The Chinese entertainment start-up that aims to be the ‘Alibaba for movie directors’
Veteran media professional looks to whet growing appetite for video content and encourage upcoming filmmakers to unleash their creativity
Entertainment start-up Ergeng has captured its Chinese users’ attention by putting five-minute compelling videos online every night. The clips tells engaging stories about people from all walks of life. The one-and-a-half-year-old firm, which attracted an investment of 50 million yuan (HK$60 million) last month, is now valued at half a billion yuan. Founder and veteran media professional Ding Feng, who aspires to make the Hangzhou-based firm an “Alibaba for movie directors”, tells Jack Liu about his dream.
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You didn’t have much experience before launching your start-up. How did you get started?
I spent a decade as a television writer, and another in management roles at newspapers. During the last few years of my media career, I largely dealt with advertising clients at a newspaper.
Once, I helped a carmaker organise a screening of its promotional video in local cinemas, when I realised what a powerful medium video can be. The clip told an interesting and moving story and people loved to share it, despite knowing that it was an advertisement. That screening was the turning point. However, I started on a small scale since I did not know a lot about video production. In 2010, I was able to persuade my employer, a state-owned media company, to set up a joint venture with me and became a production contractor for a local television station. I was doing alright because I was
in the media business for a long time and so could hire talent quickly. Three years later, I bought the remaining stake from my employer and went independent.
