With more than 2 million fans in 10 days, "Kaifeng Wang Po" has become popular! Who is the driving force behind it?

Recently, a matchmaker named Wang Po appeared on the short video platform, attracting many viewers and tourists. Let's take a look at how this Wang Po became popular~

Who would have thought that the first phenomenal internet celebrity to become popular in 2024 would be a matchmaker - Wang Po of Kaifeng.

She is an actress in the Song Dynasty Wuxia City, a 4A-level scenic spot in Kaifeng, Henan Province, and plays the role of a matchmaker. Because of her unique style and on-site blind date method, she is affectionately called "godmother" by netizens, and is also known as the "love magician" and "the sales champion under the matchmaker"; the large-scale blind dates she hosts are also known as "If You Are the One" for young people.

After being sought after, the number of fans of "Kaifeng Wang Po" increased rapidly, and in 10 days, she attracted more than 2 million fans. Netizens traveled thousands of miles to watch her, and some even live-streamed her performance. Even in other cities, "Wang Po"s who copied her began to appear...

Behind the emergence of phenomenal internet celebrities, there are invisible driving forces. So, who pushed the popularity of "Kaifeng Wang Po"?

1. "Kaifeng Wang Po" became popular

On the stage of the Song Dynasty Wuxia City in Wansui Mountain, the "Kaifeng Wang Po" dressed in the traditional costume of an ancient matchmaker, with a bun on her head and holding a red rope symbolizing the bond of love, appeared on the stage in response to the audience's calls, randomly selected young men and women present to come on stage, and matched them on the spot after asking about their mate requirements...

The entire interactive session was lively and interesting, and "Wang Po of Kaifeng"'s witty remarks and eloquence added a lot of comedy to the event.

When the man and woman on stage were slow to make progress, Wang Po would actively "assist" and adjust the atmosphere. Netizens shouted: "Wang Po, please start your national tour soon!"

The real name of "Kaifeng Wang Po" is Zhao Mei, 61 years old this year. She is an actor in the Wansui Mountain Wuxia City Scenic Area in Kaifeng, Henan Province. She is responsible for a tourist show called "Wang Po Matchmaking".

At the end of February, many short video influencers and users posted videos of their interactions with "Kaifeng Wang Po" on social platforms. From the video, we can see that Wang Po, wearing a red and green ancient costume and a red flower on her head, interacted with another short video influencer "Uncle Zhou Bu Su Lao" on the pavilion.

The humorous interaction between the two, the frequent golden sentences, and the traffic brought by "Uncle Zhou refuses to admit his age", made this video quickly popular, and the number of likes has reached 1.15 million.

Afterwards, more experts and users released more videos related to Wang Po, and the handsome men and beautiful women appearing in the videos once again attracted a lot of attention.

As the story continued to ferment, Wang Po's popularity quickly rose, and the term "Wang Po's matchmaking" was on the hot searches on Weibo and Douyin several times. The highest number of likes for the video clip about Wang Po's matchmaking on Douyin has reached 1.14 million.

With the surge of traffic, Wang Po's Douyin account "Kaifeng Wang Po" gained followers rapidly, with 2.66 million followers added in 10 days. Now the total number of fans has reached more than 3.3 million. Another live broadcast lifestyle account "Little White Pigeon Joy Club" also has more than 1.16 million fans.

Not only that, Wang Po's popularity also boosted the popularity of the scenic spot, and many netizens flew to the scenic spot from all over the country.

The new broadcast site also found that many users came to the scene to set up cameras and open their phones to broadcast live. A search on Feigua Data for "王婆说相相" shows that there are more than 999 related experts and 34 live broadcasts.

The most popular live broadcast room had 3.5 million viewers; even the live broadcasts of less popular accounts had hundreds of viewers in the room and over a thousand likes.

