Ultraman "work" Who is making money?
As Ultraman born in Japan in 1966, 55 series have been derived so far, forming a huge Ultraman universe.
As a super IP, Ultraman, which "believes in light," allowed its copyright owner and the famous Japanese entertainment company Bandai to earn 8.6 billion yen in total revenue in fiscal 2021, and is expected to increase to 9.5 billion yen in fiscal 2022.
Data shows that Ultraman is very popular in China and is Bandai's largest overseas market, contributing most of its revenue.
Speaking of Ultraman in China, we have to mention Xinchuanghua, Zhejiang Kayou and Holley Technology.
The former is Ultraman's domestic copyright general agent; Zhejiang Cardyou is a company that produces cards, but it has made a lot of income through the sale of Ultraman series of cards, and recently received a financing of 6 million from Sequoia Capital.
According to estimates by industry insiders, Card Tour is valued at US$1 billion and is expected to become the next Bubble Mart.
Huali Technology was originally a company that produced amusement equipment, but it made a lot of money by combining Ultraman cards and amusement machines. It was listed in June this year. According to its disclosure, Ultraman cards alone sold for RMB 41,680,200 in 2020. , The gross profit margin is as high as 30%.
A film and television IP that has been born for 55 years is still stirring the direction of capital...
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What's the value of Ultraman "beating workers"?
The development of Ultraman’s IP has been exceptionally successful. In addition to derivatives such as cards and toys that are popular among elementary school students, there are also peripheral products of different carriers such as costumes, comic series, games, stage plays, novels, and radio dramas.
The audience is very common
Ultraman was born in Japan in 1966, and 55 series have been derived so far, forming a huge Ultraman universe.
The first film and television work about Ultraman in history is called "Alter Q", which is Japan's first special drama series with monsters as the protagonist.
Although it has a relatively long history in Japan, it was not until 1993 that Shanghai Oriental Television introduced and broadcast the "Universal Hero Ultraman", and the Ultraman series officially entered the Chinese market.
By April 2021, Station B will introduce the Chinese version of "Ultraman Tiga" to bring "Ultra Heat" back to the top.
A researcher revealed in an interview with reporters that compared with other Japanese animation protagonists, Ultraman seems to be loved by people of different ages, from the 70s and 80s to the three or four-year-olds.
Cards are worth collecting
The reporter saw in stationery stores near many elementary schools in Chengdu that all kinds of Ultraman cards in the store are often placed in the most conspicuous position, and the price ranges from a few yuan per pack to tens of yuan.
The best-selling cards in the store are a set of 10 to 20 yuan cards, all of which are packaged in the same way and opened in the form of a blind box.
According to the owner of the store, Ultraman cards are sold in a form similar to a blind box. Depending on the price, a pack is divided into 8 to 16 cards. The more expensive the cards, the more “good cards” you can get.
In the Taobao flagship store of the card brand Kayou authorized by Ultraman, the most expensive souvenir gift box reached 338 yuan, with a sales volume of 1,000+.
In fact, in addition to elementary and middle school students, there are also many adults who are keen on collecting Ultraman cards.
The reporter saw on major social platforms that many collectors displayed various rare Ultraman cards.
It is understood that according to the card production process, the number of sales, character skills, etc., Ultraman's cards are divided into different types and levels such as R, SR, SSR, UR, etc. The full name of R card is Rare (rare), and the full name of SR is Super. Rare (super rare), the full name of SSR in English is Super Secret Rare (super rare) and so on, the degree of rarity increases sequentially.
On some second-hand trading platforms, a rare Ultraman card can be sold for hundreds of yuan, and some limited-edition sets can be sold from about 1,000 yuan to two or three thousand yuan.
Toys are very popular
On shopping websites, Ultraman's toys are also quite popular among children.
The price of a 15 cm high movable Ultraman ranges from 60 to 300 yuan, and the price of an Ultraman transforming suit and weapon ranges from tens to hundreds of dollars.
In 2020, Tmall selected Ultraman as the "2020 Fashion Figure".
According to Taobao data, the Ultraman series is among the top 10 most popular products in 2020.
Stage play tickets are worth
In addition to toys, another important derivative of Ultraman in China is stage play.
At the beginning of 2020, the stage play "Ultraman Cosmic Light" will be on tour in many cities in China for the first time. Tickets for a minimum of 80 yuan and a maximum of 580 yuan are hard to find.
The reporter saw on the ticketing website that only from this year to next year, the Ultraman series of stage plays will include "Ultraman Cosmic Light", "Ultraman Legendary Heroes Return", "Father and Son", and "Ultra Hero Galaxy Fight"— "Smash the Conspiracy" was staged in multiple cities.
