Via Sydney disappeared, and people gradually understood that relying on traffic was not a long-term solution

Before the anchor Sydney faded from public view, the reporter interviewed her.

She began to broadcast live in August 2019, with more than 10 million viewers and more than 30 million fans per night, ranking third in the whole network in terms of cargo volume. The process of communication and interview between the reporter and Sydney was very smooth, but her brokerage team deliberately changed the wording in the report and changed the "internet celebrity" to "red person". Sydney summed up herself as an "entrepreneur dressed as a red man." The reporter speculated that Sydney at that time probably wanted to accelerate the transformation of her personal image, tear off the label of "internet celebrity", and become an "entrepreneur". The difference between the two is that "internet celebrities" rely on traffic to attract money, while "entrepreneurs" rely on independent brands and high-quality products. Later, however, the story didn't go well. The transformation has not yet been realized, Sydney was fined a huge amount of money for tax evasion, and the live broadcast business was interrupted. After Sydney, the "queen of goods" Via also "removed" for similar reasons.

In fact, changes have already happened quietly, and the relationship between live broadcasting and traffic is constantly changing. The reporter has been paying attention to the live broadcast, contacting many people who have fluctuated with the industry, behind the glitz, you may be able to see different development paths.

At first, people going to the live room was a life-saving straw. Under the epidemic, offline business has been suspended, and live broadcasting has become a common choice, and people are pursuing live broadcasting and more sought after traffic. On Valentine's Day in 2020, Sun Laichun, the founder of domestic skin care product Lin Qingxuan, was broadcast live for the first time, when his 337 offline stores had been "frozen" for more than half a month. The money on Sun Laichun's books is only enough to live for 67 days. But that live broadcast, Sun Laichun got more than 60,000 views, sales of more than 400,000 yuan. The company began to broadcast live to all staff, opening more than 2,000 live broadcast rooms. Half a month later, the company's e-commerce sales performance increased by 5 times, and the overall performance increased by 45% over the same period last year. The brand came alive.

Myths of wealth-making are constantly emerging, and almost no one questions the power of traffic. More and more entrants have appeared, celebrities with their own traffic, tea workers, wholesale market stalls, chefs in restaurants, everyone wants to share a piece of the huge traffic pool.

The market seems to have reached a consensus that traffic is equal to wealth. The reporter has been to Yiwu North Zhu, the business of live training has blossomed everywhere, the cost is from 1680 yuan to 20000 yuan, the trainer's reasoning and skills are crazy, and they are teaching people how to attract traffic. The reporter also went to Hangzhou Jiubao, where Wei Ya started, within a radius of 3 kilometers, there are about 600 Internet celebrity incubation and marketing platforms, more than 10,000 e-commerce anchors, hundreds of brand agents and supply chain companies, all of which want to be closer to the traffic center.

In the past two years, there have also been many changes in live broadcasting. For example, the rise of "village broadcasting", the anchor is a farmer, selling agricultural and sideline products, and the live broadcast room is mostly located in the field; for example, the "foreign anchor" appears in the live broadcast room, the anchor is a foreigner, selling export products, and the live broadcast is for overseas users. However, although the traffic tilt of the live broadcast platform was obtained, no new Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi were born. The traffic law seems to be invalid.

At the same time, live data injection methods such as "brushing traffic" have long been exposed, and people have gradually realized that the high traffic between live broadcasts may be just a false prosperity. Many merchants complained bitterly, and traffic and sales were not proportional. After the cooperative anchors charge high pit fees, the amount of goods brought is pitifully small, and the price of goods on the live broadcast is pressed to the "lowest in the whole network", and the live broadcast is only "losing money and making money". Many people have concluded that excessive praise of live broadcasting will hurt the development of the real economy.

In the huge controversy, people gradually understand that relying on traffic is not a long-term solution, or to return to the real industry and do business in a down-to-earth manner. They began to cultivate their own anchors, build a brand live broadcast room, the anchor itself does not bring traffic, only earn a hard money, live broadcast room 24 hours a day, take the basic salary and the proportion of low commission. The brand returned to rationality, and live broadcasting gradually became normalized, existing only as a new sales channel.

Back to Sydney. Later, the reporter tried to contact Sydney's brokerage team several times, but there was no response. I heard that the clothing brand she founded was being sold at ultra-low prices. It seems to be declining, however, several industry insiders revealed to reporters that clearance may only be a routine promotion at the end of the year, and the core competitiveness of Sydney Company is not her traffic, but huge supply chain resources. It seems that this time, Sydney has to rely on products and brands to return to the market.

Standing at the beginning of 2022, everyone once again reflected, what is the long-term way for the development of the live broadcasting industry? The jury is still out, but the answer must not be traffic.