6 bloggers with tens of millions of followers, 656 bloggers with millions of followers, who is gaining followers crazily on Douyin? | Mid-year observation

Douyin's creation of "gods" is a well-known way of attracting traffic. By accepting new traffic bloggers from other platforms, Douyin's user expansion has reached its peak, and countless bloggers with millions of fans have attracted a large number of laymen. How does Douyin create "gods" and where does the traffic come from?

In 2024, TikTok's traffic throne will be more secure.

Recently, with the help of the Douyin data tool XinDou under Xinbang, I retrieved the 1,000 accounts with the most followers on Douyin in the first half of 2024. (Data description: media accounts, government accounts, and platform accounts are not counted, and the time range is 2024.1.1-2024.6.30)

Data shows that in the first half of this year, there were 6 Douyin accounts with more than 10 million followers, and 656 accounts with 1 million to 10 million followers, which is far ahead of other major content platforms.

What is more noteworthy is that many accounts have risen from nothing to the center of the Douyin stage. On January 9, Dong Yuhui’s new account premiered, and “Walking with Hui” gained nearly 20 million followers in half a year; the song “Promise” swept the entire network, and the grassroots “Guo Youcai (Heze Shuge)” gained more than 10 million followers in 10 days...

Who gets all the traffic from Douyin? What changes have taken place in Douyin's algorithm logic? Based on the top 1000 Douyin bloggers in the first half of 2024, and the top 100 bloggers with the most followers as the main research samples, I summarized three observations.

1. From Dong Yuhui to Lei Jun and Guo Youcai, Douyin’s game of creating gods

The top three bloggers with the most followers in the first half of 2024 are anchor Dong Yuhui, entrepreneur Lei Jun, and grassroots Guo Youcai.
In January this year, after "breaking up" with Oriental Selection, Dong Yuhui appeared in the "Walk with Hui" live broadcast room and began to independently operate the new live broadcast room as the boss. The first broadcast brought in over 100 million yuan in sales and gained 2.75 million fans.

Since then, Dong Yuhui's talent and popularity have been fully unleashed. From talking with Nobel Prize winners in literature to traveling in Hong Kong with Huo Qigang, his every move can easily become a hot search. So far, the number of fans of "Traveling with Hui" has exceeded 20.78 million, and Dong Yuhui's personal Douyin account has also gained 1.99 million fans in half a year.

In April this year, in order to cooperate with the launch of Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun began to focus on operating the Douyin account. Because of his legendary life experience, he was given the persona of "the male protagonist of the cool article". In 30 days, his Douyin followers increased by more than 4.05 million. Driven by Lei Jun, the entrepreneur circle has set off an IP craze, and Zhou Hongyi, Wei Jianjun and other entrepreneurs have all started to shoot Douyin.

Guo Youcai’s sudden popularity seems somewhat unexpected.

Guo Youcai is not a newcomer to the Internet. As early as 2017, he became famous for his "Heze Step". But before he became popular, this rural guy from Heze, Shandong, who was born in 1999, was always a nobody on the Internet, with less than 200,000 fans on Douyin.

But in May this year, because of his cover of "Promise" by Taiwanese singer Li Yijyun, Guo Youcai suddenly became a traffic sensation. Not only was it rumored that his income from live broadcast rewards was as high as three or four million, he was also hired as the cultural and tourism recommendation officer of Heze City.

In addition to super internet celebrities such as Dong Yuhui, Lei Jun, and Guo Youcai, because of the phrase "Great Wall Cannon", "Dalilun loves to eat spinach" gained 3.01 million followers in 30 days, and because of the phrase "Nida, I want to smoke", "Chi Yelin Club" gained nearly 4 million followers in 30 days.

All these prove that Douyin has a stronger ability to create idols. A person can gain millions of fans because of his talent and experience, or he may become a Douyin celebrity just because of a song or a sentence.

If we focus on the various vertical tracks of Douyin, the saying “Douyin is permanent, but internet celebrities come and go” becomes more obvious.

