Wen | Zhang Shule (Columnist of People's Daily And People's Post and Telegraph, Observer of Internet and Game Industry)
Although it is often complained about by dissatisfied fans that it has "gone out of business", Lehua Entertainment is still one of the most influential "star-making factories" in China.
According to a prospectus submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in early March, Leroy Entertainment is The largest artist management company in China based on artist management revenue in 2020, according to the Frost & Sullivan report.
In addition, Lehua Entertainment's listing prospectus also allowed the capital market to see another side of the virtual person: tens of millions of revenue, showing its "ability to absorb gold".
"I can't fly out of the world of Huahua (Duhua)." From Han Geng and Zhou Bichang to Wang Yibo, Fan Chengcheng, Tang Jiuzhou, and then to the virtual idol group A-SOUL, fans who fell in love with Lehua's artists joked on Weibo borrowing lyrics.
Lehua Entertainment landed on Weibo on the day of the public prospectus, and Wang Yibo's 39 million fans also made the capital market feel the huge energy of a "rice circle".
According to the prospectus disclosure data, in 2021, the revenue of Lehua artist management business accounted for 91% of the total revenue. Single business and excessive dependence on head artists have become the main problems criticized by Lehua.
Lehua Entertainment was founded in 2009, and the founder Du Hua left his company after working in Huayou Digital Media Technology for 5 years. In the same year, the first generation of "traffic star" Han Geng terminated his contract with the SM that packaged him, the largest brokerage company in South Korea, and joined Lehua Entertainment after returning to China and bound its equity.
Since then, Lehua Entertainment has established an idol trainee system modeled on South Korea, launched a boy band UNIQ including Wang Yibo, and debuted in South Korea.
In 2019, the broadcast of "Chen Qingling" made Wang Yibo a big fire and became a top traffic star in China. This is also the reason why as soon as the news of Lehua's IPO came out, it was called by Wang Yibo's fans that "Lehua Entertainment's listing all depends on Yibo".
In fact, relying on the head artist to make a profit is the norm for artist management companies, but Lehua's biggest problem is that it only has one "Wang Yibo".
As a head artist, does Lehua have the ability to support the big future of listing?
Can virtual idols become a new opportunity for mass manufacturing "Wang Yibo"?
In this regard, Chen Peijun, a reporter from the Southern Metropolis Daily, Wang Yan, an entertainer, and Shule had an exchange, and the poor Dao thought:
Agencies and MCN agencies, such as Wei Nian, who had a dispute with Li Ziqi last year, are all 'picked up' by the head of the artist's Internet celebrity.
The pattern itself is healthy, and the problematic is the state of "only one head".
According to the disclosure information in the stock statement, Wang Yibo signed a 10-year contract with Lehua in 2014, and the contract will expire in 2024. In addition, the contracts of Fan Chengcheng, Zhu Zhengting, Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, Cheng Xiao, Huang Minghao and others will also expire in 2023 and 2024.
In other words, Wang Yibo, the "only head", Lehua may also have the risk of losing it in the future.
How difficult is it to recreate a Wang Yibo?
Lehua's current star-making ability is a gamble, especially in the pan-entertainment field when the supervision is becoming more and more stringent, it is even more difficult.
Choosing the path of virtual idols to open up new top streams seems to be the best solution for Lehua at present.
Of course, this optimal solution is, at best, the optimal solution to the capital market from the perspective of a listing story.
According to the prospectus, Lehua's pan-entertainment business generated revenue of 21.1 million yuan in 2020 and reached 37.9 million yuan in 2021, an increase of 79.6%, mainly due to the commercial development of virtual artist group A-SOUL.
In July 2021, when A-SOUL member Bella's birthday was live, the number of fans who opened the captain (198 yuan / month) exceeded 10,000, becoming the first virtual anchor of Station B to achieve the achievement of ten thousand ships.
Is the tens of millions of revenue strong? Removing the super top streams such as Hatsune Mirai and Luo Tianyi is not bad compared to other virtual idols, but compared with real idols such as Wang Yibo, it is not in the stream at all.
In this story told to the capital market, the biggest flaw lies in the "circle of fans": the target audience of virtual idols is the two-dimensional enthusiasts in the Z generation, which is relatively niche, so there is a ceiling for revenue.
All in all, regardless of whether the listing is successful or not. If Leroy wants to continue to grow well, it needs to tell a story that investors can believe. The key to this story is whether Lehua has the ability to "make" more "Wang Yibo".
But in Terms of Lehua's performance now, the difficulty has become whether it is "lucky" enough to create a new top stream.