The plastic turtle in the live broadcast room controls young people

The live broadcast room of "opening turtles" is very popular on the Internet. It attracts young people with the form of blind box games and stimulates consumption enthusiasm through the "turtle collision" gameplay. The atmosphere in the live broadcast room is warm, and users enjoy the fun of opening blind boxes and relieve stress. Low cost and high profit attract anchors to join the game, but the competition is fierce. The emotional value business behind the blind box game is becoming a new consumption trend among young people.

"Two pink ones, two purple ones, and one wishing color one pack, a total of 3 packs." "Clear the table, add five more bags, boss is so lucky!" "A triple plus 5 packs, baby is so lucky!"...
Recently, the Chagui live broadcast room has attracted many users. Under the praise of the anchor, netizens are immersed in the pleasure brought by the blind box game, and the atmosphere in the live broadcast room is constantly rising.
How does the Turtle Blind Box Live Room work? Why can it control young people? What kind of business can be derived from the Blind Box + Live Room?

1. How to control young people in the live broadcast room?

The Turtle Blind Box Live Broadcast Room became so popular that even Olympic diving champion Quan Hongchan was controlled by it.

On Weibo, related hot searches such as "How many turtles did Quan Hongchan buy?", "Quan Hongchan made the little turtles popular and the boss in Yiwu worked frantically", "Quan Hongchan was opening the blind box of turtles the day before the competition", "Quan Hongchan posted photos of toy turtles all over the floor", "Quan Hongchan's turtle match-up became a hit" and so on emerged in an endless stream, attracting more netizens to "join the fun".

Image source: Weibo screenshot

On Xiaohongshu, one can see many notes such as "Sincerely invite everyone to see my army of turtles", "Question Quan Hongchan, become Quan Hongchan, understand Quan Hongchan", "The turtle army goes out", etc. Netizens have posted large quantities of plastic turtles and "deployed troops", giving people a strong visual impact.

Some netizens have made creative changes to turtles. Some have pasted turtles of different colors and sizes on doors as colorful decorations. Others have used turtles of different colors to create a Mickey Mouse shape and pasted it on the wall. Some netizens have focused on practicality and transformed plastic turtles into key chains or hairpins...

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

In fact, the ultimate purpose of netizens placing orders in the live broadcast room is not to get the plastic turtles, but the process of unpacking the turtles is the key to attracting users. The most basic way to unpack the turtles is to place an order for 10 or 20 yuan through a link, which indicates how many packages you can unpack. Each package contains turtles of different colors, and the probability of unpacking each color is the same. When placing an order, you can also choose one of the colors as the wishing color.

Then, the host will place the unpacked turtles on the nine-square grid in front of him one by one. If a turtle of the wishing color is unpacked during the process, the host will immediately unpack another pack. When the nine-square grid is full, the host will check to see if there are pairs of turtles of the same color on it. If there are pairs, the host will unpack more packs.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

If there are three in a row (three of the same color in a line), a clear table (all touched), or a family portrait (one of every color), the host will open a few extra packs.

Some live broadcast rooms have also innovated the gameplay and introduced new rules for copy orders (for a group of people who placed copy orders within a certain period of time, the anchor will only open one of the orders. If that order is finally settled with 50, the other orders will also receive 50 turtles), or the nine-square grid is replaced with a disc, but the gameplay of the head-to-head match is basically the same.

In the live broadcast room, users' attention is focused on the nine-square grid in front of the host. Although they don't know the color of the turtle in the blind box or whether it can be added or removed, it is this unknown that arouses users' interest and makes this blind box game full of surprises and excitement. This is what makes the blind box live broadcast room attractive.

Moreover, when you place an order, you can truly experience the fun of blind box matching, and the host cheers from time to time, "It's so lucky, I won again", which instantly gives you a very high emotional value. At the same time, the interaction of users watching in the live broadcast room brings the game atmosphere to the maximum.

Overall, the reason why the Chagui live broadcast room became so popular is that it grasps the consumer psychology of trying to get a big return with a small investment. The blind box matching gameplay greatly satisfies the sense of excitement and fun. After users stay in the live broadcast room for a period of time, it is easy for them to get addicted and make impulse purchases.

2. The essence of blind box games is emotional value business

"Turtle Match" is essentially a blind box game, and there are many similar live broadcast rooms. Whether it is the once popular game of opening clams to get pearls, or the IP card collection that makes two-dimensional players addicted, or the Disney doll blind box, they all use consumers' curiosity and gambling psychology to gain attention.

"Turtle Match" is the most popular form of blind box live broadcast. Countless users flock to the live broadcast room for fun. Everyone hopes to be the lucky one with full of luck. However, some people get what they want, while others return empty-handed. Some netizens said that they spent 39.8 yuan to open 39 turtles, and their luck was too bad.