As the popularity of "Mr. Zhang" declined in the "Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers" category, Douyin saw the emergence of "Northeast Rain Sister" with a very similar editing style, which gained 6.76 million followers in half a year. "Grandma Xu from the Eighties" followed closely behind, gaining 2.86 million followers in half a year by relying on the nostalgic rural life in Northeast China.

In the pastoral track, "Li Ziqi" has been silent, while "Jiang Xunqian (September)" and "Shanbai" have emerged one after another, with their fans increasing by 4.78 million and 3.7 million respectively in the first half of this year.

In the foreigner track, after "Stupid Xiao Liu", this year there appeared "Basic Yuri" whose fans increased by 5.54 million in half a year and "Qianqianlong" whose fans increased by 5.27 million in half a year.

In the food broadcasting track, after "Langweixian" was severely damaged by a dispute with a cooperative organization, "Zhou Hei Ya, who loves to eat", which gained 6.38 million followers in half a year, became the new king of the food broadcasting track.

The vertical track of Douyin shows a characteristic of becoming popular in a wave-like manner. There will always be new representative bloggers emerging, and the previous wave will always be beaten to death on the beach by the next wave.

On TikTok, you can feel a subtle sense of planning: when a representative blogger in an ecological niche becomes silent, either actively or passively, there will inevitably be newcomers to fill the vacancy.

2. Short dramas are popular, co-creation is popular, and brand followers increase, new traffic opportunities for Douyin

Which tracks of Douyin have more opportunities?

Among the TOP1000 bloggers with the most followers, the top blogger types with the highest proportion are life, drama interpretation, music, food, film and television variety shows, mother and baby, games, humanities and social sciences, beauty, two-dimensional, and current affairs and society .

By observing the top 100 bloggers with the most followers, we can summarize some more specific track opportunity judgments.

1. The appearance track has always been regarded as the password for traffic

Looking back to the past, good-looking bloggers such as "Wen Wan" and "Peng Shiliu elf" made great contributions to the success of Tik Tok.

But today, even celebrities no longer show off their looks. For example, Daniel Wu, who is known as the synonym of good looks, chose to play memes with his fans after joining Douyin on May 18. He currently has 6.23 million followers on Douyin. Apart from celebrities, among the top 100 bloggers with the most followers, only Ben Jiyouli, Qian Qianlong, Shirley Lin, and Han Qing Xiaokeai 🦖 barely have the edge of being a good-looking blogger.

But upon closer inspection, the more prominent labels of "Kiyori Ben" and "Qianqian Long" are their foreign identities, "Han Qing little cutie 🦖" relies more on singing, and "Shirley Lin" is nicknamed "Lin's International Bank daughter" because of her character as a rich girl who eats at the United Nations headquarters.

It can be asserted that bloggers who only care about appearance have basically no chance on Tik Tok, and they have to be at least “Beauty+”.

2. Dating emotional track

In March this year, by helping young people to go on offline blind dates, "Kaifeng godmother Zhao Mei" became the "love magician" of countless young people. She gained 2.33 million followers in 10 days and 6.8 million followers in half a year.

Driven by "Kaifeng godmother-Zhao Mei", the blind date emotional track has also become a popular track on Douyin, and a large number of love planners and blind date analysts have emerged. For example, "Shan Liang¹⁰³" relied on precise blind date analysis to increase his followers by 2.75 million in half a year.

The dating and emotional track has always been a track with a lot of traffic and controversy. For example, "Ququ Big Woman" was called "the leader of gold diggers" because of her so-called "upward socializing" and was eventually blocked from the entire network due to excessive controversy. Nowadays, the national tour of "Kaifeng Godmother-Zhao Mei" has also repeatedly been involved in controversy due to different customs across the country.

Perhaps, the dating scene is doomed to be controversial.

3. Short Drama Track

Last year, with the emergence of a series of hits such as "Escape from the British Museum", short dramas completely went viral. This year, short dramas have become the traffic code of TikTok.

Some incorporate elements of skits into plot segments, such as "Seven Orangutans", which gained 6.23 million followers in half a year thanks to the video series "Reborn as a Nanny in a Domineering President's Skit".

