With 5 million fans, "The Innate Internet Saint" has become the new top streamer in the rural track

Douyin's fan growth chart is always full of surprises, and the July chart is no exception. From the marketing tricks of tea brand @古茗, to Lei Jun's annual speech, to the new top streamer @小英一家 in the rural track, what stories are behind the increase in fans of each account? Let's explore the strategies and charm behind these accounts and see how they stand out on the big stage of Douyin.

The Douyin fan growth list for July has been released. Let’s take a look:

From the overall trend of increasing followers, July still maintained the same downward trend as June, and the account at the top of the list only increased 292.7W followers in a single month, which was even more dismal compared to the 315.6W increase in June. After that, there were 7 accounts with an increase of 2-3 million followers, and the remaining 12 accounts had an increase of 1-2 million followers.

It is worth noting that the top three on the fan increase list are not strictly speaking content creators:

The first place is the tea brand @古茗. From July 15 to July 31, the brand launched a marketing campaign with the theme of "Healthy original leaf fresh milk tea enters the 9.9 yuan era", that is, you can drink it for 9.9 yuan on the mini program, and you can drink it for as low as 0.9 yuan after inviting friends to help.

In addition, the brand also released 500,000 free coupons. Users who participated in the guessing activity during the event period could get coupons for drinking Yuanye fresh milk tea if they answered correctly. Attracted by a series of heavyweight welfare activities, @古茗's Douyin account was able to see a significant increase in the number of fans in July.

The second place is the "cool article hero" @Lei Jun, who has been on the fan-increasing list many times this year. On July 19, Lei Jun delivered his fifth personal annual speech with the theme of "Courage". Before that, he posted 8 videos in three days on Douyin to warm up. In addition to sincerely asking users questions, he also responded to some online comments and hot topics.

On July 23, Lei Jun did a live broadcast of his annual speech on Douyin, where he not only recalled his experience of learning drifting, but also responded to several hot topics raised by the annual speech. The two speeches made Lei Jun's popularity explode again. On July 19 and July 23 alone, his number of fans increased by 800,000.

@Lei Jun Tik Tok video screenshot

Ranked third is also a brand account @托斯汀（中国哈尔滨）美食局, which topped the follower growth list in June thanks to the dual linkage of short videos and live broadcasts.

After these three accounts, the remaining accounts on the list cover vertical categories such as film and television entertainment, music, brand blue V, knowledge, automobiles, food, drama, sports and fitness, etc.

Among them, @听泉鉴宝, @阿蔡美食教学, @脱江凯, @与辉同行, @江寻千(九月) and other accounts have appeared on the fan growth list many times with their distinctive content, while the rest of the accounts are new faces. Next, Kas will select a few accounts from the list for key interpretation.

@江寻千 (September) @听泉鉴宝 @脱江凯TikTok video screenshot

01 @Xiaoying's Family: A new top star emerges in the rural track

On Douyin, it is not new for rural content to become a top streamer. From the early @李子柒, @蜀中桃子姐, @潘的老佬, @牛爱芳的小春天 to @张同学, and then to @东北雨姐 and @八零徐老佬 who became popular in 2023, rural content once became the traffic code that swept the short video content ecosystem, and many rural creators have stood at the peak of traffic and have become the focus of short video users for a long time.

Analyzing the content characteristics of these rural creators, the common feature is that they combine food making with rural landscape and cultural atmosphere, allowing users to feel the simple, honest and warm original life from the seemingly rough daily life. The overall tone is positive and warm.

@Xiaoying's Family, a new generation of rural top star with over 5 million fans, presents a completely opposite picture of rural life.

"When I was a child, I wrote diary-like essays, and when I grew up, I watched diary-like videos." This is the overall perception of many users of the videos they post.

According to Kas's observation, the videos Xiaoying has released are almost all over 10 minutes long, and some are even over 30 minutes long. Although they are long, the content and pictures of the videos are not "exquisite." Generally speaking, after the opening remarks of "Moga sisters", Xiaoying begins to record in detail her daily life of herding cattle, weeding, washing clothes, cooking, taking care of children, etc., and will explain in detail in non-standard Mandarin later. Because she talks too much, her explanation is often ridiculed for not being able to keep up with her actions.

@小英一家TikTok video screenshot

Although she is always busy, unlike other capable characters in rural videos, Xiaoying is very "different" and always makes some incredible moves, such as:

When buying live fish for cooking, they put them directly into the pan without even scraping the scales off; they scrub moldy bacon with detergent instead of throwing it away; they cut off a portion of the liver that had been bitten by rats and continue to eat it, while the remaining portion is fed to the cows; the chopsticks that my daughter uses to eat are made of two tree branches;

When washing his daughter's hands, he mistook the bruises on her hands for dirt that she accidentally stained, and rubbed them violently. The daughter cried out in pain, comforting herself: "It's okay, it's okay, it's nothing." This sentence immediately became a hot topic on the Internet and was used by many netizens;

The family raised cattle, but in order to keep warm, they piled cow dung all over the cowshed, causing the cattle to sleep standing up. No matter how little food they had, they would fight at any time, which made the cattle look pitiful with "dull eyes, right-angled shoulders, and sunken buttocks". At the same time, "I wish you to be reborn as Xiaoying's cow in your next life" became the most vicious curse in 2024;

@小英一家TikTok video screenshot

Overall, Xiaoying is diligent while constantly creating funny and absurd jokes and hot topics, which creates a strong sense of contrast and drama, attracting users with a strange magic. Xiaoying, who is "funny without knowing it", is also nicknamed "the innate Internet saint" by netizens, meaning that she is born to be a member of the Internet industry.

