The love-hate entanglements of contemporary people are all in the emotional live broadcast room

Behind the popularity of emotional live broadcasts is the development of the emotional counseling industry and people's attention to emotional issues. However, the qualifications of emotional counselors are questionable, and the industry chain of emotional live broadcast scripts, actors, etc. breeds market traps. The emotional counseling industry needs to be standardized to protect the rights and interests of consumers.

After the short drama became popular, the trend of "copywriting scripts" also blew into the emotional live broadcast room. The Jingzhe Research Institute found that searching for "emotional live broadcast scripts" on Taobao can unlock various scripts. There are copywriting scripts ranging from "family stories", "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships" to "husband and wife relationships", with prices ranging from a few yuan to several hundred yuan. Some stores can also provide one-to-one customized script services according to the tone of the live broadcast room.

A large number of emotional experts have also emerged on the live broadcast platform. They connect with fans in the live broadcast room to answer various emotional problems, from small conflicts and quarrels in love to big things like property division in marriage and family. While quickly attracting fans, they also realize monetization through one-on-one paid consultation, live broadcast rewards, product cooperation, online course sales, etc., and the income behind them is also very considerable.

However, those stories of bitterness and disputes in the live broadcast room may also be scripts designed to win public sympathy and attract traffic. The industry has even formed a complete industrial chain from screenwriters, actors to training.

1. Does the “love trap” give rise to gray business?

The Jingzhe Research Institute has seen on the live streaming platform that a considerable number of anchors are currently using the label of "emotional counseling" to provide psychological counseling and love skills services, but their professionalism is generally questionable.

Because usually, if the anchor appears on the Internet with a professional identity or occupational identity such as "consultant", the platform needs to review and authenticate the anchor's identity qualifications and indicate its business scope. However, many anchors' account homepages currently do not display similar platform certification labels.

In fact, there is no professional certification like "emotional counselor" at present. The well-known "psychological counselor" was also cancelled by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in 2017, which means that the number of counselors who can hold a certificate is limited. But this does not prevent some institutions from soliciting business under the identity of "psychological counselors", and there is even the possibility of "artificially creating" counselors.

If you search for "emotional counselor" as the keyword on Boss Zhipin, you can see that the current entry threshold for this profession is not very high. There are no rigid requirements for psychology-related majors or psychological counseling certificates, and the job requirements of most recruiting companies also include labels such as "no experience required", "no education required", and "telemarketing".

When both the platform and the industry lack strict control, emotional counselors, as a popular and relatively new profession, are bound to take advantage of the situation. There are also more and more institutions in the market that cheat under the guise of "emotional counselors", and there are also cases of excessive promises to those seeking help and even false propaganda to "scam" them.

Xiaozi, a 25-year-old nurse working in a township hospital, told the Jingzhe Research Institute about her experience of being deceived: "During that period, I broke up and wanted to get back together. When I opened the short video platform, an agency account was recommended to me. I clicked in and saw that it was very suitable for my situation. I remember that it was free consultation at the beginning. Later, I spent 2,000 yuan to place an order for a primary consultation for half a month. After paying the money, a teacher was recommended to me, who taught me how to chat and sent me a document for me to read and write my review."

Xiaozi followed the counselor's method and sent messages to the other party to communicate, but it didn't work. Half a month later, she was notified that the package had expired and she needed to pay. Xiaozi then realized that she had been cheated by the emotional agency. However, this situation is not an isolated case. On the Black Cat complaint platform, the number of complaints against emotional consulting companies is close to 2,000, and the reasons for the complaints are mostly "refusal to refund", "fake service", "deceptive consumption" and so on.

Not only is the service effect of consulting companies not guaranteed, emotional live broadcast rooms may also be fabricated. In October 2023, Red Star News reported an incident in which a live broadcast room fabricated a script and sold cheap handicrafts to retired elderly people at high prices. On e-commerce platforms, there are not only various copywriting scripts suitable for live broadcast rooms, but also professional merchants who provide a complete set of services such as ghostwriting plots, live broadcast scripts, and sales talk.

