Make a Friend CEO Huang He talks about MCN and anchors: relying on big anchors is not healthy

Image source @ Visual China

Text | Phoenix Network Technology, author | Jiang Fan, editor | Yuhao

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In response to the rumors of "breakup" from the outside world, Huang He, CEO of Making a Friend, told Phoenix Network Technology that Luo Yonghao did not completely withdraw, but focused more on the AR industry, and will broadcast live on a weekly or monthly frequency in the future.

According to Huang He, in 2021, Luo Yonghao's live broadcast time accounted for about 3%, and his income accounted for 5%, and his fading out had little impact on making a friend GMV.

For the question of "sky-high breakup fee", Huang He said that he would next sign a contract to pay for the authorized operation of Luo Yonghao's account. That is to say, Luo Yonghao is a signed artist who makes a friend.

The news that Luo Yonghao and made a friend "broke up" has attracted much attention from the outside world.

On April 12, Huang He, CEO of Make a Friend, said in an interview with Phoenix's "Wind Eye Dialogue" that Luo Yonghao did not completely leave, but slowly faded out. He also revealed that in the future, Luo Yonghao will transfer the operation right of the Douyin account to the company, and will still start broadcasting at a fixed frequency every week or month, and the cooperation fee is still in the negotiation stage.

According to Huang He, in 2021, Luo Yonghao's live broadcast time accounted for about 3%, and the revenue accounted for 5%, and his fading out had little impact on the company's GMV. "Compared with the operation of big anchors, we are more prominent in the brand of 'make a friend', and this year's GMV goal is more reasonable, and we are fully confident of achieving 10 billion."

Luo Yonghao's fading out of making a friend triggered a discussion about mcN's internet celebrity operations. With the rise of the live e-commerce industry, a large number of MCN institutions have emerged in the past two years, which are responsible for incubating and operating talents and extracting from them. However, there are certain risks in this model, and due to the dependence on "people", there are often conflicts of interest. Previously, the equity dispute between Li Ziqi and Wei Nian had been raging.

After the top stream anchor talks out, how to make a friend? How do you deal with the natural risks of big anchors by making friends? What is the way the two sides cooperate? In response to these problems, Make a Friend CEO Huang He was interviewed by Phoenix Network's "Wind Eye Dialogue", responded to the questions of the outside world, and shared his thoughts on MCN institutional operations and e-commerce live broadcasts.

The following is a transcript of the dialogue (with deletions)

Luo Yonghao did not quit, accounting for 5% of the GMV of making a friend

Phoenix Network Technology: The outside world is rumored to have made a friend and Teacher Luo officially "broke up", is this true?

Huang He: "Breaking up" is not quite right. Teacher Luo is going to officially announce that he is going to enter the AR field, not to completely quit making a friend, nor to stop live broadcasting, but to focus on this aspect, he will become our signed artist.

Phoenix Technology: When he first told you that he was going to do AR, how did you feel?

Huang He: I still feel relatively calm. Because there is such an episode, we have considered it since 21 years, so that Teacher Luo has more time to do other things. Live broadcasting is a very time-consuming and energy-consuming thing, when making friends The organizational structure and various businesses are relatively stable, Mr. Luo found some new opportunities, and he wanted to put more energy into this area, which I think is completely understandable.

Phoenix Network Technology: After Teacher Luo left, what kind of relationship will luo Yonghao's account and himself have with making a friend? After that, how was the time and frequency of Mr. Luo's live broadcast planned?

Huang He: Lao Luo still comes to live broadcast every week or month, the frequency is greatly reduced, we are signing a contract to pay for the authorization to operate Luo Yonghao's account. That is to say, After Teacher Luo, he is a signed artist who makes a friend.

Phoenix.com: What are the components of the "sky-high breakup fee"? How are your negotiations going?

Huang He: That's the signing fee I just said. We are still accounting, and then we will officially announce a copy of the data.

Phoenix Network Technology: Make a friend Lao Luo is still very colorful, worried about the impact of his fading out on GMV?

Huang He: Our current anchor system is relatively mature, such as a type of anchor, signed stars such as Li Shi and Tranquility; the second type of anchors, incubated young anchors, and various vertical anchors. These anchors account for 97% of the live broadcast time of making a friend, and the remaining 3% of the live broadcast time is contributed by Lao Luo. Sales of this piece, of course, Lao Luo's output efficiency will be higher when he is there, and his proportion is about 5%.

The impact is certain, but I'm not really worried. Because our anchor system is relatively perfect, in addition to the usual live broadcast, make a friend and also do some generation operation services for the Douyin business, and we have also spun off a company to do this business.

