PGC may be the best way to open mobile live broadcast under traffic policy requirements

(Original title: Under the demand for traffic and policies, PGC may be the best way to open mobile live broadcast)

The strong rise of mobile live streaming has awakened the second spring of the UGC model, and also taken away the traffic of desktop live streaming platforms such as Douyu, Zhanqi, and Panda. Although the sharp increase in the number of individual anchors has brought a blowout of content development to mobile live streaming, UGC is no longer the darling of live streaming platforms.

In the UGC era, everyone can be a host

Everyone can be a live broadcaster, which was the industry vision when the live broadcast industry just emerged. Initially, the platform wanted traffic, so naturally it hoped to attract more live broadcasters and content. But now, high traffic, low-quality and large-volume content, and the lack of business models are affecting the future development of the UGC model.

UGC content is a dream, creating the illusion of high traffic and rich content on the platform, which is filled with vulgar and homogeneous content. The overly large and bloated content library has brought regulatory pressure to the platform, but even under the strong pressure, there are still some fish that slip through the net, such as live broadcasts of making babies, changing clothes, etc., which has a bad impact on the UGC model and platform.

Traffic and censorship are becoming the main expenses of platforms. The question is, do platforms really need so much content? In fact, 80% of traffic is concentrated on high-quality content. It is not uncommon for a well-known anchor to support a type of live broadcast. The voice of well-known anchors far exceeds that of platforms. For this reason, platforms can only sign contracts with high-value contracts, because the traffic value of high-quality UGC content far exceeds that of ordinary UGC content.

The most fatal thing is that UGC lacks the ability to realize cash. Due to the uneven quality, it is impossible to form a healthy business scale to generate blood for the platform. Even if there is huge traffic, the valuable traffic is very small. Among the 80% of high-quality content traffic, it is basically stars, Internet celebrities, professional players, well-known commentators, etc. These traffics are built under the personal brand of the anchor, forming a fan economy.

Many grassroots and individual anchors' UGC content also want to enter this model, but whether it is a star, internet celebrity, professional player, or well-known commentator, it takes a long time to package and operate, which is definitely beyond the ability of an individual. Take the famous LOL anchor MISS as an example. The team behind her includes teammates who play together and tell jokes, a photography and videography team, a new media operation team, an online store maintenance team, and an advertising team. This has long exceeded the scope of ordinary UGC content and has reached the level of semi-professional artist packaging.

In order to help individual anchors grow, Internet celebrity economic companies and training companies have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. The UGC content they mass-produced has increased the traffic burden of the platform. But do platforms need so many anchors? Based on the current more than 100 live broadcast platforms, the number of online live broadcast platforms in China in 2015 was close to 200, of which the market size of online live broadcast was about 9 billion, and the number of online live broadcast platform users had reached 200 million. The number of people online at the same time during peak hours on large live broadcast platforms was close to 4 million, and the number of rooms for live broadcasting at the same time exceeded 3,000. The 4 million online users are evenly distributed to the platform, and the number of users is only 40,000, and even less when it comes to UGC content. In order to avoid the situation where there are more anchors than viewers, the platforms have also shown their magical powers and carried out "water injection" projects on the number of viewers. For every viewer, I will multiply it by 5 and 10. Using false numbers to stimulate the anchor's live broadcast motivation has also attracted criticism of bubbles.

Facts have proved that even the UGC model is only suitable for famous Internet celebrities and stars. The demand for live broadcasting for ordinary users is very weak, and the platform lacks an effective incentive mechanism. New anchors are easily drowned in countless live broadcast rooms and it is difficult to gain attention and a sense of accomplishment. In May this year, when Weibo and Miaopai jointly launched the mobile live broadcast platform Yizhibo, they directly proposed a star strategy and fan social model. Everyone understands that even in the era of UGC live broadcasting, high-quality UGC is the value of a platform.

Self-made content, PGC begins to rise

Early live broadcast platforms were mainly based on game live broadcasts, and professional players and game commentators were the initial beneficiaries of live broadcasts. Users followed the anchors, but the fan effect could not bring profit conversion to the platform. If the anchors changed jobs, the platform's content would be vacant. Therefore, the live broadcast format based on anchors would not become the core competitiveness of a platform.

Nowadays, live broadcasts are no longer limited to computer desks. Outdoor live broadcasts, variety show live broadcasts, meal live broadcasts, and various wonderful live broadcasts have appeared one after another, not to mention the beauty shows that have long been loved by netizens. In the early days of Panda TV, Wang Sicong paid a lot of money to invite AfreecaTV's queen-level female anchor Yi Suwan from South Korea. After attracting traffic, he took advantage of the opportunity to create a Korean female anchor talent show "Panda Girls", integrating and utilizing the platform's resources to achieve good commercial results. Although game live broadcasts rely on events to attract attention, the size and popularity of this type have been overshadowed by entertainment live broadcasts.

