Sun Yang and the studio's Weibo did not have swimming and training related content, and instead, posters about live streaming with goods were replaced. At eleven o'clock one night, Sun Yang wore a blue and white color-block coat and introduced cosmetics to fans in front of the camera, and the counter behind him was turned off and empty. Some netizens posted: "Good heartache, Sun Yang is actually still live streaming goods at this point, and always feels that he should be in the pool and on the podium, not in the dark shopping mall." ”
Text | Xie Chan Lu Yan
Edit | Zhou Wei
Operational | Tian Bao
"Kidnapping Live"
At the moment of live broadcasting, it is not easy to break through the siege, even if this person is the former Olympic champion Sun Yang.
The sports brother is already in the past tense, and now his identity is anchor Sun Yang. Since the first live broadcast on January 14 this year, Sun Yang's anchor career has been close to two months, a total of about 29 broadcasts, at most, even 3 times a day, but the real attention of ordinary people, only the evening of February 28.
It was a controversial live broadcast and also very performative. "The number of people to 3w, take off the sunglasses." "The number of people is 5w, laugh." "Number of people to 8w, keep smiling." "The number of people to 10w before speaking"... The white cardboard in front of Sun Yang was constantly changing, he himself really did not speak, at first he looked down and smiled, sometimes than gestures to tell the audience that he could not speak, and then he looked at the male assistant next to him with grievances, and the assistant crossed his hands in front of his chest and responded with a "no" gesture. Two other assistants would occasionally walk up to Sun Yang, hold the price list, point to the shopping cart below, and signal everyone to place an order.
▲ Figure / Network
Controversy also began to pour in from this live broadcast: some people mocked that this is a kidnapping live broadcast, and why should a former Olympic champion make money in such a naked, price-cutting form? There are also people who express understanding, believing that sports stars are also people, and live broadcasting is just a means for him to make a living.
The controversy also brought traffic, in any case, the live broadcast revenue is quite large, from 5 pm to 2 am, live broadcast for nearly 9 hours, GMV (total commodity transactions) reached 6.644 million yuan. 6.644 million, for an Internet celebrity with 4.6 million followers on Douyin, is already a good number. On the list of cicada mothers on the same day, the first ranked "Qianhui here", the GMV is 106 million, and Sun Yang's performance can rank 17th.
In the debut, Sun Yang even occupied the first place in the douyin with goods in a short period of time, selling 15 million yuan in 5 hours, and two live broadcasts on the same day, a total of 32.897 million yuan. In the past two months, the cumulative sales of his live broadcast room have exceeded 100 million yuan, and he has surpassed many professional anchors.
▲ Picture / Screenshot of cicada mother
However, Sun Yang's live broadcast has always had a misplaced, no matter how his ability to carry goods, the audience always has an inherent expectation of his identity, just like in the unprecedented live broadcast room, the comment with the highest number of likes has nothing to do with his ability to carry goods, but it is like this: 200,000 people, restore Olympic qualifications.
Can Sun Yang still qualify for the Olympics?
The last time he responded to this question himself was in 2021, when he was interviewed by sports host Liu Jianhong as the Tokyo Olympics drew to a close. He told Liu Jianhong that he still maintained his training, swimming 5,000 meters a day and going to the gym three or four times a week. Many people asked if he would stick to the "ban period" and make a comeback at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but Sun Yang did not give a positive answer, saying only that it was a difficult choice.
But now, returning to the Olympics seems to be a beautiful imagination of the public's wishful thinking, and Sun Yang himself has given a more certain answer. His own weibo and the studio's Weibo, instead of swimming and training-related content, were replaced by posters with live streams.
You know, three years ago, when Sun Yang first appeared in WeiYa's live broadcast room, he didn't know anything about live streaming with goods, and even said that he didn't know that Taobao would have preferential benefits. At that time, he could still joke: "I will not swim in the future, and I will come to sell things." "But unexpectedly, this joke finally became a reality."
The team behind it
Although he is still a new anchor, Sun Yang's live broadcast room has revealed his familiarity with the rules of live broadcasting everywhere.
