WeChat tightens commercial cooperation with public accounts, not to collect "tolls"

This article analyzes the evolution and commercialization layout of WeChat content ecology based on the recent new measures of WeChat official accounts. Through this article, we can understand why WeChat is tightening the commercialization of official accounts, and how video accounts and official accounts can achieve deep integration and complementarity. These views are very helpful for us to understand and layout the WeChat content ecology. Recommended for students who want to understand the evolution of WeChat content ecology.

Entering 2023, when the video account has long become Tencent's "hope for the whole village", apart from the operators who are still working hard to stick to it, I am afraid that not many people will care about the every move of WeChat official accounts. Despite this, Tencent's actions in transforming WeChat official accounts continue, and the direction seems to be getting clearer and clearer.

Recently, WeChat has been targeting the "private business orders" of public account operators. However, after analysis, we found that WeChat's move is not just to collect "tolls", but has greater platform ambitions.

01 WeChat tightens public account commercial cooperation not to “collect tolls”

"Is it true that no one cares about WeChat public accounts... Why is there no one discussing such a big move?" In the self-media community, the remarks of a public account operator caught the attention of the entertainment value officer.

It turns out that she was talking about a new regulation recently released by the WeChat public platform: from June 30, 2023, the operators of public accounts who promote goods or services in the form of commercial cooperation with third parties, such as adding shopping links and other purchasing methods, should publish them through Tencent's official advertising platform, otherwise the relevant content and accounts will be restricted. In other words, in the future, WeChat public accounts can only receive business orders through Tencent's mutual selection advertising platform.

This means that the 11-year-old WeChat public platform has finally bid farewell to its "wild growth period" of commercialization and has begun to catch up with platforms such as Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Zhihu. Prior to this, it was precisely because of the low threshold for creation and the freedom and openness of commercialization that the WeChat public platform became a self-media platform for the participation of all people. As of January 2021, the number of WeChat public accounts has reached 360 million .

Operators of WeChat public accounts have also made a living through various monetization methods such as advertising, distribution, rewards, courses, e-commerce, etc. Without relying on the platform at all, they have built a rich and profound business ecosystem, realizing the influence and penetration of WeChat on the real economy, and paving the way for the subsequent commercialization of mini-programs and video accounts.

Today, when the bonus period of WeChat official accounts has long faded and the WeChat empire is constantly marginalized, the authorities finally remembered to take back the commercial rights of official accounts. Many media interpreted this move as collecting "tolls", but it is difficult to explain why WeChat did not start collecting tolls during the heyday of official accounts, but waited until this road was deserted.

In the first quarter of this year, Tencent's online advertising revenue resumed high growth, with a year-on-year growth rate of 17%, becoming the highlight of the group's performance. From this point of view, Tencent does not seem to need to "cut" those operators who are still struggling to stick to the public account. Although the public account mutual selection platform service fee has been reduced from 10% of the cooperation amount to 5%, it still adds a burden to the operators who used to "take orders privately".

Therefore, we may not be able to interpret it from the perspective of "Tencent collecting taxes", but should examine it in the context of the layout of WeChat's entire business ecosystem.

02 Why does WeChat need to completely clean up the “gray area”?

It is worth noting that while WeChat official accounts are tightening up their commercial cooperation, video accounts have also taken action in terms of original protection and creation sharing. Now, when publishing video account content, a new "Original Statement" function has been added. After turning it on, you can choose the "Original Type" and enjoy platform protection and priority recommendation . Not only that, authors who have turned on the "Original Statement" will have the opportunity to display advertisements in the comment area and obtain revenue sharing.

There is no doubt that this move will further crack down on the "porters" group on the video account and further reduce the copyright risks of the platform content, thereby clearing the obstacles for the rapid advancement of commercialization.

