Can TVB rush to the sky again with live broadcasting?

For TVB, the value of drama and content is still the foundation...

After TVB announced its entry into the field of live streaming goods, the stock price soared for a while, and the efforts and ambitions of this old TV empire in the field of live streaming goods can no longer be hidden——

At 0:00 today, TVB just ended its 12-hour marathon live broadcast; The day before yesterday, TVB also invited mainland and Hong Kong media to gather in the Radio and Television City to hold a grand press conference, announcing that it would increase live broadcast goods.

Hong Kong drama-style scenes + huge artist resource library is the unique advantage of TVB live broadcast goods, but on the other hand, some people question that this is a consumer feeling.

It is said that the end of the universe is live broadcasting, and this year TVB entered the game through its subsidiary Shanghai Jade Oriental Communication Co., Ltd., and plans to conduct more than 48 live broadcasts of goods sold during the year. When TVB also enters this track, can it also take advantage of this east wind to regain its glory and rush to the sky?

TVB does live broadcast, what are the advantages?

The first TVB live broadcast on March 7 lasted 6 hours and sold more than 23.5 million yuan, and yesterday, the second live broadcast was extended to 12 hours, with sales exceeding 73.2 million and a cumulative number of views of 6.9 million+.

Why is it so long since the premiere of the second livestream? Peng Mingwei, president of TVBC Shanghai Jade Oriental Communication Co., Ltd., said that this is because two upgrades have been made between the two live broadcasts, one is to upgrade the original traditional live broadcast to artists + content to give the live broadcast more meaning, and the other is to provide more global cross-border goods, so it takes more time to prepare.

Yesterday's 12-hour marathon live broadcast, the change and upgrade in content is obvious, the first live broadcast is an ordinary background board, only when the special guest Chen Hao appears, the background is replaced with a seafood shop, and Chen Hao starring in the classic drama "Heart Storm" has a small linkage, and this time the entire live broadcast room is packaged with TVB's 2003 Taiwan celebratory drama "Rushing to the Clouds" The classic IP -

The background music is the theme song "Years Are Like Songs", and the anchor Chen Ziyao and special guest Ma Guoming appeared in the uniform styles of flight attendants and captains respectively; The live broadcast room is created into a scene of the aircraft cabin, creating an immersive experience for netizens to sell in-flight goods for flight attendants; Ma Guoming only appeared in the live broadcast for 1 hour as a special guest, and when he left the live broadcast room, Chen Ziyao's words were "In order to ensure our safety, the captain is going back to fly the plane for the time being", carrying out the immersion to the end.

After watching two TVB live broadcasts at Entertainment Studio, the first feeling was that Chen Minzhi and Chen Ziyao, the two anchors, were indeed very professional, not only live for 6 hours without tiredness, but also very good sales skills. For example, when promoting the 106 yuan membership annual card last night, Ma Guoming said that only 8 yuan a month is very cheap, Chen Ziyao immediately corrected on the side, don't say a month, it's only two cents a day!

In the past two years, TVB has begun to pave the way for entering live streaming goods, holding two seasons of the artist live streaming PK variety show "Recognize the Goods", this show is very Hong Kong characteristics, when selling goods to test the artist's eloquence and urgency, for example, one issue is to give a green hat, see what way the artist uses to promote, quite a bit of Miss Hong Kong Q&A session.

At present, the anchors in the two TVB live broadcasts are Chen Ziyao and Chen Minzhi, the champions of the first two seasons of "Recognizing Goods", which shows that TVB has come up with the most powerful artist anchor resources after layers of selection. The two not only have professionalism in bringing goods, but they are also gold medal supporting actresses who have acted in Hong Kong dramas for many years, and they also have a certain reputation in the mainland market.

TVB's biggest advantage in doing live broadcast is its huge artist resource library. At present, there are 48 live broadcasts, and it is possible to invite one Queen of Sight as a special guest in each issue, and Chen Minzhi said that she very much hopes to do a live broadcast room with the theme of "Apostle Walker" and invite She Shiman to participate.

At present, the two live broadcasts require Chen Minzhi and Chen Ziyao to support the field for 6 hours alone, which means that they cannot go to the toilet for 6 hours, which puts forward high requirements for physical strength. TVB artists who have always endured hardships and stood hard have advantages in terms of physical strength, Chen Minzhi revealed that she once tried filming for 3 consecutive days without sleeping and bathing, seamlessly connecting from the scene to the exterior, and having to endure hot or cold temperatures, so "being an anchor is already very comfortable".

