Live broadcast war 2023: Reshaped and hunted

Everyone is already familiar with the term live broadcast. Let us learn more in-depth about the content of live broadcast.

With the development of the Internet era, live streaming is no longer a new term.

However, live broadcast as a symbol has undergone many changes in its textual connotation.

At first, it was a way of socializing, a 100 billion-level outlet and an imaginary space for new platforms. Then, it was an essential tool for Internet platforms and a simple product that anyone can make. Now, it is deeply integrated with e-commerce, and live e-commerce has thus completed the concept of child-swallowing-mother merger of live broadcasting.

Nowadays, when people mention live streaming, without any additional explanation, they almost assume that live streaming equals live streaming e-commerce. Around this term that has once again become popular, Internet giants seem to have launched another battle of thousands of live streaming.

New platforms are entering the market, and old platforms are seeking change. In 2023, some old problems still exist, and new problems continue to emerge...

1. All platforms do everything

Even if we go back to 2018, when people talk about Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Taobao, JD.com and even Xiaohongshu, they still regard them as completely different Internet products.

Today, they still have their own characteristics, but they can be collectively referred to as e-commerce platforms. Now, as long as an Internet user has shopping needs, he can open any of the above platforms to consume.

As a combination of "content + e-commerce", live streaming e-commerce has broken the boundaries between the original content platform and the e-commerce platform. In this imaginative intermediate format, the content platform has taken a step towards e-commerce, and the e-commerce platform has taken a step towards content, making both parties unexpected competitors.

In the past few years, short videos, as the largest traffic portal after social tools (WeChat), have become the first to try it. Kuaishou and Douyin have joined the platform one after another. Now the annual transaction volume within the platform exceeds one trillion yuan, and live e-commerce has become one of the important income pillars of short video platforms.

In 2023, Bilibili and Xiaohongshu, both of which have around 100 million daily active users, could not hold back and joined the market. They successively gave traffic to the most representative creators on the platform and made them into stars. For Xiaohongshu, it was Zhang Xiaohui and Dong Jie; for Bilibili, it was Yingwuli, Xu Jingyu and Bao Jiansao.

Content platforms are naturally endowed with traffic advantages, and top creators are also easy to attract users. The entry of the two major communities has received considerable returns. It is reported that the GMV of Xiaohongshu's live broadcast room during the Double Eleven period increased by 4.2 times year-on-year, and the number of participating merchants increased by 4.1 times. The data released by Bilibili at the 2024 AD TALK Conference showed that in 2023, the GMV of merchants on Bilibili increased by 260% year-on-year.

E-commerce platforms continue to move closer to content. E-commerce platforms, which have always been very eager for traffic, sponsor various evening parties and place various advertisements all year round, and are the biggest believers in the myth of buying traffic. One view is that Taobao, as an e-commerce platform, initially launched the live broadcast project in order to attract traffic to the platform.

As e-commerce in live streaming becomes more and more an essential infrastructure, and the content represented by live streaming becomes a scarce commodity, the platform's desire for content becomes increasingly strong.

However, e-commerce platforms lack the ecosystem to create their own content IP. During its boom period, Taobao Live relied on its traffic advantage and operational means to cultivate Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi. But since then, Wei Ya's status after being banned has shown that it is difficult to create a unique new IP relying solely on platform support and traffic incentives.

Taobao and JD.com have both adopted the method of leveraging their strengths to some extent. In 2023, Taobao invited many well-known content creators from outside to join Taobao Live, and also cooperated with TVB to create an exclusive live broadcast room. Relying on the group's resources, it has successively invited IPs with strong commercial influence such as Messi and Ronaldo to settle in, creating a lot of topical content.

JD.com first invited Luo Yonghao to set up an exclusive live broadcast room, and then built the group's purchasing and sales IP during the Double Eleven period, so that the image of knowing products and offering low prices can be deeply rooted in people's hearts. In terms of communication points, it is essentially about creating interesting content to attract users to watch, and then relying on the characteristics of the product itself to keep consumers.

