Recently, iQiyi launched a "virtual idol talent show" - "Cross-dimensional Rising Star". "Draft Factory" is worthy of you! iQiyi finished selecting the female group to choose the boy group, selecting the boy group to choose the orchestra, and all kinds of human groups were selected, and this time the "paper group" was selected.
The show gathers virtual characters from many companies and is a virtual character talent competition program launched by iQiyi. Through several rounds of fierce competition in the cruel competition format, the "Strongest Transdimensional Nova on the Surface" will be selected in 2020. Will iQiyi's "virtual idol" draft this time really continue to replicate its successful experience, open up a wave of fan economy again, and let Gen Z pay the bill?
Virtual idol, has been "debuting" for many years "virtual idol"
It is a non-real existence, presented through cool technology, and a certain virtual image is visualized, which can be anime IP, fictional image, real avatar, etc. You can also freely carry out idol activities and interact with fans. As a member of the "two-dimensional" family, "virtual idols" did not break out in 2020, but have already appeared in the historical records of "old two-dimensional" fans. Here's a wave of well-known "virtual idols" that you may or may not have noticed:
(1) 2007: Hatsune Mirai, Coming!
Japanese VOCALOID virtual singer, famous Katsuhime, "the world's first princess Highness". It is the world's first virtual idol to hold a concert using holographic projection technology. In addition to Heri's identity, she is also active in various anime and manga, and is also a character who loves cosplay in various anime characters and cosers, and is also a popular model in MMD. According to an article published by the World Wide Web in November 2019, Hatsune Mirai has more than 600 million fans worldwide.
In 2015, "Hatsune Mirai" came to China for the first time to hold a concert, setting a record where VIP tickets sold out in two seconds and all tickets sold out in 8 seconds. In 2017, Xiaomi mobile phones and "Hatsune Mirai" cooperated together to launch the Redmi Note4X "Hatsune Mirai" limited edition; in August 2017, Shanda Games announced that "Hatsune Mirai" became the full-dimensional image spokesperson of the new mobile game "Shen Wuyue", of which in the game field alone, "Hatsune Mirai" achieved hundreds of millions of dollars in profits every year.
(2) 2007, "Mirror Sound Twins"
Like Hatsune, the "Mirror Tone Twins", which also belong to the V family, are also very popular virtual idols, the Mirror Tone Twins, referring to the Mirror Tone Bell (female) and the Mirror Tone Lian (male).
"Mirror Twins" is an electronic singer who interprets a charming timbre in English with natural and pure sound quality. The sleek male voice is harmoniously matched with the brisk female voice, and the harmony balance is perfect. Once launched, a legendary song was created, and the number of times played was higher than 100w times.
(3) 2008: "Megune Ryuka"
CryptoFutureMedia, INC. (nicknamed "Crypton") is a virtual female singer software and its image developed and sold on the basis of Yamaha's VOCALOID vocal synthesis engine. His music genres include Latin jazz, ethnic pop, house music, and electronic dance music.
After the launch, it also quickly obtained commercial cooperation, and the tour flow song - playing the future four-needle quartz watch, launched an exclusive co-branded watch.
(4) In 2012, "Luo Tianyi" was sung for you
On March 22, 2012, Luo Tianyi's image design was announced for the first time. Shanghai Henian Information Technology Co., Ltd. is the world's first VOCALOID Chinese sound library and avatar based on Yamaha's VOCALOID3 speech synthesis engine.
Luo Tianyi, a virtual singer Chinese mainland positioned, is an emotionally rich, somewhat presumptuous and natural 15-year-old girl. On February 2, 2016, Luo Tianyi and Yang Yuying appeared on Hunan Satellite TV's small Chinese New Year's Eve Spring Festival Gala chorus "Flower Najib", becoming the first virtual singer to appear in China's mainstream television media. Zhou Huajian and virtual idol Luo Tianyi on the same stage have become a major highlight of Jiangsu Satellite TV's 2017-2018 New Year's Eve concert, and the domestic virtual idol market is also ushering in a period of rapid development.
In 2017, the first large-scale concert held by all vsinger members led by Luo Tianyi introduced an overseas super stage production team, coupled with live holographic projection, real-time motion capture, and online AR live broadcast, bringing the audience the ultimate feeling. In order to ensure that the audience can experience unprecedented audiovisual effects, the organizer Tianya Henian Entertainment Group gathered the world's top production and execution teams, and also invited heavyweight guests. Chinese mainland pop music singer-songwriter Xu Song and Japanese popular voice actor Uchida Cai as special guests, they sang with Luo Tianyi "on the same stage".
In 2020, the "Tianyi Everything • 615 Luo Tianyi Kuaishou Live Broadcast Debut" went up with the wind, creating a new situation of virtual idol live broadcast with goods, with unlimited possibilities. Luo Tianyi has a strong appeal from young generation Z fans. Her fans are not only the main force of future consumption, but also the two-dimensional enthusiasts with high viscosity. Secondly, it is "security": compared with artists and stars with unknown risks in real life, Luo Tianyi's words and deeds are controllable and good monetization ability has become the winner.
(5) In 2013, "Yan He", the second chinese virtual idol
At the 9th China International Animation and Game Exhibition (CCG), the second VOCALOID Chinese female singer avatar Yan he is the second V after Luo Tianyi to Chinese virtual female singer with Chinese as the singing language. Handsome on the outside and gentle on the inside. The slightly neutral voice line is the unique charm of Yanhe.
(6) In 2017, the virtual anchor "Xiaoxi" expanded idol activities
On August 12, 2017, the first self-introduction video was submitted to the "Virtual Dimension Plan" account of Station B, marking xiaoxi becoming the first virtual UP master Chinese Station B, and the first character to call himself "Virtual UP Master".
