The number of users affected by the epidemic surges
WeChat mini-game ushers in the "second spring"?
Affected by the epidemic of the new crown pneumonia, many people have stayed at home since the Spring Festival of 2020. This has stimulated the rapid development of the game industry. In addition to the online games and mobile games that are of concern to the public, the "WeChat small" hidden in WeChat "Games" is back in the public eye again. The first appearance of WeChat Mini Games a few years ago made the public addicted to a game called "jump and jump". Nowadays, it has developed into various versions, including card, competitive, and various. The "Special Spring Festival" has increased the activity of mini games, will this be the "second spring" of WeChat mini games?
50% increase in users
Over 35 years old love "Chess and Card Games"
Perhaps many of the post-80s generations are no strangers to "mini-games". Going to college stealing food on the school intranet and grabbing parking spaces in QQ space, these games can be called "mini-games." Baidu Encyclopedia has its own interpretation of "mini-games": "Compared to large stand-alone games and online games, it generally refers to all small-sized and simple-to-play games, usually such games are mainly casual puzzle games. , There is a stand-alone version and a web version, and most of the embedded on the web page is in the FLASH format. "
The mini-game hidden in WeChat has been tepid since it was launched and affected by the epidemic. However, it will be crazy in the 2020 Spring Festival. A small chess and card game called "Wei Mahjong" has become the first choice for many home users. Regarding the overall characteristics of chess and card games, senior game planner Ye Wei said in an interview with reporters from the Beijing Youth Daily: "Each year, the Spring Festival, chess and card games will usher in a periodical growth, but after a short holiday, they will quickly fall back, and usually , The user base of chess and card games are relatively fixed, especially in the area of local chess and card games, the model of relying on ground push and agent acquisition leads to fierce product competition. "
According to the statistics of the Aladdin Index, starting from the Spring Festival holiday, the number one mini game on the daily list has been the brain burning puzzle product "I'm not a pig's head", which also belongs to the brain burning "Rescue Little Treasure" and "Brain Hole 2020 "Is also ranked in the top ten mini games rankings, and" star burst "and" Eyesight "and other elimination and puzzle games also performed well. In the WeChat mini-game, chess and card games performed very well. The number of daily active users, user duration, retention and other data were far more than usual.
Crowd portrait of the WeChat mini-game in the Spring Festival of 2020, Ye Wei bluntly said: "The main group of mini-games for chess and card games is users over 35 years old, and the expansion of channels is more focused on family groups. WeChat groups make acquaintance marketing possible. The age portraits of some small quiz games are 13-25 years old. The user data of such small games has increased by 50% compared to usual times, and the overall income has increased by about 30%. "
Zero threshold for mini games
Behind free entertainment is advertising revenue
Many people are puzzled that there is no charge for the zero threshold for mini games, but how should the business model behind it be maintained? The reporter of Beiqing Daily interviewed Xu Peng, the CEO of the well-known domestic marketing company Xun Peng and Golden Wing. He said bluntly: "On the one hand, small games can increase users' WeChat usage time, and WeChat official vigorously promotes it to increase functionality in addition to social functions; another In terms of mini-games, the biggest feature can drive the diversity of WeChat ads. "
For the outbreak of mini-game popularity, can it succeed in revenue? Ye Wei said frankly: "During the epidemic, the entire advertising market was not very good, and there were fewer advertisers. Therefore, although there was a slight increase in revenue, the scope was small, especially on the WeChat mini-game platform. The size of the advertisement itself is not very large. The advertisement of Guangdiantong (advertising channel) is less effective than the pangolin (advertising channel). Secondly, WeChat is a decentralized platform. The cost of the game's volume guide is higher than headlines. , Vivo, OPPO and other platforms are even higher. "
The future of mini games
Multi-platform expansion of monetization capabilities
Although the advertising revenue is average, small games do not affect the enthusiasm of creators. Game marketing expert Zhang Ya told reporters: "We are expanding the monetization ability of small games. In addition to selling advertisements, we also hope to use small games to bring users Guide more precise games and e-commerce, etc., and urge them to consume, thereby generating greater business value. Because the age of customers of small games is relatively fixed, they can open up the ports of entertainment and shopping through marketing and seek greater business opportunities. "
The reporter found that what YouDuanFun does on the WeChat platform is the "shared user volume" mode, which expands users of a game product to other games or advertising platforms through the game process, allowing a user to play multiple games. In practice, such user export efficiency is relatively high. "Shared users" can reduce the expansion cost of game makers and increase the fan base of series games. This new model can be called an incomprehensible behavior for many traditional game companies. It is too difficult to export users who have come in easily, because WeChat mini-games complete such "zero jumps" under WeChat's powerful closed loop. turn".
With the first person who eats crabs, there will be more possibilities for the marketing model of the game industry. The core of making small games into explosive models is the simple and complex process, so that more users are willing to stay in the small In the game, the entire industry will have more possibilities. In addition to WeChat, can small games be expanded to more platforms such as today's headlines, vibrato, and fast hands? let us wait and see.
Text / Reporter Wang Lei Photography / Reporter Yang Xiaojia