A live broadcast earns 10,000 yuan. Who is paying for the emotional value of opening blind boxes?

Some people want to make money by live streaming, while others want to get rich by training anchors.

Under the camera of the mobile phone, the host's hands appeared in front of the camera. What she repeated over and over again was to open the plastic bag in front of her. These bags are called lucky bags or blind bags. Most of them contain small dolls woven with resin or wool, which can be used as decorations or home furnishings.

These blind bags are packaged as a new thing by superimposing the gameplay of opening blind boxes in the form of live broadcast and are highly sought after by young people today.

Wang Yu, who has spent more than 10,000 yuan in the blind box live broadcast room in the past six months, told Tech Planet that when the anchor kept opening blind boxes in the live broadcast room, and even opened hidden versions that exceeded their value, he would involuntarily place orders continuously.

Consumers' pursuit has boosted the popularity of the blind box opening live broadcast segment. In the live broadcast columns of Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Kuaishou, there are endless live broadcast rooms for blind box opening. On Douyin, a blind box opening live broadcast room broadcasts for up to 7 hours a day. Although it has less than 10,000 fans, the number of likes for a single live broadcast can reach nearly 50,000.

According to the data in the "Trendy Toy Industry Development Report (2023)", the global trendy toy market size is expected to be close to US$40 billion in 2023 and reach US$44.8 billion in 2024.

The broad market prospects have pushed up the craze for live broadcasting of blind box opening. At the same time, an industrial chain centered on training for live broadcasting of blind box opening has gradually emerged.

Under the joint stimulation of labels such as "getting a hidden item" and "starting a business with low costs, 60% net profit", consumers and blind box opening anchors have become a part of this industry chain. Here, anchors accurately "harvest" blind box enthusiasts through layers of inducement, while supply manufacturers and training classes set their sights on anchors as prey.

1. The “Gambler” Trap

"26.8 yuan to open 7 blind turtle boxes." In a turtle match-up live broadcast room on Douyin, the host kept opening the bags in his hands, taking out the colorful turtles inside and placing them one by one in the nine-square grid in front of him.

At the same time, he kept repeating the rules: "If you open a bag of the color you wish for, you open an extra bag. If you open a bag of the same color in the nine-square grid, you open an extra bag. The game stops when there are no more bags of the same color in the nine-square grid."

This is one of the most common ways to play in the current live broadcast of blind box opening. A blind box anchor told Tech Planet that in the rules of the live broadcast of blind box opening, the blind box is actually regarded as the final game reward, which attracts many users to play, including "matching", "guessing the points", "poker comparison", "jumping squares", etc.

Take turtle matching as an example. Different consumers, even if they spend the same amount of money, will get different numbers of turtles. "The most I've ever gotten is 41 turtles," Wang Yu said. At the same time, he said that the number he can usually get is around 20.

In fact, the live broadcast room for opening blind boxes once focused on opening genuine IP blind boxes, and attracted users to place orders through the slogan "Shoot now and open now, and you will have a chance to open a hidden model". The hidden model is a style with an extremely small probability of being drawn in the trendy blind box. Due to its rarity, it has great appeal to players.

With the influx of hosts in the blind box opening track, we have gradually entered an era where "everything can be opened" and the gameplay is more diverse. At present, not only turtles, but also stationery, plastic fruits, refrigerator magnets, key chains and other products, after being packaged in sealed bags, can support a blind box opening live broadcast room.

Under the dual stimulation of the "blind box + betting game live broadcast", Wang Yu told Tech Planet that the pleasure and excitement of opening blind boxes live is much stronger than opening blind boxes by yourself offline, and if hidden items or larger quantities are opened, it can also satisfy the vanity of buyers.

Tech Planet entered a live broadcast room on Douyin where turtles were opening blind boxes. The whole process was watched by thousands of people. When the host opened the box that the orderer wished for or the same color, they would excitedly shout "I got it" or "One more" and other phrases. In the barrage, some onlookers would also calculate the number of boxes opened for the orderer and express their envy.

Users captured by the "emotional value" placed orders one after another in the live broadcast room. Wang Yu said that he once placed 7 orders in a row during a live broadcast.

Unlike the collection value of genuine IP blind boxes, these turtles, fruit toys, refrigerator magnets and other plastic toys almost lose their value the moment they are unpacked after the order is placed.

Wang Yu told Tech Planet that when he opened the package and saw hundreds of plastic turtles, he felt regretful. "I kept asking myself what the purpose of these little toys was."

2. There is no anchor who can make money without losing money

A merchant who supplies blind boxes told Tech Planet that taking the small turtle as an example, the purchase price is between 0.2 and 0.4 cents each, depending on the size. If the purchase quantity is large, the price can be even lower.

A live streamer told Tech Planet that at the price of 26.8 yuan, if consumers can open about 60 boxes, plus shipping costs, the live streamer is not losing money. "On average, my live streamer opens about 20 boxes, and including shipping costs, the average cost per order is about 13 yuan."