A live broadcast script seller revealed to the Jingzhe Research Institute that a quotation will be communicated before a customized script is created. On this basis, the buyer will pay half of the deposit in advance, and then clarify the creation requirements, including the number of words, the submission date, and what type of script is needed, whether it is for a short play, a micro movie, or a live broadcast.

The seller further explained in detail that if it is a short play, the script will mark out the appearances, copywriting, scene types, picture content, and the type of BGM to be used; if it is a live broadcast script, it will also be divided into oral scripts and story scripts.

The story script of the live broadcast room will first determine the core of the story, character settings and outline, and then send the creation outline to the buyer for confirmation and feedback on modification opinions, and then the creation will be carried out. During the modification stage, the merchant also promised to modify it according to the buyer's requirements until he is satisfied.

In addition to the script, there are also "microphone operators" hired by the anchors to act as actors in the live broadcast room, and there are also mature recruitment channels. Jingzhe Research Institute learned that "microphone operators" generally receive orders through "microphone operator groups" or specific apps. The task is to share their "emotional problems" with the anchors online, and the remuneration for each connection ranges from 15 yuan to 200 yuan. Sometimes, the microphone operators also need to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent the live broadcast script from being exposed.

The interactive form of the live broadcast room allows emotional counselors to reach the audience more efficiently, and also makes it easier for ordinary people to access emotional counseling and psychological counseling services. But it is also worth noting that the mismatch between the efficiency of the Internet and the low threshold of the industry has bred potential market traps.

2. Full of emotions and sufficient flow

The 2023 China Mental Health Blue Book shows that the risk detection rate of depression among adults in my country is 10.6%, the risk detection rate of anxiety is 15.8%, and only 36% of the people believe that their mental state is healthy. In the context of a fast-paced and high-pressure life, people's demand for emotional and psychological counseling is becoming increasingly urgent.

According to statistics, the number of views of videos related to "mental health" on the Douyin platform has exceeded 10 billion. Driven by potential market demand, emotional short videos and emotional live broadcasts have become a major content direction to attract users' attention.

Jingzhe Research Institute has observed that the emotional bloggers currently active on social networks mainly publish emotional experiences, emotional concepts, emotional observations and analysis, and the live broadcast room is a direct channel for them to communicate with fans. In addition, on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Video Account, most emotional bloggers who are certified as psychological counselors usually state in their personal profiles that they have academic qualifications in related fields, or indicate their main emotional direction, as well as their working time and case results.

An interesting phenomenon is that there are far more emotional bloggers on the platform than these "experts". Since the certification boundaries for emotional accounts are not particularly clear, bloggers in other fields also involve emotional content, such as knowledge and culture bloggers "Caroline Hanhan Sister" and "Shen Yizhi" as well as "Lawyer Longfei" and "Lawyer Lao Han".

The account style of "Caroline Hanhanjie" is to tell "incremental information", attracting fans through knowledge about her own experience, entrepreneurship, growth, etc. The user group of "Shen Yizhi" is relatively young, and the video content under the account is mostly about the emotional topics of the two sexes. By telling her own feelings about love, she resonates with fans.

Since ordinary people rarely come into contact with lawyers, lawyer bloggers like "Long Fei Lawyer" and "Lawyer Lao Han" use live broadcasts to popularize the law and answer questions, allowing fans to confide their own emotional disputes. But in fact, the audiences of the two lawyers are somewhat different.

The live broadcast room of "Lawyer Long Fei" is mostly filled with women expressing their sufferings. "Should I get a divorce?" "How can I protect my property?" are frequently asked questions. In the live broadcast room of "Lawyer Lao Han", more real male consultation cases can be seen. Common consultation cases also include "I am getting married. How can I find a loophole to make the woman accompany me to repay the loan while keeping the house as my sole property?" "I had a quarrel with my girlfriend and punched her, causing her to suffer a second-degree minor injury. How can I avoid going to jail?" "I am 21 years old. Who should raise me?"...

The emotional disputes in these live broadcast rooms, which can be described as "explosive", attracted the attention of countless netizens. According to the data of Xindou, "Lawyer Longfei" had previously gained 2 million followers in a single month, and "Lawyer Lao Han" had also achieved an outstanding result of gaining 1 million followers in half a month. Although both of them are professional lawyers, it is not difficult to see that emotional issues are the theme of their content.