On October 9th, "The Return of the Legend of Ultraman Heroes" held in Suqian, the most expensive tickets of 580 yuan and 480 yuan have been sold out in advance.
Although the income of domestic companies through IP authorization and derivatives cannot be counted, Ultraman’s copyright owner and the famous Japanese entertainment company Bandai have disclosed that its 2021 fiscal year (April 1, 2020-March 31, 2021), The total income obtained through Ultraman IP reached 8.6 billion yen, of which the sales income of peripheral derivatives in Japan was 4.9 billion yen.
Bandai expects Ultraman IP revenue to reach 9.5 billion yen in fiscal year 2022 (April 1, 2021-March 31, 2022).
Who does Ultraman work for in its largest overseas market?
Ultraman's ability to attract money is so strong, in China, what form of profit is mainly used, and which companies and capitals are paying attention to Ultraman's IP?
Xinchuanghua:
Annual copyright revenue reaches hundreds of millions
Ultraman accounts for more than half
Ultraman cards popular among elementary school students, stage show tour performances, "Ultraman Series 55th Anniversary Special Commemorative Exhibition", and Ultraman IP co-branded mobile phones...you can see the same company-Shanghai New Chuanghua Cultural Development Co., Ltd. (referred to as Xinchuanghua).
According to its official website, Xinchuanghua claims to be a leader in China's animation IP licensing industry.
In addition to the "Universal Hero Ultraman Series", the IP currently acting as an agent also includes many famous animation IPs such as "Mobile Ultraman", "Detective Conan", "Hatsune Miku", and "Golden Armor Warrior".
According to Southern Weekend reports, through these IPs, Xinchuanghua has an annual revenue of hundreds of millions of yuan, of which Ultraman is the largest source of revenue, accounting for more than half.
Public information shows that in April 2002, Shanghai Century Huachuang Cultural Image Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as SCLA) was formally established, and in 2004 became the exclusive copyright agent of Ultraman in Mainland China.
By 2008, it had won the exclusive copyrights of 16 Ultraman series works in mainland China including "Ultraman Tiga", "Ultraman Dyna", "Ultraman Gaia" and so on.
After obtaining the copyright, SCLA ran wildly along the road of Ultraman copyright authorization and peripheral development, and its commercialization results were remarkable.
According to media reports, in the past few years, SCLA has achieved great commercial results in the authorized fields of audio-visual products, books, clothing, shoes and hats, stationery, toys, food and beverages, daily necessities, sports equipment, and photo color printing. There are more than 2,000 kinds, among which only "Tiga Ultraman" has accumulated more than 30 million books and audio-visual products sold (sets).
According to Xinchuanghua's official website, in September 2014, SCLA established Xinchuanghua in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
Tianyan Check shows that Sun Jian, the legal representative of the company, is also the actual controller of Xinchuanghua, holding 95% of the shares.
Although Xinchuanghua still has SCLA in its external name, Century Huachuang represented by SCLA and Xinchuanghua seem to have no equity relationship and have been cancelled in 2018.
At present, from the official website of Xinchuanghua, it has formed 8 major authorization systems, including commercialization authorization, endorsement and promotion authorization, publishing authorization, space authorization, film and television cooperation, exhibition and event authorization, game authorization, online value-added authorization, etc.
According to industry insiders, in Xinchuanghua’s business, copyright is the core. It is actually a copyright agency: buying copyrights from Japanese copyright owners and then authorizing them in China.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, Xinchuanghua covers all aspects of books, radio dramas, clothing, toys, meet-and-greets, digital products, food and beverages, etc. only on Ultraman's IP authorization.
In order to combat low-cost piracy, Xinchuanghua also authorized Lingdong to produce mid-to-low-end Ultraman toys with a retail price of less than 100 yuan.
Card tour:
The absolute giant of Ultraman cards
Want to be the next Bubble Mart?
There are many derivatives of Ultraman, among them, Ultraman Card is a seemingly inconspicuous but profitable business.
Zhejiang Card Tour is a company that has obtained the original license from Xinchuanghua to produce Ultraman cards.
According to the information from Tianyan Check, Kayou Animation was established on August 7, 2019, with a registered capital of 200 million yuan. The legal representative is Li Qibin, who is also the company's largest shareholder, holding 87% of the shares.
According to Tianyan Check, Kayou is an absolute giant in the Ultraman card field, accounting for more than 90% of the card market.
The reporter also noticed that, whether online or offline, Ultraman's card manufacturers are all occupied by card games.
Several Ultraman card players told reporters that Ultraman cards are similar to blind boxes, with different prices and different craftsmanship.
The higher the price of the "blind box", the more stars and higher the number of cards that can be drawn, and this type of card is also more collectible.
