Chinanews client, Beijing, May 9th (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) Recently, idol auditions once again went out of the circle.
First, the follow-up recording of "Youth Have You 3" was stopped, and then the "milk-pouring incident" caused a wave of waves.
The wasteful behavior aroused public outrage, and iQiyi and Mengniu Zhenguoli successively issued apologies.
On May 8, the State Cyberspace Administration of China also called in response to the "milk pouring incident."
It is worth noting that this absurd behavior of pouring milk is not the first time.
Not only does this make people wonder, why is it that abnormal star-chasing has become the norm on idol talent shows?
Short video screenshot
Crazy investment: if you don't spend money, idols have no future
"Youth with You 3" was originally going to hold the finals on May 8. According to the usual practice in previous years, 9 players will eventually become another batch of lucky winners in this year's draft.
This year, the frequent outbreak of negative news stopped this "dream journey."
On May 4, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television ordered iQiyi to suspend the recording of the follow-up show "Youth Have You 3".
On May 6, iQiyi issued an apology, adjusted the program rules, and closed all assistance channels.
On May 7, Zhenguoliang apologized and released a product return plan.
Weibo screenshot
The "milk pouring incident" also made fans a target of public criticism.
Although the outside world has been familiar with the various crazy behaviors of the rice circle, such a large amount of waste has refreshed people's bottom line of perception.
This has once again allowed fans to "make a vote" (playing the rankings and voting) into the public eye.
As early as 2005, "Super Girl" triggered a referendum boom.
Fans also called for fundraising to collectively buy Unicom cards and mobile card numbers to vote for idols.
But at the time, this behavior was still considered "public fraud."
"Super Girl" poster
Over the past decade or so, this type of "public fraud" has expanded and has even become the golden rule of the rice circle.
Chasing the draft has become a "Krypton Gold" game.
According to media reports, "Creation 101" publicly raised more than 40 million yuan.
Taking the widely used "dumpling list" data in the fan circle as a reference, Liu Yuxin's fans raised more than 14 million funds last year.
Fan groups have completely internalized the logic of capital and the market, and even formed a chain of contempt based on the amount of funds raised.
In order to urge fans to raise funds and raise money, they also invented methods such as flag-setting, flag-drawing, fund-raising battle, and fund-raising PUA.
Behind this is the consistent logic of today's fans: "If you don't spend money on idols, you have no future", "You don't have the right to speak without spending money", and "If you don't spend money, chasing celebrities is nothing."
This is especially true for the "show fans" who are chasing the draft. In their view, fundraising is a direct quantitative expression of fan purchasing power and fan stickiness.
Video screenshot
Complicated program rules: fan sales determine the players to stay
No wonder the fan economy once became the blue ocean in the eyes of many practitioners in the entertainment industry.
And behind the fan fundraising craze of the draft, there is also a logic hidden-many "show fans" believe that the number of votes output by the fundraising almost determines whether they can make their debut.
In 2018, "Idol Trainees" drove a 500-fold increase in online sales of a certain brand of mineral water, a P2P platform added 1.59 million downloads, and trainees sold out the same sweaters.
The relevant person in charge of iQiyi once said that the reason why "Idol Trainees" can bring tangible sales to customers is because the sales of fans can determine the status of players' stay and ranking, and even "can determine life and death." And prospects, so the degree of participation will be very high."
Video screenshot: "Idol Trainee" theme song performance
The idol talent show, which is rooted in the Internet, has deeply penetrated the market logic from the very beginning.
One or two can be seen from the program rules. For example, in 2018, "Creation 101" opened four major voting channels, Tencent Video members voted more than ordinary users, and the brand community was rewarded with 10,000 votes every week.
In addition, viewers can vote for branded products, and contestants with more votes will get corresponding resources.
Under the rules, many fans go to buy membership services and brand products.
Screenshot
In 2019, the gameplay of the talent show has been updated again. In addition to the official assistance channel, it also opened up a "milk ticket".
Take "Youth with You" as an example, fans only need to buy real fruit tablets to get additional opportunities. The more they buy, the more they vote. Therefore, spending money on milk tickets is also considered the best way to bridge the gap.
This model continued until this year.
In addition to the official list, there are also music lists, brand lists, and Weibo lists. You also need to check the number of views to unlock various "fan benefits".
Complicated rules point to traffic and revenue.
A wide range of marketing tactics are constantly squeezing the wallets and energy of fans. Many fans deride themselves as "data laborers" and "investing women workers."
An article pointed out that the competition system of the draft variety show is catalyzing the economic running of fans into an explosive period.
