Author|Weinika
Editor|Li Chunhui
At the end of March, the grand situation of "Weibo Night" fan support once made people see the signs of ecological recovery of domestic entertainment traffic. But the temporary suspension of the red carpet session makes people feel that the "wind" is far from the past. In the end, everything turned out to be just a return to the light, and the "clear" operation, which was thought to have been swept away, once again tightened all kinds of entertainment activities. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) did not relax its holiday, and announced on April 30 that Baidu, Sina Weibo, Douban and others were interviewed for failing to fulfill their main responsibilities.
The topic of internal entertainment has returned to a barren state, and the marketing number has begun to discuss "the top pattern has not changed for many years". The four top ones who have been nominated the most are still Xiao Zhan, Cai Xukun, Wang Yibo, and Yi Yangqianxi.
"Chen Qingling" took advantage of the delay and reform dividend, and a drama launched a double top stream, which can be called the chosen one; The 101 series idol draft has become a swan song, which can be described as a popular election; The four-character younger brother has grown from an idol to a movie student, even if it is the director's choice. However, is this really the top pattern of general consensus among the masses? Can the top pattern really remain unchanged for four or five years?
Why are Gong Jun and Wang Hedi, who became popular in the follow-up drama, not on the list? How did Li Xian and Zhu Yilong, who were in their early primes with the "Big Four" before, withdraw from the top competition? Further forward, what are the remaining Yang Yang, Lu Han, Wang Junkai, and Wang Yuan of the "four big and three small" now?
Today's so-called "Big Four" top streams, all of which achieved fame or leapfrogging in 2018-2019. Generally speaking, in a five-year generation, consumers change and popularity changes, which also applies to the entertainment industry. Around 2014, the "four big and three small" (Li Yifeng, Yang Yang, Wu Yifan, Lu Han, Wang Junkai, Wang Yuan, Yi Yangqianxi) who supported the top pattern of the first generation were bloodless by the current generation five years later.
So, the five-year period has arrived, and now is the time when the group is chasing the deer and the old and the new are alternating, why is the top pattern so stable? Thinking about it, it is not that the top flow pattern has not changed, but that after the original flow system was defeated by "Qinglang", the later Xiaosheng and Xiaohua can no longer replace the front flow through that system.
It's like canceling the scientific expedition in the late Qing Dynasty, and the old champion became an out-of-print master. From now on, whether they are attending a new school or studying abroad, newcomers need to find a new step forward. Of course, there are also people who have studied all their lives in the imperial examination, and they are confused and depressed. In today's internal entertainment, the front traffic can continue to eat the dividends of the past, and it looks like a posture of holding on to the rivers and mountains and enjoying the prosperous world. But the myth of traffic has long been shattered.
It's all on the way to the jackpot
Now when it comes to the definition of top stars, there are different opinions, and a fan of two dates dares to recharge. But in the beginning, the top stream as the name suggests - top traffic, used to describe the stars who are at the top of various data lists. If Plato's idea is to make beauty measurable, then the intention of the top stream is to make the value of stars measurable, which is a familiar data weapon that Internet capital found for itself after entering the entertainment industry around 2014.
The first acquaintance with the top is generally because their data overwhelms the more well-known stars of the public. In a word, they refreshed everyone's perception with data. For example, the former Weibo super talk list, star power list, supplemented by all kinds of art en, art seeking, star power list, etc., as well as the sales of digital albums that were once unlimited purchases.
It is precisely because of the existence of these list data that the once "top" evaluation system has been established. In 2018, known as the peak year of internal entertainment, the first blockbuster of the drama ("Town Soul"), the 101 draft was born, and then further developed in 2019, freezing a generation of top - Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo, Cai Xukun, Zhu Yilong.
Although the data list is now banned, the top stream does not have the urgent crisis of being pushed down by the back wave. But in the long run, they will also lose fan activity and public discussion because they have no data to strive for. At the same time, continuing to do things against the traffic identity and trying to copy the past traffic will also be subject to policy restrictions.
