"Copying" Brother Yang, a crazy business

Why can we always watch the live clips of big anchors when they are not broadcasting? This has to mention live streaming slicing, which is to intercept the wonderful live clips of anchors and distribute them in large quantities to guide consumers to buy and obtain commissions for goods. What impact will such live streaming slicing have on users, anchors, and platforms? The author of this article analyzes this, let's take a look.

In Baidu Tieba, which has not been paid attention to for a long time, there is a magical organization called "Zhong Xiaoer".

If you come here by chance, you might be confused by the atmosphere here. There are only 43 followers and 150 posts, half of which are idle chicken soup articles and the other half are sharing sliced ​​video exam strategies. Users discuss how to get high scores, seek help from experts, and ask how to repeat the exam if they fail.

But this is not a gathering place for the army of postgraduate entrance examinations and civil service examinations, and Zhongxiaoer is not a secret exam guide. If you have to choose a word to describe it, Zhongxiaoer officially defines itself as a "flexible employment platform." Its role is to connect top anchors and short video editors, help the latter obtain authorization, and earn income through live streaming slices.

Its name is now associated with Crazy Xiao Yangge, a famous funny anchor with over 100 million fans on Douyin. According to media reports, in the past year, Xiao Yangge's income from live streaming slice business alone has reached 187 million yuan.

The so-called live streaming slicing refers to uploading the live streaming clips of influencers to the platform for selling goods. The whole process only requires three steps: obtain the authorization of the anchor; the authorized person finds materials that can attract consumers in the anchor's live broadcast room, and edits them into short videos of dozens of seconds, puts them in his own account, and opens a window to sell goods according to the products sold in the video; finally, the two parties share the sales revenue.

Compared to building a supply chain or doing live broadcasts, this is undoubtedly a win-win business. The anchors sow, fertilize, and water in the live broadcast room, and then use "replicas" to easily harvest the fruits. Users do not need to live broadcast and sell goods themselves, and even do not need money in the early stage. As long as they pay a certain time cost, they can rely on the anchors to "sit back and enjoy the fruits".

In the face of such huge benefits, it is hard for anyone not to be tempted. After setting the 2023 goal of doubling the slice revenue, Xiao Yangge's "Three Sheep Network" Group officially announced that it would launch the "Zhong Xiaoer" App in major app stores.

All processes were simplified again. The waiters shouted the slogan "Where there is home, there is work", changing the "people and people" model to the "people and platform" model, using the packaging of "information aggregation, service information matching, information matching service" to string together a larger industrial chain, and also string together Xiao Yangge's larger ambition.

1. Brother Yang wants to make money without doing anything

Before 2023, Xiao Yangge was an absolutely unfamiliar name to many people. He and his Three Sheep Network were like a closed and independent parallel world, and the accumulation of fame and wealth was unknown to the public.

But now, everything is changing. With over 100 million fans, Xiao Yangge has become a top anchor on Douyin. His name has begun to appear frequently in media reports. Even if you haven't watched his live broadcast, those highlights that are widely circulated on short videos always seem to occasionally flash on the homepage of short videos.

The reason why he became popular is due to his unique style in short videos and live broadcasts. Compared with anchors who sell goods honestly, his short videos and live broadcasts are rarely dry and boring.

In the short videos, his daily life is often accompanied by reckless, crazy and desperate funny elements. He and his brother play pranks on each other, his parents often play mixed doubles, and even his wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and all other family members, the trivialities of life have evolved into funny materials for his short videos.

This style laid the foundation for Xiao Yangge to become popular and has also become the unique feature of his live broadcast room.

In the live broadcast room, he often plays tricks on the brands. He often gets kicked out of the live broadcast room by Xiao Yangge himself for showing off broken garbage bags, rotten apples, and other overturned scenes. In order to verify the suction power of the vacuum cleaner, he compares it with the vacuum cleaner face to face. If it can't match Xiao Yangge's vacuum cleaner, he will be kicked out of the live broadcast room.

More often, he would play pranks on himself and his brother. To prove the cleansing power of facial cleanser, he would rub his face roughly to the rhythm of music, wrinkling his features and letting the foam flow into his mouth along with the water, which was a hilarious scene; when selling slippers, he and his brother Yangge would take a bite each and start eating the slippers, shaking their heads and pulling them wildly, leaving only a tooth mark with all their strength.

