Living room karaoke: It’s not just a return to form, it’s about product reshaping

In the VCD and DVD era, karaoke machines once played a very important role in family entertainment life, but with the rise of entertainment venues such as "KTV", karaoke has gradually moved out of users' living rooms.

The popularity of smart TVs in the Internet era has brought this trend back to the living room. After experiencing ups and downs, home karaoke has regained favor among consumers who pursue "new trends". If the new generation of karaoke that has undergone a "makeover" wants to regain its glory, it will have to face a new round of product reconstruction.

Liu Xiang, vice president of Longshi Media, said that the transition of karaoke from home entertainment to KTV and then back to the living room is not just a simple in and out. Changes in user environment and consumer experience have forced home karaoke products to face the problem of reshaping. In terms of the interactivity between users and platforms, the sociality between users, and the entertainment of the user environment, manufacturers need to explore and develop them further.

Consumers who have been to KTV can clearly feel that there is a huge difference between singing karaoke at home and in a professional KTV. Although the price of home audio equipment is no longer as high as it was a few years ago, consumers can buy a set of fully functional audio equipment at a very low cost. However, due to the domestic living environment and modern people's requirements for public environment, it is not easy for users to create a karaoke environment with shocking sound effects in the living room.

On the other hand, consumers have shown their enthusiasm for home karaoke products. It is understood that TV boxes featuring home karaoke functions have very good sales in Shenzhen Huaqiangbei and Beijing Zhongguancun. According to the store, there are many consumers who come to inquire about home karaoke products every day, and the sales of this product have continued to rise in the past six months. "It sells very well!" From the words of the merchants, we can feel the popularity of karaoke boxes.

Although the effect cannot match that of professional KTV, the combination of home karaoke products, Internet TV and mobile terminals has brought many new ways to play.

Karaoke is a form of entertainment that is meant for everyone to have fun, but it has led to strong social demands from users. Recording songs and uploading them to Moments, singing with friends online, and recording user-exclusive MVs have become essential features of home karaoke.

It is understood that the ZIVOO smart box launched by Zhiwo Technology, which focuses on karaoke function, has organized activities such as microphone competition to enhance the interaction between users in order to highlight the relationship between family and social interaction. Zou Chao, the founder of Zhiwo Technology, said that there is currently a deeply integrated karaoke area in the ZIVOO smart box. In order to make the karaoke function of the product more complete, Zhiwo Technology has reached a strategic cooperation with Tianlai KTV.

From the current usage scenarios of family karaoke, it is more suitable for interaction between family members, while karaoke interaction between friends still needs the help of the Internet. Therefore, whether it is a box with karaoke function or TV karaoke software, if it only meets family needs, its market limitation is very large.

Shen Tong, CEO of Yiba Information Technology Co., Ltd., believes that smart TVs are not omnipotent and cannot be compared with professional-level KTVs, but they also have advantages that other platforms cannot achieve, such as enabling family members to interact. In the future, with cloud services, audio files uploaded by users can be processed in the cloud and accompanied by self-made MVs. Personalized products will be more popular with young consumers.

In addition, it is worth noting that although the sales of home karaoke products in physical electronics malls are very good, most of them are still miscellaneous brand products. In addition to built-in massive song libraries, these products are often also equipped with video playback functions and are priced at around 200 to 300 yuan.

The karaoke boxes produced by regular manufacturers are priced at around 500 yuan. Affected by copyright and radio and television policies, their built-in content is not as rich as that of generic products. In addition, the publicity for such products is not prominent, and their market performance is suppressed by copycat boxes.

From this point of view, the market status of home karaoke entertainment products is very similar to that of TV boxes. The products that regular manufacturers have tried so hard to promote are not as well accepted by consumers as cheap, unknown products.

Zhang Ruobo, president of Happy Sunshine, once said in an interview that at present, even the karaoke application of the box invested by Mango TV still has a poor experience and is far less popular than TV games, video programs, etc.

At present, if karaoke products want to return to users' living rooms, it is far from enough to just be able to "sing". It is imperative to combine the Internet environment and social networks to further develop product functions and give users a better "singing" experience and fun.

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.