Screenshot of Weibo: Part of the casting tutorial summarized by fans
Sponsor of iron fight, fan of harvesting water?
For the brand side in the idol talent show, the mere naming of advertisements to increase exposure is also out of date. The new gameplay is to deeply participate in it, turning fans into consumers, and data directly into sales.
To this end, the brand has also developed new tricks for milk tickets. For example, a box of real fruit tablets can be exchanged for 10 grains and 20 fruit grains. The grain value can be voted. The fruit grain value can only be exchanged for welfare resources. .
The role of fans in buying milk is therefore diluted, and they can only continue to invest more money.
Video screenshot
This strategy is indeed effective.
From 2019 to 2021, Mengniu sponsored two auditions of "Creation Camp" and "Youth Have You".
It can be seen from the results of the fourth phase of the Zhenguoli Mini Program that the most popular player in this phase alone received 7.46 million fruits.
Screenshot of WeChat Mini Program
Assuming that the fruit value is obtained from the purchase of milk, theoretically, this would require the purchase of more than 370,000 cartons of milk.
In the official flagship store of Mengniu Dairy, which is bound to the mini program, the price of a box of milk is 69.9 yuan.
In the comment section of an e-commerce platform, popular comments are all for buying milk for idols.
Screenshot of e-commerce platform
Mengniu’s 2020 financial report mentioned that Zhenguo Lihuaguo Light Milk Series was successfully launched and promoted through the title sponsorship of iQIYI’s "Youth with You 2". During the epidemic period when sales were blocked, Zhenguo Li was used for high-end products. Top traffic actively communicates with young consumers to achieve growth against the trend.
The e-commerce platform has been sold out many times.
Of course, this is not without cost.
In 2019, Mengniu's advertising and publicity expenses reached 8.499 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%, and its proportion of the Group's revenue rose to 10.8%.
Video screenshot
The sweet nightmare of fans: breeding gray industrial chain
The combination of platforms and brands, and the active participation of fans, make the game of the draft game bigger and bigger, and more and more fans are harvested. There are endless votes, not enough milk to buy, and endless lists. Become a sweet nightmare for "show fans".
As a result, in the field of buying milk for the draft, a gray industrial chain has also emerged, such as drinking milk, scraping milk tickets, and collecting milk. On second-hand trading platforms, such demand is not rare.
Data map: reporter Liu Guanguan has nothing to do with pictures and texts
The more common way for fans is to buy milk tickets directly.
The source of milk tickets is generally scalpers or dealers, who take out the milk card or milk ticket voting page and sell them to fans or brokerage companies who want to vote.
In a self-operated store of a real fruit milk brand, there is a special milk ticket link, 1 cover 2 tickets 5 yuan, 10 45 yuan, monthly sales 300+.
On a certain trading platform commonly used by fans, there are also a large number of sellers selling milk tickets, indicating that "first-hand supply, spot-issued in seconds".
Screenshot of trading platform
Due to the need for a large number of different accounts to vote in a short period of time, proxy voting was also born, that is, hiring someone to vote on behalf of the milk. The price varies, but it is generally relatively cheap, and many fan clubs will find proxy voting.
Behind the seemingly prosperous fan economy, there is the danger of losing control at any time.
"The whereabouts of 650,000 milk tickets are unknown", "Fantou roll money runs away and Xi mention sea view room", "fans roll up 200 thousand runs away" and other news are uncommon.
The trend of spending money to chase stars has an even worse impact on young people, and there are even cases where students live frugally and do not hesitate to borrow flowers and online loans to vote.
Under the influence of the market and fans, the idol industry is even more chaotic.
Those who are capable have no traffic, and they collapsed when they first debuted.
Topics and personal settings are endless, but there are few works. The number of fans and commercial value have become the biggest labels of many idols.
To this day, the "milk pouring incident" is backlash, and no one is the real winner in the farce.
On May 8, Zhang Yongjun, director of the Network Comprehensive Management Bureau of the State Cyberspace Administration of China, responded that the chaos in the “rice circle” is also a comprehensive phenomenon. Taking "Youth with You 3" as an example, it not only involves the problem of fans’ bottomless star chasing, but also The issue of platform indulgence also involves the business's bad behavior.
He said that governance requires comprehensive policies and requires all parties to form joint efforts for common governance.
The State Cyberspace Administration of China will put forward more requirements on the website platform, and hope that the website platform will strengthen communication with the celebrity brokerage team and fan support associations, and guide everyone to chase stars rationally.
(Finish)