Each product is usually only shown for one or two minutes. This is the inherent rhythm of the live broadcast room. There are hundreds of products in one night. It is not easy to design jokes for each product. But in the live broadcast room of Crazy Brother Xiao Yang, everything becomes logical. Brother Xiao Yang, who is willing to make a fool of himself, the embarrassed brand, and the audience who are just looking for fun, all get what they want.

Whether you like it or not, it is undeniable that these exaggerated and eye-catching behaviors can easily be edited into countless lively short videos. On Douyin, the cumulative number of views of the topic "Crazy Xiao Yangge Live Replay" alone has reached 7.2 billion.

Everyone wants to take advantage of this huge and crazy traffic business. The wealth feedback brought by his own traffic is direct and rapid, and it is hard for Xiao Yangge himself not to be tempted.

Media reports show that although Xiao Yangge has clones everywhere, in fact, it was not until the beginning of 2022 that Xiao Yangge officially opened the live streaming slice authorization for the first time. Before that, it was common practice to privately edit the head anchor's video without authorization, graft other content, and link to other products. In the eyes of industry insiders, in addition to wanting to hold the price difference of middlemen in his hands, Xiao Yangge established many Xiaoers, which may also be intended to crack down on the gray industrial chain.

Under Xiao Yangge's deliberate layout, hundreds of Xiao Yangge are appearing crazily, such as "Funny Xiao Yangge", "Crazy Xiao Xiao Yang", "Crazy Xiao Yang Brother"... At the end of last year, Xinbang Data once did a statistics, "Three Sheep" has more than 300 authorized accounts, and nearly a thousand are awaiting review.

According to the information revealed by Xiao Yang himself, the real story is even crazier: in 2022, more than 11,000 people obtained the slicing authorization of Three Sheep Network, with an average income of 17,000 yuan per person, and 316 brands achieved sales of over one million yuan through slicing.

This means that in 2022, Three Sheep's revenue from live streaming of sliced ​​food has reached 187 million yuan. In his vision, in 2023, with the help of the waiters, the number of authorized accounts and per capita income may double again. In other words, Brother Yang hopes to earn 748 million yuan just by live streaming of sliced ​​food.

These revenues can ensure that Brother Yang can continue to sell goods outside the live broadcast room and maximize the revenue generated by a single live broadcast content.

More and more people are asking, "How much money can Xiao Yang make?" In a live broadcast, Xiao Yang answered the question cryptically: "Over 100 million? My net worth is about the same as Da Yang's combined."

2. Live slicing is a difficult business practice

The establishment of Zhongxiaoer not only means Xiao Yangge’s “dominant” status in Douyin, but also symbolizes that Xiao Yangge’s business empire has been filled with a key link.

Earlier, a fan asked Xiao Yangge why he didn't increase the frequency of live broadcasts, but kept it at two days a week. His answer was: "I can broadcast for several hours a day and earn hundreds of thousands, but is it meaningful? If you lose your health, your fans won't like you anymore. Fans come for happiness, so you have to bring them happiness."

The more realistic reason may be that no one wants to act crazy all the time. In a widely circulated video, he rarely tells his student fans about his past experiences seriously, in which he particularly emphasizes that "never dream of becoming an internet celebrity, it's very tiring and humble."

Making a fortune quietly is of course the best outcome, but the top anchors' every word and action is closely watched. Since May last year, Xiao Yangge has faced more and more turmoil. In the current precarious situation, what he needs is to make money even if he reduces the frequency of live broadcasts or even stops live broadcasts. Just like Wei Ya.

In fact, Xiao Yang had already had such ambitions as early as 2021. That year, Xiao Yang changed his previous family workshop and officially established Hefei Three Sheep Network Technology Company, setting new business goals on bringing goods, entertainment live broadcasting, short video content commercialization, e-commerce and store operations, and integrated marketing. Xiao Yang, who had repeatedly hit a wall in the live broadcast field, seemed to have opened up his Ren and Du meridians, and gradually became popular by relying on crazy content-based live broadcasts.

Outside the live studio, Xiao Yangge's business landscape has become increasingly clear. Companies such as Hefei Three Sheep Cultural Media Co., Ltd., Hefei Three Sheep Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and Hefei Leader Cultural Media Co., Ltd. were established in the following year. Tianyancha data shows that Xiao Yangge currently controls 8 companies and indirectly holds shares in 10 companies, and serves as the legal representative of 5 of them. His business landscape covers cultural media, live e-commerce, venture capital, supply chain management, transportation facilities, etc.

