618 e-commerce ads invade content communities

In today’s content communities, advertisements are mostly diverse, ranging from e-commerce advertisements, online loans, mobile games to consumer goods and diet pills. Whenever there is a big e-commerce promotion, e-commerce advertisements will invade content communities.

Recently, Wang Xiao, a girl born after 1995, found that as long as she opened Bilibili, she could see advertisements for the 618 e-commerce promotion everywhere. "Whether I close it or skip it, it will automatically jump to the e-commerce app. After watching a 10-minute video, it jumps two or three times. I really don't know who invented the idea of ​​jumping to another app by shaking or clicking it?"

In fact, "ads jumping to the screen as soon as the phone is touched" has become a common problem of major mobile phone apps. Open an app casually, and the opening screen ad will immediately occupy the entire screen. An accidental touch or shake will cause it to jump to a third-party software. If you want to close or exit, you can't even find the button.

Especially during various shopping festivals such as 618 and Double 11, advertisements on major content apps are more frequent, which is why netizens joked that "all roads lead to e-commerce", and some netizens even made "amazing comments": for the sensor detection of jump ads, the rotation of the earth is considered shaking the phone.

Many users have the same perception as Wang Xiao, and therefore, Bilibili has been jokingly called the "e-commerce advertising department". Not only Bilibili, but also content community websites such as Xiaohongshu, Zhihu and Hupu have become the hardest hit areas for low-quality advertising, with splash screen ads, pop-up ads, banner ads and various soft ads appearing in an interlaced manner.

Alphabet List has observed that the advertisements on current content communities are rather diverse, ranging from e-commerce advertisements, online loans, mobile games to consumer goods and weight-loss pills, and many of them are not well-known brands to the public.

"Everyone says that natto for weight loss is unreliable. I would have laughed at anyone who believed it for 10 years...but it is actually true." Because she often watches sports videos, Anan, a girl born in the 1980s, was frequently pushed weight loss ads for a while. "They were basically packaged as 'anti-counterfeiting' videos, with content that started out negative and ended up positive, but in fact they were all selling nattokinase. I watched them for almost a month."

Many interviewees told Alphabet List that the increasingly frequent and low-quality advertisements have seriously affected the user experience, and even made them want to "escape".

These ads are like a mirror, reflecting the anxiety of content communities. As the investment boom in the entire Internet industry gradually cools down, 2024 will become a critical year for content community platforms. Chen Rui, chairman of Bilibili, must fulfill his promise of profitability by the end of 2024, Xiaohongshu must prove to the capital market that it can support its high valuation, and Zhihu must also consider how far it is from profitability.

Internet analyst Zhang Shule told Alphabet List that most content communities are walking a balancing act between user experience and commercialization. Currently, they are on the balancing act and exploring ways to expand revenue, but it is inevitable that their movements will be distorted and they will not score high.

One of the manifestations of action deformation is these annoying advertisements. Advertising and e-commerce are the two main models for content communities to explore commercialization. Although content community platforms have been constantly exploring other commercialization models in recent years, they still find it difficult to get rid of the dilemma of being highly dependent on advertising monetization.

However, although generating revenue through advertising is efficient, it is also the most annoying way for users. Different from the growth paths of other types of platforms, whether it is Bilibili, Xiaohongshu or Zhihu, they all first gathered a small group of people because of their unique culture and values, and then grew beyond the circle. The community atmosphere is also the moat of the platforms, which is also an important reason why their status cannot be shaken even if similar community forms have been emerging.

User value determines the commercial value of the content community. If a platform is too aggressive in commercialization for the sake of profit data, it is likely to lose its gaming qualification because of falling off the "balance beam".

01

"Whenever an e-commerce platform holds a big promotion, I know that my 'spiritual home' is going to be polluted." The spiritual home that Wang Xiao refers to is Bilibili. As a heavy user of Bilibili, Wang Xiao watches complaining videos to relieve stress during the day and watch commentary videos to help her sleep at night. However, the pervasive advertisements on Bilibili have seriously affected her user experience.

