1/10 of the updates are closed or stopped, and the number of users reaches 325 million: seven trends clearly see the industry turning point

The live broadcast industry is entering another turning point. The layout of major platforms has been completed. Many live broadcast platforms have been valued at hundreds of millions, and the number of online live broadcast users has reached 325 million. To some extent, the live broadcast bonus window has passed.

The hot trend in the live broadcast industry is still continuing. At present, the number of online live broadcast platforms in China has nearly 200. Giant companies such as Baidu, Tencent, Netease, LeTV, Stormwind Technology, Huanju Times, Kunlun Wanwei, Giant Network, Momo and other giants or Internet companies have also entered the market. Live broadcast platforms such as Zanthoxylum, Yingke, and Yi Live Broadcast have promoted the popularization of pan-entertainment live broadcast users, and live broadcast platforms such as Huya, Douyu, Dragon Ball, and Zhanqi have also driven the popularity of e-sports variety shows and game live broadcasts.

But at the same time, front-line vertical areas (life, e-commerce, beauty, etc.) have been occupied by giants 'live broadcast platforms. Entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly anxious and financing is difficult, and capital is beginning to tighten. While the financing quotas of many live broadcast platforms are rising, another piece of news is that some live broadcast platforms have closed down. According to statistics, more than 1/10 of them have been closed or stopped updating. The live broadcast industry is entering another turning point. The layout of major platforms has been completed. Many live broadcast platforms have been valued at hundreds of millions, and the number of online live broadcast users has reached 325 million. To a certain extent, the current live broadcast bonus window has passed. What development trends and opportunities will there be in the future of the live broadcast industry?

Trend 1: Giants reap the value of live broadcasts: Live broadcast platforms that rely on giants 'support have a higher chance of survival

. On the one hand, we have seen that a large number of domestic C-terminal live broadcast platforms currently use entertainment Internet celebrities and celebrity live broadcast content to divert traffic, resulting in the homogenization of various platforms. Obviously, the empty and boring Internet celebrity live broadcasts that sell face value have also led to user fatigue to a certain extent. When the live broadcast platforms gradually homogenize and compete, the risks of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the live broadcast industry that lack characteristics, capital, and access support will increase day by day.

Therefore, people are more concerned about whether BAT's future capital acquisitions and support will strongly change the live broadcast landscape. However, from the current point of view, the traffic and entrances of the live broadcast industry do not directly correspond to BAT's entrances, users, and traffic advantages. BAT does not have an absolute traffic advantage in the live broadcast field. Although the front-line vertical field has been occupied by giant live broadcast platforms, there are still opportunities for entrepreneurs.

The general trend is that the live broadcast industry may eventually be affected by the chess game of several giant Internet companies, just like the group buying and video fields. When the video website war started, the few remaining companies were acquired by the giants or survived with the support of blood transfusion of funds and traffic under the giant platform. Because once the capital chain breaks, the capital changes its face, and it will become increasingly difficult to survive. Currently, the live broadcast platform 10% has closed down, but greater shocks are probably ahead. In the future, there will inevitably be several live broadcast platforms with outstanding advantages in core areas such as pan-entertainment and social networking, games, and beauty e-commerce. These live broadcast platforms with outstanding advantages are likely to be acquired or incorporated by BAT. Therefore, if you can obtain giants. Capital blood transfusion and flow support will often have a greater chance of survival.

Trend 2: Live broadcast platforms have moved from competing for Internet celebrities to competing for star resources

. As mentioned above, the number of online live broadcast platforms in my country is currently close to 200, but many live broadcast platforms are conducting live broadcasts of Internet celebrity shows, resulting in the current industry showing a homogeneous competition pattern. Therefore, the continued popularity of live broadcasts in the future depends on the industry's development of "pan-entertainment" content. In order to attract traffic, some live broadcast platforms have begun to attract stars to conduct live broadcasts every now and then. Popular stars such as Wang Junkai, Fan Bingbing, Wang Baoqiang, Liu Tao, Jiang Xin, Wang Kai, Zhou Bichang, and Coco Lee have all joined the live broadcast tide. This means that Live broadcast products have quickly entered the upgrade stage of entertainment marketing, and the development of pan-entertainment content will inevitably require bundling more star resources to promote the growth of their own traffic and users, as well as the brand upgrade of the platform.

From the scale and frequency of live broadcasts of major stars, we can know that fans can bring far greater benefits to stars and even the brands behind them, and stars can bring greater user activity to the live broadcast platform. This is currently a brand level that ordinary Internet celebrities cannot reach. Star + fan economy + live broadcast platform is likely to spawn a new integrated marketing method. That is, how to operate emotional communication with fans through content setting that can be purchased value, so that fan groups can continuously participate and invest in emotional consumption, the popularity effect and frequency of irrational consumption superimposed by the live broadcast platform and star combination are also Very suitable for the needs of brand owners.