From this perspective, the purpose of WeChat's crackdown on public accounts is clear: by comprehensively cleaning up "underground business" and gray areas, strengthening the supervision of text, image, and video content at the platform level, and creating a transparent and controllable business ecosystem, it is preparing for the further integration of public accounts and video accounts, and the division of labor and coordination between text, image, and video. The reason why the public account "Transactions Under the Iceberg" only caught the attention of WeChat officials at this time is that with the steady progress of the commercialization of the video account, it is time to revitalize the entire content chess game.

Before the emergence of video accounts, WeChat official accounts were the absolute protagonists in this game. The reason why WeChat official accounts have always adopted a "turn a blind eye" attitude towards the commercial behavior of operators is that they are worried that excessive supervision will dampen the enthusiasm of creators, thereby causing a loss of user attention; secondly, it is also because it is difficult to bring all the "various magical" monetization methods under supervision, and the platform can only do its best to prevent them from impacting the traffic ecology of WeChat groups, Moments, etc.

Although WeChat public accounts with more than 500 followers can open traffic owners, and original articles can share 70% of the daily advertising revenue flow, with no upper limit . However, due to the continuous decline in the opening rate of WeChat public accounts, the advertising share is only better than nothing for operators. Like the UP masters of Bilibili, most of the public account creators who are still persisting can only support themselves by accepting business orders and driving traffic to e-commerce and courses, making this area a "lawless place" within the WeChat business system.

Now, when WeChat official accounts have changed from protagonists on the chessboard to supporting roles, and when all creators who can transform into videos have "transformed as much as possible", WeChat finally no longer needs to retain this "gray area", but must do its best to plug this gap in the walled garden.

03 After giving the C position to the video account, what value does the official account have in the content game?

Although the C position in the WeChat content ecosystem has been given to video accounts, this does not mean that the declining WeChat public accounts have no value from now on. On the contrary, when videos and pictures and texts are fully connected and deeply coupled, it may be able to re-stimulate the commercial vitality of WeChat public accounts.

In February this year, WeChat official accounts upgraded the “picture message” function. The “picture + short text” model was said to be a direct target of Xiaohongshu, and this format has been proven to have great potential in promoting good products.

As early as 2021, Douyin established the "L Project" specifically to compete with Xiaohongshu, and this year it directly put graphic content into the first-level entrance of the homepage. In addition to Douyin, platforms such as Zhihu and Kuaishou are all eyeing graphic content. In contrast, WeChat official accounts have a unique advantage in graphics and text. The only problem is how to make the content and browsing method lighter.

However, after a period of novelty, WeChat official account "short pictures and texts" did not cause much waves, nor did they change the regular habits of users consuming official account content. The so-called "little green book" was just a flash in the pan. The biggest reason may be that the WeChat official account system has been "difficult to reverse", whether it is creators, consumers or distribution methods, it is difficult to truly catch up with Xiaohongshu in all aspects.

For WeChat, a more realistic approach may not be to completely transform subscription accounts, but to use "short pictures and texts" as a powerful supplement to video account content, thereby realizing a three-dimensional grass-seeking system of "video + live broadcast + pictures and texts". Not only "short pictures and texts", but also long content of WeChat official accounts can guide traffic to video account stores. The synergy between WeChat official accounts and video accounts will become a unique advantage that Douyin and Kuaishou cannot replicate.

At the 2023 WeChat Open Class PRO in March this year, the WeChat "Search" team also launched the "Ask" search function, which undoubtedly opened up a new traffic entrance for high-quality content creators. It is worth noting that "Ask" only supports logging in through the video account account, and creators can answer questions through pictures, texts, and videos. This initially reveals WeChat's ambition to integrate various forms of content through the search entrance.

In the future, WeChat may completely break down the barriers between video accounts and public accounts, and guide users to create content in the most suitable form. Of course, no matter how free the form is, WeChat will firmly grasp the dominance of commercialization behind the scenes.

Author: Zhang Yuan

Source: WeChat public account "Entertainment Value Officer (ID: wenyujiazhiguan)"