Behind the comedic sense interwoven with abstraction and absurdity lies Xiaoying’s miserable predicament.

Xiaoying, born in 1996, met her husband "Shang Laru" at the age of 16. She was deceived by his sweet words and followed her husband to his hometown in Yunnan despite her family's opposition and gave birth to two children. After that, she faced a lazy husband with a "dramatic change in temperament" and endless farm work. In just 10 years, she turned from a youthful and bright girl into a middle-aged woman with a haggard face and vicissitudes of life. Such a situation undoubtedly added a strong tragic color to Xiaoying, and made many users, on the basis of their original "watching the fun", feel sympathy and love for her, and anger and accusations against her husband.

@小英一家TikTok video screenshot

Overall, Kasi believes that there are many reasons why Xiaoying has become the new top star in the rural track.

First, Xiaoying used her camera to show another kind of rural life, which, although not beautiful enough, is real and vivid, and allows people to see the diversity of life;

Secondly, Xiaoying presents a more vivid and three-dimensional image of a person. She is clumsy, confused, not very smart, but optimistic, tenacious, receptive, and full of vitality: when she is happy, she will spin around in a skirt and hum folk songs, and will listen to netizens' advice to clean up the rooms of her two children, and step by step create better living conditions for herself in the midst of hardship. In the process of "examining" her life for a long time, users can easily develop an emotional connection and resonance with her invisibly.

Finally, many of the nonsensical and absurd "plots" in her videos have the elements of explosive memes, are highly contagious, and can easily arouse public interest. In addition, Tsai Ing-wen's daughter "Xia Laru" also has a strong sense of the internet after she can speak, which has further accelerated her speed of becoming popular.

02 These stylized accounts also performed well

In addition to @小英一家, there are two other "stylized" accounts that are also worth paying attention to.

@小小巴尔, who has only published 18 works so far, has already reached 217.4W followers on Douyin.

The content of this account is actually very simple, that is, a pair of best friends sit in front of the camera and tell various interesting things that happened to them in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent. According to Kass's observation, among its fan base, young users aged 18-30 account for as high as 82.36%, and female users account for 76%. Kass believes that there are two core reasons why it can attract the attention of many young female users in a short period of time:

First, they cooperate well in the videos, interact sweetly, and often move in sync, showing a very good friendship that easily resonates with young users;

Secondly, the stories they told were all based on their real experiences when they were in school together. Many of the stories were already gripping and interesting in themselves, and with their excited and passionate narration, these stories became even more vivid and infectious.

In addition, their accents are both funny and recognizable, and there is a magic that makes people continue to listen. Many fans left messages in the comment area, saying that "when they speak in unison, it feels like watching a Stephen Chow movie."

According to Kas Observation, @小小巴尔 posted a video on July 3rd about how they were isolated by the whole class after they rejected the pursuit of a "social guy" with "bad words" during school. The video has received 860.6W likes so far. Starting with this video, the account has also gained more and more attention.

@小小巴尔 TikTok video screenshot

@咸鱼梦想家vlog, who used to be a cycling blogger, later transformed into a "food" blogger. Unlike the food bloggers in the public's perception, he takes a ridiculous "food" route that is unconventional.

Just like the name of its account, @咸鱼梦想家vlog shows a very salty fish lifestyle in the video:

In the video, he is always unkempt and has a scruffy beard. He wakes up every day in his simple and not very tidy rental house with a somersault to the sound of a rooster crowing. It is often after noon. After mumbling to the camera, he gets up and washes up. He uses his hands as a toothbrush, washes his hair with Liby detergent, and trims his beard with vegetable scissors. Then it is his meal time. Sometimes he orders takeout, sometimes he goes out to buy some snacks, and sometimes he cooks by himself. Watching him cooking is often so depressing:

@咸鱼梦想家 vlog Tik Tok video screenshot

On the narrow and crowded stove, he would tear various ingredients by hand and put them into the pot. The main ingredients were often the leftovers from the previous meal, and the combination of ingredients was always "unexpected". For example, purple apples, bananas, and iced black tea drinks would be added to the chicken drumstick rice.

At the same time, no matter what dish he cooks, he always sprinkles a lot of thirteen spices at the end, and for this reason, he is called the "spokesperson for thirteen spices" by many netizens. Because the food he makes cannot be associated with the word "delicious food", his stove is also called the "synthesis table of dark cuisine" and the "enchantment table".

@咸鱼梦想家 vlog Tik Tok video screenshot

After the meal is ready, @咸鱼梦想家vlog will sit at the table, eat while talking to the camera, and occasionally make a crying sound.
sound.

Overall, @咸鱼梦想家vlog shows an abstract, absurd, and rotten route that is completely contrary to beauty and refinement. The "style" is unique, and it is precisely this seemingly absurd behavior and unique lifestyle that largely satisfies the public's curiosity and curiosity. Under this slightly playful gaze, the account has attracted more and more fans. However, it is still unknown how far this "abstract" gameplay can support the account.

@咸鱼梦想家 vlog Tik Tok video screenshot