Reporter Li Yuyang reports from Shanghai
Every year, there are 100 big and every year, and every year there are 100 big searches.
Recently, Station B (Bilibili, 09626.HK) announced the list of the top 100 UP masters in 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "2023 Top 100"), which aroused heated discussions and questions from netizens, such as: "Why are they all one million fans, but A was selected for B but not?" "Why didn't War Eagle go? Director Xiaoce didn't go?"
The reporter of "China Business Daily" combed and found that 39 of the top 100 in 2023 are on the list for the first time, which is the lowest proportion of newcomers in the past years;
The reporter also noticed that compared with the 2023 Top 100 list, Station B did not choose UP masters with more topics such as War Eagle, but tended to choose creators who are willing to work in a certain field, and the listing of UP masters such as "Your Shadow Moon Moon", "Kono Hua" and "Blessing of the Dark Cat" also shows that Station B intends to consolidate the fundamentals of the second dimension. In short, from the 2023 Top 100 list, people can see that the wind direction of station B's content is stabilizing, and they don't care too much about "making memes".
"Taking the two-dimensional as the circle to spread to pan-entertainment, on the surface, it is an ideal model, but Douyin Kuaishou can also dig vertically from pan-entertainment to the two-dimensional field, and the two are encounter modes, which will only be more involuted. Station B should hold the moat, and it is better to use the two-dimensional fusion circle to form a pan-content platform with two-dimensional tones. Zhang Shule, an Internet industry analyst, told reporters that for station B, the top 100 list is a guide, and the key to the list is to let more content creators find their own vertical entry points from the top 100 guides.
It's not a certificate of merit, it's a certificate of nomination
According to the reporter's combing, the average number of fans in the top 100 in 2023 is 4.25 million, the median number of fans is 3.24 million, and nearly half (48) of the top 100 UP main fans are 1 million ~ 3 million;From the perspective of regions, the 2023 top 100 are from 15 districts, 4 fewer than the previous year, and the number of people on the list in many districts is decreasing, among which the knowledge area UP master accounts for the largest proportion in the top 100, with a total of 23, followed by the game area and the food area, which are 14 and 12 respectively.
It is worth noting that 39 of the top 100 in 2023 are on the list for the first time, which is the lowest proportion of newcomers since the establishment of the top 100. It can be said that the 2023 Top 100 is the one with the highest knowledge content, and it is also the one where the old 100 have returned strongly.
For the criteria for the selection of the top 100, Station B officially gave three dimensions: professionalism, influence and innovation, but this is a bit general, and there are more than 100 UP masters who meet the requirements. Therefore, there is a view that the selection of the top 100 is more operable and arbitrary, and doubts follow.
According to the video "First Revealed: How was the Top 100 of Station B selected?", he contacted the person in charge of the 6-year Top 100 Selection, and the annual Top 100 Selection will have a certain hard threshold, and the time range of the 2023 Top 100 Selection is from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023.
Among these data thresholds, the most important is the data on the increase in followers. It is understood that station B will generate a pool of the top 1,000 people in the comprehensive ranking of the number of fans in the data, with a threshold of about 360,000 people per year in the top 100 in 2023 and an average increase of about 985,000 in 2023. From this point of view, whether or not you can be selected into the top 100 is not the total number of fans, but the increase in fans. Of course, there are a maximum of 10 people outside the thousand-person list, but there must be enough reasons to catch them.
The video "First Revealed: How was the Top 100 of Station B selected?" shows that after having this list of 1,000 people, Station B will do some subtractions: such as removing the blue V agency number and leaving a personal UP master; As a commercial platform, Station B will subtract points for the UP owners who are first released on other platforms, live broadcast appointments or business appointments signed on competing platforms;Station B also takes into account the vertical screen, account matrix, etc...... In addition, Bilibili also tried to score the jury for the selection of the 2023 Top 100, that is, inviting internal veteran employees and practitioners to score from multiple dimensions such as lens language and video emotion, as a reference standard for being selected into the Top 100.
As soon as the top 100 list was released in the first two years, some UP owners quickly overturned, so that the top 100 list was ridiculed as the "top 100 assassination list". Combined with this situation, Bilibili will also consider the life cycle of the UP master, if they are elected to the top 100, there is a potential negative impact.
In addition to these, there are other considerations for the selection of the top 100. On the whole, the top 100 selection of station B is a hot potato, and management, colleagues, fans, netizens, capital, and competing products all have their own versions of the top 100 list, so the selection of the top 100 is destined to be sprayed.
