Bilibili barrage conquers Taobao: the strong penetration of otaku culture

When I opened Taobao on the morning of December 1, I suddenly saw a large screen of bullet comments on the top of the homepage, like thousands of alpacas whizzing by. What is this? After observation, it turned out that it was a support activity provided by the bullet comment video site bilibili for the upcoming Taobao Double 12 sales. Not long after, Bilibili and Taobao’s official Weibo actually started to interact with each other in a teasing manner. Taobao Weibo also released bullet comment data statistics: in just half a day, the word "willful" was mentioned 20,000 times, "rich" was mentioned 12,000 times, "Taobao" 30,000 times, "Bilibili" 38,000 times, and "Jack Ma" 110,000 times.

Most people are probably familiar with barrage videos, but it is the first time to see barrage videos on e-commerce websites. Let’s not talk about how much this activity can increase Taobao’s transaction volume, but it is obvious that a large number of barrage users are enthusiastic about it. So the question is, what is the reason for the barrage phenomenon to become so popular on the Internet? Where does the huge charm of barrage come from?

What experience does barrage bring to users?

When the whole family sat around a small black-and-white TV in the 1980s to watch "The Legend of Chen Zhen", everyone would point fingers at the characters and plots in the play and express their own opinions. This kind of scene is rare today. It reflects people's desire to communicate when enjoying film and television works, as well as the atmosphere of enjoying them with others. The experience that video barrage brings to users is similar to this. When you see a certain plot, you don't feel it, but a large number of barrages are brushed over to give you prompts, so that you can find the slots, which is similar to the background laughter in some sitcoms; similarly, you can also enter communication information on a certain moment in the timeline to seek the recognition of other viewers. This experience of strengthening resonance makes you feel that you are not watching alone. This is the general feeling of most people about things like barrages.

Despite this, not everyone is happy to use barrage. Previously, domestic cinemas tried barrage movies, and the public had mixed reactions. Some people thought that too many barrages affected the appreciation of the program, and that seemingly meaningless barrages such as "233" were also disgusting. This leads to another question: Who are the loyal users of barrage? What kind of group are they?

The core users of barrage: the homebody group

The barrage audience is the post-90s group, they are anime fans, and they are game experts. These explanations are all generalizations. Tracing back to the source, it should be a group of young people who are keen on sharing various interests and hobbies with otaku culture as the core intersection. The author calls it the otaku group. This group is mainly composed of people born in the 90s at this stage, and it is also widely distributed among people born in the 80s and 00s. The otaku group does not necessarily stay at home. "Otaku" is just the ACG culture that used to be dominated by animation, comics, and games. This subculture has evolved to the point where its scope has expanded to the military, technology, humanities, sports and other fields, but its core of closely following otaku culture has not changed.

We know that users go to barrage video sites mainly to complain and watch others complain, which shows that the otaku group has many complaints and excessive self-awareness. Take the incident at the beginning of the article as an example. Bilibili began planning and preparing for the "mysterious event" on November 16, and announced the event plan on the 25th - sending an anime pillow with the word "Aunt" printed on it and a request for a contract to be signed to Taobao. On December 1, the "contract" was established, and Bilibili's barrage successfully topped the Taobao homepage to support the Double 12 shopping festival. Barrages of "buy buy buy" and "Jack Ma, I give you an aunt" kept whizzing by. The whole event seems strange and incredible to ordinary people, but it is too common for otaku people.

Here I explain a detail, "Jack Ma, I give you an aunt" comes from the first line of the opening song of the second season of the anime film and television work "Sword Art Online". What is a lip sync? It is to listen to foreign lyrics as Chinese, just like hearing "I love you" as "Ai Lao Hu You". The commonly said "Auntie washes the railway" and "I come to Hebei Province" on Station A and Station B are all Chinese lip syncs of foreign lyrics and movie lines. Therefore, when "Jack Ma, I give you an aunt" encountered the alternative and daring home group, it became another classic lip sync lyrics that was sung endlessly, and Station B also sent an "Aunt" pillow to Taobao for fun.

From the above, we can see that the hobbies and entertainment methods of the otaku group and the non-otaku group are quite different. The reason for this difference, I believe, is the lack of intersection in the living environment and growth trajectory of people of different generations, which leads to differences in cultural concepts. Since the core user group of the barrage video site is the otaku group, it has obvious exclusivity when facing ordinary non-otaku people and traditional Internet products and applications. This explains why Youku Tudou also has barrage, but its popularity is not as good as that of sites A and B; the physical barrage theater model cannot be promoted on a large scale, etc.

A. Is Bilibili just a barrage video website?

Nowadays, whenever people mention Tucao and Danmu, they will naturally think of the influential bilibili and AcFun. However, few people have noticed that Stations A and B have actually served as content integration stations for the entire otaku culture. We have always known very little about otaku culture because there is a lot of fragmentation in the content of this field, and the otaku culture itself is relatively closed. ACG enthusiasts are also scattered all over the Internet, making it difficult to share and communicate with the mainstream group. Danmu video stations use Danmu as a carrier to carry the content exchange of otaku culture, and at the same time integrate various works, programs, and creations in this field into different columns, basically realizing a comprehensive overview of the entire otaku culture.

Take Bilibili as an example. It has sections such as animation, TV series, music, dance, games, technology, and entertainment. These sections can be integrated because they have intersections with each other, and the intersection is the core of otaku culture. For example, a military enthusiast does not go to Tudou, Youku, or Iron Blood Mir, but has to go to Bilibili A and Bilibili to watch videos. This shows that he is not only a military fan, but also a member of the otaku group. Maybe he also likes to watch anime TV series. The atmosphere of the otaku group and the barrage communication are closer to his interests.

It is also worth mentioning that although both sites A and B are otaku culture barrage video sites, their content formats are slightly different. Site B focuses on anime series, two-dimensional fan fiction, etc., while Site A has added more three-dimensional programs such as billboard and e-sports live commentary. This slight difference actually reflects the differences in interests of young user groups of different age groups on the two sites.

The otaku culture behind the barrage and its permeating effect

As I have introduced in previous articles, a strong subculture has the characteristic of penetrating into mainstream culture. After the integration effect of the above-mentioned barrage video station is revealed, the whole picture of the otaku culture is presented to the public more clearly, and its influence is far-reaching: it not only promotes the communication and integration among various otaku groups, but also allows the majority of non-otaku groups to understand the essential connotation of otaku culture and greatly increases the possibility of them becoming potential audiences. This is the penetration of strong subcultures.

Although otaku culture is somewhat closed and exclusive, this limitation is gradually disappearing. With the secondary development of the Internet and the arrival of the mobile Internet era, coupled with the gradual entry of Internet companies, the times will subtly change the proportion of otaku culture among the mainstream population, and a huge content consumption market is booming.

In summary, we believe that at this stage, barrage is a sharing and social tool on the surface, but in reality it is a content carrier of otaku culture. At the same time, we look forward to more Internet products carrying otaku culture coming out in the future. Dear non-otaku friends, are you ready to join their carnival feast?

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.