Why Internet companies are increasingly sponsoring popular variety shows

As the two most watched variety shows this summer, The Voice of China 4 (hereinafter referred to as The Voice 4) and Where Are We Going, Dad 3 (hereinafter referred to as Dad 3) officially "took off" last Friday night. The advertising revenue of the two shows is a very important criterion for who will win the peak showdown.

Earlier, some media reported that the advertising revenues of The Voice 4 and Dad 3 were 2 billion yuan and 1.5 billion yuan respectively. After sorting out the bidding information and calculating with relevant people, the reporter of China Business News concluded that the advertising revenues of the two programs were both around 1.5 billion yuan, which was almost the same.

Although sponsorship fees are still the bulk of advertising revenue, various cooperation models that emphasize online and offline interactions and brand value are becoming more active, providing a new marketing "battlefield" for many Internet companies. For a time, variety shows also stood at the forefront of the "Internet +" trend.

Ten variety shows received 10 billion yuan in advertising fees

21:17, 21:18... On the evening of the 17th, "The Voice of China 4" started to swirl the screen. Li Bin, executive president of Suning Cloud Commerce Group Operation Headquarters, began to feel his heartbeat speed up at the live broadcast site, because more than 30 colleagues in Nanjing were ready to go. This time, Suning.com organized clothing brands to customize personalized clothing for the students of "The Voice of China". On the day of the premiere, whether the idol students' clothing can be as popular as the show is still unknown.

Half an hour later, "Dad 3" continued the children's trip to Yulin. That night, Hunan Satellite TV's Mango Shopping APP and Tongcheng Travel once again jointly recommended the Qingtianhe Scenic Area.

"I am full of expectations," Li Bin said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News.

Sponsors are still favored. After the Voice of China student Beibei appeared on stage, the same clothing of the private car driver appeared on Suning.com's Dajuhui channel. By the end of the live broadcast, more than 200 pieces had been sold; "Dad 3" also made Qingtianhe a popular summer parent-child travel destination.

"The Voice of China 4" won the ratings championship on the day of its premiere, with a market share of 39.48%; the premiere ratings of "Dad 3" were also as high as 3.25%.

All the numbers bring excitement, including the real money paid by sponsors.

One media report said that the advertising revenue of "The Voice of China 4" was as high as 2 billion, but a person from Zhejiang Satellite TV's Marketing Planning Center said that it was not that crazy.

A reporter from China Business News found that there are about 10 sponsors and partners of different levels for "The Voice of China 4". If we use the three consecutive years of spending by one of the sponsors (60 million yuan in the first season, 200 million yuan in the second season, and 250 million yuan in the third season) as a reference, the exclusive sponsorship fee for the fourth season by Jiaduobao should be around 300 million yuan. Combined with the investment from companies such as Pechoin (two statements: 180 million yuan or 150 million yuan), Tencent , and Suning.com, as well as some hard advertising, it is not difficult for "The Voice of China 4" to earn more than 1 billion yuan in advertising revenue.

Because Hunan Satellite TV has relevant information about the advertising bidding meeting, the advertising bill of "Dad 3" is relatively clear. The revenue from Yili (exclusive sponsorship fee is 500 million yuan), three hard advertising insertion windows (218.1 million yuan + 173.37 million yuan + 130.94 million yuan) and APP interactive advertising (90.18 million yuan) totals about 1.2 billion yuan.

"These are just the hard advertising revenues of the two programs. If the special rights granted to the companies are added, the overall revenue should be even greater. 'Dad 3' should be around 1.5 billion yuan, and 'The Voice of China 4' should be about the same," Ling Ping, editor-in-chief of Advertising Guide, told our reporter.

In Ling Ping's opinion, nearly ten variety shows such as "The Voice of China", "Where Are We Going, Dad?", "Running Man", and "I Am a Singer" are the darlings of the current advertising industry. Our reporter found that the advertising revenue of these ten shows totaled nearly 10 billion yuan, and the revenue of two of them in one season is equivalent to the advertising revenue of some local satellite TV stations in one year.

Internet companies find new battlefield

"This is an inevitable result. The development of everything is in a 28 ratio. Good variety shows are rare, and the producers put all their efforts into making the shows. There is naturally a threshold for attracting advertising investment for such programs. If twenty or thirty companies fill the screen at once, it will be unwatchable." The person in charge of the planning department of a local satellite TV station told the reporter from China Business News.

Currently, there are generally four types of advertising investment for well-known variety shows. The first is exclusive naming rights, which is further subdivided into exclusive and special sponsors. The current public bidding prices for several programs with greater market influence are mostly over 100 million yuan; the second level is partners, and the fees are in the tens of millions; the third is special support, special thanks or embedded advertising; the fourth type is hard advertising.

Taking variety shows alone as an example, among these four categories, the fees from the title sponsor account for the bulk of advertising revenue.