Along with the ever-expanding business territory, Xiao Yangge also has increasingly clear goals: he does not want to be just a host, he wants to expand his team and build an e-commerce base. Perhaps his purpose is the same as Simba and Viya - to go deep into all aspects of the e-commerce chain.

As a result, the trademark "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" was registered, the mini program of the same name was launched, and the ambition to build a supply chain was widely reported by the media; the news of buying a building for 100 million yuan also appeared, and everyone knew about the ambition to build the global headquarters of the Three Sheep Network; after the number of fans exceeded 100 million, the ambition to enter TikTok also appeared. Building his own e-commerce empire, incubating a larger e-commerce matrix, and eliminating the risks of personal IP, this is the future he longs for.

At the same time, a new name - Du Gang - began to appear frequently beside Xiao Yangge. In the e-commerce circle, this name is not well-known, but in terms of business, Du Gang and Three Sheep are inextricably linked. Tianyancha data shows that Du Gang currently actually controls 7 companies and serves as the legal representative of 5 companies, including Hefei Sanyang Kaitai Morning Information Consulting Co., Ltd., in which Three Sheep Venture Capital Co., Ltd. holds a 67% stake, and Hefei Three Sheep Information Technology Co., Ltd., in which Three Sheep Network holds a 100% stake.

Of course, there is also Zhongxiaoer. Interestingly, although it was not until this year that Xiao Yang officially announced the launch of the Zhongxiaoer App, its story as a middleman actually came earlier. In 2019, Zhongxiaoer Information Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Hefei. The shareholder is Hefei Huimao Network Technology Co., Ltd., in which Du Gang holds a 95% stake. Its main business is Internet-related services.

In the four years since its establishment, Zhongxiaoer has experienced two changes in its business scope. One was in July 2020, when new retail business was added to Zhongxiaoer's business scope for the first time; the other was in January 2022, when software development, Internet of Things technology, live broadcast services, economic agency and other services became the new focus of Zhongxiaoer.

After these two business changes, Zhongxiaoer officially became a new platform that provides flexible employment. However, before meeting the three sheep, the e-commerce customer service of new retail was its main business. It was not until after 2021 that Xiao Yangge and Du Gang, two people with completely different development paths, met in one place. The story between Zhongxiaoer and the three sheep began to change.

To some extent, this is also a mutual achievement between Xiao Yangge and the Xiaoer. Xiao Yangge needs to turn the short-term promotion of live streaming into a long-term investment, and the Xiaoer needs to rely on larger companies to achieve more stable development. But it is worth noting that the three sheep have not invested in the Xiaoer, and Du Gang is still the majority shareholder of the Xiaoer.

Driven by such ambition, Xiaoer is not just serving Crazy Xiaoyangge. In addition to Three Sheep Network and Crazy Xiaoyangge, other top anchors such as Hao Shaowen, Make Friends Live, Zhu Zixiao, Idle Wang Yuheng, Xin Jifei, and Huang from Red Light have all joined. Xiaoer is a middleman platform. Even if users obtain authorization from other anchors, Xiaoyangge can still extract a certain commission as long as revenue is generated.

If he can survive long-term and stably, then what the waiters can bring to Brother Yang may be potential connections and renewable resources, which will be enough for him to keep the fat piece of live streaming firmly in his hands after reducing live streaming or even leaving the live streaming room, and feed back to a series of signed anchors.

With such ambitions, many waiters set out to make similar and repetitive videos, capturing the attention of consumers. A larger and crazier slicing army is gradually taking shape.

But, can Brother Yang really steer the ship of live slicing skillfully?

3. Who are the leeks under the water?

The slicing business not only nurtured Xiao Yangge's crazy business empire, but also made live slicing editors an increasingly widely noticed profession.

On the homepages of the waiters, some touching and inspirational stories are placed in the most conspicuous position, attracting the attention of users.

For example, Guo Bao from Lu'an, Anhui, his story is that due to policy influence, he and his parents moved the wedding dress factory from Jiangsu back to Lu'an. Later, they encountered the epidemic, the industrial chain was broken, the factory was closed, the young children were hungry, his wife was a full-time mother, and the family had no source of income. At the end of 2021, he joined Hefei Three Sheep Network Online Editor and successfully solved the family's daily expenses.

