120 platforms compete for the live broadcast market The war of burning money leads to the inability to make ends meet

With the intensification of capital, the classification of major live broadcast platforms has become clearer, gradually showing a competitive pattern with detailed positioning. Currently, live broadcast platforms on the market can be roughly divided into four categories, namely game live broadcast, sports live broadcast, financial live broadcast and pan-entertainment live broadcast. According to industry sources,"As far as well-known game anchors are concerned, the annual consumption of introduced users can reach 10 million yuan, not to mention those professional e-sports players, and there are not many well-done entertainment anchors who achieve a performance of one million yuan." Excluding the revenue ratio of third parties, based on the industry's higher distribution rate of 60%, every ten anchors with million-dollar revenue can bring at least nearly 4 million yuan in revenue to the platform.

Original title: Per capita active users consume thousands of entertainment live broadcasts and become potential stocks.

In the first half of this year, almost all e-commerce, social, video apps, etc. started live broadcasts. Lei Jun, Ma Huateng, Wang Sicong and others also got involved, including Sina, Ali and many other major Internet companies have also started online live broadcasts. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 120 live broadcast platforms on the market. How big a profitable market is hidden behind live broadcasts? How can major live broadcast platforms win?

Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the main live broadcast platforms on the 12 major

platforms

Capital craze led to four types of live broadcast platforms

At the beginning of 2015, Huanju Times invested 700 million yuan in Tiger Ya Live Broadcast; in November of the same year, Tencent, Nanshan Capital, and Sequoia invested a total of US$100 million in Douyu Live Broadcast; Station B received more than 200 million yuan in Series D financing; In March this year, Yi Live Broadcast received 60 million yuan in Series A financing... At the beginning of 2016, many listed companies, including traditional industries, have not stopped investing in the field of live broadcasting. Recently, the production companies of Mipai and Xiaokaixiu have joined forces with technology. Traffic giant Weibo has launched "One Live Broadcast". Sina has entered the live broadcast field, competing with major Internet companies such as Tencent and Ali who have previously invested in live broadcast platforms to benefit live broadcasts. As of now, listed companies with their own live broadcast platforms include Baidu, Netease, Tencent, LeTV, Storm Technology, Huanju Times, Songcheng Performing Arts, Giant Network, Momo, etc. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 120 live broadcast platforms on the market.

With the intensification of capital, the classification of major live broadcast platforms has become clearer, gradually showing a competitive pattern with detailed positioning. Currently, live broadcast platforms on the market can be roughly divided into four categories, namely game live broadcast, sports live broadcast, financial live broadcast and pan-entertainment live broadcast. Game live broadcasts include Douyu Live Broadcast, Tiger Tooth Live Broadcast, Dragon Ball Live Broadcast, etc., sports live broadcasts include Octopus Live Broadcast, LeSports and other platforms, financial live broadcasts include Zhiniu Finance, Aniu Live Broadcast, etc., pan-entertainment live broadcasts include YY Live Broadcast, Liujianfang, Yingke and other dozens of live broadcast platforms.

Xu Kuiying, brand director of YY Entertainment Market, believes: "Game live broadcasts have a large amount of revenue, but there are very limited popular products with strong viewing qualities. The market is currently becoming saturated and limited by the resources of game manufacturers and game anchors. Therefore, this year, new investors entering the live broadcast industry The number of investors touching this area has been significantly reduced. Relatively speaking, pan-entertainment live broadcasts have a wide audience. Whether it is the realization of the fan economy or the integration with traditional cultural industries, they have strong malleability and are currently the most potential live broadcast field."

The investment craze driven by well-known anchors in live broadcast platforms with annual consumption of tens of millions of yuan

is first based on the investment environment. As investment in online fields such as e-commerce and games gradually declines, the live broadcast field, as a new type of depression that has yet to be reclaimed, has also attracted Capital competes for layout. Most importantly, as a new type of interactive method, live broadcast has attracted a large number of users, and the live broadcast market has shown unprecedented commercial potential.

According to industry sources,"As far as well-known game anchors are concerned, the annual consumption of introduced users can reach 10 million yuan, not to mention those professional e-sports players, and there are not many well-done entertainment anchors who achieve a performance of one million yuan." Excluding the revenue ratio of third parties, based on the industry's higher distribution rate of 60%, every ten anchors with million-dollar revenue can bring at least nearly 4 million yuan in revenue to the platform.