Some simply rely on skits to attract fans. For example, "Xiao Miao Jia", who edits skit clips, has gained 4.51 million fans in half a year, and "Zhi Jian Short Drama", who uploads complete skits, has gained 3.6 million fans in half a year. According to statistics, there are at least 21 short drama accounts on Douyin with more than one million fans.

Douyin’s traffic distribution is not only related to the track, but also to the gameplay.

In the first half of this year, fitness blogger "Hua Xiaolong" successively shot videos with "Tong Jincheng", "Zhang Baiqiao", "Li Paoer" and "Chen Ze-" to teach them self-discipline. Different from working out alone, these videos collided with a lot of sparks and also brought a lot of traffic to "Hua Xiaolong".

The most popular one is the "Dragon King CP" formed by "Hua Xiaolong" and "☀️Teacher Wang". Frequent live broadcasts and wonderful slice videos, in the imagination of netizens, "Hua Xiaolong" and "☀️Teacher Wang" staged a sweet love. In the first half of this year, "Hua Xiaolong" and "☀️Teacher Wang" gained 4.51 million and 2.37 million followers on Douyin respectively.

The "Dragon King CP" peripheral products made by netizens have relied on their explosive creativity. "A makeup artist rabbit in Banna" successfully collaborated with celebrities such as Yang Di and Zhu Zixiao. Not only did it become a hot topic on multiple platforms, but the number of fans on Douyin also increased by 2.36 million in half a year.

"Hua Xiaolong" and "A Makeup Artist Rabbit in Banna" have proved that compared to a blogger working alone, creating videos with more bloggers and celebrities who have their own traffic and increasing the freshness and unexpectedness of the content is a more effective way to increase followers.

Bloggers are gaining followers, and official brand accounts are also busy.

Perhaps it is because after years of development, brands have finally learned how to shoot videos and do live broadcasts. In the first half of this year, the number of followers of 16 Douyin brand official accounts, including "Pizza Hut Discount Official", "Tustin (Chinese Hamburger) Food Bureau", "Wahaha Official Flagship Store", "McDonald's Douyin Gold Store", and "Shanghai Auntie Fresh Fruit Tea", all exceeded 2 million.

Among them, relying on high-frequency live short videos and preferential prices, local lifestyle brands "Pizza Hut Discount Officer" and "Tustin (Chinese Hamburger) Food Bureau" gained 6.08 million and 4.86 million followers respectively.

According to 36Kr, Douyin is planning to reduce the proportion of traffic allocated to live broadcasts by influencers and tilt the traffic to high-quality short videos and brand store broadcasts.

Nowadays, Douyin has basically completed e-commerce infrastructure and user education. If the platform increases its support for brand store broadcasts and shelf e-commerce, brand official accounts will inevitably usher in a new wave of development.

3. From Huya’s “Zhang Daxian” to Kuaishou’s “outdoor posting”, Douyin’s siphoning effect is becoming more and more obvious

Not only does Tik Tok have a strong ability to create idols, its siphon effect is also becoming increasingly obvious.

On November 26, 2023, "Zhang Daxian" officially announced his joining of Douyin Live, and launched his Douyin Live debut on Douyin on December 2. That night, "Zhang Daxian"'s live broadcast was watched by more than 60 million people, with a peak online audience of 2.48 million.

On January 12, 2024, "Chen Ze-" also held his live broadcast debut on Douyin. That night, the live broadcast of "Chen Ze-" was watched by more than 39.5 million people, with a peak online audience of nearly 2.6 million.

What they have in common is that they are both well-known game anchors in the industry. "Zhang Daxian" has been the most popular anchor of "Honor of Kings" for five consecutive years. However, as Douyin becomes more and more powerful, the two have decided to switch from Huya and Kuaishou to Douyin. In the first half of this year, "Zhang Daxian" and "Chen Ze-" gained 5.34 million and 10 million fans on Douyin respectively.

After "Zhang Daxian" joined Douyin, Huya anchor "Tong Jincheng" once said: "The boss has run away, who will give us traffic in the future. Otherwise, you (Huya) should go bankrupt and return the contract to me." "Tong Jincheng" believes that after Douyin opens the live broadcast of King of Glory, there will definitely be someone who will reap the biggest dividend, and it will definitely not be "Zhang Daxian", and it will definitely not be "Zhang Daxian".