Shelf e-commerce creates content, and content platforms are also penetrating into the hinterland of shelf e-commerce platforms. In May this year, Wei Wenwen, president of Douyin e-commerce, disclosed at the third Douyin e-commerce ecological conference that in the past year, Douyin Mall GMV increased by 277% year-on-year, e-commerce search GMV increased by 159% year-on-year, and shelf scene GMV accounted for more than 30% of the platform GMV. More than half of Douyin e-commerce merchants have 50% of their GMV contributed by shelf scenes.

For Douyin e-commerce, the shelves are based on the shopping needs of some users who "just don't like watching live broadcasts", and it can also continue to increase the overall platform. However, this is not good news for traditional e-commerce platforms.

Back in late 2020, when Alibaba’s market value reached its highest point, it might not have thought that the live streaming e-commerce business it pioneered would open up the e-commerce path for Chinese Internet platforms. In an instant, almost all platforms became direct competitors of traditional e-commerce platforms, and a complex relationship emerged between Internet companies. And those established e-commerce platforms, except Pinduoduo, have, to some extent, lost the trust of investors due to the decline of imagination, and their stock prices have fallen again and again.

The industry is undergoing drastic changes, but there are also things that remain constant.

2. Big players, old rules

In the wave of live e-commerce, the controversy over "super anchors" has never ceased. At the beginning, perhaps people only needed a salesperson facing the camera. Later, sales amplified by the live broadcast room and the Internet began to dominate the live broadcast room and become a "big player."

Although since 2021, many opinions have pointed out that "businesses have suffered from big anchors for a long time", but looking back to 2023, the industry trends show that big anchors are still important and are still indispensable leaders. Taobao's content-oriented development needs to rely on the power of "Internet celebrities" and "stars"; JD's live e-commerce transformation needs to rely on "Luo Yonghao" to take the lead; and Douyin and Kuaishou are continuously producing new IPs of all sizes.

The platforms once competed on multiple factors such as "price", "service", "logistics and fulfillment capabilities" and "payment system", which led to the formation of relatively unique advantages for each platform. However, with the overall development of the industry, the above differences are relatively easy to "eliminate" or narrow the gap. In the end, the advantages and uniqueness of people have become something that cannot be erased.

Big players represented by super anchors continue to play a role. Whether it is the grassroots crazy Xiao Yangge and his equally crazy business matrix, or the knowledge-based and unique brand identity of Dongfang Zhenxuan and Dong Yuhui, or the elegant and intellectual Zhang Xiaohui and Dong Jie. The big players are calling the shots and have become the dazzling business stars of 2023.

At the end of 2023, Dongfang Zhenxuan, which attempted to challenge the industry's background, quickly received a counterattack from fans. When it tried to use supply chain brands to cover up its MCN identity, it was not accepted by the industry. It is one thing for Dongfang Zhenxuan to think what kind of company it should be, but it is another thing for consumers who vote with real money to view Dongfang Zhenxuan. This conflict of interest relationship and the choice of the company's overall strategy were subsequently resolved after Yu Minhong took action.

On the other hand, Li Jiaqi, the only remaining super anchor in the Taobao live broadcast ecosystem, also caused an uproar in public opinion because of a "mistake in one word". The live broadcast room had infinitely magnified the likable side of Li Jiaqi, but this time, the surging and fueling public opinion pushed him to the other side of the audience. In fact, the same thing happened to Dongfang Zhenxuan and Dong Yuhui. Dong Yuhui's golden sentences have helped Dongfang Zhenxuan gain favor and enhance its brand value many times, but remarks like "cheap grain hurts farmers" also once caused a brand crisis.

A service provider who used to do the sliced ​​product business told Hedgehog Commune that the reason why Yu Minhong stopped Dong Yuhui's sliced ​​product authorization business was probably because of this. "Dong Yuhui is a cultured person, and he might have said something wrong. What he said in the live broadcast room is over, and if someone recorded the sliced ​​product and played it repeatedly, it might be magnified infinitely."

