2023 Tik Tok content ecosystem: “Newcomers” are king

The author of this article shared several Douyin “newcomer” accounts that have gained a lot of fans, and analyzed the reasons why they attracted fans. Through sharing, readers can find that the probability of Douyin “newcomers” coming to the fore has increased significantly.

The Douyin follower growth list for February has been released. Let’s take a look at the list first:

In this issue's fan-increasing list, Zhang Dada, a star known as the "customer service of the entertainment industry" and "my friend in the circle", has become the undisputed king of fan-increasing with an increase of 6.606W fans.

Different from the way most stars play in the live broadcast room, Zhang Dada chose to have a direct conversation with fans in the live broadcast method of "random connection" to help them answer questions or realize their wishes. The novel live broadcast method attracted countless netizens to flock to the live broadcast room to make a living. Behind all kinds of outrageous questions, Zhang Dada's "flesh and blood" real reactions made fans who are used to the standard answers in the entertainment industry feel the sincerity of a "living person" for the first time in a long time, and they all clicked to follow.

Image source: @张的大抖音 video screenshot

After Zhang Dada, the growth of fans in the expert content ecosystem was not much different from that in January.

There is only one account with more than 3 million followers, which is @国岳, who gained tens of millions of fans through the rich couple's "sweet" videos . In February, the couple welcomed the birth of their child and sent candy in the live broadcast room to celebrate, which ushered in a new round of fan growth.

In addition, there are 4 accounts with an increase of 2 million to 3 million followers. Except for the gourmet store explorer @MR-白冰, the other three are all new faces. Among them, @打工仔小张, known as the "mom-style science blogger", has become a phenomenal existence in the science track by immersing in the science of seemingly insignificant common sense in daily life (Kas has previously conducted a special study on this account, click "3 million followers in 30 days, Douyin's science track ushered in "new hope"" to jump to read) . After that, the remaining 14 accounts all increased their followers between 1 million and 2 million.

@DagongziXiaozhang Douyin video screenshot

In general, the content ecology of Douyin has fully entered a "calm period". The trend of increasing fans in different months often does not show much difference. If the monthly increase in fans is between 1 million and 2 million, it will be ahead of most players.

From the perspective of account types, February covers a variety of categories such as knowledge, vlog, talent and skills, food, mother and baby, cars, fashion, drama, travel, etc., still showing a diversified trend. In addition, like January, except for a few accounts, there are still many new faces in the February fan growth list. "Newcomers" seem to be the keyword of Douyin's content ecology in 2023. And for these new faces, Kas will also make further interpretations below.

1. @乔伯伯英语: 50 works attracted 4.5W fans. Why is the homophonic method of memorizing words so eye-catching?

In the February follower growth list, various types of knowledge accounts occupy an especially important position. For example, @打工仔小张 is popularizing many common sense in daily life, @聪哥说车 is popularizing practical knowledge related to cars, and Shaochenshixiong (mobile photography) is hand-in-hand with users to pass on photography tips. And @乔伯伯英语, which has 285.9W followers in a single month and ranks TOP4 on the follower growth list, helps users "remember a word in one second."

@聪哥说车@少辰师兄 (mobile phone photography) Tik Tok video screenshot

It is understood that the protagonist of the account, Uncle Qiao, has many trustworthy professional titles, such as associate professor of Tianjin University of Science and Technology, chief lecturer of postgraduate English, and oral examiner of Pets public English test, and his professional ability is beyond doubt. The first work of this account was published on January 12 this year. As of press time, a total of 56 works have been published, and the number of fans has reached 455.3W.

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

Throughout the videos he released, the content mode is very uniform: after the opening remarks of "remember a word in one second", Uncle Qiao in different scenes will throw out the words to be remembered in the video, and then vividly break down each word in a homophonic way, and sometimes even match it with corresponding people or objects for scene interpretation . Under his entertaining breakdown, many users' learning interest is fully stimulated, thus unlocking a new habit of memorizing words in an entertaining way during entertainment time.

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

For example, when explaining the word manic, Uncle Joe threw out the word manic that we need to remember today while playing computer games: "Manic, what does it mean? Ma (scold) ni (you) c (foolish). You are playing a game happily, but your opponent scolds you for being a foodie. How can you not be manic? So manic means manic. Do you remember it?"

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

When explaining the word "wander", Uncle Joe strolled leisurely around the mall. After the familiar opening remarks, he began to explain the word in an interesting way. "Wander, what does it mean?" The camera turned and he pointed to the Wanda Plaza next to him. "Wander, wan (wan) der (da), hey? What are you doing in Wanda? Isn't it just to stroll and have a look? So wander - wander, stroll, do you remember it?"

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

When explaining the word underdog, Uncle Joe held a cute puppy in his arms and began to break it down: under means below, dog means dog, together they mean "under the dog". If someone is under the dog, he must be a weak person, so underdog means a weak person.

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

In just a few tens of seconds, each word becomes extremely vivid through Uncle Joe's interesting associations and image analysis. Users can easily remember a word in a fresh, funny and fast-paced atmosphere.

There is no doubt that strong professional endorsement + interesting and unique word memorization method are the core factors for @乔伯伯英语 to quickly attract fans . In addition, the account has many highlights to help it increase its fans, such as:

The unified cover design and fixed video modes at the beginning and end further enhance the memorable points of the account;

The "serious" identity of the retired professor forms a sharp contrast with the down-to-earth and funny style of the video , further increasing the watchability and fun of the video.

