There are so many outdoor UP hosts, why is Xu Yun the only one who has become the top streamer on Bilibili?

This article focuses on Xu Yun, a top outdoor UP host on Bilibili, and objectively analyzes the characteristics of Xu Yun's videos and his unique "monetization model" on Bilibili. It is recommended for those who want to learn about the growth process of Bilibili's top UP hosts.

In just 11 months, his videos gained 900,000 followers on Bilibili, and now the number has soared to over 1.8 million. The up-host who attracted hundreds of millions of users is @徐云漂流中国.

From Jiangxi to Chongqing, and then across western Sichuan to Tibet, Xu Yun used videos to honestly record the details and scenery along the way. Next, he will cross Europe from Asia to Iceland to see the northern lights. It took Xu Yun two and a half years to realize his plan of "wandering around China" by bicycle. During this period, he also became the king of the same type of UP host on Bilibili.

In recent years, bloggers about outdoor hiking and cycling have emerged in an endless stream on various short video platforms. Especially between 2021 and 2022, the rise of outdoor bloggers such as Xu Yun has made content creators realize that short video creation does not necessarily require capital support, team operation, high-end hardware support, and brand sponsorship. It only requires one person, a car, and a mobile phone to maintain a sincere and true record, and it can also achieve the "miracle" of the traffic king and fulfill one's dream of traveling around the world.

01It turns out that reality is so luxurious!

@徐云漂流中国The latest episode was filmed on March 11th.

In the video, Xu Yun, wearing a down jacket, stepped on the white snow in Mohe, and talked about his planned route home. His tone and expression were like chatting with a familiar friend. He boarded the train from Mohe Railway Station and it took 17 hours to transfer to a plane to get home. Xu Yun said that this was his first time to take a soft sleeper and his first time to take a plane. "Surprisingly, taking a plane is cheaper than taking a train!" Xu Yun said in the video .

The next day, Xu Yun walked all the way home. When he got home, he ate and drank soup first. "My mother's soup is so delicious." He chatted with his niece for a while, and then went to open the package. At this time, the fans in the barrage were like his friends, accompanying him while he was busy and chatting. While opening the package, Xu Yun said that he was preparing for a plan to go cycling abroad. The fans tried their best to keep him in the barrage, showing their reluctance as if their brothers were about to leave home for a long journey.

In the evening, Xu Yun and his brother's children were playing by the river. Looking at the scenery in the distance, Xu Yun said to the camera, "The scenery here in my hometown is really nice, with mountains and water. I started from here two and a half years ago." His tone sounded like a very brief summary of his trip around China.

Yes, two and a half years ago, Xu Yun did not know that he would have 1.8 million fans and 18.02 million likes on Bilibili (hereinafter referred to as B station). The characteristic of Xu Yun's videos is that more people voted than liked them, and there were often thousands of people watching online at the same time, making him the real traffic king of similar broadcasters... These were not planned and expected by Xu Yun when he started.

On October 30, 2020, Xu Yun started his cycling trip from Jiujiang, Jiangxi. Before setting off, Xu Yun prepared 30,000 yuan, which was enough to travel around China in his plan.

Xu Yun, who had no riding experience, set off on a domestic bicycle.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yun couldn't stand it after riding for only 2 kilometers . "I was in very poor health at the time and had fainted. I had to rest on the side of the road." At this time, it started to rain again. The inexperienced Xu Yun rode another 50 kilometers in the rain and camped in a small square in a small village. "The first day left a deep impression." Xu Yun recalled, and the details are still vivid.

After three days of riding, Xu Yun's body began to adapt. He rode about 50 kilometers a day, had no experience in climbing mountains, and had no experience in staying overnight. He accumulated experience and changed strategies along the way, insisting on riding forward.

There were many problems during the early stages of the journey. For example, when he was going down from Sanqing Mountain, his bicycle broke down. He checked online and found out that he needed to assemble a steel-frame bicycle. In addition, the epidemic hit during the journey, so he had to go around in circles and stop and go. What was even more difficult was that his family said they had something to do and needed Xu Yun to transfer more than 10,000 yuan to their family, which reduced his toll by half .

