Exclusive interview | Fan Yibai, founder of Platinum Culture: how to build the "nucleus" of fan economy from 0 to 1?

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It is based on the bullish view of the market that Fan Yibai, a former executive of SNH48, participated in the creation of platinum culture in 2016, integrating his production resources to create a large idol boy group X-TIME. At the beginning of its establishment, Fan Yibai imagined that X-TIME would take a different route from other domestic competitors, which could be summed up with several key words: the income model of large male idol team, theater development route, and fan economy. " But for the increasingly competitive domestic idol men.

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only if we can continuously produce excellent music works with high quality and high frequency, can we really seize the fan highland and continue to expand the number of fans. hold on to the hearts of fans for a long time, and this is the core advantage of platinum-rich culture.

"there is a feeling that the child took the exam for the first time and came to me with the report card after the exam." It cannot be said to be completely satisfied, but hard training is valuable. " As the "big parent" of the platinum culture of X-TIME 's company, Fan Yibai's first sigh when he saw the reporter was "I didn't sleep well all night."

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in December 2016, 11 members of X-TIME, a major local male idol group, made their public debut, and then were sent overseas to receive professional artist training." from the moment of its establishment, we thought very clearly that the first hit MV was this song. How does it reflect the positioning of the members and how to combine it with our combined worldview? "

as a former senior executive of SNH48, Fan Yibai told reporters that his plan for X-TIME is to "walk on two legs" through fan economy and artist agents. "in the layout of fan economy, we will get income from C-end through theater mode + grade mode + ranking competition mode. Financially, artists will try to push their members from the theater to a larger stage, and it is possible to get cash through B-end channels such as variety, film and television, and commercial endorsements. "

2016 is recognized by the industry as the first year of the men's team. In this fierce battle of the hundred Regiments, can Fan Yibai and his X-TIME get out of the siege, and how will they play with the fancy freestyle of fan economy? Just listen to him slowly.

"there is no way to cross the men's track without a steamroller."

according to incomplete statistics, since 2016, the men's team market has been raging and is ushering in a "hundred regiment war." dozens of men's groups have entered the battlefield. However, under Fan Yibai's observation, more men's groups are still taking part in the war with the appearance of traditional groups, and the phenomenon of homogenization is serious. On the one hand, the number of team members is relatively fixed, on the other hand, the income is more dependent on the B2B model of the crew, television stations and video websites. Although they play the banner of fan formation, they still follow the old path of traditional artist agents.

"in the form of group groups, there are relatively few models for creating idols, and companies seem to be learning how SNH48 works. But there are many ways to play the men's team, including a three-man group like TFBOYS, a nine-member group of the X9 Youth League, and a platinum-studded X-TIME who takes the route of a large men's team. "

is based on a bullish view of the market. In 2016, as a former SNH48 executive, Fan Yibai participated in the creation of platinum culture and integrated its production resources to create a large idol boy group X-TIME. At the beginning of its establishment, Fan Yibai imagined that X-TIME would take a different route from other domestic competitors, which could be summed up with several key words: large male idol team, theater development route, and fan economy income model.

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in the SNH48 meal circle, Fan Yibai has been affectionately known as" Uncle Bai ". Along the way, he witnessed the dawn of SNH48 from its founding to its idol, successfully "out of the circle" after the first general election, and the emergence of popular TOP such as Ju Yingyi and Li Yitong. It is SNH48's pioneering in the field of new Chinese idols that makes the market really feel the power of fan economy.

"it used to be to carve out a path from where there is no way, but now it is to follow another path according to its success." At the same time, the competitive environment of domestic idol groups has long changed and cannot be compared with SNH48's debut. "SNH48 had no competitors at that time, but now the track is too crowded and it is impossible to get through without a steamroller."

since 2016, with the help of capital, the number of domestic men's troupes has experienced explosive growth, which is known as the "Battle of the hundred Regiments". However, Fan Yibai believes that the "Battle of the hundred Regiments" will not become a protracted war, and the men's team market will enter the reshuffle period in the second half of 2017, and some companies are already slowly breaking away from the "front line". In 2018, different echelons and vertical rankings will gradually form and tend to be stable.

there are three major pain points for men's team operators: high threshold, low content, and difficulty in exposure

at present, apart from TFBOYS, it is still difficult to find another popular style product of men's team in China. Without the early flow dividend that TFBOYS grabbed the market, whether the men's team everywhere should learn from the mature assembly line industrial model of Korean style, or follow the example of the Japanese system to grow up with fans on the road of development has become a choice question in front of us.

in Fan Yibai's view, there are mainly the following pain points in the operation of domestic men's teams:

1. Difficulties in recruiting and selecting members

after the men's team market broke out in 2017, recruitment has become a general consensus in the industry. As the content of the male team is higher than that of the female group, the basic level of its members and the development of performing arts strength are required to be higher. Coupled with the objective social environment, there are far fewer boys than girls who are determined to take the path of acting, so it is difficult to find excellence, which is a common pain point in the men's industry. On this issue, Platinum Culture has established enrollment cooperation with many art colleges and performing arts training institutions in China, and has huge resources for Chinese trainees in South Korea in order to establish a competitive advantage.

