2 yuan a pack, earning a million a month? Young people open up a 10 billion market by opening up credit cards

With the rise of Generation Z’s consumer power, a new consumer phenomenon is quietly taking shape: card-unpacking livestreaming. These livestreaming rooms use cards priced as low as 2 yuan per pack as a medium, attracting a large number of young viewers to participate and consume, creating astonishing sales and even a myth of earning millions of yuan a month. This article will explore the rise of card-unpacking livestreaming, the economic logic behind it, and the impact of this phenomenon on the card market and related industry chains.

"Don't touch it if you don't have self-control!" "My family, who knows? I spent more than 20,000 yuan a month..." "Don't touch the card removal live broadcast, you will become unlucky!"

On social platforms, there are more and more discussions about "card demolition". Some people joke that "each generation has its own trash": people born in the 1980s and 1990s collect Water Margin cards and Three Kingdoms cards, while people born in the 2000s collect My Little Pony cards and Ultraman cards.

Unconsciously, cards, once known as social currency for primary school students, have become the "top stream" of Generation Z after Pop Mart. Cards of different IPs quickly became popular with the help of live broadcast rooms, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers. Some people spent thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan a night to have the anchor "open them for them", some used the live broadcast room as a sleep aid, and some became fans of the anchor who opened the cards...

A small card brought millions of sales to the live broadcast room and also enabled the card company behind it to grow rapidly.

In the first half of 2024 alone, the sales of the card company Kayou on Douyin reached 278 million yuan, second only to the trendy toy giant Pop Mart. In the whole year of 2023, Kayou's sales on Douyin were only more than 80 million yuan.

When the myth of wealth appeared in the live broadcast room of card opening, countless players who smelled the scent of wealth joined in.

"Many people want to get a piece of the pie." Chen Hao started a card-opening live broadcast room in April this year. In his opinion, the card-opening live broadcast room has a low threshold and makes money quickly. On various social platforms and sideline groups, countless people say that the card-opening live broadcast room is the "profitable track in 2024". It only costs 20,000 to 30,000 yuan to start, with a profit margin of up to 30% to 40%.

On social platforms and e-commerce platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Taobao, one after another card-opening live broadcast rooms have emerged. Even former idol Ding Zeren, the first-generation top internet celebrity Aqin, and young actor Huang Ziqi have started card-opening live broadcasts under the names of "Fengyun Card Opening", "Aqin's Card Opening Diary" and "Jiuou Card Opening".

Young people have once again grown a circle and brought new stories to the live broadcast room. However, in this game of chasing the myth of wealth, the anchors are more like participating players, some win and some lose. The one who can really make a steady profit in this game is the dealer holding the chips behind the scenes.

1.20,000 yuan to build a million-dollar business?

"Congratulations, boss! 71/188!"

At 2 a.m., Su Su's live broadcast room still had nearly 100 viewers online. She opened several packs of cards and skilfully flipped through them one by one. Then, she rang the bell on the table in surprise, congratulating the boss who placed the order for winning a limited numbered card. The comments on the screen were all "Congratulations, boss!" "Boss is so lucky!" "Good luck!"

This is a typical card-opening live broadcast room.

In the yellow cart link of the card-opening live broadcast room, the low-priced cards are a few yuan per pack, and the high-priced "end box" and "end box" cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. The peak traffic of the live broadcast room is at night, and it is normal to broadcast until two or three in the morning. The anchor is opening the card version of the blind box in the live broadcast room, speaking all kinds of "secret words". "Edit" refers to the numbered cards; "71/188" means that a total of 188 cards of this unique card were produced, and this card is the 71st; "milk a mouthful" means that the anchor will give an extra pack; "end box/lift box" means that the customer directly places an order to open a box of cards...

Setting up the card removal live broadcast room

Unlike the complicated and difficult to understand jargon, the setup of the card-opening live broadcast room can be described as "simple": a small signboard saying "Minors are prohibited from placing orders", a transparent acrylic shelf with various cards, a table, a pair of scissors, a mobile phone, and the camera is aimed at the host's hands and the table.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, many anchors share their experiences of spending 20,000 yuan, 30,000 yuan or 50,000 yuan to create a card-opening live broadcast room.