Although the cover of the card game's Ultraman card is printed with "love to learn and reasonable consumption", in fact, using "ultraman card" as the keyword on the Internet, many primary school students will still be searched for stealing money from home to buy cards News.
Not long ago, the low-key card tour received a 6 million investment from Sequoia Capital. Investors close to both sides said that Sequoia's valuation of card tour is at the level of 1 billion US dollars this time, which is expected to make card tour the next bubble. Matt.
In terms of revenue, Kayou has never made it public, but in the eyes of many investors, Kayou can be called the "card version of Bubble Mart". It is reported that its revenue may reach 3 billion yuan last year, and its net profit Up to 1.5 billion yuan.
Holley Technology:
Fusion of Guild Wars Animation and Cartoon Equipment
Complementary cards sold more than 40 million a year
Another Holley Technology, which relies on Ultraman cards, is well known in the market and has a history of 11 years since its establishment.
It is mainly engaged in the design, research and development, production, sales and operation of game entertainment equipment. Although there is not much attention from the outside world, it is already one of the leading enterprises in the domestic commercial game entertainment industry.
The industry believes that the biggest selling point of Holley Technology is related to Ultraman.
Beginning in 2018, Holley Technology launched Ultraman Fusion Guild Wars Animation and Cartoon Equipment.
After that, the sales volume of Ultraman image cards used with equipment increased rapidly.
In 2018-2019, revenues of 11.8135 million yuan and 39.905 million yuan respectively ranked first among all cards. In 2020, it will further increase to 41,680,200 yuan, contributing over 60% of the revenue of animation IP derivative products.
On June 17, 2021, Holley Technology went public with a closing price of 61.50 yuan on the first day, an increase of 333.1%.
As of the close on October 8, the stock price was 52.39 yuan and the market value was 4.547 billion.
The reporter noticed that in many video game cities in Chengdu, there are Ultraman game equipment of Holley Technology. Generally, there are 18 coins and the price ranges from 9-18 yuan. You can get a random Ultraman card. Insert the card into the game device and you can operate the corresponding characters to fight, which is quite popular with children.
A related person in the amusement hall told reporters that Holley Technology mainly purchases Ultraman cards from Bandai, Japan, and then puts card-sale equipment into the domestic amusement hall stores. Consumers buy cards on the equipment and the store earns the price difference.
What else will Altman who "work" face?
1. Piracy, copyright owners continue to fight counterfeiting
The reporter noticed that many pirate merchants have also taken a fancy to Ultraman’s ability to attract money. There are many Ultraman knockoff toys on the market, which are sold under the names of Superman and Variety Superman, and the price is a few yuan each. , Only one-tenth of the genuine price.
In September of this year, the Shanghai police reported that they had uncovered a criminal gang that obtained data through internal and external collusion, purchased genuine products, dismantled molds, and produced and sold fake Ultraman models. More than 5,000 sets of various toy products were seized, with a case value of more than 4 million yuan.
What's interesting is that Ultraman's domestic copyright agent Xinchuanghua has been fighting counterfeiting in recent years.
According to the anti-counterfeiting data released by Xinchuanghua, in 2020 alone, they complained about 20,951 infringing product links, investigated and dealt with 84 counterfeit factories in accordance with the law, arrested 75 criminal suspects, destroyed 38,000 tons of infringing products, and the total amount involved was 25.79 million yuan.
Xinchuanghua not only has zero tolerance for piracy of Ultraman, but also resolutely prosecutes actions that they deem insulting Ultraman's image.
According to the data from Tianyan, Xinchuanghua’s legal litigation is the number one cause of infringement of the information network dissemination rights of works.
At the end of last year, Xinchuanghua took a batch of self-media with Ultraman as the protagonist to court, claiming that the videos released by it relied on "Ultraman" to gain eyeballs and rub traffic, which seriously damaged the "Ultraman" series. The image and reputation of the work.
2. When IP is excessively consumed
Will Ultraman's ability to attract gold decline?
It is worth mentioning that many industry insiders revealed in interviews with reporters that whether it is in Ultraman's hometown of Japan or in China, the influence of Ultraman's film and television dramas is declining.
In 2021, the latest "Telija Ultraman" scored only 5.4 points on Douban, which is the lowest score of all Ultraman series.
Some Japanese audiences said that Altman's plot has not improved much in recent years, and the routine-style story is really boring.
Although the drama's influence is getting weaker and weaker, but in the world of capital, Ultraman has already become that dazzling light.
But what needs to be vigilant is that an excellent IP must be built on the basis of one excellent work after another, otherwise it will be excessive consumption of IP.
So what kind of story will be staged in the Ultraman series in the future, and what kind of light will it present?
Perhaps it remains to be seen.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng