What is the future of e-sports anchors after gaining fame and fortune?

Not long ago, a King of Glory anchor revealed that he had just moved into a 300-square-meter mansion in Beijing, which attracted widespread attention. In recent years, there have been endless news reports of game anchors earning over 10 million yuan in contract fees and earning over 1 million or 10 million yuan. The high income and high fame of e-sports anchors have attracted more and more people to pay attention to this industry.

In the eyes of the general public, the profession of anchor is no longer unfamiliar. The live broadcast industry has evolved from the initial show performances to a dazzling array of products, from indoors to outdoors, and the content and form of live broadcasts have become more and more diverse. With the popularity of e-sports games such as "League of Legends" and "Honor of Kings", the profession of e-sports anchor has also quietly developed. It is reported that in 2016, the scale of game live broadcast users in China reached 140 million, of which the penetration rate of e-sports users was as high as 70%. It is no coincidence that e-sports anchors, as rising stars, can quickly rise and become popular. The author analyzes the reasons as follows:

1. The number of e-sports users is huge

By this year, the number of e-sports users will reach 220 million. It can be seen that e-sports games have a huge user base, and the huge base of game users has brought considerable demographic dividends to game live broadcasting. Of course, where there is demand, there is a market. In this context, e-sports game live broadcasting naturally came into being, and e-sports anchors have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

2. Low entry barriers and high income

Compared with other professions, the threshold for becoming an anchor is relatively low, with low initial investment costs and high income. Among the top ten anchors in the e-sports anchor rankings, each has an annual income of at least tens of millions plus the signing fee. Such amazing income has undoubtedly attracted more and more people to join this industry.

3. Live streaming is a trend of the times

As a product of the Internet era, online live streaming is developing rapidly. With its diverse forms and contents, it has attracted viewers of all ages. In this era of live streaming, even eating, sleeping and chatting can be live streamed, and e-sports live streaming, which has a wider audience, is naturally even more popular. Therefore, the profession of e-sports anchor has also risen rapidly and achieved explosive development.

Why is the popularity of e-sports anchors continuing to decline?

From the perspective of e-sports games themselves, both professional players and e-sports anchors are showing a trend of younger age, which is determined by the key factors of game operation - hand speed and game response. As people age, their competitive state will decline, so the e-sports anchor industry also relies on youth.

Most of the major live streaming platforms focus on game live streaming

Secondly, the live broadcast content of e-sports anchors is e-sports games, and the number of viewers during their live broadcasts is closely related to the popularity of the games. Nowadays, the types of e-sports games are gradually increasing. If a game cannot keep up with the trend of the times, the result is that it will be eliminated. Just like the current popularity of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", many anchors of other games have also set aside a large part of their live broadcast time to play this game, which is also a manifestation of keeping up with the trend.

The profession of online anchor also has the risk of being short-lived like Internet celebrities. Due to the popularity of the e-sports industry in recent years, many people want to get involved in it to get a piece of the pie, but no one knows how long this "e-sports" big cake can last. In addition, the profession of online live broadcasting has been mixed since the beginning, and has been viewed by many people with tinted glasses, and negative news has been frequently exposed.

3 How can e-sports anchors avoid being eliminated? It can be seen that how far e-sports anchors can go in the future is still unknown. The less optimistic development prospects require this industry to make corresponding changes. Many anchors have also realized this problem. Many of them have begun to try to transform, and the results are quite good. So how other anchors can transform and avoid being eliminated by the times has also become the focus of many people.

First of all, we must learn to innovate in the content of live broadcasts. Single live broadcast content will only make the audience aesthetically fatigued, so many anchors have begun to use more novel ways to attract popularity. For example, they bet with the audience, lower their status to create a contrasting program effect, and make the audience laugh. Long-term development can be achieved by enriching the form and content of live broadcasts.

"Room Check" and other live broadcasts are also part of many anchors' live broadcast content

Currently, many anchors have opened Taobao stores and physical stores. They use their live broadcast popularity to promote their stores, attract fans to buy, and turn existing traffic into income other than live broadcast. Many stores of popular anchors can earn tens or even millions of yuan per month. This method combines the fame and popularity of the anchors, realizes the conversion of fan economy through traffic monetization, and obtains greater and more stable income.

Although the anchor industry has high income, it also faces the risk of being eliminated

As we mentioned earlier, e-sports anchors are also a job for young people, so many e-sports anchors will inevitably start to transform as they grow older. Whether investing in the e-sports industry or dabbling in other fields is a good choice. Many anchors began to invest in professional teams and became managers; some used the money they earned from live broadcasting to start their own businesses; some used their popularity in the e-sports circle to build their own e-sports brands. This transformational development method has enabled e-sports anchors to no longer rely on the game itself, but to turn to more diverse career choices, gaining a wider space for future development.

Written to the end:

The popularity of the e-sports industry has promoted the rapid development of e-sports live broadcasting. E-sports live broadcasting has risks besides its glamorous appearance. In this environment, e-sports anchors need to grasp the current huge advantages and focus on their future. At present, many e-sports anchors have begun to seek new ways out. More e-sports anchors will gradually leave the form of game live broadcasting as they grow older. The e-sports anchor industry may undergo a huge transformation. The sports and mediaization of e-sports will also become the future development path of e-sports anchors.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.