MCN's dependence on big anchors is not healthy and will not create the next Luo Yonghao

Phoenix.com: Will making a friend invest in Mr. Luo's startup? What will be the relationship between the two in the future?

Huang He: We will maintain a very close cooperation, but the relevant details will not be revealed too much, or it is more optimistic.

Phoenix Network Technology: How will you promote young anchors, after Luo Yonghao, will you focus on creating the next "Luo Yonghao"?

Huang He: No. In fact, when we first started to make a friend live broadcast room, we did not emphasize too much personal IP, but highlighted the brand of making friends. We don't want to be a small workshop, but we still want to be a systematic and long-term company.

Phoenix Network Technology: Have you ever worried that its anchors have a certain AMOUNT of IP potential and then go it alone?

Huang He: It depends on whether we can provide him with a good growth environment. For example, we currently have celebrities and young anchors, and if these young anchors are particularly good, we will consider letting him be the manager of a vertical account. You can understand that he is constantly growing, and we are bound to each other.

Phoenix:What kind of partnership do you think MCN institutions and talents should maintain?

Huang He: I think the more reasonable way is not to rely on a single big Internet celebrity in the first place. In the long run, for institutional operations, it is unhealthy to rely on big anchors. In the early stage of entrepreneurship, the big anchor can drain the flow, but it is also necessary to cultivate the anchor system. From an institutional point of view, it is necessary to provide enough opportunities and a large enough stage for the talents, so that the cooperation between the two sides will be relatively long-lasting.

Phoenix.com: Does the anchor who makes a friend really earn millions of dollars a year, does this mean that live broadcasting is a profiteering industry?

Huang He: Some very good anchors can reach an annual salary of one million, but the proportion is particularly small, almost one out of ten.

Of course, since we are the head agency of Douyin live broadcasting, the income of anchors is also the level of head institutions. In this regard, the salaries of anchors are not low, but we can't just look at the numbers. The anchor or talent is very hard, and his income must be directly proportional to the time and energy he puts in, which is common to all industries.

In-depth cooperation with Douyin, for the time being, do not consider other platforms live broadcasting

Phoenix.com: How do you see the gap between making a friend live and Li Jiaqi in GMV? Is there a plan to impact the second or even the first of the whole network?

Huang He: First of all, making a friend is not an institution that relies on big anchors, and our company is actually quite young, and it has been established for more than two years. We will not pursue a huge increase in sales alone, but we want to make the live broadcast process very detailed, slowly improve the details, may be affected in a short period of time profits, but still willing to believe in the power of repetition. Only in this way can we stabilize the output and ensure quality and service.

Phoenix Network Technology: At present, all "relevant departments" have carried out strict "supervision" of the live e-commerce industry and anchors, and many anchors and companies have been "fatally hit".

Huang He: We actively embrace regulation and have previously participated in the formulation of many industry norms and standards. In my opinion, strict regulation is a driving force for the planning of the live broadcasting industry, which is beneficial to the industry.

Phoenix.com: How long do you think the live broadcasting industry itself can be hot?

Huang He: I am very optimistic about the development of the live broadcasting industry, because the growth rate is still very fast so far. Moreover, live e-commerce is becoming more and more subdivided, the original only a few head of the live broadcast room, what they sell consumers can buy, and now with more merchants pouring into this industry, more and more choices.

Live streaming will develop into a standard for e-commerce, which can also be said to be an infrastructure, and will continue to grow. In fact, Douyin has more than 900 million daily active users, and 90% of users have not shopped on it. Judging from this plate alone, the future imagination space is already very large.

Phoenix.com: What do you think is the difference between Douyin and Taobao ecology?

Huang He: We are more familiar with Douyin, and other platforms do not evaluate too much. Douyin's interest in e-commerce is very interesting, it occupies the user's aimless shopping time. It's the equivalent of discovering a product, and the product inspires you to make additional purchases through content, and then make a purchase, which is a logic of excitement. The key to stimulating logic is to do a good job of content, which is especially suitable for vibrato to do, because the most advantageous thing about vibrato is content.

There is also a feature of interested e-commerce, which emphasizes the logic of explosive models. If a thing is good, it can give you to drain, when there are many people may brush short videos, just brush this product conversion rate is particularly high, so that users can precipitate to the live broadcast room.

Phoenix:Will you consider going to other platforms to do live broadcasting?

Huang He: We still give priority to deep cultivation in Douyin, after all, it is a platform for common growth, and this year we have decided to continue to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Douyin. In fact, after long-term cooperation, making a friend every business has been quite coupled with Douyin.

Phoenix:This agreement is exclusive?

Huang He: That's right.