Uncovering the phenomenon of live treasure appraisal on Douyin: the craze for cultural and artistic jewelry behind the entertainment

Recently, the treasure appraisal live broadcast on the Douyin platform has attracted attention again. Bloggers such as @海东鉴宝 and @听泉寻宝 have connected with treasure lovers to appraise treasures, bringing a full program effect. This article will deeply analyze the rise of treasure appraisal live broadcast, revealing the program effect and entertainment form behind it, as well as its close connection with the cultural and jewelry market. If you are interested in treasure appraisal live broadcast, don't miss this analysis!

"One for me, one for the Forbidden City"

"Come closer and let me see... this thing is old and it opens wide (genuine)"

Recently, the treasure appraisal live broadcast on the Douyin platform has become popular again. Bloggers such as @海东鉴宝 and @听泉寻宝 have live-streamed treasure appraisals with treasure lovers (referring to jade enthusiasts). The program has been very effective and attracted the attention of many netizens.

As early as more than 20 years ago, treasure appraisal programs on television already had many loyal viewers. Wang Gang's "World Collection" was very popular because it would smash the so-called "fakes" in the "treasure protection" segment.

After the rise of the Kuaishou platform, some treasure appraisal programs on TV moved to online live auditions, and some treasure appraisal platforms conducted online treasure appraisal live broadcasts to attract traffic. Treasure appraisal live broadcasts came into being, and gradually some wild treasure appraisal bloggers appeared to connect with the majority of treasure lovers to appraise treasures. Some of them held Ultraman and clothes hangers in their live broadcasts; some were real collectors with extremely precious cultural relics; and there were even suspected gold-grabbing lieutenants who were suspected of illegal and criminal activities. As treasure appraisal live broadcasts have received more and more attention, a unique treasure appraisal live broadcast track has now developed.

What is the reason why treasure appraisal live broadcasts make people "addicted" late at night? What is special about the form of treasure appraisal live broadcasts? Is the commercialization path of treasure appraisal bloggers going smoothly?

1. The program has outstanding effects

Since most treasure appraisal bloggers have a relatively fixed live broadcast time, a large number of them are the essence of the live broadcast content. The most popular segments are mainly the exposure of the real goods (high-value cultural relics), new things (imitations or modern crafts), the treasure holders refuse to accept them, and a large number of abstract live content.

The reason why treasure appraisal live broadcast is so popular with the audience is that the program effect itself is very outstanding. The program effect of treasure appraisal live broadcast comes from the refreshing feeling of "opening a blind box" of cultural relics, and it can see the various aspects of human nature in the face of great joy and disappointment.

When treasure appraisers recognize that the treasure owner's possession is a high-priced "opening door" object, the treasure owner is often overjoyed, and the audience can also briefly feel the material impact and dizziness brought by high-value cultural relics. For example, the full-page 80 Monkey Stamp, known as the "King of Stamps", is worth about 55 million yuan, the Ming Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, which was once sold at a sky-high price of 280 million yuan, and the Hetian Jade Bi, which is valued at "a city".

Image source: Screenshot from Station B

When the blogger subtly hints that the antiques owned by the treasure holder are in the gray area defined by the law, this powerful material impact turns into a humorous effect. The painstaking hints made by the treasure appraisal blogger and the treasure holder's ignorance of the law form a strong contrast.

"Where did it come from?"

“I bought it.”

"Bought it? I'll give you a chance to think about it."

“…a friend gave it to me.”

"Three years, five years, multiple crimes combined to make ten years."

"The punishment is too harsh, my dear."

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

As treasure appraisal live streaming develops towards entertainment and popularization, more humorous treasure appraisal bloggers such as @听泉寻宝 and talented treasure friends have added new entertainment points to the treasure appraisal live streaming content, namely, performing abstract activities during the live broadcast.

In @听泉寻宝's public welfare treasure appraisal live broadcast and the offline auditions of the "Huashan Lunjian" program, there are often treasure holders who bring spoofs or modern imitations for appraisal, such as the Mona Lisa portrait holding two guns, jade and gold statues of Ultraman, white marble clothes drying racks and Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain with "microwave safe" written on the bottom.

In addition, some treasure holders stubbornly refuse to admit when treasure appraisal bloggers tell them that the items are "new" or "unopenable", which also creates an entertaining effect and makes the majority of treasure lovers very happy.

