Author | Nanfengchuang Reporter Runran
Editor | Jiang Jiang
The shopping spree in June that just passed has long since lost its excitement. Only words like "exhausted", "lying flat", "retired" and similar words are left, which are constantly used to describe the status of major super anchors during the mid-year promotion.
On May 31, Qianyu (Hangzhou) Entertainment Media Co., Ltd. was canceled. This company had created the famous "Weiya Carnival".
Correspondingly, the long-lost name "Weiya" has reappeared in the public eye.
On June 17, the Zhejiang Platform Economy "Entrepreneurship First Lesson" sponsored by the Hangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation and the People's Government of Qiantang District, Hangzhou was officially launched. The purpose of this "course" is to accelerate the cultivation of high-level innovative talents through the Hundred Entrepreneurship Mentor Program and the Platform Economy Training Base. In the guest list of
, there is a familiar figure mentioned repeatedly: Wei Ya. At the scene, Wei Ya, as the co-founder of Qianxun (Hangzhou) Culture Media Co., Ltd., commented on the first batch of typical cases of platform economy entrepreneurship selected by Zhejiang Province.
Although Wei Ya no longer carries goods live, she has not fallen down. Not only did she bet on the short drama track, but she also appeared in official events. The direction of Qian Xun behind her clearly shows that the myth of the wealth of the female tycoon continues.
short drama is the most fashionable track that Internet celebrities are paying attention to at the moment. Brother Yang has already decided to enter it, so it is not surprising that Wei Ya will join it after her comeback.
01
Wei Ya has changed her career
Many people say that Wei Ya has changed her career.
From a clothing store owner to Taobao's number one female anchor, to a sales instructor, and now she is embarking on the road of short drama sales, Wei Ya's identity is changing rapidly in the near future.
Specifically, in May this year, Qianxun, represented by Wei Ya, debuted in the "618 E-commerce Promotion" with "live broadcast + short drama", and integrated the short drama into the live broadcast with "Mr. Bee's 37-Day Exclusive Favorite" , betting on short dramas and testing the waters for big promotions.
Those who are familiar with Weiya may be familiar with the actors who starred in this short video. They are Kaizi, Wukong, Xuexue and others who are the resident anchors of Bee Surprise Club.
At the same time, Beijing Qianmeng Culture Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. also announced its establishment. The controlling shareholder of this company is Qianxun's Qianyue Culture, which holds 60% of the shares. Its partner is Zong Shuai, who once served as the joint general manager of Huayi Brothers Brokerage. Zong Shuai's Mengyang Culture holds 40% of the shares in Beijing Qianmeng %.
Poster information shows that Qianmeng Culture will start filming three short dramas in mid-to-late June: "Substitute Boyfriend", "A Male Nanny Came to My House" and "Don't Fall in Love with My Brother", and even "The Man Behind Wei Ya" Qianxun Chairman Dong Haifeng's name also appears on the list of producers of these three short dramas.
The operation of the traffic code of the short drama series "fast-paced, exciting plot, and reversal" has confirmed the outside world's speculation that "the Wei Ya couple has entered the short drama world". It can be said that Qianxun's business territory has expanded again and again.
In fact, Qianxun realized very early that the power of just one person is always limited and unstable. Therefore, with the help of Viya’s appeal, Qianxun has built a “live streaming business landscape” for the entire industry chain. The company's main businesses include incubating Internet celebrity anchors, short video content production and delivery, global content marketing, etc., and later expanded to include digital intelligence supply chain, IP commercialization, talent training, AI digital people and other fields.
After Wei Ya's personal sales career ended, Qianxun continued to operate as usual, and has been operating in a diversified direction, and quickly hatched many live broadcast rooms with outstanding performance.
Especially the performance of investing in two listed companies, Juzi Biotech and Delma, in the past two years, has also earned this company a lot of attention. Both companies were former cooperative customers of Qianxun. Moreover, this makes people realize that Qianxun is not just an MCN that only cultivates Internet celebrities and sells goods.
Viya herself, who is hidden from public view, has also been busy.
Until later, she made two public appearances that left a lasting impression.
The first time was in April 2023. Wei Ya appeared in Hangzhou as the "chief instructor" of the Zhejiang Centennial Brand Research Institute and Guochao College to share with everyone "how to use live streaming e-commerce to empower time-honored brands." This is Wei Ya's most high-profile appearance since she retired from the live broadcast room.
The other time was in June 2024, when Wei Ya appeared in the "First Entrepreneurship Lesson" of Zhejiang Platform Economy. What is striking is that this is an entrepreneurial event with an official sponsorship background.
Xu Zhiyuan once asked Wei Ya at her peak, do you think you are a legend? Are you in a state of perpetual anxiety?
Wei Ya denied it. She replied, I am reflecting on the fact that I always live in a very oppressive environment, very nervous, very afraid that I am not doing the right thing, and I am very afraid that I am not doing enough.
makes a person who can't take time off feel extremely anxious. "At this age, I feel that I am in the entrepreneurial stage. I have to work hard, I have to stand up and run. I feel that I have to be worthy of myself. I don't want to leave regrets and feel that I didn't work hard at that time." The
team's previous evaluation of Wei Ya Yes: She is a very boring person. She works all day long, and besides work she is still working.
For Wei Ya, this is another kind of proof.
In fact, in addition to live broadcast-related things, Wei Ya has long been paying attention to other aspects, with the purpose of hoping that her content can be richer. No wonder some media even described her as a kidnapped person. But in her opinion, "being needed" is very important.