II. It is difficult to locate the content

in Fan Yibai's view, the popularity of TFBOYS largely depends on the output of high-quality content. "the songs of" Youth training Handbook "and" the Great dreamer "are loved by fans because they touch the pain point of the market, the spread rate is fast, and the flow is high." However, whether to be a domestic men's team needs more drooling songs, more high-quality works of the Korean men's team, or more domestic originality, the industry is still in the early stages of exploration. "only through content trial and error at a higher frequency can we test the heat and feedback of the market, find out the positioning and main direction of the men's team, and seize the target market." In this regard, Fan Yibai revealed that Platinum Culture has a huge music library through cooperation with IP of CJ eBay M in South Korea, which can support X-TIME to produce excellent different styles of music content with high quality and high frequency.

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III. Lack of mature exposure system and industrial chain

as Japan and South Korea have a set of mature exposure system and industrial chain in idol packaging, production companies can plan the promotion process of idol groups in the early stage. During the publicity period, you only need to conquer the TV station, and there are not many other branches, and many Japanese and Korean men's groups even have their own ensembles before their debut. While the domestic market is too large, in television stations, video websites, subdivision APP and other channels, how to carry out the initial exposure of the men's team, Fan Yibai frankly said is a sweet annoyance: "although there are many channels, but most of them lack tolerance and support for new idol groups, and it is difficult to say which channel is the most effective at this stage." On this point, Fan Yibai said that the advantage of X-TIME is that it will have its own theater, focus on the theater fan economy model, and have its own strong autonomy in exposure and popularity.

how to make the "nucleus" of fan economy from scratch

when he worked at SNH48, Fan Yibai delved into a whole set of idol formation ideas put forward by Qiu Yuankang. In his view, the most successful thing about AKB48's "face-to-face idol" concept in the process of localization is to provide SNH48 with a "nucleus" of fan economy.

"SNH48 learned AKB48's theater mode, team and competition mode, and fan economic carrier represented by student writing on the basis of nucleus. On this basis, the Chinese team has also developed an online system for fan clubs and a chapter-switching system for theater viewing, so it is half learned and half improved. "

when dealing with fan conversion, one of the inherent advantages of SNH48 is that it can directly transplant AKB48's song resources and attract a group of die-hard AKB48 fans to "join the pit" at the beginning of its establishment. In Fan Yibai's view, the biggest difference between operating X-TIME and operating SNH48 is that the nucleus of fan economy has to go through a production process from scratch.

the biggest problem in the early days is how to get the nucleus out. It doesn't necessarily need a large number of fans. It just needs a small reservoir that allows me to import the fan economy game into it. All we do now is to get this basic number of people, which depends on content output, offline activities, and our campus travel. "

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the greatest value of fan economy lies in competition and ranking, allowing members to compete all the time after joining the group. "just like our MV this time, not all the signing members can go to MV, only seven people can do it. Who can be the first batch of unit to be put on the market, and the others are just trainees, which involves competition. In unit, who is the C position is also a competition. "

on the basis of inheriting Japanese cultivation, Platinum Yi also draws lessons from the operational experience of SNH48 in the way of ranking frequency, upgrading and downgrading, and carries out localization improvement at the same time, trying to find a way to develop idols that are more suitable for domestic fans. One of the major moves of Platinum Yi this year is to open up an exclusive theater for X-TIME by the end of the year. On the one hand, theater tickets can bring stable cash flow, on the other hand, it is also a way to hatch the nucleus and lock in the core fan circle.

as the first theater "controller" of SNH48, Fan Yibai has rich experience in theater operation. In his view, the theater is not only a place to nurture the sense of ritual and experience of fans, but also becoming an inseparable carrier of large domestic idol groups.

in the game of fan economy, there is a hierarchical concept among members. The trainees below may not even be able to enter the theatre, but with the support of fans and the efforts of members, a group of people can enter the theatre. Among the members of the theater, some better people will jump out of the theater and into a higher level such as film and television. "

but with regard to the increasingly competitive domestic idol men's group market, Fan Yibai firmly believes that only by continuously producing excellent music works of high quality and high frequency can we really seize the fan highland, continue to expand the number of fans, and firmly grasp the hearts of fans for a long time, and this is the core advantage of platinum-rich culture.

Edit: mary