In 2016, the number of live broadcast platforms exceeded 300 and 80% of their traffic relied on Internet celebrity anchors

2016 is known as the "First Year of Mobile Live Video Broadcasting." There are more than 300 million online live broadcast users in China. Giants have entered the market with capital, related companies have been transforming one after another, and hundreds of entrepreneurial platforms have poured in...

Original title: The first year of Mobile Live Video Broadcasting: The content is single, 80% of the traffic depends on Internet celebrities.

In 2016, it was praised as the "first year of Mobile Live Video Broadcasting." The number of online live broadcast users in China has exceeded 300 million. The giants have entered the market with capital, related companies have been transforming one after another, and hundreds of entrepreneurial platforms have poured in... However, this field is also the most controversial while seizing the glory. Most of the content is mainly in a single form, and there is very few content that can truly create value. Although many platforms have begun to try to create content such as live news broadcasts, variety shows, and financial live broadcasts, they have not brought about significant changes. Online live broadcast platforms seem to be more keen on acting as show venues, and it is difficult to tear off the mass manufacturing machine of Internet celebrity content. Image label.

The market is noisy: 300 platforms surged into

the country before 2010. PC show live broadcasts occupied the main market in the live broadcast field. The rapid growth of the number of mobile Internet users pushed the live broadcast industry to the mobile end, especially from 2015 to 2016. Mobile Live Video Broadcasting are rising: there are many participants, high capital enthusiasm, and high industry attention.

First of all, attracting widespread attention in the field of live broadcasting is inseparable from the active presence of giants. Zhou Hongyi, chairman of 360, took the lead in launching pepper live broadcasts; Tencent built NOW live broadcasts and fashion live broadcasts, while successively investing in Dragon Ball, Betta, etc.; Ali owns Lai Feng Live Broadcast also plays e-commerce live broadcasts on Taobao and Tmall; Baidu launched Baixiu Live Broadcast, Qixiu Live Broadcast, etc. to participate in the war; China Mobile also launched Migu Live Broadcast.. The giants continue to invest in the market and the high temperature remains unchanged.

Capital's attention is also an important manifestation of the limelight of Mobile Live Video Broadcasting. According to Yuntouhui data, as of November 30, 2016, a total of 31 online live broadcast companies across the country had completed 36 financings, involving a total amount of 10.832 billion yuan. In 2016, there were countless financing cases for live video platforms, and the financing scale repeatedly hit new highs: Zanthoxylum Live announced the completion of Series A financing of 300 million yuan at the end of September; Yingke received Series A+ in January, only half a year later., the valuation reached 7 billion yuan; Yibo's parent company, Xixia Technology, received US$500 million in Series E financing in November. Other video live broadcast platforms, including Panda Live, Tentacles TV, Douyu Live, etc., have also announced that they have raised more than 100 million yuan, and their valuations have soared to several billion yuan.

Because the live broadcast business is smooth and profitable, the industry has seen the benefits. According to Momo's financial report, Momo achieved a total of US$300 million in revenue in the first three quarters of 2016 with its live broadcast business, achieving a tenfold growth. In the third quarter of 2016, the average daily video playback volume on Weibo increased by 740% year-on-year, and the number of live broadcasts increased by 124% compared with the previous quarter. These two forces were important driving forces for Weibo's total revenue of 1.18 billion yuan in the third quarter.

According to statistics, there are currently more than 300 online live broadcast platforms of various types, with a user scale of 300 million. The daily active users of live broadcast apps have reached 24 million, and the market size exceeds 10 billion. Mobile Live Video Broadcasting is so popular that it cannot be separated from the rapid development of the mobile Internet and the high demand from the market.

