"Outdated" male stars "harvest" aunts on video accounts

Middle-aged male celebrities have found a new stage in video accounts. They attract middle-aged and elderly female fans by sharing their life insights and chicken soup articles, and then transform themselves into live streamers, successfully realizing the second spring of their careers. The combination of the traffic potential of the video account platform and the personal charm of middle-aged male celebrities has brought new business opportunities to the field of live streaming and selling goods!

"That really hits the nail on the head."

“I’m not destined to be a princess, but I have the heart of a queen!”

"It's another happy day to see you."

In the short video, men in suits and new Chinese-style clothing discussed the topic of women's awakening and called on women to take care of themselves; in the comment area, countless middle-aged and elderly women posted comments accompanied by emojis such as flowers, hearts and likes, praising the host for being handsome and speaking reasonably.

The men in the video are not emotional masters, and many of them look familiar: He Shengming, Gao Ziqi, Ren Zhong, Zhu Yongteng...

Countless re-employed male celebrities are entering the video account live broadcast room. They post chicken soup for life insights on the video account, attracting middle-aged and elderly female fans, and directing the surging traffic to the live broadcast room, shouting "sisters, babies" to start live broadcasting and sell women's clothing, skin care products or cosmetics.

When middle-aged male celebrities who provide emotional value open up the channel between demand and products, new business opportunities emerge. The business of live streaming with goods is also worthy of being replicated again in every traffic field and every circle.

01 The middle-aged male star who “understands you” sells goods worth millions

The live broadcast room of the video account can be called an "archaeological site" where you can see many familiar artists.

Zhu Yongteng, who starred in "The Sky of Eighteen Years Old", is called "Teacher Zhu" by fans; He Shengming, who starred in "Palace" with Yang Mi, is affectionately called "Fourth Master" by fans; Chi Shuai, who starred in "The Temptation to Go Home", is called "Gao Wenyan" by fans; 45-year-old Gao Ziqi, who appeared as Xiao Jian in "New My Fair Princess", is called "Qiqi"...

"Fourth Master" and "Gao Wenyan"

They are all male stars over 40 years old who have appeared in many film and television works. In the live broadcast room, they have a unified identity: anchors who sell goods.

Compared to the stars who were once teased as "live broadcast mascots", this group of middle-aged male stars can now talk freely and skillfully sell goods through live broadcast. Zhu Yongteng directly brought his 76-year-old mother to share the experience and effects of using facial essence oil;

He Shengming shouted "babies" in the live broadcast room and smashed down a suitcase to prove the quality; Gao Ziqi took his fans to Zhuji, the pearl production area, to prove that the production area is directly sold, "to get the price to the lowest"...

Video accounts have not yet released the live broadcast data of many male celebrities, but we can get a glimpse of it through third-party platforms: New Vision data shows that Zhu Yongteng has conducted two live broadcasts in the past 30 days, with total sales of about 1.55 million yuan, and Chi Shuai has conducted one live broadcast in the past 30 days, with total sales of about 5.34 million yuan.

The most important thing for this group of middle-aged male celebrities who sell products on video accounts is their personality.

"I now particularly admire a woman who doesn't rely on rich men or sell her soul, but is very aggressive and elegant. Most importantly, she can support herself independently, has an independent personality and spirit. She may not be destined to be a princess, but she has the heart of a queen."

Zhu Yongteng was wearing a suit and holding a glass of water. In the video, he calmly talked about what kind of women he admired. His every move gave off a bit of a "domineering" feeling.

You may think he is greasy, but the comments section is filled with comments like "I am that kind of woman", "That's me", "You are right", accompanied by expressions such as love, likes and roses, which reminds people of the anchor "Xiucai" who was once very popular on Douyin and had many aunt fans.

Similar scenes also appear in the accounts of male stars such as He Shengming, Gao Ziqi, and Ren Zhong. They are either wearing suits, new Chinese men's clothing, or shirts and sweatshirts, discussing various topics of concern to women, reciting classic quotes, and adding text to the videos, "Sister, is this how you sleep?" "May the right person always be by your side" "Young-looking women are often kind, gentle and self-disciplined."

A sentence with the style of an emotional master, coupled with the word "sister" or "sister", can create the image of a "affectionate boss" or "gentle and warm man", which resonates with countless women and prompts them to enter the live broadcast room to support the "brother" or "teacher". The goods brought by middle-aged male stars also correspond to the needs of women.