The accounts for live broadcast include the official Douyin account of Henan Radio and Television Station. Before the "Wang Po Matchmaking" program starts, reporters will randomly interview the young men and women present. The basic content is to ask about their age, place of birth and requirements for a spouse. In the live broadcast room broadcast with personal accounts, the host will usually introduce the general situation of the Wang Po Matchmaking venue before the program starts, and will also adjust the viewing angle to allow netizens to see more clearly.

A practitioner said in the Xinbochang reader group: "Is there anyone going to the live broadcast together? The number of people online for the live broadcast accounts is more than 1,000."

Not only that, other accounts have begun to copy the style, scenes and content of "Kaifeng Wangpo". For example, in a live broadcast room located in Huangzhou, Hubei, the matchmaker, wearing purple and green clothes and a red flower on her head, introduced a man and a woman on a stage with a "Huangzhou Grand Stage" hanging on it.

"The whole country has started to copy this." A user said in the comment section.

2. Why is “Wang Po of Kaifeng” so popular?

"I think it's very interesting. I'm looking forward to her national tour, then I will definitely go to watch." Xiao Cai, a girl born in the 2000s, said that she thought Wang Po was very interesting and different from the traditional impression of a matchmaker; and the atmosphere on the scene was very similar to "If You Are the One", with guests and audiences, it can be said that the show effect was maximized.

This is also one of the reasons why "Wang Po's Matchmaking" became popular: the method is novel and interesting.

Wang Po herself is very distinctive and has a distinct style; and here, she has built a stage, so the people on the stage and the audience below will naturally collide to create more sparks.

According to Wang Po, most of the young people who came on stage were spontaneous. At the same time, this new style of matchmaking can make the young people present feel very involved, whether they are young men and women on stage or the audience on stage.

Some netizens left messages in the comment area saying that although their good sisters did not go on stage, they had already added the contact information of several boys in the audience, which shows the sense of participation it brought to young people.

Interestingly, in addition to the young men and women who arrived at the scene to make friends, even watching "Wang Po Matchmaking" through short video platforms has greatly enhanced the sense of participation of netizens in the changing real-time situation. In such an atmosphere, the live broadcast room has also become an external platform for blind dates and making friends, which is an extension of "Wang Po Matchmaking".

Secondly, the traffic brought by short video live streaming will further amplify the highlights of the content, thereby continuing to feed back to the offline world.

After Wang Po became famous, many young people rushed to the Wansui Mountain Martial Arts City Scenic Area in Kaifeng to see her in person. Some industry professionals thought of Internet celebrities such as "Chengdu Xiaotiantian" who became popular a few years ago.

Different from other Internet celebrities who became popular overnight, "Chengdu Xiaotiantian" and "Kaifeng Wangpo" both have very obvious regional labels and are tied to the city. This makes the traffic have a gathering place.

Data from Tongcheng Travel shows that as of March 26, the popularity of tourism searches for the Kaifeng Wansui Mountain Martial Arts City Scenic Area where "Wang Po" is located has increased by more than 7 times month-on-month in the past week, and ticket bookings have more than doubled month-on-month.

This kind of "blind box" style of cultural and tourism craze has huge room for growth. Like the previous Zibo barbecue, "Erbin" ice and snow tour, and Tianshui Malatang, it is also welcomed by the local cultural and tourism bureau and will promote its development.

Recently, the scenic spot has not only increased the number of performances of "Wang Po's Matchmaking" and extended the performance time, but also renovated the stage to facilitate presenting better effects.

On March 25, "Kaifeng Wangpo" also released a short video recommending tourist attractions in Kaifeng. In the video, "Wangpo" Zhao Mei said: "My dears, there is not only Wansui Mountain in Kaifeng, but also many places to eat and have fun. Come and follow your godmother." She also checked in at famous scenic spots such as Qingming Shanghai Garden, Kaifeng Mansion, and Kaifeng Iron Tower.

The emergence of phenomenal internet celebrities is driven by invisible forces, which may be platform algorithms or the current trend of cultural tourism. However, the traffic wave always comes and goes quickly. Who will be the next traffic darling?

Author: Changmei WeChat public account: Xinbochang