The turmoil of the betta live broadcast platform
The cause of the incident can be traced back to November 2023, when Chen Shaojie, chairman and CEO of Douyu, was arrested by Chengdu police on suspicion of opening a casino. This incident exploded in the live broadcast industry like a thunderbolt, triggering a huge shock and chain reaction. Chen Shaojie is the founder of Douyu, who once gained fame and fortune, and in 2019, he ranked at the top of the "Hurun Report" with a net worth of 2.5 billion yuan. And now Chen Shaojie is in prison, the Douyu platform has suffered a heavy blow and is facing an existential crisis.
The anchors left the scene one after another
After Chen Shaojie was arrested, a large number of Douyu's head anchors stopped live broadcasts one after another, choosing to remain silent and leave the scene. One of the most eye-catching is the head anchor PDD (formerly known as Liu Mou), who has more than 20 million fans. The data shows that PDD was last broadcast as early as November 14, 2023, and has been suspended for more than 160 days so far. PDD, which was once full of glory, is now completely gone, which has worried countless loyal fans.
In addition to PDD, a number of head anchors such as "Xiao Tuan Tuan" and "Da Sima" also announced that they would stop broadcasting. It is worth mentioning that "Xiaotuantuan" won the runner-up in the betta gift income list in May 2019, second only to the "first brother" Xu Xu Baobao at that time, which shows how high its commercial value was in the past. And now, "Xiaotuantuan" has stopped all live activities, and Weibo has fallen silent for a long time.
The harsh environment has exacerbated the cold winter of the live broadcast industry, making the top anchors like "trees falling and scattering". Many anchors have already found another way out, such as Xu Xu Baobao, Feng Timo and others have successively settled on the Douyin platform.
Douyu platform capital chain crisis
With the departure of batches of top anchors, the number of paying users on the Douyu platform continued to decline sharply. According to the data, the average paying users of Douyu in the fourth quarter of 2023 were 3.7 million, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9 million. The continuous loss of users has caused Douyu's revenue to continue to decline in the past few years, from 9.6 billion yuan in 2020 to 5.53 billion yuan in 2023.
Although Douyu will turn losses into profits in 2023 with a net profit of 154 million yuan, this is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket compared to its former glory. As of April 22 this year, Douyu's share price was only $8.29, and its total market capitalization was only $265 million, evaporating more than 90% from the beginning of 2021. The crisis of the capital chain has exacerbated the pressure on the survival of Betta.
The anchor changed careers to find a new way out
In the face of the cold winter of the live broadcast industry, many anchors have begun to transform to seek a new way out. So the previous head anchors Zhang Daxian, Xu Xu Baobao, Feng Timo and others have all entered the Douyin platform.
At the same time, streamers are also actively experimenting with new business models. For example, Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Youyang Cultural Industry Investment Center, an affiliated enterprise of PDD, aims to seek new channels for PDD to make money through cultural industry investment and other means.
In addition, there are anchors who have opened their own brand merchandise, etc., trying to get rid of a single live broadcast revenue model through diversified development. In general, in the face of the downturn in the live broadcast industry, anchors are trying to find new business growth points.
Industry reshuffle and new opportunities
The turmoil of Douyu reflects that the entire live broadcast industry is in a stage of turning and reshuffling. The traditional live broadcast model has been severely impacted, and industry giants are facing the crisis of broken capital chains. But crises are often accompanied by new opportunities.
The reshuffle of the industry is conducive to cleaning up non-compliant and vulgar live broadcast content and improving the overall quality of the industry. At the same time, the new live broadcast model and diversified business monetization channels will also inject new vitality into the industry.
For example, emerging formats such as cloud game live streaming and metaverse live streaming can bring users a more immersive look and feel; The deep integration of live streaming and e-commerce will also create new revenue streams for anchors. In short, the industry is changing the old and the new, and the outlook is still worth looking forward to.
epilogue
The betta turmoil has unveiled a cloudy corner of the live broadcast industry. The once glorious head anchor has a bad fate, and the industry giants are facing the test of life and death. However, crises are often accompanied by new opportunities, and after the reshuffle, the live broadcast industry may usher in new vitality and development. We'll see, the new transformation of the industry has just begun.