TVB does live broadcast, can not only "Taobao" in the feelings

Author | Hippo Jun Edit | Chu Qingzhou

Publish | DEEP-FOCUS BUSINESS (ID: DEEP-FOCUS)

In 2023, the live streaming market has ushered in a little interesting change. Hong Kong Wireless' "TVB Recognition" Taobao premiered, scoring 23.5 million GMV and 4.85 million viewers.

The next day, not only "Hong Kong drama-style live broadcast" climbed the hot search, but also the capital market reacted, on March 8, TVB's stock price closed at 13.4 Hong Kong dollars / share, up 86.19% on the whole day, creating a glorious performance of more than 200% in 4 days, and even the stock prices of a number of Hong Kong media also rose to the sky.

Some media have even begun to wonder, can TVB create another New Oriental with "Hong Kong drama-style live broadcast"? But in fact, judging from the performance of this short period of time, TVB still has a long way to go.

On March 17, TVB's closing price had fallen to HK$6.9 per share, close to the waist. After all, you can't just "Taobao" in your feelings.

1. TVB e-commerce: "chasing deer in the Central Plains" or "eating mixed food"?

The cooperation between TVB and Taobao can be described as unexpected and reasonable.

Hong Kong local enterprises lack growth hotspots, mainland e-commerce involution in the live broadcast industry in the Shura field lacks a little freshness, the two sides hit it off, the feedback of the premiere is also good, Chen Hao mentioned the role of "Little Prince Abalone" in "Heart Storm", which immediately narrowed the distance with the audience.

In fact, this is not the first time that TVB's stock price has changed because of "live streaming goods", and TVB's entry into Douyin in April 2022 has also stirred up a lot of splashes.

So far, TVB's Douyin account matrix has accumulated 12 million fans, and in the first half of 2022 alone, it has created 461 million revenue for TVB, effectively reducing the company's overall losses - yes, TVB, which was once infinitely prosperous, has continued to lose money since 2018, and the amount of losses has grown, and it was not until 2022 that it narrowed the financial gap with the help of explosive e-commerce business.

In 2022, the total GMV of the Chinese mainland live broadcast market will exceed 3.48 trillion, which can be called a super sunrise industry. Although many analyses point to the moisture of the data, no one should doubt TVB's willingness to get a piece of the pie.

Only this time, TVB's actions can hardly be called "chasing the deer in the Central Plains" ... Perhaps the "northbound" of TVB's film and television business in the 90s of last century was too impressive, Hong Kong dramas, Hong Kong films, and Hong Kong stars, gobbling up the mainland market, and even affecting a generation's understanding of the world, forming a "TVB complex".

This time, the film and television business has not improved for a long time, and the e-commerce sector is more like a lifesaver for TVB.

But from the current situation, gathering the power of Hong Kong stars, TVB is only winning an ecological niche above the waist in Douyin, and whether it can do better in Taobao really needs more powerful proof of results.

Second, there is no way back, but the advantage of TVB live broadcast?

The first wave of celebrities to bring goods has long been quietly coming, 2018~2021, domestic entertainment has not thought of getting a piece of the hot live broadcast "gold mine", but the effect of various stars testing the water is uneven, and most of them are difficult to sustain.

There are embarrassing cases such as Cao Ying with a pit fee of 180,000 yuan and selling goods of 3,000 yuan, as well as He Jiong's 298 million yuan, Guo Degang's 135 million yuan, and other more beautiful results than today's "TVB Goods Recognition".

But in the end, none of He Jiong and Guo Degang regarded live streaming as their regular means of earning - sales data has moisture, of course, it is almost certain, it is no secret. In addition, there are other reasons that prevent celebrities from using high-profile live broadcasts as their main means of income.

For example, the question of professionalism in product selection. Of course, professional anchors are not jack-of-all-trades, but the mother and baby industry that Weiya originally chose and Li Jiaqi's beauty lipstick are all areas where they have professionalism.

For celebrities, the problem of "wrong major" will have a more far-reaching impact, if Guo Degang really focuses on live broadcasting for a long time, some people will ask, who will carry the flag in crosstalk?

At the same time, the source of the artist's popularity is not in the live broadcast, the live broadcast can only consume the popularity accumulated in the past, this state of only traffic out of the account without receiving will greatly limit the energy invested by stars in live broadcast goods, unless it has been out for a long time or the "bank" is stagnant, most entertainment stars are difficult to devote themselves to the cause of bringing goods.

New Oriental's comprehensive shift to live streaming is due to policy reasons. And for most stars above the shoulders, there are still many ways to retreat, and they have no reason to bring goods, which is also the reason why the popularity of star goods 1.0 quickly rises and dissipates.

From the timeline, TVB is now doing "star goods 2.0". An interesting "positive" news is that neither TVB actors nor TVB itself actually have no way back.

Losing money for years, the territory of film and television has gradually retreated back to the main island of Hong Kong, and TVB still has some teams left over from the "golden age", but it has long lost the influence of its heyday.

Mainland audiences who pay attention to entertainment news have long known that "some TVB actors receive monthly salaries", and news often breaks out some things that shock mainland audiences:

For example, "Duolong" Ai Wei in "Luding Ji" worked at a gas station, such as Yuan Fuhua, who once got the "Emperor of Sight", also worked as a running hall and purchasing agent in a restaurant...