For TVB contract artists, filming as an actor is actually a kind of work and part-time work, because its own salary is not high, and the income is far less than that of mainland stars, so TVB artists give the public a more down-to-earth impression. There is a word in Cantonese called "悭女", used to describe those girls who will save money and work hard to keep a family, and over the years, Hong Kong media have often used this word to describe some TVB female artists and even head Hua Dan. In such a context, it is very convincing to watch TVB artists share those affordable goods in life and share their experience in grabbing coupons and saving money in live broadcasts, which is also the exclusive advantage that distinguishes TVB artists from big-name artists in the mainland.

Chen Ziyao, Chen Minzhi

In addition to the huge artist resource library, TVB's other trump card is the classic drama IP accumulated over the past 56 years since the establishment of the station.

The second live broadcast selected "Rushing to the Sky" is a wave of "memory killing", the prelude to the theme song "Years Like Song" sung by Eason Chen sounded, which brought back the memories of countless people 20 years ago, this drama is Myolie Wu, Huang Zongze, Wu Zhuoxi, Ma Guoming and a group of small Hua Dan career take-off works, but also TVB dominant theme industry dramas.

In TVB's drama reserves, there are many IPs that can be specially reflected in costumes and scenes, and have a certain influence in the audience, which are all treasures to be tapped in TVB's future live broadcast.

"Rushing to the Clouds" stills From left to right: Chen Jianfeng, Wu Zhuoxi, Wu Zhenyu, Ye Xuan, Ma Guoming, Huang Zongze

Is TVB live streaming consuming feelings?

Despite the good record of live broadcasting, TVB's entry into live streaming has caused some controversy.

A controversy is what all stars and companies that enter the live streaming will encounter: the main business should be acting, and is the live streaming goods not doing business? Another controversy is for TVB: Is live streaming a consumption of feelings?

For the first controversy, Chen Ziyao said after the press conference the day before yesterday, "The current artists are different from before, they may be more unilateral before, now the times are developing and progressing, in addition to having the opportunity to do the role of anchor, usually filming also needs to do the role of KOL, just like Internet celebrities, we also have to take photos, shoot short films, in our social platform has also been doing, now artists are also very diverse, so there is no need to distinguish too much where to focus, because we can't be filming 365 days, When filming, concentrate on filming, when not filming, concentrate on bringing goods, multi-faceted development, don't limit your own scope, I am a diversified artist. ”

In the mainland's live streaming industry, many artists choose to enter the game because they have high income and can get better treatment than filming. So is there a commission for TVB artists to bring live streaming? Entertainment Studio asked Chen Minzhi this question, but she did not answer positively, but said that she would not consider it.

TVB artists are characterized by survival and adaptability, for them, filming is a part-time job, and live streaming is also a kind of goods. Judging from the current live broadcast intensity of TVB, it will definitely not let Chen Minzhi and Chen Ziyao become professional anchors and abandon acting, then it is understandable that they play their strengths when they are not filming.

Ideally, after accumulating more fans in the live broadcast room, the popularity accumulated by artists through live streaming can feed back to their actor status, so that people who have fans them because of their status as anchors can watch their drama works.

Looking at another controversy, is TVB consuming its own classics? How long can feelings last?

Objectively speaking, TVB's super influence on the entire mainland market has gradually diminished a decade ago. The latest IP that can be used in the live broadcast room may be "Apostle Walker" in 2014, and in recent years, "Stepping on the Line", "White Strongman" and "Golden Night Mansion" have also been discussed in the mainland, but the influence is no longer as grand as it was in the past.

The same is true for artists, Chen Ziyao and Chen Minzhi are both artists who entered the industry at the beginning of the millennium and have become the memories of TVB children in the glorious era of TVB, and the influence of some new actors launched by TVB in recent years is basically concentrated in the Greater Bay Area.

Worrying about TVB consumption from the perspective of IP and artist reserves is actually a pure content concern, but TVB live broadcast is actually an e-commerce logic.

At the press conference the day before yesterday, Ye Zhenshen, head of ecology of Alibaba's Taobao Live Broadcast Business Department, gave a positive answer to the question of consumer sentiment.

He said that if you bring goods in the content field, it is like shopping for Disney and buying it when you see something on the side, which brings sales in the short term, but it is not sustainable. Because the essence of consumers is to play in the past, just buy things by the way. The platform with live streaming goods faces users who come for shopping, but whether they have taken a fancy or have they made up their minds to place an order right away today. Therefore, from this point of view, the biggest value of TVB live broadcast is not feelings, but the ability of content-based live broadcast and Hong Kong drama-style live broadcast to plant grass for consumers, so that consumers can quickly bring decisions when buying things.

On the other hand, the competitiveness of artists does not lie in how popular and influential the artists themselves are, but in the characteristics of the personality and content they carry.