In 2023, super anchors and MCNs are still unable to break through the existing rules of profit distribution. The value that the so-called institutional brands can generate seems to be still limited.

Going one step further, consumers, merchants, big anchors, MCNs and platforms have woven a complex, dynamically balanced network of interests. When someone takes a step forward, someone else takes a step back. But what remains unchanged is that the total amount of commercial value is limited. In the current era, super anchors still occupy a share of the value they should occupy, which will not be reduced because of the role of "middlemen" or the will of "companies".

Some seemingly unreasonable business distribution methods will gradually be corrected after problems break out.

3. New opportunities are brewing in the old era

The "Dianshubao" e-commerce database shows that the transaction volume of live e-commerce in the first half of the year was about 1.9916 trillion yuan, and the annual transaction volume is expected to reach 4.5657 trillion yuan. This data is about 30% higher than the transaction volume of 3.5 trillion yuan in 2022. The momentum is still strong, but the speed is relatively slow.

Live streaming e-commerce, like other industries that were once hot, is already looking for new opportunities. These things that may become hot in 2024 are already crowded with pioneers in 2023.

1. Going overseas

The existence of TikTok provides Chinese companies with a brand new market space. In the past, TikTok has achieved certain growth in Southeast Asia and the UK. However, these two markets are not the dream of Chinese companies. Southeast Asia has low customer unit price and low labor costs, and local companies are far more competitive than Chinese companies. The UK has a sparse population and a limited market, and Chinese companies also have to face employment relationships that are completely different from those in China.

Tiktok has long been waiting for the US market, a market with a population of 300 million and strong spending power. The trials in the UK and Southeast Asia are, to some extent, preparations for the opening of the US market. In September this year, TikTok officially announced the launch of its e-commerce service TikTok Shop in the US.

MCNs with mature experience in China have also set their sights on this fertile land. Xiao Yangge and the Three Sheep Network behind him have made great achievements in Southeast Asia. CEO Du Gang previously revealed in an interview that the company will do cross-border business by providing supply chains for overseas bloggers. In addition, domestic leading MCNs such as 51Media and Yaowang Technology have explored overseas live broadcasts.

According to iMedia Research data, China's cross-border e-commerce exports are expected to reach nearly 3 trillion yuan this year.

2. AI Digital Human

AI is the biggest trend in the industry in 2023, and AI is also being integrated with different industries. In the field of live broadcasting, it is the combination of digital humans and AI, and then further invested in live broadcasting e-commerce and local life businesses.

At present, AI digital people still have a certain gap with real people, which makes it impossible for them to gain much profit in live broadcasts that require trust. However, in the recruitment business and local life business, after a large number of digital people are deployed, ROI can be positive and certain profits can be obtained.

Digital humans can also become digital avatars of well-known creators. If the real body of a digital human has sufficient commercial value and influence, then its digital identity can also exert considerable influence as long as it is realistic enough. In the field of live e-commerce, AI digital humans may free up the time and body of super anchors, further amplifying the value of super anchors.

3. New platform, new IP

Content upgrade is far from the final stage.

Hedgehog Community believes that around the upgrade of content and different styles of expression, new creators can still stand out. New content in live e-commerce may sometimes just be a reappearance of already popular content in short videos, just like Xiao Yangge directly transferred the style of his short videos to the live broadcast room.

New forms of content will create new IPs, new giants, and new companies. Content seems to be creating greater imagination space than ever before.

As Hedgehog Community predicted in "Live Broadcast Wars: 2020", "The giants will definitely not be content with this. They all want to start from their core and extend their business to the hinterland of other companies and to other content categories."

In the live broadcast war of 2023, the old smoke of war has not yet dissipated, and a new battlefield has already been opened. Among all the imaginations about "live broadcast", the live broadcast room itself is the palest one.

Author: Chen Shoucheng WeChat public account: Hedgehog Commune