Therefore, the future trend of live streaming will shift from competing for Internet celebrity resources to competing for star resources. This is a necessary path for live streaming platforms to nurture fan economies and bring new emotional consumption and business models. In the future, more and more brands may be more willing to try the brand exposure opportunities and commercial monetization models brought by this kind of live streaming interaction.

Trend 3: The transition from pan-entertainment celebrity Internet celebrities to professional secondary vertical segments has not yet been fully developed

. Currently, pan-entertainment live broadcasts are still the current mainstream. Data shows that pan-entertainment live broadcasts have accounted for 44% of the market structure, which shows that the capital market has good expectations for the pan-entertainment field. But on the other hand, the front-line vertical field has been occupied by giant live broadcast platforms, and regulatory authorities will begin to strictly review live broadcast content. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued a "certificate to work" notice. In addition to some live broadcast platforms such as YY, Yingke, and Huya, most live broadcast platforms have not received licenses. Therefore, the license threshold will also eliminate many small players. The live broadcast industry will soon usher in a hierarchical screening stage, and naked swimmers will also emerge.

At the same time, due to its single and boring live broadcast content attributes, it cannot constitute the core competitiveness of the platform. The general trend of live broadcast platforms in the future is to shift from pan-entertainment live broadcast to connotation live broadcast. Currently, some video live broadcast platforms have targeted finance, parenting, fashion, sports, food and other vertical fields. The differentiation and verticalization of content can bring new business models to the live broadcast platform, and the platform can also use high-quality live broadcast content. Generate profit models such as payment, membership, rewards, and live shopping.

Because of the current lack of truly valuable live broadcasts, most live broadcast platforms have problems on the content supply side. To improve the stickiness between themselves and their fans, Internet celebrities obviously need differentiated content. Judging from the current development laws of European and American Internet celebrities and live broadcast content, healthier, more valuable and connotation live content has become one of the future development trends.

In some vertical secondary market segments that have not yet been fully developed, live broadcasts in vertical fields such as finance, education, health, music, and tourism will have more prospects. In addition, there are opportunities for live streaming to integrate with more industries. Entrepreneurs or companies should strive for opportunities to integrate into other Internet platforms and integrate with cross-border fields based on various "live streaming +X" explorations.

Trend 4: Mass production of Internet celebrities by Internet celebrity incubators will become more and more professional

. As more and more live broadcast platforms, the live broadcast industry has penetrated into vertical fields and connotative professional fields, which has led to a very large demand for professional and characteristic Internet celebrities.

This brings opportunities to Internet celebrity incubators. Due to its professional operating capabilities in aspects such as Internet celebrity packaging, dissemination, and monetization, the Internet celebrity incubator must have multiple roles such as "broker + agent operation + supply chain + Internet celebrity scout" in the future to gather and bind professional Internet celebrities. Transformation from providing professional services and becoming expert, specialized, and personalized Internet celebrity trainers and discoverers in vertical fields. With the help of an excellent team in user insight, Internet celebrity operations, and e-commerce management, It is necessary to open up fan marketing and e-commerce operations, and effectively link and integrate Internet celebrities, fans, platforms, content, brands, and supply chains.

On the other hand, the Internet celebrity incubator also needs to use packaging training and other measures to incubate and train various personalized Internet celebrities and talents with the potential to become Internet celebrities to achieve the ability to mass produce personalized small and medium-level Internet celebrities, and then create Professional capabilities and the ability to connect with e-commerce and brand owners.

Trend 5: The rise of C-end live broadcasts has driven the demand for professional business live broadcasts.

Previous analysis points out that the current C-end live broadcast platform capital chain is tight. As small players gradually exit, C-end pan-entertainment live broadcasts have obviously reached the harvest period. For enterprises, the popularity of live broadcasts inevitably requires thinking about how to market for corporate needs, and the market potential cannot be underestimated. This will drive the development of live broadcast service providers.

Such live broadcast service providers include companies directly related to the live broadcast platform, companies with the ability to provide live video content, and merchants that provide technical services and marketing for the live broadcast platform. These include cloud service vendors such as LeECloud, Alibaba Cloud, and Jinshan Cloud, as well as vendors of high-definition video live broadcast solutions such as Le Live Broadcast and vendors of mobile media marketing services. For example, LeEco has recently released LeECloud, which focuses on its VaaS products to help enterprises lower infrastructure thresholds, improve the quality of network transmission services, and provide CDN services to Panda TV, Fast Hand, Pea Pod and other enterprises. Le Live Broadcast adopts video transmission technology and multiple transmission channel transmission technology to ensure the stability of corporate live broadcasts and solve problems such as video jams, dropped calls, user interaction, and marketing during the live broadcast process of various enterprises.

At present, various enterprises have strong demand for live broadcasts in business conferences, salons, symposiums, lectures, channel conferences, education and training, etc. Driven by the demand of enterprises for mobile video live broadcasts, they have begun to seek low-cost and rapid construction of their own high-definition video live broadcast platform model, and enterprises need professional technical capabilities to build video live broadcast platforms to respond to this demand.