On the other hand, the rapid development of live broadcasts will inevitably create some industry chaos, and live broadcast content such as "baby-making" and "racing cars" will have a negative impact on society. Therefore, 2016 is also a year in which the regulatory level has made repeated attacks and relevant policies and regulations have been continuously issued: in April, the Beijing Internet Culture Association promulgated the "Beijing Online Live Broadcast Industry Self-Regulation Convention", which put forward preliminary requirements for anchors; On September 9, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Issues Related to Strengthening the Management of Online Audiovisual Program Live Broadcast Services", reiterating that Internet audio-visual program service agencies must comply with the "Regulations on the Management of Internet Audiovisual Program Services" and the "Internet Audiovisual Program Services". Relevant provisions of the Classification Catalog of Program Services Services; On November 4, the National Cyberspace Administration issued the "Regulations on the Management of Internet Live Broadcast Services", implementing strong measures such as "real-name registration of anchors" and "blacklist system", and clearly put forward the requirements of "dual qualifications"; on December 12, the Ministry of Culture issued the "Measures for the Management of Online Performance Business Activities", which further detailed regulations on online performance units, performers and performance content. With the promulgation of a large number of strict regulatory regulations, online anchors will be further professionalized. Policy supervision and industry self-discipline will be conducive to the healthy and orderly development of the live broadcast industry, thus ultimately achieving standardization.

The content is single: 80% of the traffic is popular through live broadcasts by Internet celebrity anchors

. The entry threshold is very low. There are boring people everywhere, and there are not a few people with free time and money. People are gradually getting used to over-beautified faces on narrow screens, and they are happy to listen to strangers laughing and scolding. Some talents of singing, dancing, and piano can be rewarded without even going to the stage. Some people even go to the stage to reward them. They even perform tricks of self-harm

... Zhang Cheng (pseudonym) from Beijing, who earns about 10,000 yuan a month, told reporters that they usually go to the live broadcast platform to kill time after busy work. One of the content they pay attention to is female anchors who are better at "showing off", and the other is games.

Judging from the weekly celebrity income list updated by Weibo Yi from December 26, 2016 to January 1, 2017 (the weekly weekly income list of Weibo Yi's celebrity income lists the four major live broadcast platforms within a week: Live broadcast, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Yingke, and Meipai), the top-ranked anchor "Xixi ~Daisy" comes from Zanthoxylum bungeanum, with an income of 2.117 million yuan.

According to the "2016 Live Broadcast Industry Annual Report" jointly released by Head and Today's Internet Celebrity, the top 10,000 anchors in Yingke, Zanthoxylum, Momo, and Yi Live Broadcast are used as a sample. In 2016, at least 2 anchors earned more than 10 million yuan, and 45% of anchors earned between 50,000 and 100,000 yuan. Among mobile anchors, Momo's female anchor "This Girl Is Not Too Cold" earned as much as 11.6 million yuan. According to statistics, among the anchors active on live broadcast platforms, the proportion of female anchors is as high as 73%. There are a large number of female anchors in first-tier cities and Northeast China. In terms of income, the income of female anchors is as high as 1.481 billion yuan, much higher than the 567 million yuan of male anchors.

Although the possibility of so-called anchor operating companies swiping gifts is not ruled out, there is no denying the huge ability of Internet celebrities to attract traffic. The live broadcast platform is also happy to see this, and has begun to attract many college students, models and some third-and fourth-line celebrity artists. While promoting Internet celebrities to make big profits, it has also achieved an increase in the activity of the live broadcast platform. It is understood that high-quality creative content and the diligence of the anchor, such as the number of live broadcasts launched and the frequency of updates, also have a key impact on the anchor's income. At the same time, this has also spawned the emergence of more Internet celebrity agencies, live broadcast guilds and professional content production companies.

People in the executive capital industry said that the demand for user traffic on live broadcast platforms will inevitably lead to the largest proportion of Internet celebrity anchors. Beautiful anchors are just an important means to attract users 'attention. Retaining anchors is also a problem that live broadcast platforms must consider. Therefore, incidents of stealing anchors occur frequently.