The person in charge believes that the selection of advertisers for the program is not about big companies or groups throwing money at it, but is based on the characteristics of the program itself and the big data analysis and investigation of the audience. "Even if they are not well-known large companies, as long as they can do marketing in the niche market with characteristics and operate well online and offline, the two sides can also add up to each other in terms of brand value, rather than simply adding up commercial value."

When talking about this type of cooperation model, we cannot fail to mention the Internet companies that are currently active in the television advertising industry.

Taking "Dad 3" as an example, the first broadcast of hard advertisements included Internet companies such as Tongcheng Travel, Vipshop , Beibei.com, and Ganji.com; in addition to Tencent, companies such as Suning.com and Tuniu Travel are also taking advantage of "The Voice of China 4" to expand their entertainment marketing territory; the celebrity reality show "Extreme Challenge" is exclusively sponsored by Tmall International.

"Currently, traditional enterprises still account for a larger proportion of advertising revenue, but it is undeniable that more and more Internet companies are participating in TV programs, which is related to the development of the industry itself," said Chen Gan from Hunan Satellite TV's advertising department.

When reviewing the Internet companies in TV commercials, there are several groups of similar companies that have a strong sense of tension.

For example, Suning.com not only placed hard advertisements for "The Voice of China 4" and obtained special rights, but its supermarket channel also specially hosted "Running Man 2"; and Tmall International sponsored "Extreme Challenge".

The person in charge of Suning.com's China Voice project told the reporter of "First Financial Daily" that Suning.com's clothing channel is the exclusive platform for providing clothing for Voice students. As the Voice competition is upgraded in the future, more brands will join in. This is also a signal that Suning.com is comprehensively expanding into the clothing field.

As for how much money Suning.com spent on this, the person in charge did not disclose. However, people in the advertising industry believe that according to its status as a sponsor, the investment in "The Voice of China 4" alone may be around 100 million yuan. The title sponsorship fee of Tmall International for "Go Fighting" will not be low either.

Similarly, Tongcheng Travel appeared in "Dad 3", while Tuniu Travel frequently appeared in reality shows such as "Flowers and Youth", "Fighting for Her", and "The Amazing Race".

If we only compare it with reality shows, Tongcheng Travel's investment in TV advertising seems to be insufficient, while the industry is rumored that Tuniu Travel's budget for TV advertising alone this year is conservatively estimated at 200 million to 300 million yuan.

Ling Ping believes that this kind of business war among colleagues has always existed, but the "war" has spread to variety shows.

Interactive advertising may become a new source of revenue

Both Suning.com and Tongcheng Travel are actually trying to create a "fan economy", the core of which is the "celebrity + fans + consumption" model, which is the latest strategic combination of celebrity reality show advertising.

"From a logical point of view, the direction is not wrong and everyone has started to explore," Chen Gan believes.

Public data shows that Hunan Satellite TV's advertising revenue has increased significantly every year, from 2.2 billion yuan in 2009 to 6.3 billion yuan in 2013. At the end of 2014, Hunan Satellite TV's advertising revenue exceeded 7 billion yuan. The outstanding ratings and hundreds of millions of loyal fans have become the core reasons why Hunan Satellite TV is trusted by many brands. If these two can be effectively converted and directed to Mango shopping, it will definitely generate considerable traffic.

At the advertising investment conference for "Dad 3", Hunan Satellite TV launched "interactive advertising", which was accompanied by a mobile phone application called Mango Sweeping. That is to say, when users see the interactive advertisement, they can open Mango Sweeping and shake the application to make a purchase or get a gift, truly realizing what you see is what you buy.

For "Dad 3", Mango TV also launched two independent advertising bids. The winning bid for the chief network partner was 48 million yuan, and the winning bid for the network interactive partner was 37 million yuan, which were won by Tianmeijian and COFCO Womai.com respectively.

In early July, "Mango Sweeping" took advantage of the launch of "Dad 3". From July 2 to 9, the theme promotional video of Mango Sweeping was broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV ten times a day, attracting users to download and experience it.

Our reporter noticed that Wukong Finance, Tongcheng Travel and Xiangyi Bencao became the first wave of interactive brand advertisements.

The “Shake” function in the live broadcast of “The Voice of China 4” is also designed to serve relevant partners.

"Fans are special users. Their 'attention' means interest and potential purchasing behavior, while their cancellation of attention means a shift in demand. Therefore, the key to the fan economy lies in operation and management. As a platform, Suning.com will actively interact with fans through 'fan power' and assist them in achieving relevant demands, so as to expand the fan effect and generate continuous economic benefits." said Li Bin.

Through this power, fans can use crowdfunding to help their idols release albums, hold concerts, design support items, etc., and receive rewards that meet their customized needs.

"In this issue, we did not emphasize the sales of idol students' peripheral products, but the interactive platform will crowdfund to create a million-dollar golden uniform for this season's Voice of China champion student." Li Bin said.

As for what results the "fan economy" will bring, there is no relevant data analysis yet, and we have to wait until the end of this season to observe.

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.