As a result, the top ones have embarked on the road of transformation in peace and strive to become movie cafes. After all, Zhu Yilong is there, and he has successfully transformed through "Life Events", and now he has withdrawn from the top competition of the younger generation, and acts more as an actor; Wang Yibo has "Nameless" released during the Spring Festival, "The King of the Long Sky" in May 1st, and "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" and "Warm" in the upcoming screening; Xiao Zhan has recently interacted frequently with film directors, and there have been many gossip about appearing in movies, including the blockbuster project "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" established by China Film, which was directed by Tsui Hark.
Although Cai Xukun seems to have nothing to do with the film industry, there has also been gossip about his contact with big directors. After all, if you have been spinning in the music circle, you will only consume your own popularity, and it is becoming more and more difficult to make songs with high popularity. In case you accidentally have a singing degree like "Umeizi-chan", but it becomes a handle for group ridicule. And fans can't buy albums repeatedly to rush sales and brush the charts, and there are fewer and fewer topics that the music industry can create.
The crowd was excited to act in the movie and rush the awards, and also because Yi Yangqianxi gave the best reference case. A movie "Young You" won the Golden Rooster Award and the Academy Award nomination, and transformed from a singing and dancing idol to a "high-quality actor" recognized by the mainstream of official media and public opinion.
The road of traffic is blocked, and the new students who can no longer replace the top of the previous generation naturally understand this truth and have embarked on the road of movie awards. Wang Hedi took over Yi Yangqianxi's "cake" before - filming "Cannes" director Wei Shujun's work "White Crane Bright Wings". And Zhu Yilong has just been shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival with Wei Shujun's film "Mistake by the River", Wang Hedi This is a person who wants to take the top road of two predecessors.
This is the same as the 85 flowers collectively trying to enter the film industry as they grow older. It's just that because of Yang Mi's Houston movie queen's experience, everyone can only bite the bullet and rush for more gold-rich awards. Even Yang Mi is trying the movie again, starring in Ding Sheng's film "No Hot Pot Can't Solve Things". Zhao Liying has found another way in the drama circle, with the rural drama "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" and the period drama "The Wind Blows Half Summer", she embarked on the road to the Magnolia Award.
From data to sales
In the past, the top stream relied on fans to do data, so it also derived "data women". Now, what can slightly reflect the value of traffic is the real sales of goods. However, this kind of sales list is not comparable to the data list, and it is difficult to maintain it for a long time.
First of all, as far as the matter of live streaming is concerned, the art industry has a specialty, and traffic stars are obviously inferior to Internet celebrity anchors. If you can cut for a while, you can't cut a lifetime. Magazine sales, endorsement product sales, the earliest officially announced brands, fans can still rush, the latter must be energy attenuation. This is the iron law of fan consumption, and the shorter the business interval, the worse the sales.
Just like Wang Yibo's fans just rushed the pre-sale of "Nameless" during the Spring Festival, when it comes to the pre-sale of "King of the Long Sky" on May 1st, it will be a little weak. Rushing sales is not comparable to doing data, its fan threshold is higher and requires certain economic strength. The composition of fans of traffic is actually dominated by the student party, because the student party has enough time to work tirelessly and day to brush data for idols, but most student parties have limited purchasing power.
Of course, there are also many ordinary office worker fans with purchasing power, they do not do much data, and they have the economic strength to rush sales for stars. But they also consume more rationally than students, and rarely blindly rush sales.
Secondly, brushing data can create a boom in Internet traffic, and when the real sales are real, it may also make the traffic appear in its original form.
Just like the iron law of the draft, all lists can be "water", but the list that spends money is difficult to "water". Many players can rely on the fake of buying hot search marketing to "go out of the circle", but in fact, they have not attracted many real fans. Once it comes to the time when fans need to vote real money to "buy milk tickets", many players who rely on water armies and buy hot searches, the real situation is not hidden. The reason why THE9's Anzaki and Hard Candy Girl 303's Zhang Yifan finally debuted is precisely because they have poor purchasing power in the sales of any product, and they are even inferior to those who have not debuted.
Moreover, if new traffic is really measured by the standard of rush sales, stars are dangerous. Because new traffic is easily dwarfed by influencers. Internet celebrities who live broadcast at any time know better how to let fans take out real money, and know how to stick to fans with purchasing power. For example, Liu Yuning, who was born as an Internet celebrity, has the purchasing power of fans is obviously stronger than many new traffic students.