"Among the six videos recommended on the phone screen, there is one promotional video from an e-commerce platform." Therefore, Wang Xiao can only frequently click "Reduce related ad recommendations". "Even if I can recognize such videos and stop clicking on them, some small video windows will still automatically play horizontally in the middle of the page. Whether you click on them or not, they will distract your attention."

Even during non-e-commerce promotion periods, the “inevitable” micro-business ads also affected Wang Xiao’s experience on B. For a period of time last year, Wang Xiao could see fake video ads promoting “Natto Hormone Enzyme” weight loss drugs as soon as she opened B. “It was obviously a micro-business brand.”

The ubiquitous low-quality ads are also reducing the time Wang Xiao spends on Bilibili. "Before going to bed, I usually play a commentary of The Legend of Zhen Huan. A detail like 'Long Yue gives Concubine Jing a shoulder massage' can actually lead to a product placement ad for a cervical massager. It's not hard to imagine how abrupt it is. Moreover, a 10-minute commentary video has a one-minute ad." Wang Xiao wanted to wake up from her drowsiness and turn off the video several times.

02

The endless pop-up ads on Hupu also affect Anton's user experience. "Every time I open Hupu, there will be an e-commerce promotion ad, and I will be redirected to Taobao, Taobao and JD." After some research, Anton turned off the "shake" jump function, but even so, he still can't escape the "backstab" of ads.

"I can click on more than a dozen links a day." Anton said that he would click on ads from time to time while scrolling. "It's not that I can't understand the ads, but there are too many and too frequent ads, and the ads are in the middle of the posts, so I can't avoid them."

There was even one time when Anton was "heartbroken" by an advertisement pushed to him by Hupu. "A group of middle-aged women in a certain area, automatically add friends, and you can date." Anton couldn't understand why Hupu didn't need to recommend a "group of middle-aged women" to him even though he was over 30 and still single. "Hupu thought I was 'really hungry', right?"

Compared with the blatant "eating" methods of Bilibili and Hupu, An Nan was also hurt by the "hidden advertising" backstabbing on Xiaohongshu. "I'm a makeup newbie, can you help me see if these cosmetics are enough?" Attracted by a standard amateur post title, An Nan soon discovered that there was an "18th-tier" junk product mixed in with a bunch of well-known cosmetics.

However, this is not considered "advanced". Anan gradually discovered that Xiaohongshu is "full of talents" and many bloggers use the level of "scriptwriters" to make soft advertisements. Anan once liked to post emotional stories on Xiaohongshu very much. "Xiaohongshu is a content community with a relatively high proportion of women, and there are a lot of posts about emotional sharing. It is more interesting to watch others talk about love."

But soon, Anan came across a series of "pseudo-amateur posts" about blind dates, some of which were about selling goods, some were about selling courses, and some were even matchmakers using this to conduct business. Wang Xiao was most impressed by the experience of following a post about a sister-brother relationship. "At first, I was attracted by a chat record, watching the 'extreme tug-of-war' between a queen and a puppy brother. I didn't see the end of the story, but I saw a perfume advertisement."

03

It’s already 2024, and users have long been accustomed to the fact that “bloggers need to take ads to make money, and platforms also need to make profits.” However, for users of content communities that gather because of high-quality content, such “hard,” “low-quality,” and “pervasive” ads are challenging their tolerance.

As one of the early users of Bilibili, Wang Xiao particularly misses Bilibili in 2013. "Bilibili at that time was very ACG, and I could always find the latest and most interesting content on it, including niche content such as ghost culture. The video content on Bilibili was of high quality, with mostly medium and long videos and few short videos. Many people shared their learning and life experiences on it, and I could find treasure bloggers every day."

As Bilibili broke through the circle, Wang Xiao felt that the good side was "more bullet comments", but it was followed by a decline in content quality and more and more advertisements. "After breaking through the circle, the content quality has obviously dropped a lot, and there are many bloggers who make "watery" videos. If it were now, it would be hard to imagine a beauty blogger putting a half-hour or even an hour-long beauty video on Bilibili."

Anan started using Xiaohongshu in 2019 after being recommended by a friend. Anan recalled that although Xiaohongshu had a strong "grass-planting" attribute at the time, it was not so commercial.