He chose to cooperate with Sanya Hailu Duty Free City, and the products he sells are mainly internationally renowned beauty brands, such as Estée Lauder, Helena, Guerlain, etc., and the price of many products is even more than 1,000 yuan - in the sinking live broadcast industry, the unit price is so high, this is not a common strategy.
The price of some products in his live broadcast room can even get a lower price than the head anchor Li Jiaqi live broadcast room, such as La Mer Mer Blue Mystery 150 ml repair essence water, double eleven Li Jiaqi live room after using various discounts, equivalent to a bottle of about 945 yuan, but Sun Yang live room, only 639 yuan.
During the live broadcast, Sun Yang was not equipped with a sub-broadcast, explaining the products, bargaining and other links were carried out by himself, and the assistant was only responsible for playing and cooperating next to him. He's also quick to get started. "Fans, light up the sign for Brother Yang and continue to call up" "Brother Yang to fight for your welfare", "Let your cheeks be as tight as a bun", "Come, we 321, on the link"... A series of live broadcast words, with a free expression and skillful movements, Sun Yang seems to be familiar with it. Some netizens commented that Sun Yang's proficiency in selling goods is almost more than that of professional anchors.
Deliberately causing controversy and performance in live broadcasts is also a common "unspoken rule" in the industry. Wang Lang, the owner of a live broadcasting operation company, told The Daily People that Sun Yang's "kidnapping-style live broadcast" is essentially the same as the strategy of female anchors dancing in the live broadcast room. Sun Yang himself is a celebrity, and it is too normal to interact with fans through celebrity effects, thus breaking the traffic port. "In his view, this method is part of the strategy of the live trading team behind Sun Yang, and in more popular terms, it is a wild way to attract eyeballs." Maybe it is not Sun Yang's own will, it may be the team's strategy, but there is nothing wrong with it. ”
Behind Sun Yang, there is indeed a team. The Daily People learned that what helped Sun Yang embark on the road of anchor was a company called Hangzhou Yaowang Network Technology (referred to as "Yaowang Network"), and within a month before, the anchors who had a live broadcast case of Sanya duty-free shopping malls on the live broadcast platform were also from this company. Yuanwang Network also confirmed to the Daily People that they are the company that Sun Yang is currently signing, and there is a special studio responsible for Sun Yang's live broadcasting affairs.
The matter of letting Sun Yang become the anchor may have been prepared for a long time. Last year, Xie Rudong, chairman of Yuanwang Network, attended Sun Yang's birthday party. A few years ago, Sun Yang also had a live broadcast to test the water, he participated in a live broadcast of public welfare to help farmers in Zhejiang Province, wearing a white down jacket, in the name of the public welfare ambassador, constantly showing agricultural products such as winter shoots, rice cakes, and woolly pickled chicken to the camera. Public information shows that this live broadcast is also led by the remote network.
For many people, The RemoteView Network may be an unfamiliar name, but it has helped its cooperative artists achieve beautiful live broadcast results, such as Jia Nailiang's Double Eleven Live GMV, which exceeded 170 million. At present, the cooperative artists of The Remote Look Network include Jia Nailiang, Cecilia Cheung, Lou Yixiao, Shen Tao, Chen Yiru, etc., and have also stepped out of professional head anchors such as Grand Duke Yu. The company's official website says that Yuanwang Network became the first place in Kuaishou MCN for five consecutive months in 2019.
In an interview with the media two years ago, Xie Rudong, CEO of Yuanwang Network, once talked about the criteria for selecting anchors: "First of all, I think it is necessary to bear hardships and stand hard work. Many people will feel that selling so much in front of the camera for 4 hours will make money, in fact, there are still more things paid after the lens. The second is to be willing to learn, you don't understand everything, you have to learn, including learning why this thing sells at this price, why this product only sells at this price. Again, eloquence should be OK, eloquence is also based on your understanding of this thing, if you understand it very well, you can definitely speak it. ”
For sun yang, a former athlete, it seems that it is not difficult to bear hardships and stand hard work. The first live broadcast, he started at 11:00 a.m. and continued until the early morning of the next day, with only a two-hour break in between, and then the four days of live broadcast also maintained this rhythm and duration, and then slowly became about 5:00 p.m., and did not stop until near midnight.