"Judging from the group images of live broadcast users, most of them are idle people with time, and it takes 10 minutes to enter the live broadcast scene. Many users who watch live broadcasts don't pay much attention to professional and exquisite content, preferring to look at the face." Wang Chuanzhen, senior analyst at Analysys Internet Entertainment, analyzed that in 2016, the live broadcast industry completed the transformation from PC shows to mobile, but the development of content form is still relatively slow and has not been upgraded. It is still limited to the reality show stage. Internet celebrities have also been amplified, which is an inevitable phenomenon in the early days of the industry.

She believes that reality shows are relatively simple and easy to operate in terms of cost and monetization model, and the time boundary for obtaining cash flow is short. Therefore, it is difficult for many platforms to give up the reality show model. Everyone wants to make quick money. Nowadays, the show model accounts for at least 80% of the live broadcast industry.

Difficulties in the future: 90% of participants are about to call their curtain stop on

Mobile Live Video Broadcasting. After rapid development in 2016, traffic on various platforms has gradually stabilized. It is difficult to produce new traffic effects by relying on hormone stimulation elements such as "beautiful women" to tease users. A large number of companies are flocking to burn money and smash the market. The hiring of well-known anchors, high promotion costs and platform operations have become a lot of pressure. Wang Chuanzhen analyzed that it is difficult for online live broadcasts to remain profitable by relying solely on several limited monetization methods such as virtual gift sharing and advertising. The content of live broadcast platforms is too homogeneous, and inferior platforms will be quickly eliminated.

The high pressure of policies has brought a bottleneck period for the development of live broadcast platforms. Many analysts say that live broadcast platforms will be sharply reduced, and live broadcast as a function will be embedded in various industry fields. In 2017, there will be more and more such content models. At present, many TV programs use live broadcasts as a means to attract audiences, and the calls for educational live broadcasts, financial live broadcasts, and news live broadcasts are becoming louder and louder.

However, Zhang Cheng told reporters that perhaps some people like to watch live broadcasts in the professional field, but he does not look forward to watching professional comprehensive entertainment live broadcasts or financial live broadcasts."For ordinary white-collar workers, they are occupied by work all day and have leisure time. It's better to watch some brainless live broadcasts when you are down."

Wang Chuanzhen believes that various forms of live broadcast platforms will emerge in the future. Some focus on showcases, but still increase the attraction of Internet celebrity anchors and investment in related products, while others rely on the absorption of leading users to transform and develop in more vertical directions, each with its own operating direction. However, in her view, innovative attempts are not easy to do, mainly because users do not pay high attention. Therefore, early operation promotion, suitable anchor selection, product setting and other aspects require a lot of investment. In addition, there is no impulse consumption in these vertical areas, so it is often impossible to make as fast money as Internet celebrity live broadcasts.

At present, content differentiation still needs to be explored and tried, and many companies have already taken steps. Previously, Yi Live had the idea of offline KTV, hoping for offline physical applications and online interaction. Yingke, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, and YiLive Broadcast have successively launched B-side transactions, and intensified scene marketing during the live broadcast. Whether it is linkage with e-commerce platforms during the "Double 11" period or cooperation with travel websites and physical companies, live broadcast platforms are trying every means to create new ways to monetize.

In the eyes of industry insiders, the beginning of 2017 is a relatively important time point. Because of this, platforms such as Huya, Momo, Kugou Star Live Broadcast, and CC Live Broadcast are competing to hold annual live broadcast ceremonies, inviting a large number of Internet celebrities and star platforms. This also shows that relatively qualified platforms hope to take this opportunity to promote platform advantages, gain funding and industry approval, and compete for users.

Wang Chuanzhen said that live broadcasts in 2017 have not broken through the ceiling of the show model, but it is difficult for some platforms without traffic entrances to survive. For strong companies, it is the best time to strive for a position. "Take Momo as an example. It is easy to create momentum based on the advantages of strangers 'dating products. The same goes for platform resources backed by Weibo for a live broadcast."

In the next year, the number of live broadcast platforms will not necessarily drop sharply, but elimination rounds are inevitable. Some analysts say that perhaps 90% of the nearly 300 live broadcast platforms will fade out of the market within a year.

Editor: Nancy