TVB's waist actors face dismal income, often need eight immortals to cross the sea to show their talents to make a living, the bottom is even more bleak, even if they continue to work hard in the main business of film and television, it is difficult to achieve greater success.

And TVB itself fell into continuous losses after 2018, and it was the revenue brought by the live streaming business that helped them reduce their losses and liabilities by 20% in 2022.

Therefore, Taobao does need a new highlight of the live broadcast business, but TVB is looking for its own "way of life", and it will undoubtedly take live streaming much more seriously than mainland stars.

Objectively speaking, TVB does live broadcasting, compared with ordinary stars, in fact, has another big advantage: stars rely on personal IP, but TVB once built a "TVB universe".

People call TVB recognition "Hong Kong drama-style live broadcast", which accurately says its biggest feature - memory killing.

Looking back at TVB's Taobao debut, Chen Minzhi and Chen Hao actually did not solve the problem of professionalism in product selection head-on, but "detoured", Chen Hao, as the "little prince of abalone" in "Heart Storm", launched the abalone of the "Heart Storm" joint model, which suddenly evoked people's memories of Hong Kong dramas.

TVB is very clear about its most valuable chips, Hong Kong dramas are a rich mine, the 8090 generation deeply immersed in Hong Kong style is still the main consumer force, and the actors in the memory recommend products, which can form a feeling of breaking through the dimensional wall.

People will be willing to buy mooncakes with a good full moon, seafood from a storm of hearts, and maybe one day, the dead memories of "Finding Qin" and "Golden Bough Desire" will also make you "place an order immediately" on the screen.

Is this TVB "recognition"? The essence of the matter may be that TVB as a whole IP is being consumed, not that TVB really "recognizes goods", but that giants such as Ali and Douyin believe that TVB is still a traffic bonanza.

In other words, it is TVB itself that can live in odd goods.

Third, Hong Kong dramas are not good, only relying on feelings "Taobao" can be popular for a few days?

However, not everyone is optimistic about TVB's live broadcast road, and consumption sentiment alone cannot form long-term content value. The masses will have a question:

"Hong Kong dramas are gone, how long can Hong Kong drama-style live broadcasts be popular?

This issue is very serious for TVB, behind the ebb of Hong Kong is the overall social and economic changes, and Hong Kong has gradually transformed from a "global window" for mainland audiences to spy on the world into a "coastal city" with financial attributes.

The reason why it is "memory killing" is precisely because the current content output is lackluster.

TVB, which sells feelings in a package, is obviously a weak party in live broadcast cooperation. Their hand-made "Hong Kong drama memories" is still a very good selling point for live broadcasting, but this also requires the cooperation of the overall operation, if the supply chain, front-end promotion, traffic support and other links cannot keep up, TVB recognition is difficult to stick to in the cruel involution of live broadcast.

Issues such as the professionalism of product selection can be solved. For TVB, it is more important to find its own characteristics on the content side itself.

New Oriental Dong Yuhui is an English teacher, he does not understand agricultural products, nor industrial production, but he chose a "high-dimensional dropping" way to introduce products, starting from the identity of the teacher, talking about famous quotes, English vocabulary, customs, life insights, and selling things while opening a reading club.

This is something TVB can emulate, there is no need to let its artists smash products, but to find opportunities to establish a bond of trust between anchors and audiences.

"Hong Kong drama" is part of the bond, but it cannot be the whole thing, what is more important is the true self expressed by the actors, and the honest and responsible attitude.

Taking Dong Yuhui, Dunton, YOYO, Mingming, Xiaoqi, etc. as the standard, the current TVB stars, especially the head stars, still expose a lot of problems in live broadcast goods.

On the one hand, the content integration is still very rough.

Gillian and Zuer Yung sell spicy strips, and the audience feels that they don't fit anywhere, which is not only a problem of "not going out of mind", but also exposes that TVB's entire live broadcast is still in a primitive state of lack of planning and insufficient design.

On the other hand, the performance of the former heavenly kings and queens in the live broadcast room is not outstanding.

"Immortal Goddess" Zhao Yazhi's live broadcast room is awkward and quiet; Seeing that Emperor Li Yaoxiang brought the goods "soybean quilt" but did not know what the soybean quilt was, he directly overturned; "Hatomo Zhi" Li Guolin brought goods to the crayfish mouth, and he ate black but couldn't sell it...

Livestreamed audiences may be impulsive consumers, but they're not stupid. If the star lacks sincerity and the selection of products is improper, the audience will not eat the set of fame.

On the contrary, Chen Jiajia, who is unknown on the TVB screen, uses the characters of "foodie" and "Shanghai Xiaoyan" to make the live broadcast popular. This is a very important topic for TVB:

Film and television is film and television, e-commerce is e-commerce, and in the end, e-commerce must be operated as an independent business to obtain long-term benefits.

"I learned literary and martial arts in my early years, and now I have the imperial family" - TVB put down its posture to shake hands with its former glory and make peace, and put his feelings on the shelves of Taobao, which is very reasonable.

But if you just use live streaming as a low-cost means of extra money, no one can guarantee how long this model will bring it benefits.

TVB's fantastic adventure in the field of e-commerce has just begun. Whether it is really "recognizable" or "mediocre" remains to be verified.