New opportunities in competition: How can the content industry break through in 2024?

Looking back at 2023, the new media industry has produced an endless stream of creative content. The collision of "buyer e-commerce" and traditional e-commerce, the refinement of the short drama market, and podcasts and agriculture, rural areas and farmers have gradually become important content. It is recommended to read this article if you want to know more about the relevant content.

In 2023, the new media industry ushered in a series of "new variables", with new tracks, new gameplay, and new creators emerging in an endless stream.

Crawley will review the ups and downs of the new media industry in 2023, focus on industry concerns, raise the following questions, and invite industry insiders to discuss them together.

Only by bringing together different perspectives from different tracks can we find direction in the fog.

1. How can the parties break through in the ups and downs of e-commerce?

In the past year, content and store broadcasts have become keywords in the e-commerce industry.

In 2023, content platforms have stepped up their investment in e-commerce infrastructure, combined with their own content advantages, and continued to explore e-commerce models that suit them.

After Xiaohongshu launched the concept of "buyer e-commerce", it made a number of buyers with single-game sales exceeding 100 million and 10 million popular in 2023. During the 2024 Spring Festival, it became one of the sponsors of the Spring Festival Gala, constantly emphasizing the e-commerce business potential of Xiaohongshu to the outside world.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

In addition, content platforms such as Douyin, Video Account, Kuaishou, and Bilibili are also vigorously increasing their e-commerce investment in 2023. While attracting users through videos, live broadcasts, etc., they are also promoting products to users and upgrading services.

This year, traditional e-commerce companies have also been working hard to make up for their content shortcomings.

Taobao’s live streaming rooms have seen more and more live streaming rooms featuring products, from TVB Hong Kong stars to live streaming of “This! Is Street Dance”. Taobao has cultivated a series of content-oriented anchors.

Image source: Taobao

JD.com invited Luo Yonghao to join JD.com Live during the 618 period, attracting a large number of consumers to develop a mindset of consuming content on JD.com.

While high-quality live broadcast rooms have emerged on various e-commerce platforms, the platforms are also accelerating the release of store broadcast potential, and more and more stores are accelerating to enter the store broadcast. On Double Eleven Day, 38 stores on Taobao and Tmall had transaction volumes exceeding 100 million yuan, and Xiaohongshu's store broadcast GMV increased by 6.9 times.

The rapid changes in live streaming e-commerce, content e-commerce and social e-commerce have intensified the volatility of the sales end, thus posing greater challenges to the supply chain. The corresponding front-end supply chain and back-end service industries are also being forced to upgrade.

Low price, content e-commerce, store broadcast... Under each of the keywords of the e-commerce industry, there is fierce competition in the e-commerce industry. How can merchants and platforms break through the competition? How to operate MCN organizations with platform thinking? What is the development trend of the clothing supply chain reform behind social e-commerce?

2. After the explosion, how can short dramas become refined and commercialized?

2023 is the year of the explosion of short dramas. Short dramas have become a hot trend on the Internet and a popular content investment project throughout the year.

From "Oh My! The Queen Comes to Work" to "Wushuang", the performance of short dramas has soared all the way and created one "investment myth" after another. In 2023, the scale of the domestic short drama market will reach 37.39 billion yuan, equivalent to 70% of the total box office of Chinese cinema films in 2023.

Unlike long videos, short plays' fast narrative and minimal foreshadowing allow them to create more dramatic conflicts in the shortest time and give the audience more excitement.

After the short drama market became popular, more and more professional film and television teams, professional actors, and broadcasting platforms began to enter the short drama market. At present, the production price and production process of short dramas are constantly upgrading, which has promoted the transformation of the short drama market into a high-quality one.

Excellent short plays on various platforms (Photo source: Internet)

The refinement of the short drama industry means that short drama carriers have the opportunity to integrate various IPs and scripts, thereby reaching more users. It also means that the wildly growing short drama industry will eventually usher in the next round of reshuffle.

In addition to the refinement of short drama content, the commercialization of short dramas is also a focus of attention in the entire short drama ecosystem. With the development of the refinement of short dramas, more and more platforms are also sponsoring short dramas. For example, Meituan sponsored the Kuaishou Xingmang short drama "The Character of Wife"; JD New Department Store appeared in a single episode of the ancient style short drama "Donglan Snow"; Taote App appeared in "Dear Goodbye"...

The short production cycle and flexible format of short dramas make the brand placement process in the entire series more flexible and changeable.