In order to save money for travel, Xu Yun thought of posting videos.

When he first started posting videos, no one watched them. Xu Yun felt that he had no talent for making videos, so he stopped posting. If he was short of money, he would sell his sports camera. More than 1,000 yuan was enough for two months of living expenses. At this stage, he began to think about life. What should he do next? Should he continue to look for a job? If so, he would never have a chance to come out in this life. At that time, Xu Yun still had 1,300 yuan . He thought that if he could hold on with this little money, he might be able to change something.

Later, Xu Yun continued to shoot videos, but he had more than 20 episodes saved on his phone. Because he didn't know how to edit, he never released them. As his living expenses continued to run out, Xu Yun tried to edit more than 20 episodes and released them on Bilibili. Then people started to watch them, and the number of views continued to rise from about 10,000, and the number of fans also gradually increased. At this time, a friend in Singapore sponsored 400 yuan, and with the sponsorship of other friends, a total of 1,500 yuan. Xu Yun survived the most difficult period of self-media in this way.

The next step was to replace the equipment with 3,000 yuan. In order to save money, Xu Yun filmed some videos at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. When he had saved enough money, he was ready to start his journey to Tibet from Dujiangyan. It was at this time that he was questioned and ridiculed for the first time. Some netizens thought that Xu Yun was acting with his team, and some netizens suspected that he was faking it. In short, no one believed the authenticity of this plan, because it was very dangerous to go to Tibet in winter! Not to mention riding a bicycle.

Xu Yun's gentle words "I don't care either" reflect his personality. After changing his equipment, he headed for Tibet. It was during this journey that the voices of doubt gradually quieted down and turned into applause and praise. "Going to Tibet is very challenging, but my body and mind have been completely transformed, and my spirit has become much more resolute." Since going to Tibet, Xu Yun's video editing style has basically been fixed. The record-keeping style from morning to night reveals the honesty of the creator .

In Xu Yun's recharge rankings, the 100th fan has charged for 397 days, while the first fan has charged for 11,129 days. Currently, there are more than 4,350 fans who have recharged for him. These sponsorships from fans reflect the strong desire of the current society to pursue "reality". People who are addicted to the virtual world and games in the Internet age, and people who live in illusions in the workplace for survival, watch Xu Yun stepping into the unknown alone, melting ice and snow to cook a bowl of porridge and drinking it happily, and looking up at the starry sky in the wilderness. What they yearn for is the long-lost "reality".

02Can UP hosts “support” their dreams without relying on “making a living”?

Unlike most short video bloggers, Xu Yun did not rely mainly on sponsors for the past two and a half years. He almost only relied on the traffic monetization on the platform (Bilibili) to complete this trip around China. The entertainment value officer observed that Xu Yun's "monetization model" cannot be replicated.

Xu Yun's success was an unplanned accident.

First of all, it was the timing. Not long after Xu Yun started cycling, China was hit by the epidemic. The whole country pressed the pause button, which made most people unable to travel and mainly work from home. This caused the short video users to shift their interests . Since they couldn't go out, they preferred to watch outdoor and travel content. Therefore, starting from 2021, a large number of bloggers who created "wandering", "cycling" and "outdoor adventure" began to attract attention.

The second is his ability to cope with huge challenges. He was exhausted after riding only 20 kilometers on the first day. I believe that 90% of people would choose to give up and go home at this step. In the early stage, he was shivering in the wilderness. In fact, there was no reason to support Xu Yun's arduous ride. He himself said that "I didn't think it had any special meaning." Because he had no money, Xu Yun lived under a bridge for 5 days and slept in an abandoned greenhouse for one night. In the cold and uninhabited Sichuan-Tibet line, the biting cold wind made people watching the video shiver. Xu Yun also thought about whether to give up countless times, but every time he wanted to give up, he chose to keep riding. This stubborn spirit is exactly what his fans who can only cheer for him across the screen desire, or cannot reach.

Finally, it comes to personal quality. There is a sentence in the barrage of Xu Yun’s video: In the end, UP still depends on personal quality.

