theaters, and it can almost make a fortune." But most B-grade films are difficult to get the qualification for theatrical release, so ordinary people often think that it will be very difficult for B-grade film companies to survive, but this is not the case, many B-grade film companies live a very nourishing life, and their rules for survival are like this diagram. ”

Eric said, using a pen to cut a dotted vertical line on the head with the largest area of the long tail picture, drawing a cross, and then continuing to quickly cut out a piece of area with a vertical line on the tail area, and explained while marking: "Like the one in the picture, even if they don't get the largest income from the 'head', they can still get an income equivalent to the head area through the distribution of the videotape market, the income from cable TV broadcasting rights, and the sales of rights in the vast overseas market." And. As long as you have enough channels. The revenue from copyright sales in overseas markets is very lucrative. Think about it, a B-grade film that costs $2 million can recover a large part of the cost in the United States, but in the vast overseas market, even if it is a full copyright package sale, the United Kingdom sells $200,000, France sells $150,000, and then Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal...... After Europe, there is an equally vast Asian market, and even some relatively wealthy Latin American countries and African countries. Together, these bits and pieces of income are enough for a small company to make a lot of money. Speaking of this, Eric put the pen in his hand aside, looked at the few people present, and said, "So, do you see something?"

Chris looked thoughtful, and Tina Brown, who knows more about Hollywood, retorted: "Eric, I don't think there is a small B-movie company that has the kind of wide range of channels you have, except for the big seven Hollywood studios, and the ideal state you are talking about does not seem to exist." ”

"But the production companies of famous B-movie producers like Roger Koeman use the distribution method I said. It's a fact that you're very nourishing in Hollywood, isn't it?" Eric laughed, "And. I'm just using such an idealized example to illustrate Yahoo's future monetization model. ”

As a brilliant finance graduate, Chris understood faster than the others and said, "Eric, I think I know what you're trying to say." What you mean is that if the sales channels for a 'product' are large enough, even if the profits from those channels are very small, they can still accumulate into an amazing number. ”

"Bingo," Eric raised his right hand and tried to snap his fingers, but unfortunately failed, and lowered his arm amid the chuckles of several people, " If we can develop a set of advertising distribution technology that is simple to operate and recognized by customers, and pull 100,000 websites with good traffic to join the Yahoo Advertising Network, even if each website only brings us a negligible $10 per month, then Yahoo can earn $1 million a month, although this 1 million is still far from enough to pay Yahoo's current annual operating expenses, but the growth rate of Internet users and websites in recent years is very amazingIf the number of Yahoo Network websites can increase tenfold or hundredfold in the next few years, then our revenue will also increase exponentially. ”

Tina Brown asked, "Eric, if I had built a website and it had grown to a certain size, I would definitely not join the Yahoo Network and choose to run it on my own, so that it seems that I could make more money?"

Eric pointed to the cross at the head of the long-tail chart on the clipboard and said, "The focus of Yahoo Ad Network's operation is not on these websites that are at the head of the 'long tail', what we want to get is a tail with the scale of profit generated by the 'head'." ”

Tina Brown smiled slightly awkwardly, ignoring the pattern that Eric had just finished.

Eric didn't mind and continued, "Moreover, the $100 million plan I mentioned to you earlier to fund the development of a large number of small and medium-sized websites can actually be classified as part of the Yahoo Advertising Network. Any website that wants to get angel investment funds from Yahoo must join the Yahoo Advertising Alliance, it is still the initial stage of the Internet industry, I think there are not many investors who can choose from those small and medium-sized websites, we can take this opportunity to pull the more promising websites into the Yahoo Advertising Alliance, and promote them through Yahoo's huge portal channel effect, then, at least in the next few years, most of the most powerful websites on the Internet will come from the Yahoo Advertising Alliance. Even if these sites choose to break away in the future, I think Yahoo has grown strong enough to free up other monetization channels. ”

The so-called other profit channel is, of course, search engine services.

Yahoo already has the initial function of a search engine, but due to the scale of the online industry, it has not yet exploded into sufficient potential. The main reason for Yahoo's failure in the original time and space was that it blindly believed that the status of the portal was unshakable and ignored the development potential of search engines, otherwise with the huge resources that Yahoo had at that time, it would never be possible for Google to replace it. And now, of course, Eric would not make such a mistake.

This small high-level meeting lasted until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. After Eric finished talking about Yahoo's two major development plans for the future. Chris, Ian Gnier, Tina Brown and others also spoke freely. Post some of your own suggestions. At the end of the meeting, Eric and Chris left Yahoo headquarters together, but Ian Gurnier remained in the conference room to discuss with great interest.

Chris had just returned home from attending a Nokia board meeting in Finland and was so tired that he couldn't wait to get back into his room to catch up on sleep.

After today's meeting, Eric doesn't have much to do in Boston, and some details of Yahoo's next development process can be discussed with everyone via email. If tomorrow's meeting with John Chambers and Steve Keys goes well. Eric will be able to return to Los Angeles. Compared to Chris, Eric still maintained the slightly excited state of the meeting at this time, without the slightest feeling of fatigue after attending a full day of meetings.

May in Boston showed no signs of summer heat, and after sending Chris back to his room to rest, Eric changed into a casual casual outfit and walked downstairs out of the hotel.