From the perspective of the industry, what impact will the high-quality short drama market have on the current market structure? What kind of imagination space is there for the commercialization of short dramas?

3. Small track under big business

With the overall growth in user scale and number of programs, podcasts are gradually developing into an important force in the content track.

According to data from ListenNotes, a global podcast industry website, the number of Chinese podcasts has increased sixfold in the three years from 2020 to 2023, and the number of users has exceeded 100 million, showing a growth trend.

Ritan Park is a professional team that entered the podcast field early. With professional content production and operation, many columns under Ritan have achieved rapid growth in 2023.

Incomplete statistics of podcasts incubated in Ritan Park (Photo source: Internet)

In the long run, if podcasts want to achieve long-term and sustainable development, the commercialization of creators is a necessary condition. This is a factor that encourages creators to join the podcast industry and maintain their creative motivation. As the advantages of podcast content are revealed, a clear business path has also been developed.

Because podcasts are in an audio format that allows for greater privacy and companionship, brands can not only gain longer exposure, but also quickly establish an emotional connection with users, making it easier for brands to become users’ “close friends.”

In 2023, there will be many small tracks under big businesses such as podcasts. How can we find our own small track under the big business of the Internet?

4. Agriculture, rural areas and farmers content - potential tracks growing in the soil

In recent years, short video platforms have seen an endless stream of content related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and even become important content promoted by the platforms. At this moment, we need to recognize and understand the content related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, not only by observing it as a kind of content, but also by focusing on its commercialization and examining its business model.

According to the 2023 Douyin Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers Ecological Data Report, the total number of agricultural technology videos on Douyin in 2023 was 27.783 million, a year-on-year increase of 153%, and the total number of views reached 120.62 billion times, a year-on-year increase of 48%. Coincidentally, in the first half of 2023, the number of video account creators on agriculture, rural areas and farmers increased by 281% year-on-year, and the number of creators on agriculture, rural areas and farmers with more than 1 million fans increased by 300% year-on-year.

According to observations, the content of "Sannong" accounts can be roughly divided into two categories: agricultural technology and life records. It is worth noting that agricultural technology content focuses on science and practice, and through expert guidance and sharing of practical experience by senior farmers, it helps professional Sannong production, and has a strong target audience. There are also high professional requirements for content creators.

For example, @水稻一朵er on Kuaishou is actually named Yao Lingxu. As a technical promoter at the Rice Research Institute of Northeast Agricultural University, she has been doing live broadcasts of agricultural supplies since 2021. In the live broadcasts, she constantly popularizes knowledge about agriculture, rural areas and farmers to users. Through live broadcasts, she connects online and offline agricultural and agricultural supply needs. At present, @水稻一朵er's company mainly sells special fertilizers, which have reached the ceiling of the three northeastern provinces.

Image source: Kuaishou

From recording rural life to agricultural technology content, the content of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" has continued to develop in the past year. People in the countryside learn agricultural technology and assist production through short videos; people far away from the countryside recall the accent of their hometown through short videos and express their homesickness; all kinds of consumers plant their seeds for agricultural products through live broadcasts and short videos. "New" farmers continue to use social media, a "new agricultural tool", to start businesses, and consumers continue to use social media to express their homesickness.

What did @水稻一朵er do right? How much potential in the agriculture, rural areas and farmers has not yet been realized?

5. What will local life depend on in 2024?

Nowadays, competition in the local life track is becoming increasingly fierce. In-store, home delivery, live broadcast group buying... New players in the trillion-dollar market continue to emerge and constantly challenge the old players.

As a representative of new players, in May 2023, Video Account officially launched the local life component, and merchants can access it through live broadcast and short video. As the commercialization of Video Account further accelerates, local life will undoubtedly occupy a more important position.

In addition, Kuaishou will continue to expand its pilot cities in 2023 and launch a series of support plans to encourage merchants, content service providers, and influencers to settle in.

How will the new and old players in the local life industry make their moves in 2024? Behind the platform melee, what opportunities does the local life industry hold for influencers, MCN agencies, merchants, and service providers?

In addition to the above new changes, the content industry in 2023 also saw many new changes and new opportunities, such as cultural and tourism content breaking through the circle, adding new overseas markets, and AIGC empowering the content industry. At the same time, it also raised new problems and challenges for MCN organizations, merchants, and platforms.

Author: Guang Ye

Source: WeChat public account: TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)