The virtual idol led by Luo Tianyi in 2016 has developed by leaps and bounds in China in the past two years.
It can be said that virtual idols can do anything that a real star can do when they appear on shows and endorsements, and they are both youthful and "personal" appearances online.
It makes people "think about it and fear" that virtual idols might steal the jobs of real stars.
Virtual idols are getting more and more capable
At present, my country's virtual idols can be roughly divided into the following categories: broadcasting and hosting, such as Beijing Satellite TV's Shi Xiaoni, Hunan TV's Xiao Yang, Xinhua News Agency's world's first digital astronaut Xiao Zheng and Xin Xiaowei, and CCTV's Yang Xiao. Tianhe Xiaoxiaosa, etc.; cultural and blog categories, such as the first virtual promotion official for cultural blogs in China, "Wen Yaoyao", "Ai Wenwen" launched by the National Museum of China, etc.; singing categories such as Luo Tianyi, Ha Jiang, and the girl group A -SOUL, etc;
In the past two years or more, virtual idols have achieved good results: Luo Tianyi appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and performed the children's song and dance "Listen to Me" with Sister Moon and Wang Yuan; the virtual anchor group of Bilibili website In November 2021, the total income reached 54.66 million yuan, and the number of paying people reached 255,000-among which the number one virtual anchor Jiale, the monthly income was as high as 2.14 million yuan; Microsoft-supported virtual idol Hajiang 2021 In September of this year, he signed a contract with Warner and released the single "MISS WHO", which has won over 10,000 collections in music...
In the field of endorsements, virtual idols also have good results.
Luo Tianyi, who has a huge number of fans, has won the promotion of many brands such as Huawei and Master Kong. In June this year, he became the brand spokesperson of Qingfeng brand; AYAYI, who debuted on May 20, 2021, will soon be with Guerlain, LV, Porsche , Bose headphones and other luxury brands have reached cooperation, and also joined Ali as a beauty delivery anchor; my country's first male virtual person, Chuan CHUAN, has received many well-known brands including Laneige, Utopia, WonderLab, etc. since his debut a year ago. The official cooperation between Lehua and ByteDance, the girl group A-SOUL launched by Lehua and ByteDance has cooperated with KFC, Ele.me, ASUS Tianxuan, L'Oreal Men, KEEP and other brands since their debut. KEEP has created "A-SOUL Exclusive Sports Planet", All 5 members of the girl group have settled in, and they have offered fitness courses on the platform.
In addition to signing virtual idols, some brands have also launched their own virtual people: "Qu Chenxi" launched by Watsons, KFC launched a virtual colonel "Sanders K", and domestic makeup brand Huaxizi launched "Huaxizi", and they all endorsed their own product.
According to statistics from Beijing Youth Daily reporters, since May 2021, at least 20 advertisements have used virtual idols as brand spokespersons, product ambassadors, etc.
According to iiMedia Research, the virtual human industry maintains a steady growth trend. In 2020, the scale of China's virtual idol core industry is 3.46 billion yuan, driving the surrounding market to 64.56 billion yuan; in 2021, it will become 6.22 billion yuan and 107.49 billion yuan; it is expected that In 2025, it will reach 48.06 billion yuan and 640.27 billion yuan respectively.
There are many advantages that no one can match
One of the backgrounds of the rise of virtual people is the uncontrollable risks of real stars as spokespersons. Traffic stars are frequently caught in the whirlpool of scandals, which also greatly damages the image of cooperative brands.
In addition, the rise of virtual idols is also related to the artificial intelligence era jointly spawned by the development of media intelligence technology and the two-dimensional culture of Generation Z.