It is worth noting that in the first half of this year, the Douyin official account of NetEase's game Egg Party had the largest increase in fans in the gaming field, with an increase of 16.08 million fans in half a year. Perhaps this year, Douyin will have a top Egg Party anchor.

At present, Douyin has gathered many top game anchors from other sites, such as "Zhang Daxian", "Chen Ze-", and "Xu Xu Baby". The MCN agency Dahaixingchen founded by "Tong Jincheng" has also significantly increased its layout on Douyin. "☀️ Mr. Wang", who has 5.06 million Douyin fans, is a blogger under Dahaixingchen.

In addition to game anchors, many Kuaishou entertainment anchors also plan to start again on Douyin.

Among the top 100 bloggers with the most followers, "Outdoor Hair (Dongfang Abao)" with an increase of 5.8 million followers, "Shangguan Daidao" with an increase of 4.57 million followers, "Musen (Comeback)" with an increase of 3.87 million followers, "Sijie Culture Media" with an increase of 2.9 million followers, and "Azhe" with an increase of 1.46 million followers are all from Kuaishou.

Among them, "Hua She Fa (Dongfang A Bao)" relied on outdoor quiz live broadcasts to gain 5.71 million followers in 30 days last year, and currently has 19.54 million followers on Douyin. "Shangguan Daidao" is the top anchor on Kuaishou, with 23.89 million fans on Kuaishou.

In addition, "Yu Dagongzi", a top anchor on Kuaishou with 40 million fans, also cancelled his Kuaishou account in June this year and officially announced on June 22 that he would start over on Douyin. As of press time, "Yu Dagongzi" has 1.19 million fans on Douyin.

According to QuestMobile, as of March 2024, Douyin will have 763 million monthly active users, with an average daily usage time of 1.92 hours per person. In China, the only app with more traffic than Douyin is WeChat.

The more traffic Douyin has, the more people will want to take advantage of its traffic and become famous on Douyin.

IV. Conclusion

Some people see the prosperity of Tik Tok, but some people are tired of its extreme algorithm.

In June this year, the 5 million-fan Douyin anchor "Lola Code" released a farewell video and announced that she would stop broadcasting. You should know that in the past few years, "Lola Code" has successively won the first place in the Douyin clothing anchor sales list and the first place in the Douyin Double 11 overall list, and can be called the "No. 1 anchor in the Douyin women's clothing field."

More than one creator mentioned that the competition on Douyin is too fierce and it is the most insecure platform. In the end, they all chose to try Xiaohongshu, Video Account, and even TikTok.
Under Zhang Yiming's design, Douyin lives up to the reputation of "time melting pot" and "traffic machine".

In order to produce the most attractive content, Douyin has designed an extremely strict traffic distribution mechanism. On Douyin, bloggers can hardly rely on their old achievements. Every video and every live broadcast can be regarded as a fresh start. If the content is not good, millions or tens of millions of fans will be useless.

An MCN boss once said: "Your fans are never your fans, all the traffic belongs to Zhang Yiming." Only when bloggers keep improving and continuously create content that can make users "addicted" can they become the darlings of the Tik Tok algorithm.

For users, this means a steady stream of high-quality content, but for bloggers, it is an extremely uncomfortable thing.

New bloggers are fine, as they have the opportunity to stand at the same starting line as big bloggers and even have the opportunity to become famous overnight. However, for those who want to make blogging a stable career, they have to race against algorithms and spend every day to improve themselves.

They rack their brains to come up with topics and attract traffic, but once the creativity runs out, it means the disappearance of traffic and wealth. Many bloggers may feel a love-hate relationship with TikTok.

According to new Douyin data statistics, there are currently three Douyin accounts with over 100 million followers, at least 1,025 accounts with 10 million to 100 million followers, and at least 2,494 accounts with 5 million to 10 million followers.

In the next few years, this number will foreseeably continue to increase. Some people will become famous overnight, while others will disappear quietly. As for who is the real winner of TikTok, that is another question.

Author: Yun Feiyang, Editor: Xiao Ba