"I spent a few thousand yuan to set up the live broadcast room." Su Su is a personal card-opening anchor. The low investment and low threshold are one of the main reasons for her to enter the industry. Chen Hao, who runs a live broadcast company, also revealed that "setting up a card-opening live broadcast room, including various equipment, may cost more than 10,000 yuan."

The live broadcast business of card opening, which seems to have a "low threshold" on the surface, actually has a high invisible threshold.

"At the beginning, we need to prepare at least five or six boxes of goods." Chen Hao revealed that in the early stage of the live broadcast room, we need to rely on cards with a large user base to attract traffic, and we must also choose popular IP cards from major manufacturers such as Kayou, Jikashe and Kabao Cultural and Creative. "My Little Pony, Sanrio, and Identity V are all cards that can drive traffic to the live broadcast room in the early stage."

The card-opening anchor Kiki also said that to start the live broadcast room, at least five or six IP cards need to be prepared, at least one box for each IP. "If the traffic is good, opening one box a day is the norm. If the purchase is small, there will be no cards to open the next day. The purchase price of the card game is 55% off the retail price. A box of cheap cards costs about 1,500 yuan, and expensive ones cost about 4,000 yuan."

Many interviewed card-opening live broadcast practitioners said that it costs 20,000 to 40,000 yuan to prepare stocks in the early stage, and the platform has a certain collection period, and it is necessary to continuously invest in stocking funds in the later stage, which requires about 100,000 yuan of working capital. Su Su, who saw the low threshold to enter the market, unknowingly spent nearly 40,000 yuan on card-opening live broadcasts, and Chen Hao's two card-opening live broadcast rooms invested nearly 170,000 yuan in half a month.

However, such a high invisible threshold still does not stop many new players. The biggest reason is profit.

According to Chanmama data, in the past 30 days, the live broadcast sales of multiple card-removing accounts such as Jiuou Card-Removing, Shaoji Card-Removing, Qiye Card-Removing Club and Liu Xiaowen Card-Removing ranged from 1 million to 2.5 million yuan. The top card-removing anchor "Jiou Card-Removing" had sales of 10 million to 25 million yuan on Douyin in the first half of 2024 alone, which is comparable to the mid-level anchors.

Some people claim that the gross profit of live card unpacking can easily reach 40%-50%, and the net profit is 30%. In January this year, Kayou, a leading company in the card industry, submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The prospectus shows that in 2021, 2022, and the first three quarters of 2023, the gross profit of Kayou's trading cards was 59.5%, 69.9%, and 71.2%, respectively.

Low threshold and high returns tempt many players who want to enter or have already entered the card unpacking live broadcast industry. Card unpacking live broadcast tutorials are spread on social platforms, and card unpacking live broadcast rooms are emerging on social platforms and e-commerce platforms.

2. "Crazy" cards quickly break the circle

Chen Hao has done live show broadcasts and also worked in live e-commerce in Yiwu.

As early as 2020, he did a live broadcast of unpacking cards on Douyin, but it failed in less than a month. "Most of the early cards were star cards. There were more male consumers, and many merchants had their own private domains, either QQ groups, WeChat groups, Tieba, or KaTao APP. Some people also did it on Douyin, but the market was small and the competition was fierce. The purchase price threshold of star cards was also relatively high, so it was difficult to do it."

At that time, playing cards were a niche culture in a small circle. Although it had a certain audience and had primary and secondary markets, it was still in its infancy as a whole and user education was insufficient.

Chen Hao felt the changes between 2022 and 2023.

In 2022, the Ultraman series of cards, which were popular among primary school students, made cards popular, and the card company behind it, Kayou, also became popular with a revenue of over 4 billion yuan in 2022. Since then, the card business has been noticed by more and more people.

Also in 2022-2023, card games have successively launched cards of multiple domestic IPs and popular overseas IPs, such as Qin's Moon, Hatsune Miku, Battle Through the Heavens, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Lord of Mysteries, and Egg Party. At the same time, Tencent launched the card business "QQ Collection Card", iQiyi variety show "China Rap Peak Showdown" launched character cards, and Dunhuang Cultural and Creative also launched card products... Suddenly, everything can be made into a card.

Different IP cards in offline card game stores

These domestic IPs and popular IPs involve animation, novels, games and other fields, covering audiences of multiple age groups, and also have their own fans and traffic. With the influence of IP, the once niche card game quickly completed market education.