"At that time, beauty and clothing bloggers accounted for almost half of the Xiaohongshu. Although many bloggers only had a few thousand fans, they showed that they cherished these fans. After accepting Guangzi's promotion, they would tell fans clearly that 'the product has been selected and tried, and the effect is indeed good', and they would mark 'Guangzi' on the pictures and texts to show their sincerity." Anan said.

But soon, Anan felt that Xiaohongshu was becoming more and more popular. "During the epidemic, people spent more time at home, and more and more friends around me used Xiaohongshu, and I started to spend more time using Xiaohongshu." At the same time, Anan also found that the types of bloggers on Xiaohongshu were becoming more and more diverse, with more and more bloggers sharing knowledge, outdoor sports, and women's growth.

After going viral, the number of "traffic-generating posts" on Xiaohongshu began to increase. "With more and more new bloggers, it is becoming increasingly difficult to gain followers, and everyone has begun to study what kind of posts can go viral. As a result, there are more and more traffic-generating posts. Basically, if one post becomes popular, hundreds or thousands of posts will imitate it, either to deceive clicks or to promote products."

So, Anan kept clicking the "X" button, hoping that big data would recognize it and stop pushing it. However, after three or four months, Anan still did not wait for big data to recognize it, but he had developed a "sharp eye" to recognize it at a glance.

Anan understands the bloggers' need to make money, but still thinks it's "ugly". "Advertisements on content communities are even more rampant than on video sites." In Anan's opinion, video sites involve copyright purchases, which are relatively expensive. But content communities are mostly built with original content from bloggers and netizens, which are relatively cheap. "If it's to cover operating costs, the platform can explore a better business model instead of affecting user experience as it does now."

Wang Xiao believes that she was initially attracted by the high-quality content in the content community, but as the platform broke through the circle and the content became more and more entertainment-oriented, the original unique charm of the content community was gradually "diluted". "If we don't pay attention to the user experience at this time, everyone may really turn away. After all, all major apps are now competing for user attention, so naturally users will choose the one with a better experience."

04

As the seed users of these content community apps, Wang Xiao and others are more like "angry at their lack of competition". On the one hand, they are worried that their favorite apps and bloggers will "die" because of a lack of business, and on the other hand, they are worried that they will be "killed" by over-commercialization.

As a sports enthusiast, Anton often watched football games on Hupu and spent his time strolling on the pedestrian street every day. Seeing that Hupu's college evaluation has broken the circle among college students, Anton sincerely hopes that more interesting people can gather together.

But more of it is helplessness. "It's useless to break the circle, as new users will be discouraged by all kinds of messy advertisements as soon as they come." In Anton's opinion, Hupu may not be able to handle "this overwhelming wealth."

Now Anan is always on the lookout for "fake amateur posts" on Xiaohongshu. "For example, the topic of post-00s rectifying the workplace suddenly became popular a while ago, and many bloggers on Xiaohongshu posted very 'daring' chat records with their bosses, but in fact, in the end they were either selling emotional intelligence courses or selling products from their own shops."

But this "sense of vigilance" also seriously affected Anan's experience. He would not click on any posts whose authenticity was difficult to distinguish. Anan was well aware that this might also result in missing out on a truly interesting blogger or story.

Nowadays, Wang Xiao starts to spend less and less time on Bilibili. Initially, she could stay on Bilibili for six or seven hours a day, but later she only spent one or two hours a day, and finally she would open it every few days to see if the bloggers she follows have updated any interesting content.

Compared with Wang Xiao and Anan, Anton, who could not stand the countless advertising links under the Q&A community, finally uninstalled it with one click and "escaped" from Zhihu.

"Every time I opened Zhihu, it was like opening the door to a new world. I could find a lot of good articles shared on it, and the answers to questions were all serious. Although the overall community atmosphere was a bit 'pretentious', the content quality was very high." Anton recalled that since about three years ago, he rarely saw in-depth articles, and there were advertising links under almost every answer. "For example, under the question of looking for a side job, there were densely packed ads for fake orders."

"The Zhihu of the past is long gone," Anton sighed.