It's been a week since he arrived in Boston, and with the exception of the gathering where all the company's employees were invited, Eric's activities these days have been confined to the Cambridge Hotel on Massachusetts Avenue and Yahoo's headquarters a few hundred meters away, and he has done almost everything by now. With some time in the afternoon, Eric was going to walk around. This is kind of his little habit after going to every city. Not to mention the fact that less than two kilometers west of West Avenue, which intersects Massachusetts Avenue not far from the hotel, across the Charles River, is the famous Harvard Business School, and although Eric no longer has the admiration he had for this business school that produced a large number of political and business celebrities in his previous life, he is still very curious.

Eric had just walked out of the hotel when Carter Moen popped up and asked, "Boss, do you need a car?"

Because he has been neglecting his personal image recently, Eric has grown a faint stubble on his jaw at this time, adding a bit of mature temperament to his whole person. Taking out a strap of light-colored sunglasses from his pocket and his casual attire at this time, Eric believes that there are not many people who can easily recognize him except for his very familiar relatives and friends: "I go around the other side of the river, and I don't need a car." ”

Carter Moen nodded, and watched as Eric walked leisurely to the front of the street like the usual young students on the street, before following from a distance with another companion.

Turning into West Boulevard, although the name seems to sound like a commercial street, it is just a two-lane asphalt road, most of the red brick houses on both sides of the road trigger some of Eric's obsessive-compulsive psychology, Boston's brownstone culture is very popular, and these seemingly shabby-looking red brick buildings are usually affordable for the middle and wealthy classes with good incomes, and the middle and low income people can still only live in cheap wooden houses.

Walking a few hundred meters along West Boulevard, Eric saw an ATM next to a supermarket, realized that he didn't have any money with him, and he might need it next, so he walked over and took out his credit card and withdrew a few hundred dollars.

Walking out of the ATM hall, I saw a girl in a light blue jacket holding two full convenience bags walking towards a red Ford on the street, cautiously reaching out to open the trunk, Eric took the initiative to walk over and greet: "Ma'am, do you need help?"

"Thank you, you're such a helpful person," the girl smiled and stepped aside, and Eric reached out to help him pull open the trunk, nodded at him, and continued walking.

The girl carefully put away the daily necessities in the convenience bag, closed the trunk, looked up and noticed Eric's figure moving forward, only to remember the feeling of déjà vu when she noticed Eric's side face just now, but she had no idea where this feeling came from, and in the end she could only take this feeling as a common psychological sense of déjà vu.

However, even though he wears sunglasses, he is still quite handsome.

After thinking about it so little, the girl quickly scolded herself mentally for a nymphomaniac, and was just about to get in the car and leave, only to remember that her roommate asked her to help bring some things that she had just forgotten to buy, so she had to turn back to the supermarket again.

Walking out of the supermarket again, the girl threw a bag of things in her hand in the back seat of the car, got into the Ford, and when she took out the key, she unconsciously glanced in front of her, and the figure was still in view. Inexplicably, there was some throbbing, and the girl drove up to follow, came to Eric's side to slow down the car, pressed the window and plucked up the courage to say to Eric: "I'm going to the soldier factory in front, do you want a ride?"

Standing on the side of the road, Eric leaned over slightly, waved his hand at the girl sitting in the driver's seat of the Ford, and said with a smile: "Thank you, I'll be there after crossing the river." ”

The girl in front of her looked the same age as herself, with long soft hazel hair, a fair face with light makeup, and an obvious bookish atmosphere. Eric himself would not refuse to have such an affair in a foreign country, but if he got into this beautiful woman's car, Carter Moen and Carter, who were following him on foot, would definitely be thrown off. Mr. Bodyguard once told him not to do anything too unexpected for the sake of personal safety.

I thought that after refusing, the girl would leave, but the other party smiled and said to Eric: "Don't you know that after crossing the river, it is a soldier's factory?"

Eric was stunned for a moment, and shook his head very honestly, he simply looked at the map to determine the location of Harvard Business School, and really didn't know what the girl said about the soldier's factory: "I'm from Los Angeles, I just want to go to Harvard Business School." ”

"Are you going to apply for business school, maybe I can take you around," the girl looked at Eric with a bright eye, still holding down the speed of the car, and said, "Introduction, my name is Melanie." ”

Eric didn't have the interest of making up a fake name at random, nor did he take the initiative to introduce himself, listening to the girl's accent, he smiled and changed the topic casually: "You can't be from Georgia, right?"

"Oh," Melanie asked in surprise, "how did you guess?"

"Does anyone in your family like to read Gone with the Wind?" asked Eric casually.

"yes, my dad, my name is Melanie Hamilton from Gone with the Wind, and it's amazing that you can't guess that by that. ”

"Of course I can't guess this by your name," Eric laughed, "The main thing is, I can hear your Georgian accent, I have a ...... My friend is from Georgia. ”

Actually, the topic of "Gone with the Wind" was indeed guessed by Eric, but the others were not blind, because among the women around him, Julia grew up in Georgia, and Eric felt that the girl named Melanie in front of him was very similar to Julia in some pronunciation habits. After a long time of rebirth, Eric can easily distinguish the various accents from all over the United States and various races.

"Hehe," Melanie patted the steering wheel lightly and smiled, "I see, you're imitating the joke between Conan Doyle and the coachman." (To be continued.) )