According to a reporter's survey, the proportion of users on large live broadcast platforms paying for live content has steadily increased in recent years, and some users have formed stable consumption habits. Data shows that the per capita consumption of active users on e-sports live broadcast platforms has reached thousands. Taking the YY live broadcast platform as an example, the ratio of viewing and consuming users is about 8:2. The reward given by registered users varies from a few yuan to tens of thousands of yuan based on their own consumption level. This current situation and trend are verifying the huge potential of this industry.

"Traditional video viewing is version 1.0, bullet screen video viewing is version 2.0, and live viewing is version 3.0." Xu Kuiying said,"Live broadcasting has created a new type of interaction. Not only can users interact, but users 'behaviors can sometimes directly affect the anchor's behavior and indirectly participate in the creation of live content, so they are deeply loved." On talk show live platforms, anchors often communicate with users in real time, sometimes playing games and discussing topics such as food together.

The war to burn money has led

to the inability to make ends meet. Although the live broadcast platform seems to have a good future driven by capital, according to industry insiders, there are currently very few live broadcast platforms that are truly profitable. This is not only because a large amount of profit space has not yet been developed, but also because of the operating costs behind it.

First of all, the platform needs to pay a signing fee for the anchor. Data shows that Douyu Live Broadcast recruits 6 people from Tiger Ya Live Broadcast a month, with a total cost of more than 60 million yuan. If the video-on-demand platform intends to enter the game live broadcast business, a budget of tens of millions must be considered before signing up with well-known anchors. Secondly, there is bandwidth cost. Take Huya Live Broadcast as an example. Its investor Huanju Times's fourth quarter 2015 financial report showed that Huya Live Broadcast's monthly bandwidth expenditure exceeded 50 million yuan. The cost of operation and promotion is even more important. In order to win the live broadcast rights of e-sports events, Douyu teamed up with NICETV to hold the IGL League, Battle Flag signed with the five major LOL division leagues, and Panda TV won the hosting rights of the 2016 League of Legends Professional League (LPL)... Signing the exclusive event content requires a large amount of copyright fees, and the operation and promotion expenses of the event itself are an expense. Just wanting to maintain the same level of competition with its peers requires a considerable amount of money.

In live broadcast platforms where entertainment, e-sports, talk shows and other content have almost become "standard", when coquettishly asking for gifts, bullet screen interactions, live meals, etc. can no longer satisfy the user's aesthetics, how to innovate in content and achieve high allocation is The only channel to break through the shortcomings.

From competition between platforms to difficulties in the anchor industry, YY anchor Cod Xiong said: "The industry is under great competition pressure. While accompanying everyone every day, we have to maintain a sense of freshness. Whether it is external or internal, we need to think of ways and ways. Change things. Like when I do talk shows, I occasionally tell some news or radio stories to keep it fresh." Some industry insiders bluntly said,"In the future, there will be more than 100 online video live broadcast platforms, only 10 will survive."

With

fierce competition, many platforms have launched star live streaming projects. AngelaBaby broadcasts games live, Zhang Yixing broadcasts the entire makeup process, Fan Bingbing broadcasts the entire Paris Fashion Week process, Jiang Jinfu broadcasts the park running, Liu Tao pulls Wang Kai and Jiang Xin broadcasts the promotional TV series... Xu Kuiying believes: "Star live broadcasts are not the norm. If the live broadcast platform cannot be established, it is likely that a large number of users will be lost due to the unsustainable nature of the content, causing the platform to collapse."

The difficulty of content innovation has caused many anchors to take risks and gain attention. The large-scale scale live broadcast platforms are now facing strict regulations from the government. Such vicious incidents have left indelible scars on the live broadcast industry.

In addition to policy supervision, maliciously raising prices and "running horses" are also a microcosm of industry competition. Relying on advertising and value-added services of anchors to achieve revenue, the profit model is very single. How to occupy stable traffic in the market and how to realize considerable traffic to form a sustainable business model will become the key to accelerating the industry's reshuffle.

"This kind of competition is very irrational, and the investment cost is too high, causing the entire industry to fall into a strange circle. First, burn money to sign anchors to attract users, and then push up traffic to attract financing." An industry insider complained.

Wei Pengju, dean of the Institute of Culture and Economics at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said: "The live broadcast industry still has a long way to go. Only by strengthening supervision can industry innovation be stimulated, and only by expanding the scale of paying users can large-scale profits be achieved. In fact, professional focus live broadcasts are a good choice. For example, NBA basketball sports broadcasts can target specific groups to maximize user consumption. After increasing a certain amount of platform traffic, profit methods such as advertising placement, in-depth development, and extending the sales chain will come naturally."

Editor: Nancy