Image source @ Visual China
Text | Kasumitsu Society, author | Guo Zhaochuan, Editor | Magi
Since its comeback on February 12, the new account "Bee Surprise Society" composed of the original Weiya "supporting broadcast group" has been live broadcasting for 15 consecutive days. Until last night, the new account still reached 6.5386 million views.
Weiya's old fans know that the connection between this newly opened live broadcast account and the original Weiya live broadcast is simply inextricably linked:
The official subscription number of Via is called "Via Surprise Society", and the fan base of her husband Dong Haifeng is called "Bee". And the five people in the "Bee Surprise Society" are the original Weiya's assistant broadcasters and models, and the supply chain and selection still continue the idea of the original Weiya live broadcast room.
The successful launch of the "Bee Surprise Society" means that since the suspension of broadcasting due to tax evasion in December last year, The Via Live Streaming Cargo Team has "come back to life".
Although unlike public opinion speculation, Wei Ya herself did not appear in front of the camera again, the success of her broadcasting team tested the water, indicating that the "depersonalization" characteristics of live broadcasting will become more and more distinct in the future.
The characteristics of relying on personal charm to carry goods and drainage may gradually weaken in the future, and the supply chain, selection, business of live broadcasting companies... Like a precision-run machine, it supports the live broadcast room to be lively again.
After Via, perhaps no live broadcast room can be the only one, and more and more live broadcast rooms will carry the shadow of the original live broadcast with goods.
Image source: Screenshot of Taobao live broadcast page
01 What is the origin of the "Bee Surprise Society"
Among the six members of the "Bee Family", Hao hao, Kaizi and Facai had previously done the assistant broadcast of Wei Ya's live broadcast room, and two of the three girls, Xiao Han and Duo Duo, had been models in Wei Ya's live broadcast room.
On the social media account of the Bee Surprise Society, the title of the first live trailer list was tagged with the "We are back with the joy of live broadcasting". Anchor Hao Hao's testimonial is more straightforward: "These two days have returned to the previous rhythm of life."
Source: Bee Surprise Society Little Red Book account
Although they called themselves "a small team that worked hard to start a business" in the live broadcast, there was undoubtedly a shadow of the former Via team behind them. After the start of the broadcast, fans have played "You are back" to brush the screen, indicating that everyone knows the association of this new account with Via.
Not long ago, there were rumors that "Via may return as soon as March this year". According to reports, Weiya's original Taobao account will be restored, and the name and number of fans will not change. As soon as the news came out, it was strongly opposed by public opinion.
Compared with Via's own comeback, fans' attitude towards the "Bee Family" is relatively tolerant:
"She did something wrong and accepted the punishment herself, and the employees can't work anymore?"
"It's just a hit worker, isn't it still broadcasting the same thing by changing the name of the company?"
Since the new team began broadcasting on February 12, the live data has also been quite eye-catching – 900,000 people have poured into the live room within a few hours of the broadcast. The new team's first live broadcast garnered a cumulative 1.186 million views, and then climbed all the way up, surpassing 10 million on the fifth day. After February 20, the data can still remain around 5 million to 7 million, which has surpassed the average traditional belt anchor.
The trailer about the live broadcast of the "Bee Surprise Society" with goods, just like the previous first-line anchor trailer, has attracted much attention from consumers.
The same strategy was used by the Sydney team.
After witnessing the resurgence of the "Bee Family", the Sydney team has also "awakened".
On February 16, four days after the launch of the "Bee Surprise Society", the live broadcast room of the original Sydney Light And Light was broadcast. The first live broadcast received 1.866 million views, and then climbed to a maximum of 4.975 million views.
Soon after, "Light is coming" was renamed "Shiitake Mushroom Coming", which made many live broadcast room regulars feel that this is "learning from the Weiya team". The name of "Bee Surprise Society" comes from Wei Ya's husband Dong Haifeng, and Sydney's husband is nicknamed "Aunt" by everyone, and the so-called "shiitake mushroom" and "bee" are actually from the same routine.
However, in contrast, Sydney's side of the test is more "bold", Sydney's husband once directly appeared on his own, while Via and the company are more cautious, everyone is more familiar with the assistant broadcastEr did not appear, the current choice of anchors are not directly related to their own family.
Some people take the current Taobao live broadcast trailer list to reveal the current situation of Taobao head anchors:
Li Jiaqi's live broadcast is unique; followed by "Shiitake Is Coming" carries the shadow of the former Sydney team; and the "Bee Surprise Club" carries the imprint of the former Via team. Half a day of going around, the head anchor Jiangshan is still controlled by the same group of people.
Source: @ A fat ah
No wonder many viewers speculated that the original head anchor was retreating behind the scenes to "listen to the government". Relying on the old team to continue the business of carrying goods is the real trend and effective strategy in the field of live streaming.
02 Why can the fallen head anchor "die but not stiff"?
A team that used to be able to sell rockets live will most likely not be devastated by the fall of someone.
At the end of last year, when Sydney and Via stopped broadcasting due to tax problems, everyone almost only paid attention to their personal and live conditions in the live broadcast room. But in fact, whether it is Via or Sydney, or even the head anchor of any platform with the ability to carry goods, there is a precision-operated company machine behind it.
Sydney also sent severance letters to many employees and carried out a "clearance sale" in a park in Hangzhou. Via's team was never actually disbanded. After Via stopped airing in December last year, she only gave the live broadcast team a week off, and then began to work for other anchors.
At the beginning, Via's company revealed the characteristics of a small family-run workshop. Via's husband and brother both hold important positions in the company. Her younger brother Huang Tao, the temporary head of the selection team from childhood, has been the CEO of the company, and Wei Ya's original right-hand man, Bo Qi'er, is her sister-in-law.