Another example is Wang Tao from Beijing. In 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, his company went bankrupt, he was in debt of one million, and he fell to the bottom. At the end of 2021, when his life was the most difficult, he accidentally became an online editor, and relying on Xiao Yangge's slicing, he successfully landed at the end of 2022.

In their personal comments, they recounted the hardships they had gone through and the glorious stories of seizing opportunities. "It was a really difficult time back then, and Three Sheep Network really helped me solve my urgent needs. Now I can not only cover my daily living expenses, but I can also work from home without affecting my family, which is a very good thing."

The message of "free authorization", "work at home" and "monthly income of over 10,000 yuan" was repeatedly emphasized. The appeal to the public is obvious. It means there is no age limit, no educational limit, and even no work location limit. You can start and end at any time.

A beautiful dream is so easily presented before your eyes. You don’t need to think about the copywriting or shoot the video yourself. You just need to cling to the anchors who have their own traffic and edit the videos to make money. Even the rough cuts of the videos are already prepared by the sponsors. All users need to do is turn the creative work of making videos into an assembly line.

The future that Xiao Yang described is indeed beautiful. But is it really so? Or in other words, who is actually making money?

Judging from a series of information about the open authorization of anchors such as Xiao Yangge and Hao Shaowen, the threshold for obtaining the anchor live broadcast slicing authorization is not high. It only requires the Douyin account to reach 1,000 followers and open an account showcase, and the account operator must have basic account operation and video editing capabilities.

The real profit point, or the difficulty, lies in the commission. Rumor has it that Xiao Yangge's commission ratio is a tiered system, with a 30% to 70% split for sales below 50,000 yuan, a 40% to 60% split for sales between 50,000 and 100,000 yuan, and a 50% to 50% split for sales above 100,000 yuan.

Take Crazy Xiao Yangdi as an example. As the top account in Xiao Yangge's slice account, Crazy Xiao Yangdi officially started operating the account in September 2022. In just over half a year, the number of fans reached 2.2943 million. However, the new Douyin data shows that although the traffic is relatively stable, in the past thirty days, the sales of this account through sliced ​​videos are only 75,000-100,000. According to a simple conversion of the ratio of 40% to 60% of sales of 50,000-100,000 yuan, in the past month, Crazy Xiao Yangge's live streaming slice income was 30,000-40,000 yuan.

However, there are only a few accounts with more than one million followers. For most live streaming accounts, a 50-50 split is out of reach for Brother Yang. When a large number of accounts jointly look for highlights in a live broadcast and edit them, it is inevitable that almost the same videos will be produced. Getting the host's authorization does not mean that you can make a lot of money. Homogeneous competition makes it increasingly difficult for new entrants to stand out. Making money while lying down is, after all, a carnival for only a few people.

At the same time, resistance from the platform always exists. As anchors, the balance and competition between themselves and the platform often determines their final destination, just like Simba, who has a love-hate relationship with Kuaishou.

In fact, the slicing business has existed since the rise of the live broadcast industry. The relationship between the two is like the relationship between the shadow and the real body. The official attitude of major platforms towards pirated sliced ​​videos has been tacitly accepted until today. Does this mean that even today's seemingly lively live broadcast platforms are still facing the embarrassment of the lack of high-quality anchors?

In the past, when these sliced ​​accounts brought daily activity or advertising revenue to the platform, the platform's attitude might be ambiguous. But when the traffic of Xiao Yangge and his "copies" is increasing, and the platform is more and more eager for original content, will the platform suppress it? It certainly does not want to see Xiao Yangge dominate alone, nor does it want this model that has no technical content, many hidden dangers, but can be quickly copied to reduce the quality of short videos and e-commerce sales.

The rules of the game are ultimately in the hands of upstream players. The live streaming industry is of course only a temporary trend - just like all Internet celebrity industries, the last round of the trend gave birth to Wei Ya, and Wei Ya has now transformed behind the scenes, frequently investing to make money while cautiously trying to return to the public eye.

Today, while Brother Yang is working hard to build a more complete live streaming industry chain and a broader overseas market, Brother Yang, Li Jiaqi, Liu Genghong and other top anchors have been named again because their share of public opinions exceeds 90%. The number following Brother Yang's name is: the share of public opinions on rights protection is as high as 29.27%.

At this time, it had only been five months since he last became the target of public criticism.

Author: Pomegranate, Editor: Yuejian

Source public account: Xinentropy (ID: baoliaohui), insight into business variables and exploration of the essence of business.