The three treasures of middle-aged men: Hupu, What’s Worth Buying, and Autohome

For me, I have only heard that people will become interested in NAS, charging heads, fishing, etc. after reaching a certain age. What I never expected was that Hupu and What’s Worth Buying would become the favorites of middle-aged men.

How deep is a man's obsession with cars?

Wang Fugui, a moonlighter, will tell you that he bought three cars in less than two years, but he still has a mysterious yearning for cars of different brands.

I spend 10 hours a day on my phone, half of which is spent on car reviews. I want to own a BMW 530 within five years and a Porsche Panamera within ten years.

It took Wang Fugui only 10 minutes to pay the deposit and buy the third car, which he got by relying on his own ability.

On a bright spring morning, Wang Fugui habitually opened the second-hand car ranking list on Dongchedi and gently swiped the screen. The champagne-colored 4S shop trial car, which had only run 7,000 kilometers without any accidents and was directly reduced by nearly 100,000 yuan, struck his inner defense and motivated him to take the subway four times while holding his 2-and-a-half-year-old child and look at cars across provinces.

01 Why are the three treasures attracted by middle-aged men?

At first, I bought a car because my family didn’t allow motorcycles and a family member was sick and needed a means of transportation; later, I bought another car because I didn’t want to lead my wife, hold the children, carry luggage and pull boxes, squeeze into other people’s smelly cars to catch the train;

Later, it was purely for the purpose of demonstrating personal taste, social status, and expressing a desire to conquer the world.

There are thousands of reasons to buy a car, but the main reason for splitting the budget for a BMW 5 into three parts and buying three cars is nothing more than the economic barrier that can be attributed to everything.

In order to make smarter consumption choices, Wang Fugui’s daily shopping decisions rely most on what is worth buying.

It is an inevitable choice for every middle-aged family man to browse this information center that provides product reviews and discount information, and carefully compare and screen out the cost-effective products to save money.

Problems that can be solved with money are not big problems, unless you reach an age when separation and divorce are common and workplace pressure is overwhelming, then any slight change may become a fatal blow.

Traditional male gender norms often do not allow men to express emotions and vulnerability, so the sadness and helplessness of middle-aged men are often difficult to detect and pay attention to.

Until they found a safe haven to vent their anxiety. On Hupu, those frustrated middle-aged men build a specific social identity, seek psychological support, and find a sense of belonging and social recognition by exchanging interests, hobbies and values.

The so-called "green literature" is often used as a publicity gimmick. In the forums, there are also a large number of posts discussing the middle-aged entanglements and difficulties caused by layoffs, unemployment, broken marriages, and pressure to provide for the elderly.

Sometimes they entertain and make fun of themselves, sometimes they actively belittle themselves, and sometimes they launch a carnival of jokes that has been criticized for "deliberately creating an atmosphere of misogyny."

At this moment, many people will think of the once popular quote from Hupu CEO Cheng Hang: "We have discovered the essential needs of men. That is, men like to be with men, but men dare not tell women."

02 Which review software is more afraid of talking about male dominance?

Hupu claims to understand men very well; Dongchedi has a firm grasp on male users’ obsession with cars, while What’s Worth Buying is filled with information on technology products and outdoor equipment that appeal to male users.

All three of these rating apps are male-dominated, but they have different attitudes towards the fact that male users dominate. There are many reasons for this difference, which is ultimately closely related to the commercialization strategy of the platform.

What’s Worth Buying may believe that it needs to balance the gender ratio to attract a wider range of advertisers and partners, so it usually avoids publicly discussing the gender ratio of its users.

In an interview, when asked about the platform’s predominantly male users, the head of marketing did not give a direct answer, but instead tried to break gender stereotypes and emphasized the platform’s welcoming attitude towards all users.

What’s Worth Buying is working hard to create a more inclusive and diverse community culture . In a case shared by the official account, a reporter asked: Given that the majority of users on What’s Worth Buying forum are male, as a female, what is your original intention in sharing content? Platform users answered: In fact, there is no need to distinguish between men and women. When I first started posting, the first person who shot me was a female value friend.

Different platforms will adopt different strategies at their respective stages of development. In the early stages, they often rely on specific user groups to shape their brand and consolidate their market position, while in the mature stage, they may seek to expand their user base.

Dongchedi, a gathering place for car enthusiasts and professionals, shows no signs of urgent need to adjust the gender ratio of its users. This may be because Dongchedi's existing user base is highly consistent with its business model and industry characteristics, and the platform itself has established a strong brand image.

Rather than blindly expanding, Dongchedi prefers to concentrate resources and deepen its provision of technical services, performance evaluation and industry analysis to existing users. Even if it has plans to attract female users, it is not in a hurry to pursue speed or significant changes.