Compared with star cards that cost as little as a dozen yuan and as much as several hundred yuan, domestic cards can be priced as low as 1 yuan, allowing many consumers to experience the joy of "opening cards" with a relatively low threshold. The consumer group has also changed with the changes in the cards.

If My Little Pony and Ultraman cards have captured the hearts of many primary school students, then cards from domestic and popular IPs have captured the hearts of countless young people, the "Generation Z".

According to Chanmama data, 34% of the live viewers of "Old Zebra Card Unpacking and Guagua Card Unpacking" that focus on star cards are between 31 and 40 years old, and 87% are male. In contrast, there are top Douyin card unpacking anchors who focus on other cards. Among them, 39% of the live viewers of "Jiuou Card Unpacking" are between 18 and 23 years old, and 57% are female; 37.4% of the live viewers of "Roast Chicken Card Unpacking" are between 18 and 23 years old, and 56% are female; 31.9% of the live viewers of "Seven Nights Card Unpacking Club" are between 18 and 23 years old, and 73% are female.

A young woman is checking cards in a Kayou offline store

Cards have captured young people and women, and the traffic and revenue of card-opening live broadcast rooms have gradually surged. According to a report by Tiger Sniff, a consumer investor said that the turnover of the Douyin live card-opening industry has increased from 200 million yuan in 2020 to 3 billion yuan in the first half of 2023.

The card-opening anchor Kiki transformed from a card-opening player to an anchor.

The first time she saw a live broadcast of card unpacking, she didn’t know what cards were, nor could she tell the difference between IPs and manufacturers such as My Little Pony and Sanrio. However, the “affordable” cards with a minimum price of 2 yuan and the warm atmosphere in the live broadcast room made her place an order for 8.8 yuan.

During that attempt, Kiki won a Sanrio SP card (a rare card). The host shouted "so lucky" in surprise, and many people in the live broadcast room sent out comments such as "so lucky". Kiki checked and found that the card could be sold for 25 yuan on a second-hand trading platform, "which is equivalent to making a profit after drawing the card once."

With the participation of anchors and viewers, the card-opening live broadcast room has become a social "field". Each beautiful and exquisite card has its own collectible nature, and the secondary market has given the cards a certain investment attribute, which is one of the reasons why many players join the game. A pack of cards worth more than ten yuan can be sold for tens, hundreds or even thousands of yuan in the secondary market as long as a rare card is opened.

The secondary market price of cards on social platforms and second-hand trading platforms

Kiki felt "addicted" to card opening. In just half a month, she spent nearly 5,000 yuan in the card opening live broadcast room.

But there are always few rare cards, and only a few people can truly "return their investment". Many card-opening players choose to become card-opening hosts themselves. Kiki also applied to become a part-time card-opening host in June this year. "It's all about experiencing the thrill of opening cards. Compared to spending money to open cards, being a host to open cards is more profitable."

3. A multi-billion-dollar mine, gold diggers have a harder time winning against shovel sellers

Driven by live broadcast rooms, various IPs and countless "addicted" young people, the card market has been booming, and capital has also turned its attention to this track.

Hitcard, founded in 2021, received four rounds of financing in one year, and also attracted giants in the trendy toy industry such as Pop Mart to join; in 2023, Jason Animation, the company behind the Collectible Card Club, received its first round of financing led by bilibili. The "2023 China Collectible Card Market Research Report" shows that in 2022, the market size of China's collectible card industry exceeded 10 billion yuan, and it is expected that by 2025, the market size will reach 27.66 billion yuan.

Small cards have created a multi-billion-dollar gold mine, with countless players joining in the "gold rush". Even celebrities and first-generation internet celebrities have started live-streaming card-opening shows this year. But is live-streaming card-opening really the new "wealth myth" of 2024?

Internet celebrity Aqin and star Ding Zeren are both doing live broadcasts of card opening

Neither Chen Hao, Kiki, Susu and other card-opening hosts or behind-the-scenes operators could give an answer.

Su Su said frankly that her card-opening live broadcast room had a maximum monthly sales of 140,000 yuan. If she calculated the profit at 30%, she might have made more than 40,000 yuan, but in fact, she only made about 20,000 yuan. Many card-opening anchors said that the profit of about 10%-15% is the real situation.

First of all, there is the internal competition in the card-opening live broadcast room.