Moreover, due to the particularity of the blind box live broadcast room, rules such as no returns after unpacking are generally formulated, which shortens the delivery chain and basically does not need to worry about the corresponding costs brought by after-sales service. "After unpacking, the express delivery slip will be issued immediately, and the transaction is over," said the above anchor.

As a result, this seemingly profitable business attracted a large number of anchors to join in, and Xiaomi was one of them.

Xiaomi is a fan of the second dimension and loves to open blind boxes. After Pop Mart launched the Mengli product line, she became a loyal buyer of this type of blind boxes. Xiaomi told Tech Planet that the live broadcast product she chose was Mengli, which is a mini trendy toy with a small size and a slightly lower retail price, but with more diverse packaging and gameplay.

"To set up a Douyin live broadcast room for opening blind boxes, the initial investment is about 30,000 yuan," Xiaomi told Tech Planet. The store deposit, guarantee and business license account for most of the costs, and the cost of purchasing goods is about 5,000 yuan.

"The biggest problem is traffic." In May this year, Xiaomi found that after broadcasting several times, there was basically no one watching under natural flow, and the number of transactions was 0. It was not until an event was held at a loss-making price that the record of 0 transactions was broken. From May to now, Xiaomi has sold less than 30 orders.

Tech Planet searched for live broadcasts with the keyword "blind box trendy toys" and observed in multiple live broadcast rooms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu that the gameplay and product selection of blind box opening live broadcasts are highly homogenized. At the same time, a live broadcast e-commerce practitioner told Tech Planet, "Besides homogeneity, it is very difficult for a new store to start from scratch."

At the same time as the current lack of traffic, Xiaomi gradually felt the pressure of overstocking. She said, "It's like a vicious cycle. No one watches the live broadcast, no one places orders, which will lead to overstocking of goods. And with the endless emergence of trendy IPs, overstocking means losses, and the final outcome is to clear the stock at a loss."

Pipi, who also entered the blind box live broadcast this year, told Tech Planet that most of the live broadcast rooms that rely on natural traffic have very few people online, but spending money without understanding the investment and operation methods is actually just achieving the purpose of clearing stock through investment.

Now, Xiaomi and Pipi, which have been in the market for less than a year, have posted on social media platforms about transferring their supply. After this entrepreneurial experience, they realized that this business was obviously not as good as they had imagined.

3. The harvesting chain behind the anchor

Unlike Xiaomi and Pipi, there are still many entrepreneurs rushing to join the market.

Under a post on Xiaohongshu seeking sources of blind box goods, there are hundreds of comments such as "how to make" and "please bring me some". On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Kuaishou, there are endless posts claiming that a "blind box opening live broadcast" earned over 10,000 yuan.

Labels such as "financial freedom", "over 1,000 orders per day", "easy monthly income of 100,000", and "the first choice for side jobs" stimulate the attention of entrepreneurs. In a blind box live broadcast exchange group, users constantly ask "how to do it".

Xiaomi told Tech Planet that with the rising popularity of live broadcasts of blind box unpacking, a training industry chain has been formed around anchor speech, supply chain sourcing of trendy toys, and operational guidance.

Before the broadcast, Xiaomi spent 60 yuan to buy a script guide, which included some precautions, as well as scripts to liven up the atmosphere and promote transactions. For example, you don't need to show your face during live broadcasts, but you must learn to interact with the audience and mobilize their emotions, so that you can sell products better and retain more viewers. For another example, don't let the audience feel that you are being tricked, you must learn to control the scene, attract interaction, and stimulate consumption.

Live broadcasting skills are only one part of the training. Tech Planet consulted a merchant who claimed to be a trendy toy supply chain, who said he could provide guidance from the perspective of product selection, but it would cost money.

Another "expert" who claims to be able to provide comprehensive training to become a trendy toy anchor said that the price of a one-on-one course is 2,999 yuan, and you can learn how to start an account. The specific way of cooperation is to pay the money first, and then connect with the instructor. The instructor will provide one-on-one live broadcast guidance based on the positioning of the account, and will also assist in shooting and editing video works based on the positioning of the account.

An employee of an agency said that live broadcast training is not new, and the projects under the name of trendy live broadcast training are just vertically focused on a niche field. He also said that most of these training institutions are unreliable.

Tech Planet checked the Black Cat Complaints and found that there were more than 10,000 complaints about "Tik Tok Training". These users reported that they saw advertisements for live streaming training on social platforms. After paying the training fees, they applied for a refund due to lack of effect, but were rejected.

Pipi told Tech Planet that the live broadcast of blind box opening has not been popular for long, but many institutions do not have actual cases of operation, and most instructors have no operation experience. Some training courses even guide students to become trainers.

Nowadays, in the blind box live broadcast room, some people want to make money by live broadcasting, and some people want to get rich by training in live broadcasting. Whether they are consumers or anchors, they have become a link in the harvesting chain.

(Note: All names in this article are pseudonyms.)