In fact, it is very difficult for a star artist to start selling goods successfully as soon as he gets on the anchor station, and there is a big gap between the value of the star's work and the value of the goods. Content-based live broadcast and the creation of the host's personality require the artist and anchor to be willing to share their lives and show their lifestyle, thereby generating the value of planting grass, consumers click into the live broadcast room because of the purpose of shopping, and then because of the host's personality and the value of planting grass, resulting in shopping behavior.

Chen Minzhi said that she herself likes to watch Li Jiaqi's live broadcast, online shopping is a way for her to relax, she also likes to chat with people, and also likes to share things in private, "So doing live broadcast is very suitable for me, that is, to make public what I like to share." From this point of view, although Chen Minzhi is not the top artist of TVB, her characteristics that she is willing to share can be continuously amplified in the live broadcast room, accumulating personality value and grass value through live broadcasting, and then having the opportunity to attract a group of users to follow her when shopping for a long time, which is far more sustainable than emotional consumption.

Why does TVB live broadcast goods?

The day before yesterday, there was a hot search on Weibo called #TVB artists to practice Mandarin for the live broadcast collective#, which shows that TVB attaches great importance to the new business of live streaming goods. Peng Ming, president of TVBC Shanghai Jade Oriental Communication Co., Ltd., also revealed that the rhythm of a weekly live broadcast will be basically guaranteed from April, and the initiative will be given to the user, and the user will suggest what theme to choose and what artist to invite for the next live broadcast, which can be said to pay great attention to user experience.

Why is TVB working so hard to enter the live streaming track?

Entertainment Studio believes that this may be the best way for TVB to embrace the new era and the best means of self-help for TVB to turn its performance into a profit after the argument "TVB is old".

The financial report shows that from 2018 to 2021, TVB has lost money for four consecutive years, and it is urgent to find new growth points. TVB's answer was to enter live streaming and take acquisition as a shortcut, acquiring Shitore Group, which operates two e-commerce platforms, Ztore and Neigbuy, at the end of August 2021.

TVB Building, source of this article

On March 28, TVB released its 2022 annual performance report. The report clearly states that TVB's revenue increased from HK$2,899 million to HK$3,586 million in 2022, thanks to the acquisition of Stol Group at the end of August 2021, which contributed e-commerce revenue for the full year.

According to the report, after the acquisition of Stol Group, "e-commerce business revenue increased from HK$238 million to HK$863 million, and at the beginning of this year, the outbreak of the fifth wave of the novel crown epidemic in Hong Kong prompted home consumers to shift to online shopping, bringing the sales of Wansto and Neighborhood Buying platforms, which contributed 24% of the Group's revenue in 2022. Popular programs such as "Home Happy Express" further stimulated sales. ”

Among TVB's five major sectors of Hong Kong TV broadcasting, OTT streaming, e-commerce business, Chinese mainland business and international business, e-commerce is the most obvious increase, and increasing the development of the e-commerce sector is in line with the general environment of the times and the development trend of TVB itself.

On the other hand, the financial report also shows that TVB attaches great importance to the mainland market. Last year, the two variety shows "Endless Sound" and "Infinite Beyond Class" set off a high degree of discussion in the mainland, and were also highlighted in the financial report. In the past, when it came to TVB's "going north", it was often artists who went north, or TVB and mainland platforms cooperated in film and television variety shows, but under the trend of live streaming in the mainland, TVB went north to develop e-commerce, which has more prospects and imagination.

In fact, TVB has previously developed a live streaming business on a short video platform, but the results are not impressive. In addition to artists and feelings, product selection is also the key, this time TVB and Taobao cooperation to develop 48 live broadcasts, is relying on Ali's supply chain system, only to do a good job in quality and service, TVB's live streaming goods can be sustainable.

From the group operation level, it is inevitable for TVB to enter live broadcast and bring goods. TVB live streaming must initially attract audiences who grew up watching TVB, and for this audience, the most concerned is still TVB's core TV broadcasting business.

Judging from the financial report and TVB live broadcast room, this old TV empire has not forgotten its roots-

On March 22, 2023, TVB and Youku signed a supply agreement worth 700 million RMB, and TVB will co-produce a number of dramas with Youku in the next two years; In the live broadcast room, the anchor is also working hard to promote TVB's video platform "buried pile" annual card, and the artists also put a wave of advertisements for their works by the way.

For TVB, the value of dramas and content is still the foundation, and only by continuously producing good works can the feelings continue and continue the content narrative in the live broadcast room.

rushed to the clouds, Ma Guoming and Chen Ziyao in the cloud-themed live broadcast room