"Card unpacking in the live broadcast room is not the same as offline card unpacking. Only big anchors can unpack it completely. It is difficult for small anchors to sell it at full price. They have to use gameplay to attract audiences, and their profits will decrease." Chen Hao told us that in addition to traffic, platform sharing, materials and refunds in the live broadcast room, "gameplay" is the most influential factor in profits.

Flat splitting means that the anchor will split as many packs of cards as consumers bid, but most small anchors will develop various card splitting gameplay for consumers. For example, the stacking gameplay means buying card packs at a price higher than the market price, specifying a certain card slot (the rarity level of the card), and after the anchor splits the corresponding card, he must stack and split several more packs of cards according to the rules until no more can be added. Kiki said bluntly, "In the card splitting live broadcast room, the 'gameplay' is a 'gamble'."

At the same time, since “everything can become a card”, the anchor needs to constantly update the types of cards and the richness of IP in the live broadcast room in order to continue to attract the audience’s attention. Behind this is the continuous investment of stock funds.

Secondly, different anchors have different voices.

The retail price of cards is transparent enough, but the purchase price is not. A card dealer told us, "The live broadcast room basically purchases goods from dealers in various places, both online and offline. The online purchase price of cards from large manufacturers such as Kayou is relatively fixed, about 55% off, while the purchase price of some small manufacturers can be negotiated to 70% off, and the inventory backlog cards can even be bought at 10% or 20% off."

However, the dealer also said that if the purchase volume is large, the purchase price of cards from large manufacturers will also change. For example, the official card purchase price stipulated by the card game is 55% off, but many dealers will give rebates to large customers, and can give 3-5 rebates on the basis of 55% off. Another card dealer said that in addition to the 55% discount on purchases, he can also give 6 rebates, "If you buy a lot of goods, the rebate can be further negotiated."

Compared with small anchors, big anchors with a larger fan base and higher sales have stronger bargaining power with dealers and can get lower purchase prices.

Finally, there are changes in the rules of card companies and platforms.

Several card-opening anchors and card dealers said that card sales also have a regional protection strategy. Every summer vacation is a period when card companies’ supervision becomes stricter to prevent low-priced goods from being sold indiscriminately.

As more and more card-opening live broadcast rooms are set up, the platform's supervision has also followed suit. Starting from January this year, Douyin banned card-opening live broadcast rooms from using "gameplay" to attract consumers. Anchors also need to obtain authorization from card dealers to conduct card-opening live broadcasts, and the deposit for card-opening live broadcast rooms has also increased from 2,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan.

The cost that once allowed to set up a card-opening live broadcast room may now only be enough to pay a deposit.

However, despite the declining profits and changes in the rules, many players are still flocking in. On the one hand, the 10% profit is still tempting enough, and on the other hand, compared with other categories, card-opening live broadcasts are not saturated and are a business that can be easily entered, attracting many speculators.

Even though the platform has banned games such as Jenga, many anchors have quietly developed new games. Secret codes such as "hiding from mosquitoes", "dropping handkerchiefs" and "Candy Crush" have been revived in the live broadcast rooms, attracting batches of young people to spend a lot of money and "gamble" until the early morning.

New gameplay in the card-opening live broadcast room

However, it remains to be seen how long this “big gamble” can last.

The card business, just like the trendy consumption in the past, is a polarized market. Those who participate in it feel that it is great value for money and everything can be speculated, while those who stay out of it just think it is a "tax on IQ."

In Chen Hao's opinion, the card-opening live broadcast room can continue to operate because people continue to consume, and users are willing to continue to pay, mainly because of the existence of the secondary market. "No matter how good the craftsmanship of a card is, or how popular the IP is, the cost will not be too high. Only when there is a market and circulation can it have value." Faced with the rapidly developing market, Chen Hao is also a little worried, "Once the secondary market collapses, it will be all over."

Just like trendy consumption, the card-opening live broadcast room and the card-opening anchor are just gold diggers in this gold mine. Some people dig up gold with one shovel, while others only find wasteland with one shovel.

The winner who can laugh to the end and make a profit without losing money may be the one who controls the gold mine in this game. The card-opening live broadcast and card-opening live broadcast room, which have become the new top stream for young people, will be another attractive story that the card game that is rushing to be listed on the Hong Kong stock market can tell to the capital market.

Author: Wang Zhan

Source: WeChat official account: "E-commerce Online (ID: dianshangmj)"