At present, the "virtual dimensional plan" channel of station B has more than 400,000 fans, and since its debut, it has maintained Chinese the record of the largest number of fans in the non-reincarnated virtual UP master of station B. On February 20, 2018, the virtual dimension developed the second generation of AI Xiao Tao, and since then Xiao Xi and Xiao Tao have been active in the virtual dimension together.
(7) In 2019, "Infinite Kings Group", a national game derivative
Originated from the "Glory of Kings" virtual idol boy group plan, it is composed of cloud, light, white, faithful, and covenant-abiding. In May 2019, the group song "WakeMeUp" officially debuted. And won the 2019 TMEA Tencent Music Entertainment Festival award of the year.
Since the Infinite Kings Were Voted by The Glory of Kings gamers, the Infinite Kings Have produced a series of critically acclaimed songs.
With a million Weibo followers, a spontaneous and active Weibo fan support group, a meal video, and beauty brands such as Nivea Men, MECO Juice Tea and M.A.C.
(8) In 2020, "Qian meow (Yi Yi Qianxi)", idol virtualization
On August 28, 2020, Tmall announced that Yi Qianxi's avatar endorsed Tmall, named "Qian meow". "Qian meow" is the second spokesperson of Tmall, and also the first personal avatar of Yi Qianxi, and also the first virtual spokesperson of Tmall.
(9) In 2020, "Nail Sister and Nail Three More", the brand built its own virtual idol
DingTalk virtual characters, DingTalk sister and Dingsanduo, DingTalk continues to launch a variety of animation videos that meet the user's appetite with three people as the protagonists on the B station platform. Videos come in a variety of formats (cover songs, original MVs, interactive videos in the guise of drama).
Similar to dingtalk operations, at the 3rd China International Import Expo, L'Oréal officially announced the world's first virtual brand spokesperson "Sister M";
Watsons also launched a virtual spokesperson "Qu Chenxi Wilson" early
National beer brand Harbin beer "Ha sauce" and so on.
Virtual idols are an inevitable choice for the fan economy
With the Internet, especially the Z generation born of the mobile Internet, naturally has a high acceptance of the virtual quadratic element. This has laid the foundation for more "virtual idols" such as virtual images, IP images, and virtual singers.
(1) Grow with Gen Z, which represents the future
Relevant data reports show that so far in 2015, the scale of domestic pan-secondary users exceeded 150 million, and at this time, the first wave of Z generation people have reached the age of nine and 20 years old and began to grasp the initiative of consumption. In the "research report" of NetEase Comics, it was pointed out that among the young people after the 90s and 00s, anime was loved by more than half (51.9%), second only to 57.2% of the game. Among animation users, 53% of users, in addition to liking anime, will also pay attention to other secondary small circle cultures, including cos circles and ghost animal circles, of which 22.3% of users will carry out secondary creations based on fandom and painting creation.
Virtual idol culture is booming, 56.1% of users have favorite virtual character idols, virtual idols have also become a new marketing tool to increase favorability between brands and users. The average disposable pocket money of animation users as a whole is 780 yuan / month, and the money in entertainment consumption (including entertainment offline activities, games, animations, etc.) is 204 yuan / month, more than 70% of animation users have paid experience, and the proportion of college students paying is as high as 83%.
(2) 0 negative + full-time business, "virtual idol" is better than real idol
Teacher Guo Degang, who has a lot of experience in competition in the same industry, once joked that the "only way" to become a cross-talk master is longevity, because then you will survive all your peers. At the moment of competing for fan traffic economy, this "path" also applies to all "idols", because there is no ceiling for hard work, but once there is a negative, it will be light and collapse and apologize and leave the circle. "Virtual idol" perfectly avoids such risks, there will be no negative risk of real idols, in line with the pursuit of perfect image in the heart; at the same time, with the same kind of body feeling of "cultivating idols", fans can participate in the growth of "virtual idols". And for most fans, "virtual idols", like real idols, are viewed across the screen, and the physical feeling of chasing stars is consistent. Coupled with the fact that "virtual idols" can easily achieve a variety of shapes, and the duration of activities and the location of activities are not as easy to be limited as real idols, more black technology blessings in the future, "virtual idols" can even interact with fans more realistically and friendlyly, increasing one-on-one goodwill.
Virtual idolization may be the future of "two-dimensional" marketing
With the advancement of science and technology, 3D, AR, VR, holographic projection and other forms continue to enrich the gameplay of "virtual idols", constantly breaking the dimensional wall, and integrating a variety of pan-entertainment forms such as peripherals, games, singing and dancing, and talent shows, providing more imagination space for the future marketing trend based on "virtual idols".
(1) Convey the brand concept through the appearance and setting of the virtual idol
Based on the development of 5G communications, the bandwidth problem of restricting "virtual idol" activities will gradually decrease in the future, bringing more possibilities for cross-border marketing models, such as live streaming that can be opened anytime and anywhere around users. In the process of "virtual idol" constantly testing the water, it is necessary to play its versatile characteristics, KFC grandpa can also have a quick action of the super player body, in different scenes, different brand activities, to provide an exclusive "skin" in line with the brand tone, reduce the sense of violation and enhance the degree of fans.
(2) Give virtual characters a personality suitable for the context of the platform
The "virtual idols" that "co-create" and develop with fans also need to combine communication platforms and scenes to make more targeted "special supply" level adjustments in order to help brands reach effective communication with specific consumer groups and narrow the distance with users. Seraphine, the new hero of the global blockbuster game "League of Legends", outside the Summoner Canyon, will be transformed into a trend icon in a fashion costume according to the needs of fans.
According to the needs of thousands of people, combined with AI intelligent learning, "virtual idols" can achieve 360-degree one-on-one marketing of specific fans in the future, truly understand consumers, and let consumers pay.