However, with the expansion of the company, Qianxun (the company behind Wei Ya) has also achieved the transformation from a small family-style workshop to a large Internet company. The company introduced the flower name system of Internet companies, such as Wei Ya's younger brother Huang Tao, and the more widely known name is actually his flower name "Ollie".
Before the tax problem broke out, the work intensity of Hangzhou Qianxun employees was no less than that of any Internet company. Leaving work after 10 o'clock every night is the norm, the business department is a weekly single rest system, and the implementation of "big and small weeks" for financial and administrative employees is already relatively relaxed. In addition to the anchors, assistant broadcasters and models in front of the camera, there are various support departments such as the Investment Promotion And Selection Department in the company. In the heyday of Weiya Company, there were more than 40 investment teams alone, and the selection work was subdivided into more than a dozen vertical field lines, which were completed by more than 300 people.
Humble looking for the building, source: Daily Economic News
To put it bluntly, the reason why Wei Ya can become a "live streaming sister with goods" is not only because of her own fan appeal, but she can get a lower discount on goods by virtue of intensive advantages such as supply chain and quality control. Her team even mentioned in an earlier interview that "charisma is last."
Even if "there is no Via", as long as you can get the same discount from the merchants with goods, practice has proved that you can indeed circle some fans who simply pay attention to the cost performance of the goods. The popularity of "Bee Surprise Society" proves this, as a new account with no fan base, it exploded immediately, which is closely related to the company's operational accumulation over the past six years.
From the perspective of social values, it seems that the live streaming led by The Via team should not be promoted. Whether in front of the stage or behind the scenes, public figures with moral flaws such as "tax evasion" should not be acquiesced to "muffled wealth" again. But from another point of view, Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi are just the first people to eat crabs in the live streaming business model.
Their team has figured out the internal logic of algorithms, traffic, supply chains, selection, words, and pricing, and made them more and more professional. Although there were many problems in the industry due to the lack of supervision and other factors in the early stage, as the development of the entire track matured, the industry dividend will also be more even.
03 It is still early to turn off the live stream with goods
Li Jiaqi once admitted in an interview: "Next year is the peak state of the entire industry", and then the peak has passed. However, "after the peak period of the industry", it does not mean that the live broadcast with goods is extinguished.
In fact, the competition for the entire live streaming track is even more fierce. From the perspective of live streaming platforms, not only e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, but also short video platforms are interested in e-commerce live broadcasting and second-hand trading platform live streaming with goods without the meaning of "turning off".
The considerable size of the user also proves this. According to the 48th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network, as of June 2021, the number of users of mainland e-commerce live broadcasting has reached 384 million, an increase of 75.24 million year-on-year, accounting for 38.0% of the total number of Internet users, and this number continues to rise. In other words, consumer demand and interest in live streaming is actually not low.
From the perspective of anchors with goods, although the industry has become more and more standardized, the profits of live broadcasting are still considerable. The commission of the head anchor's food department store products is basically more than 10%, and the commission for beauty strips can reach 5% to 8%. But the difference is that ultra-high profits and bargaining power are no longer only gathered in the hands of head anchors. Some insiders said that "Taobao will no longer support new head anchors."
Since January this year, Taobao has issued a series of regulations to strengthen the support and traffic tilt of mid-waist anchors, and more anchors will receive live streaming dividends. From the previous head live broadcast with goods anchors "one big" or "several big" situation, it has changed. Coupled with the popularity of the self-broadcast live broadcast of the commodity brand, it will be difficult to reproduce the super high commission and the dilemma of selection, and the market will enter a stage of healthy competition.
At the same time, the live streaming track will become more professional. This means that the hosts who lack a complete team plan and the product category will be rapidly iterated. The dividends that can be obtained by "anyone can live stream with goods" and "celebrities with goods part-time" will be very limited.
Take Yu Minhong, who was recently exposed to "losing the live broadcast room", as an example.
New Oriental Yu Minhong's live broadcast room after transformation
On December 28 last year, New Oriental announced the establishment of "Oriental Selection" to enter the live streaming with goods. After the live broadcast of New Oriental's transformation, the sales of the two months were only 4.5 million yuan, and the average single sales were only 170,000 yuan. Compared with Luo Yonghao's live broadcast sales of hundreds of millions of yuan in one night, the data of New Oriental's transformation is indeed not good.
Is the failure of the "Oriental Selection" live broadcast because of Yu Minhong's personal appeal, which is not as good as a few small assistants and models of Wei Ya and Sydney?
Purely from the perspective of anchor quality, New Oriental anchors with goods do lack the professionalism that Wei Ya and Sydney help broadcasters have long cultivated, not to mention professional selection and matching experience and supply chain cooperation.
Dongfang selects the live broadcast anchor with goods, which is the former teacher of New Oriental through internal recruitment screening. Although the teachers of New Oriental are indeed very "able to speak the Tao", but the adjustment of the classroom atmosphere does not mean that there is also a set of introduction products, many netizens have said that "after watching the live broadcast, it does not feel very interesting."
In fact, even a few anchors from Weiya's team in the "Bee Surprise Society" today are inevitably criticized by netizens: "You sentence me, a group of people explain too chaotic" "The professionalism of commodity explanation is not as good as Weiya", etc., not to mention the non-professional anchors who are halfway out of the house.
In addition, although the "Bee Surprise Society" has a considerable number of views of more than 10 million, it is still less than one-tenth of the audience that Via has earlier with more than 90 million viewers. Although the live streaming track is still early to turn off, even if it has the team base of the former head anchor, it is more difficult to enhance the influence of your own live broadcast room.