Zhu Yongteng sells Caviar Beauty Air Cushion Cream for 69.9 yuan, Chi Shuai sells Collagen Bar Set for 399 yuan, and Gao Ziqi sells Herbal First Color Women's Underwear for 79 yuan...

Most of the products promoted by this group of middle-aged male celebrities are domestic brands or white-label products, which is also related to the proportion of merchants in the video account. The 2024 WeChat Open Class shows that in 2021, 2022, and 2023, brand merchants accounted for 6%, 10%, and 15% of the merchants in the video account respectively.

02 Childhood memories, harvested on video account

At a time when many celebrities are retiring from traditional live broadcast rooms, countless middle-aged male celebrities have opened up channels between demand and products in video account live broadcast rooms and found a second spring in their careers.

The reasons for choosing to live stream and sell goods on video accounts are, firstly, the temptation of live streaming income, and secondly, it is a "self-rescue" measure that middle-aged male stars have to do out of necessity.

Before joining the video account, this group of middle-aged male stars had more or less operated on other platforms.

He Shengming's Taobao Live and Douyin Live

Take He Shengming, who officially joined the Video Account this year, as an example. Before joining the Video Account, He Shengming had already successively deployed platforms such as Taobao Live and Douyin Live, and started multiple live broadcasts on the two platforms in 2021.

He Shengming also posted different content on different platforms: On the video account, He Shengming posted a video of interacting with Quan Hongchan's brother in Paris, saying that he is also a fan of Quan Hongchan. This video did not appear on Douyin;

At the same time, He Shengming posted a video about the traceability of French red wine on Douyin. This video, which was a warm-up for live streaming sales, did not appear on the video account.

According to data from Chanmama, He Shengming has started 19 live broadcasts on Douyin in the past 30 days, 17 of which were live broadcasts with merchandise sales, with total sales ranging from 2.5 million to 5 million yuan.

In April this year, He Shengming started live streaming on Video Account. Most of the early live streaming were singing live streaming without selling any goods, which can be seen as a part of accumulating fans. It was not until May 29 that He Shengming started his first live streaming on Video Account with goods.

Most middle-aged male stars, such as Zhu Yongteng, Ren Zhong and Gao Ziqi, also joined platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou or Taobao Live around 2020. At that time, the film and television industry was in the cold winter, and these middle-aged male stars were also looking for new "employment opportunities".

The Palace, which was once popular all over the country

Today, this group of male celebrities are no longer newcomers in the field of live streaming e-commerce. They turned to video accounts because they were attracted by the traffic potential of video accounts.

This group of middle-aged male stars who are over 40 years old became famous more than ten or even twenty years ago. They attracted a group of female fans by playing male roles in popular TV series such as "The Sky of 18 Years Old", "Palace" and "Beijing Love Story". They became familiar to the audience and became the childhood memories of many people.

In 2024, the group of women who were once attracted by them have entered the age group of "rich and free time". They have a certain consumption capacity, a low return rate, will pay for emotional value, have enough time to stay in the live broadcast room, have strong fan stickiness, and can also decide the family's daily necessities expenditure.

According to Chanmama data, 83% of He Shengming’s video viewers are female, and 42.34% are aged 31-40;

Among Zhu Yongteng's video viewers, 84% are female, and 36.71% are users over 50 years old; among Ren Zhong's video viewers, 80% are female, and 47.71% are users between 31 and 40 years old.

Portrait of Zhu Yongteng's video viewers and fans

This group of women also contributes to the growth of the video account.

At this year's WeChat Open Class, WeChat officials announced that the average customer unit price for live streaming sales on Video Accounts exceeded 200 yuan. Growth Black Box data showed that the average customer unit price for live streaming sales on Douyin and Kuaishou were 130 yuan and 88 yuan, respectively.

The person in charge of the video account once said that female consumers account for 78% of the video account, consumers in first-tier, new first-tier and second-tier cities account for more than 60%, and people aged 30-50 contributed 40% of the increase in the video account.

When the account audience is highly consistent with the platform's main audience, the reach of content and products in the target circle can be quickly improved. Many male celebrities who have tried live streaming sales on other platforms and are good at managing their personalities can quickly replicate their previous live streaming sales paths on the video account, seize the development nodes of the video account, set up live broadcast rooms on the video account, and quickly start selling goods with the help of the previous supply chain.