In addition, Uncle Qiao always releases relevant videos based on hot topics , such as a video created following the recently popular "Eye-to-Eye Crossdressing" that received 830,000 likes;

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

When "The Rush" was popular, Uncle Qiao transformed himself into "Qiao Qiqiang" and launched a word-remembering version of "The Rush". The sentence "Tell Lao Mo, it's time to memorize words" attracted many netizens to interact with him. Later, he went to the seafood market and taught everyone the word "fishback" with a fish, which also received nearly 1 million likes.

@乔伯伯英语TikTok video screenshot

Finally, Uncle Joe will frequently interact with fans in the comment section and conduct surprise checks on previously taught words from time to time, thereby deeply stimulating fans' enthusiasm for interaction and strengthening their stickiness with the account.

2. @李炮儿: “What I play is reality”, how do challenge-type masters attract fans?

@李炮儿, who currently has 443.2W fans, is a "challenge master" with a natural sense of humor. The content posted on his account recently focuses on recording the funny process of completing various challenge themes proposed by fans. The main theme of the video is "playing is real."

As a comedian, @李炮儿's content format has undergone many changes. In the early days, he focused on using his superb acting skills to imitate and restore the various routines of e-commerce live broadcasts, the routines of store bloggers, and the common discussion routines of film and television dramas/variety shows . Because of his accurate grasp of various routines, and the addition of exaggerated and dramatic creativity, he maximized the meaning of ridicule, coupled with his superb and realistic acting skills, which allowed him to accumulate a group of fans.

@李炮儿TikTok video screenshot

In September 2022, @李炮儿 launched a campus comedy series in which he played multiple roles . In the series, he played the principal, vice principal, dean of studies, class teacher and other roles, and then restored various interesting things that happened on campus. With his vivid performance, the account has gained the attention of a group of fans.

@李炮儿TikTok video screenshot

At the beginning of this year, the content model of "You set the theme and I take the challenge" began to spread on Douyin and was loved by many users. Under this trend, @李炮儿 also took advantage of the opportunity to start the third content phase of the account, that is, to create challenging content with personal characteristics, which brought the account a new peak in the increase of fans.

According to observations, the challenge themes chosen by @李炮儿 are varied, and most of them are outrageous and funny, such as "wearing a wig to go to the barber shop to get a haircut", "going to the nail salon to get a manicure and choosing a super long manicure", "challenge to scare ghosts in a haunted house", "challenge to take a locksmith to play escape room", "challenge to be a mermaid in an aquarium"... and under different challenge themes, there are often all kinds of unpredictable jokes.

Screenshot of Li Paoer's Tik Tok video

For example, in the video "Challenge Indian face washing, no matter how the master washes, ask the master if you have eaten", which has received 307.4W likes, the Indian master put all his strength into working on @李炮儿's face, and he still said firmly "Didn't you eat" until his hair was messy, his facial features were distorted, and his eyes were bloodshot. The whole picture was so funny that it made people laugh.

@李炮儿TikTok video screenshot

In the video "Challenge: Take the lock picker to play escape room", @李炮儿 took the lock picker to bravely break into the secret room, and each door was easily opened by the lock picker. The fastest part that would have taken 70 minutes to complete only took 20 minutes. The owner of the escape room shop was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when facing their "cheating behavior". In the final part of paying the lock picker, the price of "80 for a door" petrified @李炮儿 instantly, and the scene was once very embarrassing.

@李炮儿TikTok video screenshot

In general, this type of challenge video focuses on creating unconventional jokes in real life. Due to the stimulating theme, the authenticity, uncertainty and fun of the content, as well as the strong interactivity with fans, it is easy to attract users' attention . In @李炮儿's videos, in addition to seeing a variety of challenge themes, @李炮儿, who has already shown a full talent for comedy in previous works, has added more "laughs" to the videos with his distinctive personal characteristics. It is for this reason that the account can gain more fans after changing the content direction.

3. In addition to these two accounts, there are many new faces on the list that are worth paying attention to

The mother and baby accounts @皮皮逗 and @于兜兜 are both focused on recording the cute daily lives of cute babies. The two little protagonists in the accounts are not only well-behaved and sensible, but also have good eloquence, and they often output a series of wonderful quotes that make people laugh. For example, the five-year-old boy @皮皮逗 often wears an exaggerated facial effect on his head, ties a floral apron to do housework, and complains about his mother, "She is the best at everything and is the biggest troublemaker," "She only thinks about playing by herself every day, and she raises her child like a Husky." The interesting creative route of "resentful son + troublesome mother" has made many users enjoy it, and the account has also achieved a rapid increase in followers.

@皮皮逗@于兜兜TikTok video screenshot

@张圣叹, a food review blogger known as the "Son of Death", mainly reviews bizarre foods from all over the world. No matter how strange the appearance of something is, he can show off directly, and then make a series of exaggerated reactions that make people laugh while feeling the taste of the food. With this rugged but novel review path, @张圣叹, after topping the fan-growing list in January, his number of fans continued to rise in February, which shows the strong appeal of his content model.

The plot account @老男人阿浩 interprets the blind date story of the male protagonist Ahao after he returns to the village. The blind date partners with different styles and the romantic story direction have won the love of many viewers.

Overall, although the growth rate of Douyin's fans in 2023 has slowed down significantly, the probability of "newcomers" coming to the fore has increased significantly. Perhaps in the near future, we will have the opportunity to witness the birth of a "new king."

Author: Yue Yao

Source: WeChat public account "CaasData (ID: caasdata6)"