Not only entertainment, traditional media are also seeking breakthroughs in the live broadcast field. TV stations have always been dominated by PGC content. "Super Girl" returned this year, broadcasting the girls' training process on major live broadcast platforms, allowing fans and idols to grow together. Last year, Tencent Video launched a large-scale outdoor live broadcast "We Sixteen", which was broadcast 24 hours a day. At the same time, the essence was edited and broadcast on TV stations, taking into account the content needs of multiple platforms. NetEase News and TV talk show "Boss Hall" were broadcast on mobile live broadcast platforms. The live broadcast experience has brought a lot of new vitality to this ten-year-old program.

Variety shows are moving from TV stations to live streaming platforms. Ma Dong, the producer of the show "The Rap of China" on iQiyi, announced that he would join Douyu and create a live variety show "The Temptation of Dinner" specifically for the platform. Compared with game live streaming supported by events, entertainment live streaming has more diverse gameplay, which also invisibly promotes the platform's investment in entertainment PGC. After Douyu announced in May that it would cooperate with Qunar.com to launch the "Fishing Star Journey" program in eight popular scenic spots, Panda TV immediately reported that Wang Sicong invested 100 million yuan to create a live show "Hello, Goddess!!".

It can be seen from the above-mentioned programs that live broadcast platforms are also working hard to create their own program IPs and establish their own PGC business closed loop. Such a huge scale of investment has also brought high-quality content and formed healthy competition among platforms.

Traffic demand, policy supervision

The demands of live streaming platforms can be divided into three main categories: 1. Traffic monetization. Live streaming platforms that rely on financing to survive are too dependent on capital. Only by generating their own revenue can they gain more voice; 2. Integrate resources. Whether it is anchors, advertising, news, marketing, or conference affairs, all are integrated into my ecosystem; 3. Become an important media outlet and create social influence.

The biggest advantage of PGC is that it helps platforms integrate resources. In the past, UGC focused on entry, allowing more people to enter the platform, while PGC focuses on exit, showing the platform's high-quality content. PGC also has a unique advantage in traffic monetization. PGC content itself has a strong topicality and attention, and is easily favored by advertisements, just like TV programs.

We often see brand sponsorship and product placement in programs. PGC content is similar to TV programs, but compared with simple brand exposure on TV stations, live broadcast platforms can use technology to achieve buy-while-watching content, converting users' viewing enthusiasm into consumption motivation in real time, bringing more possibilities for cross-border advertising marketing.

Large-scale and professional program production guarantees the quality and value of the content. By integrating resources on the platform through PGC, the value can be maximized. In the past, the right to speak was in the hands of the anchor, because the anchor represented traffic. But under the PGC model, the platform has the final say on who can be popular and who can make money, because the resources are in the hands of the platform. The PGC model has spawned the entire business chain. The program has increased the exposure of the anchor, brought in more advertising revenue, improved the topicality of the platform, and formed the reputation of the program. A PGC content includes topicality, exposure, star-making, advertising, interaction, IP, etc. The platform can profit from every link. It can be said that moving towards PGC is an inevitable result.

On the other hand, the policy push has brought new opportunities to PGC. Under the constraints of norms and supervision, PGC avoids the risks of UGC, has strong controllability of content, and has a great influence. The rules and regulations will promote PGC to gradually become standardized and closer to the program format of traditional TV stations. In the future, live broadcasting is likely to become a part of the review system, and we may see that PGC programs need to apply to the radio and television to go online.

PUGC becomes the final form

The rise of mobile live streaming is more of a new opportunity than a challenge for desktop live streaming platforms. Currently, desktop live streaming platforms are facing the problems of oversupply of anchor resources, high homogeneity of content, and uneven quality. These problems have been alleviated after mobile live streaming diverted UGC resources. On the one hand, it has reduced the regulatory pressure on desktop live streaming platforms, and on the other hand, desktop live streaming platforms can spare time to try PGC business.

The introduction of the "Net Clean 2016" policy has exposed the problem of platform supervision loopholes. The most affected is undoubtedly UGC content, because UGC anchors cannot correctly guess the bottom line and red line, which can easily lead to loss of control. In the future, desktop live broadcast platforms will focus on pushing high-quality content, and the share of UGC will be further weakened. Mobile live broadcasting, while absorbing UGC resources, is trying new types of technology. For example, Huajiao has launched VR live broadcasting, which combines mobile live broadcasting to provide an immersive experience. But this is far from enough. Mobile live broadcasting will also face the problems of desktop live broadcasting. How to define the value of UGC is a question that all mobile live broadcast platforms need to think about.

The rise of PGC is largely due to the fact that UGC cannot form a commercial ecosystem. If a platform wants to monetize traffic, it can only maximize its business by producing PGC content and integrating the anchors and advertising resources on the platform. UGC will not disappear completely, but it will shrink to a scale equal to its value. In the future, it is very likely that a model of PGC supporting UGC will emerge, and the anchors of UGC content will also become part of the platform's PGC ecosystem, driving the development of the entire commercial closed loop in a positive way.

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.