In this field, Mobile Live Video Broadcasting service Shangle's live broadcast model relies on its unique advantages such as video encoding, compression and streaming estimation methods, as well as its unique high-parallel access processing mechanism to tailor live broadcast rooms for enterprises. It also provides third parties with one-stop live broadcast solutions such as technical video live broadcast services and precision marketing. Users can directly watch corporate live broadcasts and participate in interactions through WeChat, allowing live broadcasts to break through the limitations of space venues. To some extent, it also represents the development direction of an access of the live broadcast industry chain.

Trend 6: Solving live broadcast user experience and new media marketing Mobile Live Video Broadcasting service providers will usher in new opportunities

Therefore, most of the time live broadcast platforms that demand entertainment C-end rely on appearance to be cute, tell stories, ask for money, or sing and eat, etc. When this direction is gradually becoming tired. From the previous analysis, we can see that a major live broadcast direction in the future is to meet the business needs of enterprises, which will also bring new opportunities to the Mobile Live Video Broadcasting service providers behind the live broadcast.

However, corporate business needs have high requirements for live broadcast experience and new media marketing. When the user level increases, various problems such as jams, delays, and dropped calls will arise, which will greatly affect corporate distribution and marketing. Live broadcast effect. Therefore, many live broadcast service providers have begun to use open platform cloud technology and SDK or API methods to help enterprises provide live broadcast marketing services, and optimize live broadcast stuck problems through CDN bearer.

Currently, platforms that provide such services include LeECloud, LeLive, etc. For example, the mode of Le Live Broadcast is to shoot live, decode, compress and upload it to the Cloud Virtual Machine, and target effective customers through multi-terminal distribution. It is worth mentioning that Le Live Broadcast's live broadcast box can connect the camera and the director station without requiring a network cable, and uses a unique push algorithm to ensure that outdoor live broadcasts will not get stuck. In this way, the limitations of live broadcast venues and space will be exceeded.

As the trend of live streaming evolves, such vendors that provide Mobile Live Video Broadcasting services and mobile new media marketing services are becoming increasingly indispensable to enterprises. These service providers who stand in the technical marketing link behind the live broadcast industry chain have also gained their own development opportunities.

Therefore, the inevitable trend is that the live broadcast industry has entered the live broadcast + era where all walks of life can participate in and live broadcast is used as an enterprise service tool. Playing live broadcast + can derive from technology, marketing, services, and content. More live broadcast services are profitable. For the Mobile Live Video Broadcasting service providers behind the live broadcast experience, new opportunities will also emerge.

Trend 7: Live streaming or becoming a standard feature for enterprises may bring more conversion rates to enterprises

. When live video streaming becomes a future marketing position for enterprises, it may therefore become a standard feature for enterprise marketing. In the past, corporate business marketing activities could only cover offline live audiences. However, if WeChat and APP are used for multi-channel online live broadcasts, the coverage of target audiences and potential customer groups will be greatly expanded and brought higher conversion rates.

At present, Le Live Broadcast, a service provider in the field of positioning business live broadcasting, has developed a WeChat video live broadcast function. Supported by SaaS and PaaS system platforms, a live broadcast system based on the WeChat ecosystem has been built to integrate live broadcasts into Weixin Official Accounts, web pages or APP. Users can watch live broadcasts on WeChat without downloading apps or other plug-ins. This is equivalent to getting rid of third-party platforms, establishing your own exclusive WeChat live broadcast room, and enabling simultaneous live broadcast of multiple WeChat public accounts, and the live broadcast effect can be quickly amplified and spread.

It can be seen from this that with the gradual iteration of technology and genetic evolution, commercial live broadcasts will gradually possess media attributes and provide commercial equipment solutions. With the help of live broadcast industry chain service providers, we can realize the commercialization, entertainment and interactive operation of live broadcasts according to the needs of scenarios and audiences, bringing greater marketing effects and conversion rates to enterprises.

When live broadcasts become popular, people should pay attention to not only how long the industry can be popular, whether its business model is mature, and whether it still has opportunities with the advent of the shuffle node and the coverage of giants. Entrepreneurs and enterprises should find them. Opportunities and grafting in cross-border fields. It is not only a monetization tool for content and traffic, but also a change in marketing and business concepts. Not long ago, Ma Huateng suggested to young entrepreneurs that Attention should be paid to the cross-border part of the two industries, because the use of new technologies in the cross-border part of the two industries is often the most likely to create innovation opportunities.

If corporate marketing can cut in from vertical segments and use live broadcast technology and trends for its own use, it can often gain new opportunities. Although any prediction based on industry trends means uncertainty, we can seize the uncertainty. Only then can we finally seize the opportunities of corporate transformation and business and marketing model innovation under a new round of enthusiasm, and usher in our own era.

Editor: yvonne