Treasure appraisal live broadcasts are popular partly because they allow people to see the daily lives and gossip stories of ordinary people. The authenticity and storytelling of life are attractive enough . For example, a father left good things to his own father, and gave his daughter a bracelet worth two or three hundred yuan. @海东鉴宝 complained, "Is this his biological child?" Another treasure holder appraised a jade bracelet given by his future mother-in-law. The holder asked, "Can (this marriage) be concluded?" @海东鉴宝 replied, "Of course it can be concluded! It's just that the quality of the jade is a little worse. Otherwise, it can be sold for hundreds of thousands of yuan."

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In treasure appraisal live broadcasts, people can see the lives of the general public through cultural relics appraisal, sometimes they can get a glimpse of the precious furniture of the rich, and sometimes they can see the heirlooms of some ordinary people. The popular, entertaining, and public-welfare treasure appraisal live broadcast has become a particularly prominent live broadcast track type in social live broadcasts due to its outstanding program effects. As a content that has been verified on TV programs, treasure appraisal live broadcasts have undergone significant changes in form.

2. Live treasure appraisal reshapes entertainment

Treasure appraisal live broadcast originated from Weipaitong, a platform that combines live auctions and free treasure appraisal and cultural relics auctions. It began to introduce live broadcasts in 2019. After Weipaitong, the most popular one is @天天鉴宝, a mobile treasure appraisal platform. In 2021, it became popular for free live treasure appraisal on various platforms. Because of the extraordinary program effects and the unique habits of treasure appraisers, they became popular on the Internet and attracted a group of quite young fans. Treasure appraisal, sea fishing, and fishing are also known as the three major decompression tools for young people to spend their retirement online.

Image source network

Not long after, the boss of Tiantian Jianbao defrauded merchants of deposits and loans and ran away. Tiantian Jianbao's APP and mini-programs were no longer usable. Several treasure appraisers who originally appraised treasures on @天天鉴宝直播 became independent treasure appraisal bloggers.

Several current treasure appraisers, including @Niu Daode Jianbao-Daode Weiyang, @Haidong Jianbao, @Zixuan Jianbao, @Wuyang Jewelry Appraisal, and @Ruize Jianbao Jewelry Selection, have all conducted live broadcasts on @Tiantian Jianbao.

As a result, the live treasure appraisal track came into being, and a group of treasure appraisal bloggers gradually emerged. Since live treasure appraisal requires a high level of industry experience and professional level of the treasure appraiser himself, the number of treasure appraisal bloggers is not large. At the same time, treasure appraisal bloggers who cater to the viewing habits of young people and are outstanding in entertainment have received widespread attention, among which @听泉寻宝 is particularly prominent.

In addition to the online treasure appraisal, he also enjoys socializing online with some of the sexier female treasure owners, interacting with cute pet cats and dogs, etc., to meet the audience's entertainment needs.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

He has 4.886 million followers on Douyin, and can be ranked in the top 30 on Douyin's popularity list during live broadcasts. His fans are very loyal and are happy to give him popularity votes and gifts during live broadcasts. According to Relang data, 85.85% of @听泉寻宝's fans are under 30 years old, the majority of fans are male, and highly active fans account for 70.8%.

It can be found that treasure appraisal activities have transformed from a cultural program watched by people of all ages on TV to a live broadcast format that is more popular among young people and combines entertainment, public welfare and sociality. Fast, high-intensity social interaction and instant interaction are the most noteworthy new features of treasure appraisal live broadcasts.

Through the connection function of content platforms such as Douyin, treasure appraisal live broadcasts can effectively connect treasure holders and treasure appraisal bloggers. After some of the connected people successfully display their relatively rare treasures, they will hope that the treasure appraisal blogger will ask the "brothers" in the live broadcast room to pay attention to them or follow the treasure appraisal blogger. Generally, at this time, the treasure appraisal blogger will also be more willing to let the audience in the live broadcast room pay attention to them.

Due to the secrecy and virtuality of the Internet, treasure appraisal bloggers generally speak in a more relaxed and open style than when appraising treasures offline. On the other end of the line, there will be many wealthy people with a mentality of showing off and people who want to attract attention, such as those who are suspected of engaging in illegal activities in a tomb during the live broadcast.

The wonders of cultural relics from all over the world and people's simple love for cultural relics and cultural relics are the "basic foundation" for treasure appraisal live broadcasts to go viral, while the public welfare and entertainment of treasure appraisal live broadcasts have attracted a large number of treasure holders and viewers who are willing to make fun of them. The right to speak and the display space of the live broadcast room are further transferred to treasure holders and viewers with creative potential. The live broadcast slices that aggregate humorous dialogues further amplify the sociality and interactivity, allowing treasure appraisal live broadcasts to continuously attract new viewers.