But before there are new data lists or metrics, the battlefield for traffic fans to talk about themselves is only sales. For the traffic itself, this is also their only remaining resource chip.
In the past, it was through the data list that was a blockbuster and publicized, and then obtained some film and television resources and business endorsements. Now the other way around, fans have to rush sales in one step, and then publicize it to passers-by through the platform's high-quality film and television resources and the endorsement of big brands. This is also the way for ordinary people to recognize a traffic star.
Where can the new top stream come from?
Before the birth of the new traffic system, the current chaotic transition period seems to be urging stars to develop in a healthier direction - strive to make films to rush awards, and bring real goods.
Even fans are now keen to talk about masterpieces and awards. Masterpieces and awards have become the preferred copywriting for top fans to control and comment, to highlight that their brothers and sisters are different from ordinary traffic stars.
This is equivalent to low-key de-traffic, narrowing the distance with mainstream values, and reducing policy risks. While continuing to give full play to the publicity and purchasing power of traffic fans, differentiate itself from previous competitors, and easily capture better resources. Golden Rooster actor Zhu Yilong and Zhao Liying, who was nominated for Best Actress in Magnolia and may now impact Magnolia again, are all leaders on this road.
But such a seemingly healthier new flow path does not depend on hard work alone, but also requires luck in all aspects. If you are unlucky, you will be like Li Xian, who loses his wife and folds the army. I finally became popular with TV series, but I insisted on mixing with the film industry, and the result was unknown for several years. It has lost both die-hard fans and no recognition from mainstream awards. Now when it comes to the top, no one nominates him again. Working with 85 flowers, fans don't even have the confidence to tear it up.
In terms of the number of commercial endorsements, it is still the so-called top stream with the most, but the overall number is declining. Hard Candy Jun counted last year that the number of business endorsements by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo was above 30+, approaching 40. But this year, both business endorsements have dropped to around 30. The number of businesses of Yi Yangqianxi and Wang Junkai is similar, both are close to 20, and the gap is not as big as the career gap between the two in everyone's impression.
Of course, Hard Candy Jun also mentioned in "Endorsement Greed, Drama Nostalgia, New Normal Star Business Research" that the number of endorsements is also related to the personal choice of celebrities and the help of middlemen at low prices and more. Yi Yangqianxi may have taken Liu Yifei's endorsement route and was more inclined to choose big names.
Cai Xukun is the top person who has recently been mentioned to have seen the largest decline in business resources. In fact, the same is true of female traffic endorsements, Di Li Gerba and Yang Mi are not as good as before. In terms of quantity alone, their number is not much different from the new students Wang Hedi and Wu Lei and Xiaohua Zhao Lusi and Yu Shuxin.
Combined with the rising path of new students and flowers discussed by Hard Candy Jun before: relying on the resources of the head drama to be broadcast to lock in business resources in advance, brand owners are more inclined to bet on artist endorsements rather than on drama ads. As a result, the platform bundles interests with artists, gives artists head drama resources, and then takes a piece of the artist's business, which has become a new business model. Therefore, the current traffic flowers and students are more like the industry's fully automatic film and television popularity, and then fully automatic knocking resources to get endorsements, the replacement may be faster than before.
When the traffic system is broken, there are pros and cons. In the era of data, although it is inevitable that many parties will muddy the waters, it is a popular election. Although everyone complains about "capital feeding" every day, in fact, capital is also to make money, and it is also watching public opinion to lay dishes. Now, people are returning to the industry to talk and sing themselves, but unlike the traditional "industry elite" selection, it is more commercial and fully automated.
Traffic is always born through drafts, idol dramas, delayed dramas, and cultivation systems, and through those of us who like to make dreams, like to sing and dance, and like to watch beautiful teenagers to get on a bigger stage. And then try to deviate from all this, act in dramas, rush awards, and integrate into the so-called "mainstream" that cannot attract such a strong love and hate, is this the right way? Anyway, Hard Candy Jun feels that this is really a mismatch of resources, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo are still the most pleasing in "Chen Qingling", Li Xian may as well act in modern idol dramas all the time.