Right now, Dongchedi has more urgent things to do. The winter test storms that Huawei, Great Wall, and Geely tore apart are still fresh in our memory, and car companies are increasingly resisting the improper behavior of third-party media. Under the business logic that overemphasizes result-oriented and data-driven decision-making, how to maintain the independence and objectivity of evaluation content is the key.

The independence and objectivity of the evaluation content is one of the core competitiveness of Dongchedi. In contrast, Hupu's evaluation system focuses more on user interaction and community consensus, using a non-standardized evaluation system to evaluate everything.

This kind of entertainment operation based on one's own mood can indeed quickly attract traffic and even trigger public opinion, but it also shows the shortcomings in the construction of the evaluation system. This also restricts the improvement of the commercial value of the platform.

Hupu's road to commercialization has not been smooth. It has neither event copyrights nor a single traditional revenue model that relies too much on advertising. Whether it can change the status quo by building a mature, fair and transparent scoring mechanism remains to be seen.

03 Will Chinese men’s business be easy in the future?

Hupu has been established for 20 years; What’s Worth Buying was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Growth Enterprise Market as early as 2019; today, DoCar has completed its business structure adjustment and was separated from Toutiao to become an independent company.

These platforms are able to customize content based on the characteristics of male users, such as providing sports event discussions, product reviews, and industry analysis, which is extremely attractive to male users.

Sanbao has been exploring business opportunities in the "he economy". To succeed in the male market in the future, it is necessary not only to provide information and services that focus on performance, practicality and cost-effectiveness, but also to pay more attention to the emotional needs of Chinese men.

What should the ideal life of a middle-aged man be like? Wang Fugui, who earns a million dollars a year, sat at his spacious desk, looking at the best employee award he had just received. He slowly closed his eyes and saw this picture.

During the day, he went out to negotiate business and was praised by the client for his professionalism. When he returned to the company, the boss had heard the news and patted him on the shoulder with a smile. He drove home with green lights all the way and had no obstacles. When he arrived at the garage, he habitually sat quietly for a while, smoked a cigarette, and commented on the most popular sister of 2024.

After a short rest, he was refreshed and refreshed. He walked to the door humming a little tune. His wife opened the door and gave him a big hug. The children held up the express they ordered last night and asked excitedly, "Dad, I want to open the express, can I open it?"

Middle-aged men are a group of hundreds of millions of people with high income levels and willingness to spend. In the past, the greatest common denominator of this group was sports, digital, and games. In the priority chain of household consumption, men are often ranked lower, and their average annual consumption of fast-moving consumer goods is not only lower than that of women, but sometimes even lower than that of pet products.

Now, middle-aged men have shown the potential for long-term sustainable growth in the sports and health consumption, new energy vehicles, beauty and skin care consumption, and even emotional consumption markets. As early as November last year, the topic of "Men's consumption power exceeds that of pet dogs for the first time" once dominated the hot search list.

Who says men don’t spend as much as dogs? The momentum of “his consumption” is quietly catching up with “her consumption”. And judging from the current flow trend, more and more male users are starting to turn to Xiaohongshu.

Data shows that the male-friendly trend is on the rise, with male users accounting for more than 30% of Xiaohongshu's monthly active users. In particular, searches for skin care, makeup, personal care, perfume and other related categories have increased significantly year-on-year.

04 It is not easy to attract men or women

Xiaohongshu's "Male Content Incentive Plan" quickly attracted male users, a strategy known as the "Male Attraction Project." Although the short-term effect is significant, long-term commercial success needs to be evaluated. The key lies in whether the value of new users can outweigh the potential losses and embarrassment.

The same principle applies to other platforms. If Sanbao and others consider attracting female users to build a diversified community and attract a wider range of advertisers and consumers, they also need to realize that if the introduction of new user groups is not handled properly, it may impact the existing community culture and cause discomfort to loyal users.

This is a complex decision involving user satisfaction, community activity, and advertising revenue, which brings new opportunities, challenges, and risks. The platform needs to carefully weigh the pros and cons, carefully formulate and adjust strategies, and ensure that while pursuing commercial growth, it maintains the core values ​​of the community and user experience.

In the process of pursuing diversity, whether it is "attracting men" or "attracting women", the real challenge is not to attract new users, but how to maintain the harmony and vitality of the community.

A successful “project” is not just about numerical growth, but about finding a balance in an ever-changing community so that every user feels respected and valued.

This requires not only strategies and skills, but also deep insight and humanistic care, as well as a deep understanding of community culture and user needs.