Wei Ya is evaluated as being able to turn a high degree of boredom into a kind of joy in life. However, for micro individuals, any industry has a dry period, and live streaming is certainly no exception.
Nowadays, live streaming has entered a cooling-off and maturity period. Wei Ya, who has retreated behind the scenes, may have long been thinking:
How to reintegrate economic factors such as information, goods, funds, talents, and technology? What is the new mode of
? Will it be a short drama to bring goods?
02
The live broadcast room has long been no longer the most important battlefield.
The live broadcast environment has changed. To understand the current embarrassment of the leading anchors’ live broadcasts, we must understand the starting point of this business model.
’s earlier live broadcasts were known to help brands sell goods, but in fact they were “helping consumers buy goods.”
Among them, the biggest feature of the top anchors is that they have bargaining power and expand consumer surplus.
They can bargain from the perspective of consumers. The lower the price, the more people will flock to the live broadcast room to buy.
asked further, why can the head anchor bargain?
Because we are in a buyer's market economy with excess production capacity and diversified consumption. The starting point of this business model is a special kind of "altruistic thinking", that is, allowing consumers to benefit. If consumers trust the top anchors, they can reduce the decision-making cost of shopping.
So, why are brands willing to do this?
being on the live broadcast room is also a kind of publicity. The more people follow, the higher the advertising value will be. Especially in the stock economy stage, the brand can generate value spillover through network effects.
It can be seen that live streaming is largely the "fan economy".
But now, the early leading anchors are gradually disappearing. Even the "Guangdong couple" who are the top sellers can be said to be far behind in sales compared with last year. Nowadays, there is a trend of the emergence of a full ecological anchor group.
After all, the sales model of "lowest price on the entire network" where top anchors live stream goods is based on a situation where manufacturers are unprofitable, and it is difficult to continue forever. That’s why countless merchants will jump out and complain: they will lose money if they sell too much.
We have seen that in addition to Wei Ya, Xiao Yang has also stepped into the short drama trend and greatly reduced the number of sales. Especially for this year’s 618, merchants’ marketing has also turned to a new direction—customized short plays.
’s short drama seems to be a new traffic outlet. From last year to this year, contrary to the cooling situation of live broadcast sales, short dramas have been in the hot stage, especially after the emergence of popular paid short dramas, they have become an obvious traffic tool.iiMedia Consulting data shows that in 2023, China’s micro-short drama market will reach 37.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 267.65%. It is predicted to exceed 50 billion yuan in 2024 and exceed 100 billion yuan in 2027.
only looks very powerful, but this kind of simple paid short drama is actually not very profitable because the cost of "streaming" is very high.
Short dramas are another profit model - using short drama plots to increase the exposure and conversion rate of products, extend the distribution of benefits in the industry chain, and maximize the use of the value of traffic. To put it simply,
’s commercialization idea basically replicates the short video model, forming an entrance to aggregate consumers.
Compared with live streaming, the cost of selling short dramas may be lower, after all, there is no sky-high pit fee. A low-cost shoot customized for planting grass and brand marketing, once it becomes a hit, has the opportunity to easily leverage hundreds of millions of views.
Faced with such a piece of fat, the keen giants will certainly not miss the layout and collectively bet on the short drama.
Douyin and Kuaishou, as short video content platforms themselves, have already occupied "most of the country" in the short drama industry. They have demonstrated their own commercial value in the traffic aggregation and conversion of short dramas. The short dramas that Weiya Company will shoot are also planned to be launched on Douyin and other platforms.
At the same time, shelf e-commerce companies that lack native content sites are also working hard. For example, Taobao directly released the "Ten Billion Opera Taobao Plan." Generally speaking, the focus of Taobao short dramas is still on e-commerce sales. Taobao has specially opened a short play section called "Theater" in the live broadcast interface, which is used to play various short play contents. When the plot is playing, "The baby mentioned by him" will appear in the lower left corner. Click on it to get the product link.
JD.com is also making continuous efforts in the short drama track, but it does not have a dedicated short drama section, but is mixed with other information streams. For example, you need to search for "6" in the search box to see the latest short drama launched during JD.com's 618. It mainly spreads discount information on JD.com's home appliances.
Pinduoduo also mixes short dramas with goods in the short drama information flow and recommends them to interested users through big data.
Under this situation, the live broadcast room is no longer the most important battlefield for the top anchors with capital. Therefore, even if Wei Ya makes a comeback, it may be difficult for "Weiya's women" to wait until she comes back in the live broadcast room.
Things change so quickly on the Internet. But what remains unchanged is the anxiety about traffic. Everyone is actively looking for a field in the e-commerce ecosystem that can carry content. They will not miss any disturbance.
Today, the micro-short drama market has entered the "registration era." After June this year, the "strictest new rules for short dramas" were implemented. Micro short dramas will be subject to classified and hierarchical review. Micro short dramas that have not been reviewed and registered are not allowed to be disseminated online.
short plays are not easy to make, and Wei Ya is also trying to figure it out. Bee Surprise Club, which is closely related to her, recently launched a short drama with the theme of "Boss Boss", but the current data is bleak. However, as long as there is capital to chase the trend and grab traffic, this unknown battle will continue to be fought.
This article was first published in Nanfeng Window's financial new media Yan Finance
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Editor-in-chief on duty | Huang Mingting
Typesetting | Lin Xi Feifei
Produced by Nanfeng Window New Media
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