In the end, it took two months to have this top 100 list, which can be said to be based on objective data, supplemented by subjective judgment, and seeking a balance as much as possible in everyone's completely different needs. "- said LKs.
Zhang Shule said: "The top 100 list is a guide to guide content creators to return to their main attributes and main users, so that more content creators can find their own vertical entry point from the top 100 guide, which is the key to the list. ”
Remove branches, reduce costs and increase efficiency
The complex judgment system and enough choices make people question Station B every year. However, unlike last year, Station B did not choose those UP masters with many topics to enter the top 100, but chose more creators who are willing to deepen their in-depth content.
The reporter noticed that "The Blessing of the Dark Cat", "Hamilon's Piper", "Your Shadow Yueyue", "Kono Hua", the 4 new top 100 UP masters on the list, have gained a large number of fans on the station with their "Genshin Impact" related videos, and it can be seen from this that Station B intends to strengthen the fundamentals of the two-dimensional content.
"In addition to the second dimension and games, the most on the list is the extension area of film and television, which is directly related to the performance of station B. Zhang Shule pointed out that the 2023 Top 100 list shows the determination of Station B to return to the base camp of two-dimensional house culture. "In the past, it chose to extend outward from the second dimension, but now it may be to integrate the content of other circles into the second dimension, from national tide, music to other pan-entertainment and cultural and creative fields, so that the second dimension will become a depression that is more compatible with other elements. ”
According to the data of the "2023 Most Beautiful Night" New Year's Eve party released by Station B, the peak popularity of the live broadcast of the party on December 31, 2023 exceeded 344 million, a record high, and within 24 hours of the New Year's Eve party, the total number of broadcasts reached 100 million, the cumulative number of barrages was nearly 400,000, and the number of related content second venture submissions reached 135 million times.
As for the reason for the fine-tuning of the content of station B, Zhang Shule explained it this way: "The Internet giants have been excessively inflated and expanded before, and they have all been far away from their core bases and jumped to the outside line to fight guerrillas; although they have made some gains, they are not beneficial to the main business, and the long front has also led to the dilution of the overall strength. The huge and complex branch business has affected the development of the existing main position business, and the purpose of station B to reduce costs and increase efficiency is also this, to remove the branch business that is too jumpy, and to re-encroach on the main position instead of swallowing it. ”
According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2023, the total revenue of Station B in this quarter reached 5.81 billion yuan, the same as the same period in 2022, the net loss was 1.3 billion yuan, 22% narrower than the same period in 2022, and the adjusted net loss was about 864 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 51%. Gross margin also increased to 25% from 18% in the same period last year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement.
Specifically, the advertising and value-added services business became the main driving force for the revenue growth of Station B, with a year-on-year increase of 21% and 17% respectively. In the third quarter, the revenue of Bilibili's live broadcast business reached 2.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17%. In terms of advertising business, the total advertising revenue of Station B in the third quarter reached 1.64 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%.
In July 2023, Bilibili World and Bilibili Macro Link (BML) were held in Shanghai, attracting more than 200,000 users.
According to the financial report, in the third quarter, the average number of daily active UP owners of station B increased by 21% year-on-year, the number of UP owners with more than 10,000 fans increased by 36% year-on-year, and the average monthly video contributions increased by 37% year-on-year to 21 million. In this quarter, 1.68 million UP owners received revenue from station B, a year-on-year increase of 34%.
Gao Dongxu, founder and chief analyst of China Entertainment Think Tank, said: "The year 2023 of Station B is a year of transformation and adjustment in constant entanglement. With the decline in the revenue of the game business, it has led to its continuous efforts in e-commerce, especially in the field of two-dimensional derivatives, and offline activities based on content are also the places where it focuses its efforts. I think these two points are in line with the positioning of the young community of Station B itself. ”
Gao Dongxu pointed out that the sharp decline in game revenue, the adjustment of the game team, the impact of related overseas business, and the failure of some mergers and acquisitions are all entanglements of Station B in 2023.
"I think the core work of station B in 2024 is in terms of content, first of all, in terms of short video quality, to optimize more selected content, secondly, in terms of two-dimensional derivative content, that is, e-commerce should have better IP derivatives, and thirdly, offline activities, there must be more creativity and content to players, consumers and users. In addition, it has invested heavily in national content before, just to see if there is a good breakthrough in popular content. Gao Dongxu analyzed.
(Editor: Wu Qing Proofreader: Yan Jingning)