Choose to cooperate with institutions such as Yuanwang Network, and the other party may also create a human setting for Sun Yang according to his characteristics. Wang Lang said that there are generally two kinds of live broadcasting personnel, one is actively shaped by the operator, and the other is passively felt by the audience. If the operator has experience, it will package the anchor in the short video to have a feeling, and after a long time, the audience will believe.
Judging from the live broadcast on February 28, what is accurate from afar is also the controversy of Sun Yang, since his debut, the two words of controversy have been running through his sports career.
▲ On the podium of the Asian Games in Jakarta, Sun Yang wore a national flag to cover the national team sponsor logo. Graph / Network
Why go live?
On January 14, the day before the live broadcast debut, Sun Yang posted a video on his social account, which is different from other daily videos recorded at random, and this video is much more sophisticated in production, editing and scoring.
The video recalls Sun Yang's past moments of winning many major competitions, and Sun Yang's own voice resounded: "What is it like to spend 24 years insisting on doing one thing?" [When I jumped into the pool] I could only hear one sound in my ears. "But my world shouldn't have only one voice, and 30 years old should have new attempts." The video also mentioned that the live broadcast of public welfare to help farmers a few years ago made him realize that he could help more people with a small force.
It was also from this day that Sun Yang's short video platform could hardly see videos about swimming. During the daily people's interview with Yuanwang Network and Sun Yang's studio, the other party also proposed that he wanted to delete the question about swimming training.
For Sun Yang, finding another way out of the pool may have been doomed from February 28, 2020.
On this day, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced the outcome of the first-instance arbitration in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Sun Yang and FINA, and Sun Yang was banned for eight years from February 28, 2020. Sun Yang expressed anger and confusion about this and decided to appeal to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
▲ Switzerland, Sun Yang drug test hearing opened. Photo / Visual China
Previously, on September 4, 2018, Sun Yang was selected to undergo a random spot check of the flight drug test, but the sample bottle was smashed by Sun Yang's side, and after the incident, Sun Yang's team insisted that there were a number of illegal operations in the inspection process. After a long period of tearing, hearing and appeal, on June 22, 2021, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that Sun Yang's 8-year ban was reduced to 4 years and 3 months, and the ban period began on February 28, 2020.
On March 4, 2022, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court announced that Sun Yang's final appeal against the ban for violating anti-doping rules ended in failure, and the ban would last until the end of May 2024 – which also means that Sun Yang missed the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Sports journalist He Xiaolong believes that this means that Sun Yang's career is over. The media person, who is known for criticizing Sun Yang, said on social media that in the latest anti-doping management measures deliberated and adopted by the State General Administration of Sport last July, Chapter 7, Article 33 stipulates that athletes and support personnel who have been banned for more than a year for doping violations may not be selected for the national team in any capacity – which almost blocks sun Yang's way back.
For an athlete, without competition and victory, this influence fades very quickly, and live broadcasting may be one of the ways to maintain the heat. For Sun Yang, who has been live for nearly 30 times, even if he wants to return to the pool after that, it is not easy to be afraid. Anchoring is not an easy job, requires a lot of time and effort, and also needs to stay up late, which is obviously contrary to the schedule of a professional athlete.
In the early morning of February 18, Sun Yang wore a blue and white color-block coat and introduced cosmetics to fans in front of the camera, and the counters behind him were turned off and empty. Some netizens posted: "Good heartache, Sun Yang is actually still live streaming goods at this point, and always feels that he should be in the pool and on the podium, not in the dark shopping mall." ”
Strong mother
All along, Sun Yang's business has been operated by his mother Yang Ming, and Sun Yang's live broadcast has also been speculated by the outside world that it is most likely inseparable from Yang Ming's decision-making.