Every time he set up camp, Xu Yun would clean up the surroundings and leave the place cleaner than when he came. Even when he spent the night in an abandoned and dirty temple, he would not forget to clean it up and water the potted plants in front of the door. Even when he was exhausted, he was willing to lead the travelers to find the way. He would sincerely help the elderly who needed help. Along the way, the details of his behavior outlined a seemingly sloppy but extremely decent and well-educated Chinese youth.

Therefore, when Xu Yun's personal charm is seen by one person, it will automatically spread to more people, and then everyone will gather together to donate travel expenses for him on their mobile phones and computers. On November 11, 2022, Xu Yun received his first big-name cooperation. Insta360 shot a short advertisement for Xu Yun and sponsored him a sports camera. After seeing Xu Yun's traffic potential, many brands have approached him for cooperation, but he insists on "not eating rotten rice". So far, he has been extremely restrained in accepting commercial cooperation. The platform traffic monetization is enough to cover the cost of "wandering", and Xu Yun is not greedy . Xu Yun lamented that the money he earned from self-media has exceeded his income when he was working .

03 Why do we like to “cloud wander” on short videos?

It’s actually very simple – because we can’t!!!

When it comes to cycling, there is no shortage of excellent and professional content creators on short videos. For example, @湖远行, who has received much attention on short video websites, always introduces himself in a city with his signature opening line: "Hello everyone! I am Hu!" His masculine masculinity comes across like a shrug.

The youngest cyclist on the Internet currently has 9.884 million followers on Douyin and over 60 million likes . Hu, a young man born in the 2000s from Liaoyang, has a low level of education, but after buying his first bicycle by setting up a stall, he started his global cycling plan. After five years, @湖远行 has traveled to 13 countries and regions. During this process, he also encountered life-and-death tests. Currently, the fingers of both hands are deformed, but he still rides on the road.

Hu Yuanxing was once questioned by netizens. He could no longer bear it and showed the blisters on his feet to netizens during a live broadcast. It was this live broadcast that brought him more fans. Today, @湖远行 relies on live broadcasts and self-media income to support all expenses of the global cycling. Some media reported that @湖远行's live broadcast sales have reached six figures .

@十肆是四四 is a girl who looks frail and fair. She quit her job, drove a scooter and took a cat to "wander around the world". In her videos, she is always bare-faced and dressed in simple clothes, and the scenes recorded are also pure documentary style without any decoration . "四四"'s goal is to drive 100,000 kilometers by herself, often sleeping in the open air, and tent camping is commonplace. Although "四四" does not have many fans and followers, it can be seen from the barrage that she has many loyal fans, and they have begun to recharge her coins.

In recent years, bloggers like @湖远行 and @十肆是十年 have sprung up on short video platforms. Outdoor videos are also a type of video that users have been pursuing in recent years and a new destination for traffic.

The constraints of reality make it difficult for young people to find freedom. Mr. Zhou, a programmer at a large company in Houchangcun, expressed his feelings about watching this kind of content to the entertainment value officer, " These people dare to break away from the pressure of real society, even regardless of their family's opposition. They are always on the road, and can solve any problems independently, go to places we cannot reach, and do things we cannot do for the time being. " Mr. Zhou said that he is used to watching these videos during meal time every day, and the warmth and healing feeling makes him feel less lonely.

On Zhihu, there are also many netizens who support and appreciate these bloggers who are alone in the world. Some netizens said that because of the lenses of these bloggers, we are taken to various counties and villages in China, places that we may never reach, but those places have perfect infrastructure and people live comfortably, which makes us have a deeper understanding of our own country . The biggest competitiveness of these bloggers in the short video content track is "authenticity" . In addition to the beautiful scenery, the journey they show also shows everyone the dangers, harsh environments, and emergencies when surviving in the wild. And let us follow the heart-wrenching and timid moments. Every time we see them successfully eliminate the danger and find a clean and warm resting place, we are also moved from the bottom of our hearts.

Lonely urbanites are always looking for a sense of being together. But Xu Yun and these "wandering" bloggers dare to get along with themselves and are obsessed with the wilderness. We don't know what they are looking for, but we just like watching them on the road, as if they are taking us with them . Or, as netizens said in the barrage, wandering is the social attribute of letting go .

Author: Wang Chaochao, Editor: Meiqi

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