03 Celebrities chase traffic, and video accounts "chase stars"

Live streaming is an industry with a very strong head effect, and even celebrities cannot escape this rule.

From 2019 to 2020, various live-streaming e-commerce platforms scrambled for celebrity anchors in search of traffic effects. However, as live-streaming e-commerce entered the second half, the battle for talent among major live-streaming e-commerce platforms ended, the tide of celebrity live-streaming sales gradually receded, and celebrity anchors began to polarize into two levels.

Since 2022, celebrities such as Liu Tao, Li Xiang and Qin Hailu have successively withdrawn from the live broadcast room, and celebrities such as Jia Nailiang and Wang Zulan have become "head anchors", while celebrity anchors such as Ming Dao, Yang Zi and Huang Shengyi have been caught in the storm of "not being able to sell goods"...

Around 2020, many celebrities started live streaming to sell goods

Many middle-aged male celebrities and video accounts are looking for traffic pools and monetization opportunities on the one hand, and doing business again in different traffic fields; on the other hand, they are releasing public domain traffic to attract more traffic experts and institutions to settle in, and win the attention of merchants and brands.

As live streaming e-commerce enters the second half, the test for anchors who sell goods has become increasingly severe. "People, goods, and venue" are all indispensable. Many top anchors no longer use the slogan of "the lowest price on the entire network" but instead explore the supply chain, create their own brands, or retreat behind the scenes to become MCN agencies.

Star anchors also face greater challenges.

The rules of the game in the live broadcast room have changed. Celebrities are no longer "mascots" who can attract tens of thousands of fans to pay just by showing their faces. They need to show sufficient professional capabilities. The celebrity endorsements and traffic that were once unquantifiable have begun to materialize in the live broadcast room, and businesses have also begun to consider the return on investment behind celebrity live broadcasts.

Taking Zhu Yongteng as an example, data from Chanmama shows that Zhu Yongteng has conducted 7 live broadcasts on Douyin in the past 30 days, and only one of them had sales between 500,000 and 750,000 yuan, while the total sales of the other live broadcasts were mostly below 500,000 yuan.

In the past 30 days, Zhu Yongteng’s two live broadcasts on Video Account brought sales of goods reaching 1.55 million yuan, and the sales of a single live broadcast exceeded 750,000 yuan.

Compared with Douyin, Kuaishou and Taobao, Video Account entered the live streaming e-commerce market later and lacks top anchors. It is still a traffic pool, attracting many frustrated star anchors looking for new opportunities.

As Video Account has become the "hope of the whole village" of Tencent, the commercialization progress of Video Account has also become the focus of attention of Tencent and the capital market. This year, Tencent upgraded the Video Account Store to WeChat Store, and continued to accelerate its development. The entry of celebrity anchors is also a way for Video Account to supplement its own ecology.

On the one hand, there are high-quality fans and user groups behind the stars, and on the other hand, stars with their own traffic are used to attract brands to enter the video account live broadcast room.

For video accounts, compared with top stars who have more publicity restrictions and are more cautious about commercialization, the "childhood memories" that once dominated the screen may have a higher cost-effectiveness: during the 618 period this year, the video account used Zhong Liti as an example of going out of the circle, saying that she "provided a feasible path for celebrity talents to develop on the platform."

This group of "childhood memories" are like Zhong Liti, the many middle-aged male stars who tell chicken soup for the soul. They are just a sample for observing the situation and changes of live streaming sales on Video Accounts. It is difficult for them to become benchmark figures on Video Accounts. Compared with the top anchors who have already started to build their own supply chains, their biggest advantage lies in "people", and they have almost no advantages in "place" and "goods".

Once upon a time, live broadcast games with tens of millions of bets attracted countless stars to join in like a tide, but this game is also undergoing a brutal elimination process.

Finding the right traffic field for yourself and doing business again in a place that is not yet saturated can only temporarily alleviate the crisis. The blue ocean will always disappear. When the competition becomes fierce again, the "outdated" male stars who no longer have traffic can no longer rely solely on "childhood memories" and personal settings.

Text｜Wang Zhan Editor｜Wang Yaqi This article is written by the author of Operation Party [E-commerce Online], WeChat public account: [E-commerce Online], original/authorized to be published on Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.