Yang Ming was once a female volleyball player in Zhejiang Province, and after giving birth to Sun Yang, she no longer had her own story, but put all her energy and love on Sun Yang. Sun Yang is like a work of Yang Ming, she is also happy to tell the outside world how she created this work, she also maintains a state of high intensity to Sun Yang: "never cook clear soup, at least four dishes per meal"; shrimp should be peeled and placed in a bowl for Sun Yang to eat - the same is true after adulthood; Sun Yang also helped him tie his shoelaces when he was in the 6th grade, and the school bag was never used by Sun Yang to sort out by himself; he often drove 76 kilometers back and forth from home to the provincial team to pick up Sun Yang, and the snow weather was the same. Driving 38 kilometers on the highway is just to bring a bowl of soup to Sun Yang...
As Sun Yang began to emerge in some competitions, Yang Ming became more and more involved in Sun Yang's life. Follow during training, and stay in the athletes' hotel together during the game. Even on the field, Yang Ming became the one who helped Sun Yang count the number of laps, and Sun Yang would unconsciously look at the audience during the game: "I don't like to look at the referee's sign during the game, so I let my mother wave a float to remind me after I swim 1000 meters, so that I have a better bottom in my heart." ”
This intervention continued until adulthood, when Yang Ming forcefully protected Sun Yang. All of Sun Yang's affairs, from eating and wearing, social accounts to business activities, Yang Ming has full authority.
A family member of an athlete who has been in contact with Yang Ming remembers that Yang Ming has been in the team for many years to accompany Sun Yang in training, and she is always exporting her logic strongly. As long as you have seen Yang Ming's performance at Sun Yang's ban hearing, you will understand her style of handling things - strong, trying to control everything: the translator reminds her to follow the court order throughout the process, and only needs her to answer whether each piece of testimony is true in the process of confirming the testimony, but Yang Ming always stubbornly shifts the topic to the qualifications of the inspectors, that is, not to say "yes" or "no".
There is such a mother, in the eyes of many people, Sun Yang has become an immature "ma bao man". Incidents such as driving without a license in the early years, master-apprentice anti-eye, and wearing personal sponsorship costumes on the podium at the Jakarta Asian Games have been widely circulated. On some reality shows, he is even more "authentic performance". In "Real Man", there was an issue in which his hand was injured, and when the instructor said that there were still ten minutes to finish the training, Sun Yang's head did not return, and the squad leader was punished for this, but Sun Yang seemed indifferent to it. The second season of the show was only halfway through, and Sun Yang quit recording, posting a Weibo post saying that he had been fooled by the program team "again and again".
For many years, Sun Yang was protected. To be precise, Sun Yang is overprotected, the coach and the brokerage team jointly support this protective cover, and the mother Yang Ming is the creator and controller of this protective barrier. Sun Yang's Weibo was handled by Yang Ming in the early days. Sun Yang's interviews and endorsements were even handled by Yang Ming, and Sun Yang rarely had the opportunity to deal with the outside world independently.
Because of some of Sun Yang's negative past and his mother's strong participation, Sun Yang's business resources are not good, although he has cooperated with more than twenty brands in his career, but there are not many international big brands. Sun Yang's commercial value reached its peak around the Rio Olympics, but when he was caught in the anti-inspection storm in 2020, there were only 7 cooperative brands on hand. 361 degrees of cooperation with Sun Yang for 8 years also quickly replaced a new spokesperson.
For Sun Yang today, bringing goods may be one of the few ways out. Fortunately, Sun Yang's road with goods is smooth, although the start time is not long, but it seems to be a first-line anchor.
The storm on February 28 did not reduce the new anchor's vigor. On March 7th and 8th, another shopping carnival, Sun Yang arrived as promised and carried out two live broadcasts with the theme of "Early Spring Goddess Face, 'Yang' Skin is just in time". According to the data, on March 7, two hours after the start of broadcasting, the sales volume of Sun Yang's live broadcast room reached 10,000 pieces, and the total sales of the "3.8 Queen's Day" in two days were 6.792 million yuan.
Some media said that Sun Yang has brought goods in the past two months, and his income may have exceeded the level of tens of millions. However, I don't know if Sun Yang will occasionally return to the pool during the live broadcast? How will you feel in the face of the places you have struggled?
▲ Sun Yang jumped onto the podium at the men's 200m freestyle award ceremony at the 2017 FINA World Championships. Photo / Visual China
The article is the original of the daily people, and the infringement must be investigated.