Only when you have an average reading volume of 1.5 million + can you make money, professionalize and gradually increase the threshold for online popularity

Wei Wuhui, a new media scholar, told reporters: "Currently, for every 1000 clicks attracted by users, the advertising cost is about 10 yuan. In 2004, this cost was less than 1 yuan. In more than 10 years, costs have increased more than 10 times." Therefore, Internet celebrities with fan bases have naturally become an important channel favored by merchants.

Original title: Don't broadcast live if you don't understand football. Internet celebrities have finally begun to work professionally.

The European Cup feast has entered its final week. However, turning on the TV and watching the two teams fight is no longer the only way for fans to enjoy the game. A number of audio and video live broadcast platforms, including Youku, Yingke, Zanthoxylum, etc., participated in the live broadcast of the European Cup, making the Internet celebrity economy, which seemed to be on the verge of a slight correction before, hot again.

However, unlike previous Internet celebrities who attracted a large number of onlookers even when they were in a daze while eating, most of the popular Internet celebrities in the European Cup live broadcast showed competitive advantages in terms of professionalism. Some industry insiders admitted that in the past, Internet celebrities generally adopted the survival rule of "using curious behavior or beauty as the main means". Perhaps a watershed will emerge under the baptism of the European Cup live broadcast.

Specialization gradually raises the threshold for Internet fame

In the early days of the network with slow network speeds, a group of Internet celebrities represented by "Ruffian Cai" who started their careers by writing appeared; then, with the improvement of network speeds, the Internet entered the age of photo information. It became relatively easy to rely on appearance to attract attention."Sister Furong" and "Sister Tianxian" became representatives of that generation of Internet celebrities. Although Internet celebrities had begun to enter some aspects of commercial promotion at that time and even accepted endorsement invitations from merchants, due to the shallow penetration of the Internet into real life at that time, the "individual combat" of personal publicity did not eventually form an industrial scale.

In recent years, the Internet has entered a period of rapid development. This year, it has entered the first year of live broadcasting relying on technology. The industrial chain has become increasingly improved. A new generation of Internet celebrities composed of fashion celebrities, segment anchors, etc. has begun to form a business model.

According to incomplete statistics, the investment in well-known live broadcast platforms was approximately 170 million yuan in 2013, approximately 790 million yuan in 2014, and increased to 2.37 billion yuan in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of about 300%. Against the background of such a scale of investment, the expansion of live broadcast platforms is also alarming-according to data from a survey company, the number of users of online live broadcast platforms in China is 200 million, and the number of people online at the same time on large live broadcast platforms is close to 4 million, and the number of rooms performing live broadcasts at the same time exceeds 3000.

With such a large audience base, the live broadcast of the European Cup seems logical. Against the background of CCTV's monopoly on live TV broadcasting rights, many Internet celebrities went to France on their own, and the live connection and witty comments made it the easiest live broadcast room. At the same time, there are also a large number of Internet celebrities who rely on their own professional knowledge to predict and summarize the event, and also gain a large number of fans.

It is worth mentioning that in live broadcasts such as the European Cup that require certain professional knowledge, Internet celebrities who used to gain attention purely through spoof and vulgarity began to encounter knowledge thresholds and find it difficult to do more.

The cost of attracting fans is soaring, and the channel effect is highlighted.

With the explosive growth of live broadcast platforms and Internet celebrities, the difficulty of realizing cash by attracting attention is gradually increasing. However, it is undeniable that the sales channel value advantage of Internet celebrities is still pursued by many merchants. The reason is very simple, its effect and scale are really surprising.

One of the reasons why Internet celebrities can become an economic imagination, according to industry insiders, is that the cost of attracting fans is getting higher and higher nowadays. Wei Wuhui, a new media scholar, told reporters: "Currently, for every 1000 clicks attracted by users, the advertising cost is about 10 yuan. In 2004, this cost was less than 1 yuan. In more than 10 years, costs have increased more than 10 times." Therefore, Internet celebrities with fan bases have naturally become an important channel favored by merchants.

Another key factor in the economic growth of Internet celebrities is the "psychological arousal" effect, or netizens 'sense of self-identity. Zhang Wei, the School of Social Development at East China University of Political Science and Law, said that there is a certain subtle emotional experience between Internet celebrities and fans. Fans are directly involved in the growth experience of Internet celebrities. When they see the growing popularity of online idols they have been following all the way, their huge psychological satisfaction is enough to make them reward one after another. In addition to following their idols, fans also have the yearning to "become her (him) by themselves."

The best manifestation of "psychological arousal" is the well-known "chopping block case". For a chopping block priced at 1500 yuan, its national sales have not exceeded 10,000 pieces throughout the year. However, when an Internet celebrity who is good at cooking recommended this chopping board on his public account, the sales volume reached 15,000 yuan in 10 minutes. When subscribers receive chopping block information pushed by the public account, no matter what identity they are in life, they are temporarily affected-becoming "gourmets who pursue the ultimate cooking experience."

Internet celebrities who need an average reading volume of 1.5 million + to

make money can sell their chopping boards to 1500 yuan each have packaging operation teams behind them, and they are quite large. According to industry insiders, the standard team is at least 10 people, including 1 clothing supervisor, 3 designers, 2 assistants, 1 makeup supervisor, 2 cameramen, and 1 new media operator. An agent who has cultivated many Internet celebrities said that "it will cost at least 1 million yuan a year" to make a network ID an IP with investment value. After reaching a certain fan size, there will be activities such as advertising placement, online store promotion, and even brand endorsement to realize traffic realization.

With high investment, returns must be the common concern of Internet celebrities and employers. There are many types of income from Internet celebrities. Some comments took an article by an Internet celebrity as an example. More than 6000 people directly consume through "appreciation". According to a rough estimate of the appreciation fee range designed by the platform, the income from this article alone is between 150,000 and 350,000.

However, this is just the apex of the pyramid of the Internet celebrity ecosystem. Some analysis reports show that 95% of grassroots Internet content producers do not make money. To achieve profitability, the average clicks per piece of content must reach 1.5 million to 2 million.

The huge base and the increasingly fast Internet information consumption model have made the Internet celebrity economy very unstable. Many original content is very immediate and targeted, and audiences will spontaneously click and forward it, but they may not necessarily "pay attention" to become long-term fans. The person in charge of an Internet celebrity incubator in the industry said that after the rapid growth of fans, fans will enter a bottleneck period. Sometimes it takes a full year to go from 3.5 million to 4 million. This requires Internet celebrities not only to be able to contact them 24 hours a day, but also to insist on posting content every day, interacting with fans, and always making fans feel that their idols respond appropriately to their concerns through sending small gifts, current affairs reviews and other links.

According to current industry rules, if a cultivating Internet celebrity cannot make a profit within three months, it will be abandoned by the management. The person in charge of the Internet celebrity incubator revealed: "Even if some companies will slightly relax the time limit, the limit will not exceed half a year."

Editor: Nancy