In this regard, some netizens summed up certain experiences and skills, "Count how many different colors there are on their desktops. If there are more than 9, they will all be sold out quickly. It is better to buy them and match them yourself." "Tik Tok has a turtle matching game. Try playing it and you will know. If there are 9, the maximum probability of getting 12 or 13. If there are 36, the maximum probability of getting 70-80."

Some netizens also exposed the routines of the live broadcast room that removed the turtles, which made many netizens disenchanted with it. "I know a friend who is a live broadcaster of this kind. She said that her vision can basically see the color of the turtles in the bag. Whether it is good or not depends entirely on the mood of the host." "They said that the frames for the turtles outside the camera are divided by color. As soon as I saw the live broadcast room that took the blind box outside the camera, I avoided it directly."...

However, although everyone is well aware of the gameplay and low cost of plastic turtles, there are still many users willing to pay for it. One netizen used a real-life scene to visualize the emotional value of the turtle-dismantling live broadcast room.

"Today you worked hard all day and were scolded by your boss five times. You returned to your rental house in the 40-degree heat, and you scrimped and bought a three-yuan ice cream. You gave your mother two thousand yuan but she kept scolding you for being useless. Then you came across a live broadcast room where turtles were paired. It was simple: one touch plus one pack, one touch, two touches, three touches, plus three packs. Wow, this lady is so lucky! If you get the color you chose, you can get another pack! The key is that even if you don't place an order, you'll be happy just watching others unpack. You placed an order, and you got it. Many strangers on the screen said, "You're lucky, great, awesome!" I was so unhappy today thanks to the netizens in the live broadcast room."

In today's fast-paced, high-pressure social environment, anxiety and depression are the norm for many people. In order to seek effective ways to relax, the turtle-tearing live broadcast room has become a way for many young people to release stress. Many turtle-tearing anchors said that most of the orders for the live broadcast room come from first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and many consumers send private messages and do not require shipment. They just enjoy the turtle-tearing process. It can be seen that the public is gradually paying attention to the spiritual world.

According to the "2024 China Consumption Trend Survey", 64% of consumers attach more importance to spiritual consumption, and young consumers attach greater importance to spiritual consumption. Consumers pay more attention to their own small world and increasingly pursue a sense of gain, value and meaning in consumption. Rational consumption and emotional life will become the basic aspects of consumption.

In fact, emotional value businesses are increasingly being sought after by young people, which is reflected in all aspects of life. For example, the demand for perfume and fragrance as emotional healing and creating a sense of ritual is becoming more and more prominent, and similar products include temple bracelets, decompression massage, flowers and plants, and other physical products.

3. The business behind the live broadcast room of Turtle Dismantling

The most direct beneficiaries of the explosion of the turtle-opening live broadcast room are the merchants in Yiwu. According to media reports, a jewelry company in Yiwu that produces this kind of small turtle blind boxes has been overwhelmed with orders, shipping 100,000 pieces a day, and the customer service is so busy that they can't reply to messages.

It is understood that the cost price of a plastic turtle is only a few cents, and the price of the link for eight or nine draws in the live broadcast room is basically 19.9 yuan. Although some people can draw more than 20 or 30 at a time, the average number of orders is more than a dozen. Excluding shipping, labor and other costs, the anchor still has a relatively considerable profit, but whether you can make money requires a certain amount of luck.

A live streamer shared her failed entrepreneurial experience. She said that she invested a total of 2,000 yuan in purchasing goods and equipment. She was full of confidence at the beginning and started broadcasting directly after everything was ready. However, on the first day, only a single digit number of users entered the live broadcast room, and there were 0 interactions and 0 transactions. After modifying the words and gameplay, the number of viewers on the second day was still in the single digits, but there was interaction and two orders were placed. She thought it would gradually get better, but she didn't expect that there would still be 0 transactions and 0 interactions in the next few days. She began to become anxious.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

As the turtle demolition track becomes more and more popular, many anchors have taken a different approach and derived many similar live broadcast rooms. For example, there are paper towel matching, writing pen matching, socks matching, and even pants matching and cat canned food matching, covering multiple categories such as home cleaning, stationery, clothing, snacks, etc.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

A blogger on Xiaohongshu chose to pair food toys. She selected a 2cm-sized resin mini food toy, which has more than 20 varieties. She would put color blocks in the blind bag, with a total of five colors, and would open more when she found the same color.

She said that the number of viewers in the live broadcast room is usually around 40 to 50, and the maximum is 124. In three hours, she can open up to 24 orders. The highest daily turnover is over 1,000 yuan, but it has only happened once. Most of the time, it is around 500 to 600 yuan. "The profit is 35% to 40%, which is relatively high." The more than 4,000 yuan spent on purchasing goods, purchasing various equipment and paying the platform deposit in the early stage has been recovered on the 15th day of the broadcast.

Nowadays, blind box matching is not only a way for users to relieve stress, but has also formed a new consumption model. Some daily consumables with low unit prices have entered the live broadcast room, and consumers are encouraged to pay through game mechanisms. However, when users' enthusiasm fades, the sustainability of this sales model needs to be questioned.