Wang Fei, associate professor of the School of Journalism of Renmin University of China and director of the Modern Advertising Research Center, told the Beiqing Daily reporter that, on the one hand, the continuous development of intelligent technologies such as media interaction technology and image motion capture technology has continuously improved the production level of virtual idols, and the application of these technologies has gradually increased. Simplification, cost reduction, and widespread application; on the other hand, Generation Z, influenced by the two-dimensional culture, has virtual cultural imagination and virtual symbol interaction experience. They have a unique sense of loneliness, and virtual idols are also a kind of A kind of "reality" - only, this reality is imaginary reality based on culture and emotion.
In addition to avoiding risks and capturing the younger generation, virtual idol endorsements also have obvious advantages.
The first is the cost advantage.
"From the perspective of cost and benefit, in the long run, the production cost of virtual idols is much lower than the celebrity endorsement fee." Teacher Faye Wong believes.
The more virtual idols are used, the lower the cost and the higher the benefits.
The second is the realization advantage.
Virtual idols can edit and create idols according to fans' preferences to realize the perfect fantasy.
As a full-skilled IP, it can sing, dance, perform, live broadcast and bring goods. It is versatile, and can also be implanted in games and co-branded.
"It can be copied, cloned, and can work non-stop." Teacher Faye Wong said.
Virtual idols also have high risk resistance.
Endorsement advertisements were sentenced to violations, and new advertisements were not allowed to be filmed within three years; the starring suddenly "exploded", and more than half of the TV series were forced to stop - similar situations are not uncommon in the entertainment industry.
With the deepening of comprehensive governance in the field of entertainment, the issue of artist risks has received more and more attention.
Aiman Data Company officially launched the "artist risk due diligence" business on August 17 last year. Its founder told the Beiqing Daily reporter that the number of orders received in less than a month after opening was equivalent to the sum of the past three years.
Compared with celebrity endorsements, virtual idols will not age, and will not "collapse". Merchants do not need to "backtrack" the celebrities, and they basically don't have to worry about negative news such as the collapse of the personality and affect the brand image.
Can it replace reality stars?
The development of virtual spokespersons is actually accompanied by many problems and controversies.
The first is that virtual idols also have their own adaptability.
The national style virtual idol Ling_LING promoted GUCCI301 Coral Phantom Lipstick on Xiaohongshu last year, and gave the "moisturizing and not drying, gentle coral tone, a little strawberry feeling, refreshing summer recommendation, suitable for outing today~" Evaluation.
Many netizens feel that they have been fooled, and the experience they say is not credible, and Ling_LING's personality is to love the national style and culture, but promote foreign products.
Furthermore, for Generation Z, the ability of virtual idols to bring goods has yet to be tested.
According to iiMedia Research's "2022-2023 China Virtual Human Industry In-depth Research and Investment Value Analysis Report", most virtual idol fans support the way they interact with the virtual idol's account, and the number of fans who buy peripheral products accounts for a minority.
"The V circle (VTuber circle, that is, virtual anchors, virtual idols) is traditionally quite different from the idol circle." A-SOUL fan Xiaoyu told the Beiqing Daily reporter that their main star chasing mode is Watch live broadcasts and give rewards instead of shopping.
As for virtual idols receiving endorsements, Xiaoyu believes that after the accumulation of fans to a certain extent, it is an inevitable result to accept these businesses. Under the premise of demand, fans may give priority to products with endorsements.
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Virtual idols and real idols are not substitutes for each other
In the view of Wang Fei, associate professor at the School of Journalism, Renmin University of China, virtual idols and real idols are not substitutes for each other. "Virtual idols are a brand-new demand for the new generation, which is completely different from fans' needs for real idols. For fans, virtual idols are A character design that transcends reality, carrying ideals that cannot be realized in the real world. The editability of virtual idols, etc., also makes it a container for various fans' different desires and fantasies. This is the real star The unattainable.” In addition, idols should also adhere to the rules of brand endorsement in the real world when they endorse brands: they must match the “personality” of virtual idols; they must adhere to the principles of authenticity and sincerity, and they must not fool around just because they are virtual people.
Text / Our reporter Zu Wei intern Chen Jingchao
Coordinator/Liu Jianghua