How to operate and monetize automotive short videos? (Attached with case)

As an important vertical category in the short video field, automobile accounts have always occupied a pivotal position. In recent times, the number of followers of car-related accounts seems to have reached a new level, among which the account "Car Detective" has performed particularly well.

According to Kas Data monitoring, in addition to being in the top ten of the Douyin Newcomer List for several consecutive weeks, in June alone, Car Detective gained 5.806w followers. As of press time, the total number of its fans exceeded 20 million, making it an absolute leader.

Why is Car Detective attracting so many fans? What is the overall content structure of automotive accounts? How do they achieve commercial monetization? Kas Data will discuss this in detail with readers.

With such an unstoppable momentum, what is the attraction of the car detective?

From being loved by users when the account was first created to now repeatedly ranking in the top of the newcomer list and having over 20 million fans, why is Car Detective's ability to attract fans so strong? Kas Data believes that it is closely related to the following three characteristics.

1. Dramatized interpretation to enhance video watchability

Matching the name of the account, the video style of Car Detective is also closely related to the word "detective". The plot is full of twists and turns, and the background music changes accordingly, setting off the atmosphere at all times. The actors also perform vividly accordingly...

In terms of the overall video format, although the main focus of "Car Detective" is on popularizing automobile safety knowledge, compared with straightforward popular science, this account chooses a dramatized interpretation method, integrating the popular science theme of each issue into suspenseful and reasoning short dramas with sophisticated pictures and editing, which greatly improves the watchability of the video in the process of successfully transmitting knowledge.

2. The content is close to many aspects of life and closely related to users

As an automotive account, the content of Car Detective is not limited to the delivery of automotive expertise, but extends to multiple levels of content related to cars, including car purchase precautions, car driving safety knowledge, crime prevention using cars as tools, and so on. These contents cover multiple aspects and dimensions that are close to and closely related to users' daily lives, making the attributes of the account no longer simply automotive attributes, but making it more practical and able to cover a wider audience.

For example, in a popular video, a car detective talked about the phenomenon of residential property management charging unreasonable parking fees, which received a large number of likes and comments, showing that users empathized with and strongly recognized this content.

3. Personality and labeling create vivid memories

"I am Peng Yu. Follow me and I will help you stay away from danger." At the end of each work, the righteous "detective" Peng Yu, who wears round-framed glasses and is well-dressed, will briefly summarize the theme of each issue in front of the camera and guide users to pay attention. The labeled personality of Peng Yu, a car-savvy detective, has formed a unique and vivid memory in the minds of users.

From the keyword analysis of the comments on the Kas Business Edition, it can be seen that the word "Peng Yu" appears most frequently in the comments of the car detective, and users' recognition of the protagonist's personality in the account has further driven their stickiness to the account itself. When content from accounts of the same type often collides, a personalized persona is undoubtedly a powerful tool for attracting fans.

▲Keyword analysis of car detective comments Source: Kas Business Edition

The overall development is positive. What content formats are available in automotive accounts?

Although Car Detective has formed a significant advantage in the speed of increasing followers, according to the list of Kas Data, it is not the only account with obvious increase in followers. For example, the number of followers of "Brother Hu Talks about Cars" has also ranked among the top in the list of newcomers many times. Overall, the development trend of automobile accounts is very good. So what content formats are currently available for automotive accounts? Kas Data made a simple summary of this:

1. Explain and introduce relevant information about various types of cars

Focus on the car itself and introduce the basic information of a certain type of car to users in a short period of time, including model, functions, price, etc.

"Brother Hu Talks about Cars", which also performed well in the Newcomer List and has 18.219 million fans, is a typical representative of this type of content. In the video released by Hu Ge Talking about Cars, "Hu Ge" is dressed in a suit and seriously introduces information about various types of cars to users in a humorous, concise and refined language. His infectious commentary is deeply loved by users. Of course, since this type of content is mainly basic information about various types of cars, most of the users are men who are interested in cars themselves.

>2. Share various practical knowledge related to automobiles

The focus of this type of content is not the car itself, but rather on practical knowledge and skills related to driving, such as some common questions such as "How to open the car door when the car key is out of battery", "How to choose tires", "Hidden functions on the car", etc.

This type of content accounts for a very large proportion of car accounts, and several top accounts output this type of content, such as "Master Talks about Cars", "Car-Playing Goddess", "Father-in-law Talks about Cars", etc. These top accounts also have some commonalities with car-savvy detectives: "storytelling" to interpret popular science content, build up relatively distinctive personalities, and form a basic style tone.

At the same time, because more and more accounts use this type of content as an entry point, the homogeneity of this content field has become more serious and the competition has become more intense. How to innovate on existing content and forms is a question that such accounts, especially those that enter the market later, can consider.

3. Life and safety issues related to cars

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the car-savvy detective has extended the content to various driving safety issues and life scams to help users stay away from danger. This type of content is detailed and accurate in its positioning, which is rare among all automotive accounts.

4. Professional presentations by relevant practitioners

Different from the previous content models, some automobile-related practitioners will conduct targeted career presentations in their accounts. For example, the driving school coach "Coach Ling" provides targeted content guidance for driving school exams; the racing driver "Driver AF" shows users various cool driving skills, and both have accumulated a certain number of fans.

How are automobile accounts monetized?

The vertical nature of automotive content means that its fan base is likely to be the target users of automotive brand owners. For this reason, automotive brands that value conversions are increasingly willing to choose vertical automotive accounts for advertising.

In the latest list of automotive influencers from Kas Data, it can be found that most of the top ten automotive influencers have already reached cooperation with different brands and realized advertising monetization, and the brands they cooperated with are basically mainly automotive brands.

▲Business analysis of the car goddess Source: Kas Business Edition

Of course, advertising monetization is not the only way out for automotive accounts. After realizing the ceiling of Douyin’s automotive advertising, some MCNs have begun to seek more opportunities for horizontal expansion. For example, when Kas Data conducted an exclusive interview with Huaxing Cool Entertainment some time ago, it learned about another monetization idea of ​​its top automotive account "Che Lao Shi": leveraging the account's accumulated advantages in the short video field, creating a column program in addition to short videos - "Xiao Qiao's Arrival".

Different from the dramatic and down-to-earth presentation style in Douyin, "Xiao Qiao Arrives" is a highly professional car review program. Regarding this move, Huaxing Cool Entertainment revealed that although the operation of Che Laoshi’s account started from short videos, the company does not want to limit his future development to short videos. Instead, it hopes to build personalities on different platforms to turn Che Laoshi into an IP, and then based on market orientation in the future, make him more credible in the automotive field, and broaden the monetization path on this basis.

It is worth affirming that if the account can maintain continuous content output and establish its own authoritative personality, it will definitely be very beneficial to the commercial monetization of the account.

The continuous presence of automobile accounts on the list largely demonstrates that users' demand for this type of content is still increasing. But on the other hand, the influx of more accounts also indicates that the competition will become more intense. As the top account structure tends to stabilize and certain content types and expressions have reached saturation, how to build differentiated advantages through new angles, new forms of presentation, and new personalities, thereby realizing and broadening monetization paths, may be a question that creators or MCNs need to consider seriously.

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Author: Kas Data

Source: CAAS Data (caasdata6)