In addition, there are also some small-scale bloggers who are marked as emotional bloggers in their profiles, but in fact they are more like "tree holes". Through a live broadcast conversation, the "talker" can confide his worries and stress, and the blogger plays the role of a good listener and becomes an emotional outlet.

Emotional topics in nature satisfy netizens' curiosity, thus triggering widespread discussion. Behind the huge traffic, emotional bloggers have more and more ways to monetize.

3. Talk about love and money

Like most bloggers, emotional bloggers also rely on live streaming and selling courses to realize their income. Among them, live streaming is still the most direct way to realize income.

Take the emotional blogger "Shen Yizhi" as an example. In the 11 live broadcasts in the past 30 days, 10 of them promoted products, with live broadcast sales of about 500,000 to 750,000 yuan. The Jingzhe Research Institute found through the new Douyin data and Douyin showcase that the categories promoted by "Shen Yizhi" include women's clothing, personal care and household cleaning, food, books and other products, among which women's down jackets and sanitary napkins accounted for 53.24% of sales.

In the past 30 days, "Long Fei Lawyer" has added 38 live broadcasts with sales, with total sales reaching about 1 million yuan. What she and "Shen Yizhi" have in common is that they both monetize through knowledge payment, using their personal IP to publish books or recommend emotional books. For example, "Shen Yizhi"'s "I Hope the Next Time I Cry, It's Because I'm Too Happy" has sold nearly 10,000 orders on Douyin, and "Long Fei Lawyer"'s "Live Life Clearly" has also sold 102,000 orders on Douyin.

As for online training, it is not new for relationship consultants to sell courses. Gege, a 25-year-old accountant, bought a book called "Meeting the Unknown Self" because of emotional problems. The book came with a QR code of an emotional consultant. After adding the QR code as a friend, she joined a community called "Intimate Relationship Camp" and watched several live broadcasts of the consultant.

"I have been following this emotional blogger for almost nine months. I don't think it's necessary to go to a psychological counseling agency, so I usually just watch the live broadcast, which is quite convenient. The teacher will ask questions during the live broadcast and let the group members answer them, such as 'recording thoughts' and 'examining oneself'."

However, according to Gege's observation, the live broadcast is free, and the main purpose of the bloggers is to sell courses. "And they will flood the social circle with information about selling courses. I looked at the price and it was 5,980 yuan. This price was so expensive that I had to reconcile with myself on the spot."

For some people with complex emotional problems, live broadcasts and lectures cannot meet their needs. Therefore, emotional consultation bloggers will launch one-on-one consultation services for this group. By sorting out the content of online posts, Jingzhe Research Institute found that the consultation content mainly includes emotional analysis, emotional counseling, emotional healing, advice and answering questions, etc. However, the fees charged by consultants of different levels are different, so the price of consultation varies greatly, ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan.

Jingzhe Research Institute consulted three emotional consulting agencies on the grounds of "distress in love". After understanding the basic situation, the other party began to recommend one-on-one consulting services, with prices ranging from 100 to 1,000 yuan. Some agencies also stated that it was only a one-time consultation and guidance, and that renewal might be required later. During the consultation process, only one agency used more words to reflect its professionalism, and the words only stated "analysis and suggestions" without a clear promise to solve the user's demands.

It is understood that there is another way to charge for monthly consultation, which costs about 4,000-6,000 yuan or even higher. When the consulting party wants to save a relationship or repair a relationship, one or two consultation services obviously cannot guarantee that the problem will be solved, so a 30-day monthly subscription service that can answer questions at any time is more in line with actual needs.

From a market perspective, the need to solve emotional problems through professional consultation is objectively present. Professional consultants can often help people who are trapped in their emotions to look at the problem from a different perspective and thus solve the problem. Even if it does not lead to a good result in the end, it can at least help soothe emotions and relieve stress. Therefore, the emotional consultation business is very profitable.

But at the same time, the low threshold of the industry also means that there are good and bad people mixed together and chaos. If you hope to use the "experts" in the emotional live broadcast room to solve emotional problems, you may fall into another "emotional trap".

*Xiaozi and Gege in this article are pseudonyms

Author: Cheng Yu

WeChat public account: Jingzhe Research Institute