3. The continued craze for cultural and artistic jewelry behind the treasure appraisal live broadcast

The reason behind the popularity of treasure appraisal live broadcasts is the continued craze for jewelry and cultural relics on interest-based e-commerce platforms such as Douyin.
In terms of content, the 2023 topic "Please ask the British Museum to return Chinese cultural relics free of charge" has gone viral on all platforms. The short drama "Escape from the British Museum", which has only three episodes, has been played 470 million times, and the audience's feelings and enthusiasm for cultural relics protection have been continuously verified.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In the e-commerce market, jewelry and collectibles continue to be popular, and many young people are addicted to watching "treasure appraisal live broadcasts" and buying jewelry and collectibles in the live broadcast room. According to public data, in July 2023, three anchors in the field of jewelry and collectibles occupied the top three sales in the sales list, and the monthly turnover of the top two anchors exceeded 500 million yuan. In 2023, the estimated GMV of the annual live broadcast sales of jewelry live broadcast head blogger @新疆和田玉老郑 reached 5.7 billion, and the estimated sales ranked second in the entire Douyin site.

According to the "2022 China Jewelry Industry Development Report" released by the China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Industry Association in early 2023, the industrial scale of my country's jewelry and jade jewelry industry in 2022 was approximately 719 billion yuan, and online jewelry sales increased by 27% year-on-year.

In 2022, the sales of jewelry categories on the Douyin platform reached more than 60 billion yuan, accounting for about 25.5% of the total online jewelry sales, making it the e-commerce platform with the largest online jewelry sales in the year.

The relaxed commercial environment is more friendly to the content creation of treasure appraisal bloggers.

In addition to paid treasure appraisals offline, you can also start live streaming to sell goods, slice the live content to hang product links to sell goods, open product showcases, collect paid gifts during live streaming, and other channels to realize cash. Among them, most treasure appraisal bloggers choose to start live streaming to sell goods and sell jewelry online as a sideline. Some treasure appraisal bloggers live broadcast for treasure hunting, and they act as middlemen to purchase and deliver various cultural relics.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

It is worth mentioning that jewelry and collectibles, as low-frequency, high-priced non-standard products, have a high return rate in the industry. In July 2023, #抖音jeweler return rate 90%# became a hot search, and the relevant person in charge told the media that "the overall return rate of jewelry and jade products on the Douyin e-commerce platform, whether in live broadcast scenes or shelf scenes, is at the industry average level."

However, for treasure appraisal bloggers who are not particularly large in scale, the phenomenon of high return rate and selling fake goods seems to occur less frequently. This is because the daily broadcast time of general treasure appraisal bloggers is shorter than those of professional jewelry bloggers who bring goods. The conversion rate and monthly sales of professional jewelry bloggers are higher. Treasure appraisal bloggers provide more of the "interest" part of interest e-commerce. The main demand for jewelry and cultural relics is still professional jewelry bloggers.

In a live broadcast of @海东鉴宝, a treasure holder mentioned that his wife usually likes to watch @海东鉴宝's live broadcast. One night, she impulsively spent more than 200,000 yuan on jewelry and jade products, so she came to him to check whether the things she bought were worth it. @海东鉴宝 said regretfully: "Why didn't you let me make this money!" The treasure holder said that it seemed that @海东鉴宝 did not start the broadcast that night, so he missed this opportunity.
After the Douyin platform launched the "inspect before delivery" label for products in the jewelry and jade industry, the GMV of jewelry and jade products has increased significantly.

In general, the fact that treasure appraisal live streaming has become a part of young people's interest has a lot to do with the evolution of the form of treasure appraisal live streaming itself. It has surpassed traditional treasure appraisal programs with its powerful entertainment, interactivity and communication capabilities, and has attracted countless young audiences.

Nowadays, treasure appraisal live broadcasts are still broadcast in the afternoon or late at night, but the ups and downs, love and hate of the treasure appraisal live broadcast content itself have told the audience the most basic and most easily overlooked fact of this industry: "Be cautious when buying jewelry and cultural relics. Although the treasures are good, don't be deceived by them."

What do you think of the treasure appraisal live broadcast? Welcome to comment below~

Author: Laisheng

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