Niche content, pioneer groups, lost creation, let's talk about talk shows from the perspective of content

As a recent hot topic, the Xiaoguo House incident has caused a lot of reflection among peers and passers-by. In addition to criticizing the ideological and moral issues of the content creators themselves, the author of this article started from exploring the boundaries of content creation and the development direction of stand-up comedy, triggering a series of reflections.

I am very concerned about the Xiaoguo incident this time.

On the one hand, Xiaoguo is a content company and is in the content industry; on the other hand, artists are content creators. These two points are relevant to me.

Let me tell you how I see this. It's not a system, but it's a perspective.

01 Stand-up comedy is still a niche content form

Some people must disagree. How can such a popular variety show be niche? It should be known to everyone.

The niche I am talking about is based on the national Internet users.

Tell a true story.

That year, Li Xueqin became very popular in the talk show conference. She could be seen everywhere and had a high exposure. We invited her to Kuaishou to post videos and do live broadcast activities.

Many, many friends asked in the comment section: Who is this person?

Kuaishou is a product with hundreds of millions of DAU, and has strong stickiness and penetration in the lower-tier markets. It can be used as a platform to test the "cognition of the lower-tier population."

So the test result is: not only does he not know Li Xueqin, he is not familiar with Li Dan either.

There is one more thing.

At that time, we cooperated with Xiaoguo and asked them to customize several episodes of content for Kuaishou. What we valued was the other party's content capabilities, but the cooperation process was not smooth.

The core is that I think they have too elitist a perspective, and the topics they plan will definitely not be understood by the average person.

For example, one of the topics was a workplace topic, which talked about the various problems everyone encountered at work, weird colleagues and superiors, and everyone had a great time chatting about it at the topic selection meeting.

My opinion is absolutely not.

The reason is very simple. Most of our people have no concept of the workplace, or they don't have a workplace at all. They make money by running small businesses or finding ways to do so.

Everyone is so excited about the discussion, but they are just entertaining themselves. They don't realize that they are just a minority among the majority.

These two short stories, one about the recognition of artists and the other about the popularity of content, both show that the content form of stand-up comedy is still a niche from the perspective of ordinary people.

02 Pioneers of niche content will definitely explore boundaries

Advanced technology, popular elements, and trendy culture are all processes from niche to mainstream.

When it is a niche market, I am promoting those who are playing, which I call the pioneer group. They either master new technologies or have a more novel understanding of new thinking and new culture.

The characteristic of avant-garde groups is that they are not conservative and want to come up with something new and cool, so exploring boundaries is what these people will definitely do.

If the direction of exploration is right, it will promote development, and you will become the first in the industry and gain benefits;

If the direction is wrong, or even if it breaks the law or violates public order and good morals, you will be punished.

Xiaoguo has made great contributions to popularizing stand-up comedy and enriched the audience's amateur cultural life.

The company also has strong commercial capabilities, can make money and pay taxes, and is a relatively successful business entity, all of which are good things.

In the process of going from a niche to the mainstream, although there are many problems, there are also achievements. Before this incident, it is clear that it still has the ability to continue to make money and break through the circle.

These achievements, to some extent, are also exploring boundaries.

03 The identity of content creators can make people lost

If you’re a content creator, you’ll know that it’s very easy to be led by the nose.

Who is pulling the strings? Data, money, or the top guy on the list…

Imagine that you have been a live streamer for half a year and your popularity has been very low. One day, you quarrel with your lover in the live broadcast room and unexpectedly find that your popularity has soared to 5 times the usual level.

So, will you quarrel in the live broadcast room next time?

Some people say no, and they still have some integrity. But think about it from another perspective. If you have been working hard for half a year and nothing has worked, and just arguing can bring about an improvement in data, wouldn’t you think this is an opportunity? Wouldn’t you think this is the result of your long-term iterative exploration of live streaming?

Most people will try to continue arguing, because this is feedback from the audience and an opportunity to build up their account.

The same goes for stand-up comedy, they are all content creators.

What's even more abnormal is that live broadcasts can be held every day, but variety shows like talk show conferences only happen once a year. For most actors, they only have one chance to appear.

They love this industry and want to do it full-time, want to take business orders, and want to hold their own shows. Then the talk show conference is the shortcut to success, it is the "college entrance examination".

If you do well in the exam, you can save several years of hard work, which is very tempting.

Given such an important and scarce opportunity, it is inevitable that some people will behave erratically.

They start talking about their marriages, deceased relatives, private families of origin, etc. Some actors are good at telling stories, and they keep telling stories without crossing the line. I think they are really awesome, such as Guangzhi and Hulan.

But some actors broke the law and hurt most people, like House.

Not only in the stand-up comedy industry, but also in short videos and live streaming, there are people who go astray, do wrong things, fail, or break the law, and it is difficult to come back.

These content creators who cross the line are simply lost in the process.

Author: Han Xu

Source: WeChat public account "Operation Dog Work Diary (ID: yunyingriji)"