Is He Jiong’s joining Alibaba Music’s content layout inseparable from the celebrity effect?

On December 29, Gao Xiaosong announced on Weibo that He Jiong had joined Alibaba Music Group and served as Chief Content Officer (CCO), which immediately attracted close attention from the Internet and entertainment circles.

Later, Alibaba Music CEO Song Ke said in a media interview that he brought He Jiong into the company because he was impressed by his ideals, professionalism and desire to do practical things for the music industry. He Jiong will be mainly responsible for Alibaba Music's future content strategy.

Some media speculated that He Jiong's joining would deepen the cooperation between Ali Music, Hunan Satellite TV and Tianyu Media, which might involve the copyright of songs for variety shows, self-made programs and copyright of songs for movies and TV series. At the same time, He Jiong himself could also win more artist resources for Ali Music. Song Ke said frankly: "He has been very close to the music circle for so many years, and his connections in the music industry are stronger than mine."

On the surface, hosting and music are two different industries. But in terms of influence in the domestic music industry, there are probably not many people who are more influential than He Jiong. And poaching influential people in the industry seems to have become the default means for Internet companies to layout the content field. Inviting Gao Xiaosong to serve as the chairman of Alibaba Music is a typical application of this strategy. Indeed, the joining of celebrity CCOs has brought many tangible benefits to the content enrichment of Internet platforms.

The celebrity effect cannot be underestimated

Usually, celebrities who are poached by Internet companies are elites in the traditional content industry. Especially in the video field, many practitioners who have transformed into the Internet were originally the backbone of the television industry. These people have a precise grasp of audience needs and rich production experience. It can be said that they have their own unique skills, so they are particularly popular with Internet platforms.

Ma Dong, former chief content officer of iQiyi, is a representative example. After joining iQiyi in 2013, Ma Dong personally launched strong IPs such as "Heroes of Chinese Characters" and "U Can U Bibi", laying the foundation for iQiyi's self-made brand strategy.

LeTV Sports teamed up with the famous sports commentator Huang Jianxiang to launch iconic programs such as "Dirty Jokes" and "Football Dirty Jokes", successfully establishing a brand in the field of football self-media.

Currently, Internet platforms are extremely dependent on content. Introducing industry veterans is actually introducing matching high-quality content. Combined with Gao Xiaosong's statement that "music is not only for listening, but also for show", it is not ruled out that He Jiong will personally produce content for Alibaba Music in the future.

Fan Economy is in vogue

The competition between the Internet and traditional media ultimately comes down to the ability of the platform to attract audiences. Both media attributes and information hot spots will have an impact on the pattern. Compared with the former, the latter brings more obvious and rapid market effects, and the fan effect brought by celebrities belongs to the latter.

On the same day, Gao Xiaosong, chairman of Alibaba Music, posted a Weibo post welcoming He Jiong to join the company. Judging from the number of reposts, this incident has attracted considerable attention among netizens, which is not unrelated to the topicality of He Jiong himself.

Behind the stars are fans, who are the actual main body of traffic that the Internet industry pays the most attention to. Pop music itself is a field with extremely high user stickiness, which means that fans' attention is entirely likely to shift with their favorite singers.

Since the legalization of digital music, domestic online music has gone through many twists and turns, and can now be basically divided into two major camps: Alibaba and other camps. If He Jiong can win celebrity resources, it will also have a positive effect on the market share of Alibaba's online music applications.

Ideas are crucial

Song Ke has always emphasized He Jiong's professionalism in the field of music. According to him, He Jiong has put forward very strategic ideas in previous meetings. He Jiong has a very clear idea about how Ali Music can expand from copyright to the music industry.

Ideas are indeed a key word in content layout.

When products reach a certain level, technology is no longer a bottleneck restricting user experience. Many technology companies have lost their direction at this time. The reason is that there is a big difference between the ideas of building a platform and creating content. Simply put, users choose the platform, and content makes the platform.

Using good content to attract more eyeballs is the basis for the monetization of Internet products. Xiaomi invited former Sina Editor-in-Chief Chen Tong to serve as Vice President and in charge of the content system because it also values ​​the content potential that can be tapped by the connections behind him.

Last August, LeTV Sports poached former CCTV commentator Liu Jianhong to serve as chief content officer. It is said that LeTV offered a salary that Liu Jianhong could not refuse. I believe that there will be more and more cases of celebrities joining the Internet industry in the future, but how to make good use of the celebrity effect and tap into the fan economy is a key point that major Internet companies need to think about. After all, the cost of hiring celebrities is not low.

Such actions by new media reveal that the content ideas do not change substantially due to the migration of platforms. Whether in the entertainment industry or the Internet circle, music is still music, and sports are still sports.

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.