The new idol era: fan economy and social platforms reconstructed by live streaming

WeChat still throws out easter eggs from time to time, from the "hot articles in Moments" that dominate the recommendation engine reading to the "that day" that plays like a time machine, all of them are trying to keep users for a while longer, but the historical balance of social platforms has tilted towards mobile live streaming.

On June 25, TFBOYS' live broadcast on the Meipai app, which lasted more than 40 minutes, attracted more than 5.6 million viewers. The three boys, who were under the age of 15, were in the process of transitioning from cute and adorable to sexy and adult. All their imperfections were loved by fans, and even their clumsy way of holding the spatula added to their favorability in the hearts of fans.

This live broadcast not only predicted the popularity of an idol group and a live broadcast platform, but also announced the arrival of a new social era.

Post-90s enter the center of social platforms

The post-80s generation has entered the boring middle-aged life after the age of 30, and the post-70s generation has also begun to put on red jackets and go outdoors and take photos with the post-60s generation, and has half a foot in retirement. The seed users of the new generation of social platforms must be the post-90s generation.

Looking back at the two fields where mobile live streaming first flourished: games and shows, they are basically dominated by those born in the 1990s. According to statistics from NetEase's game live streaming platform, 60% of game anchors are born in the 1990s. For example, the annual income of League of Legends game commentators Ruofeng, Miss, and White is over 10 million RMB.

The social energy of the post-90s generation is amazing: in the past year, live broadcasting has quickly migrated from PC to mobile phones, and the content has also quickly spread from game commentary to pan-entertainment fields such as beauty, sports, and fitness. From anchors to users, young faces full of collagen are everywhere.

American psychiatrist Eriksson proposed in his eight-stage theory of personality development that children in adolescence between the ages of 12 and 18 need to resolve the conflict between self-identity and role confusion the most. They are often at a loss as to "who am I" and "what kind of person do I want to be", and star-chasing behavior happens to be the most common path to finding self-identity.

The colorful personalities of the post-90s generation can be largely attributed to the diversification of today's idol market. Compared with the post-70s generation, who only had to choose between Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung when they were young, and the post-80s generation, who flocked to the "Four Heavenly Kings", as Internet natives, the post-90s generation no longer needs to fight with their parents for the remote control, and their star-chasing choices are much wider: under the protection of the Internet, subcultures have flourished, providing idols with more fields and more characteristics for the post-90s generation to choose from.

TFBOYS, who are not understood by the late-stage male chauvinists born in the 1980s, are one of the choices on the shelves of the idol store of this era. Mango TV helped TFBOYS establish its initial reputation, but a dense fan network was woven on the Internet. More fans have long been accustomed to learning about idols from forums and QQ groups. TFBOYS's live broadcast has made countless passers-by born in the 1990s become fans.

Tencent Technology's online survey of more than 16,000 post-95s in early 2016 found that the Internet is the main platform for post-90s to chase stars, and fan groups and celebrity forums are the most convenient platforms for discussing and obtaining information about idols. Most post-95s prefer stars who are real and lively, and those who are too dignified are not easily accepted.

This survey result explains the sudden rise of grassroots and talented stars on live streaming platforms. If we refer to the situation in the United States, we can find that the Internet has shaped the aesthetic tastes of the post-95 generation of idols: According to Variety's survey of American teenagers aged 13-17, among the top 20 most popular idols, 10 grassroots celebrities accounted for half, and the top 6 of them were YouTube stars.

The killer of time and the friend of growth

The reason why mobile live streaming has quickly conquered young people on both sides of the Pacific and made the previous generation of social platforms seem outdated is largely due to the sense of reality, intimacy and companionship that this platform can create when idols and fans communicate. This is something that WeChat, Weibo, Twitter and Facebook do not have, and it is unmatched by television, newspapers and magazines.

First, live streaming has greatly shortened the psychological distance between fans and idols. Traditional stars are far away and high above, and fans get to know them more through movies, TV series, and records. Whether screaming at idols through iron bars at a concert or licking the screen of a PC monitor, the distance between idols and fans can never be eliminated, and the desire for closeness can never be fully satisfied. In mobile live streaming, fans can curl up on the sofa, lie on the bed, or even sit on the toilet, and choose any comfortable posture to watch idols live. Fans' mentality towards idols is also changing subtly: from admiration, liking to consumption.

Secondly, under the live broadcast setting, celebrities can communicate with fans in a more natural and relaxed way. Live broadcasting first creates a new communication space between celebrities and fans. In the past, celebrities sat in the live broadcast room, but now they may be on the road, in the supermarket, or in their own kitchen, sharing the more real side of life in real time. Fan Bingbing often broadcasts live during work breaks.

There is no prior rehearsal, no director to plan, everything seems to happen so casually, and the most important thing is that it allows fans to get the perspective of people around the stars, which has a similar effect to VR's real-life companionship. For stars, compared to attending some offline events, showing their faces for half an hour on the live broadcast platform not only saves the trouble of traveling, but also makes it easier to attract fans.

Finally, live streaming is also a legal form of collective voyeurism. For more ordinary people, life is always unsatisfactory, so they need to find a sense of existence and satisfaction in another space. Compared with the passive boredom of daily commuting and various parties, live streaming is also an active boring choice.

There are all kinds of stars, experts and grassroots taking turns to appear on the live broadcast platform almost 24 hours a day. They have created a real and virtual space in this entertainment city that never sleeps. The moment users click on the live broadcast APP, it is like opening a window, where they can watch quietly or type questions in the comment area. This is much more interesting than watching TV series.

A more powerful money printing machine

As a new generation of social platform, the launch and monetization of mobile live streaming were almost carried out simultaneously. Unlike Weibo and WeChat, they only began commercialization in a half-hearted manner after attracting hundreds of millions of fans.

Since the first day of the live broadcast platform's launch, from tips and various props to function settings, the idea has been to make users willing to pay. During the more than 40 minutes of TFBOYS' live broadcast, the total amount of money spent by fans on tips and props was nearly 300,000 yuan. This amount may be a small amount for first-line stars, but it is an important indicator of a star's popularity. It makes the fans' love, loyalty, and dependence on idols measurable.

The core of the fan economy lies in the community, and at the core of this community are idol stars. Different fans form a hierarchical pattern according to the degree of their idol-chasing. In the past, the interaction between idols and fans mainly relied on large-scale live performances, which were restricted by venues, number of people, and distance. Now, with the maturity of live broadcast technology, through mobile phones and live broadcast platforms with social functions, it is possible to achieve one-to-many interaction between idols and fans, and many-to-many interaction between fans at a low cost.

Compared with the star-chasing behavior of the post-80s generation, the post-90s and post-00s have a stronger desire and spending power to chase stars. A survey conducted by Phoenix.com in August 2015 showed that games are one of the ways to pass the time after studying. However, compared with playing games, 51% of the post-00s prefer idol-related entertainment methods such as chasing stars, variety shows, movies, and music, and even imitate the dress and appearance of idols of the same age.

According to the report "Post-90s: Natives of the Internet Age" released by NetEase in 2015, post-90s are more interested in concerts, sports events and cars in terms of casual consumption - hedonistic consumption accounts for a larger proportion among high-spending groups. Willfulness and casualness are the key words for post-90s consumption. They spend money like water and "keep accounts as clouds". This consumption concept is very different from that of post-80s, who live within their means. As the sun rises at 8 or 9 in the morning, post-90s, especially post-95s, are the hope of the live broadcast industry.

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.