Lei Binyi, founder of Worry-free Media: Why did I choose Liu Qihong?

Zheng Dan, a reporter of this newspaper, reported from Beijing

This April, the whole network blew up a wave of home dancing key dance, accompanied by Jay Chou's early music "Compendium of Materia Medica", Liu Qihong in front of the camera sweated, the rhythm was brisk, clapping his hands and feet to jump into a national fitness coach.

As of April 29, Liu Qihong, who was out of the circle with live fitness, had more than 55 million Douyin fans, setting a record for the highest douyin live broadcast in 2022: the cumulative number of viewers in 30 days reached 390 million, and the highest single game was 52.567 million, which has won the hot search list of the whole platform for 22 consecutive days.

This rare "fire" ignited the public's passion for fitness, and "Liu Qihong Boy" and "Liu Qihong Girl" once became Internet hot words.

"Liu Qihong's fire should be the most out of the circle and a wider range in history." To this extent, the entire short video platform is relatively rare. Lei Binyi, the boss of Liu Qihong and founder of Worry-free Media, told reporters, "I expected Liu Qihong to be on fire, but I didn't expect it to be so hot." ”

At the end of 2021, Liu Qihong signed a contract with Worry-free Media. Founded in 2016, Worry-free Media currently has more than 80,000 anchors on all platforms, belonging to the head MCN (Multi-Channel Network, multi-channel network, generally referring to Internet celebrity brokerage, content intermediary, etc.) agency. It has "big wolf dog Zheng Jianpeng & Yan Zhen couple", "redundant and Mao Maojie", "spicy Dezi" and other head anchors. Undoubtedly, Liu Qihong's explosion further verified Lei Binyi's vision of people.

The following is the conversation between the reporter of China Business Daily and Lei Binyi.

Be sure to sign Liu Ruihong

China Business Daily: How many years have you been working in the MCN field?

Lei Binyi: Worry-free Media was what we did in 2016, but in fact, I have been groping in the Internet video industry for a long time, and I should be regarded as one of the first generation of entrants in the field of Internet video in China.

I was interested in Internet video in college, and in my sophomore year, I did an Internet film and television exchange forum, which was attended by 3 million people, met a netizen on the forum, and founded an Internet company with him. Has done the Internet café film and television update system, Internet TV box and film and television copyright and other businesses, in short, in the field of Internet video, in addition to not writing code, other aspects are basically involved.

The first employees of Worry-Free Media were a few of my netizens. At that time, few people knew about the live broadcasting ecology, so I found people with stronger abilities on various platforms and matched our rhythm concept to join in to grow the company.

At the beginning of the business, our team was small, only a dozen people, and we did not have the ability to sign a particularly excellent anchor, and more or from the beginning of the discovery and training. Wait until the vegetarians can also develop well, and then gradually find better seedlings.

Now our company has more than 2,000 employees and has established a hierarchical system. We now have more celebrities, anchors and artists, with a scale of 80,000 people, and more than 10,000 anchors with monthly active revenue.

This year is the sixth year of the company's establishment, and it has summarized many experiences and lessons to help us make better progress. Now I can say that the core competitiveness of Worry-free Media is the brand influence we have created through professional ability.

China Business Daily: When did Worry-free Media start signing star artists?

Lei Binyi: After the establishment of Worry-free Media in 2016, we decided to do the network of stars. But at that time, I felt that the time was not ripe, and the whole society did not understand the starization and networking of internet celebrities, and many stars did not understand short videos and live broadcasts.

With the passage of time to 2020, many stars have begun to shoot short videos and live streams with goods. But in my opinion, it is still not time, and there is no signing of stars to bring goods. Because I think everyone's mentality has not changed, many celebrities are still accustomed to attending a cargo, fixing how much money to charge, rather than calculating income according to the effect of carrying goods. In fact, the early precipitation is very important, including the first slow increase in powder, they will choose products and then do the goods, the effect will be good.

So in 2020 and 2021, we suspended the star signing program. In fact, in 2019, we signed some celebrities, and we let the stars do short videos on the platform to increase fans. But this thing doesn't mean you can get up as soon as you do it, it takes some process.

There may be some celebrities who are very good at filming, but in terms of network sense after contacting new media, there is still a process of familiarity and adaptation. At that time, I thought a few stars were doing okay, and it didn't take long to rise to 1 million followers. But in comparison, they will still focus on filming or variety shows, and I can understand that filming is their dream. But for us, it will be more embarrassing, because we are very much hoping to do long-term development. I'm not asking celebrities to lose their original business, but I want them to ensure that they can ensure a part of their energy and time, continue to focus on the early stage of new media manufacturing, and then do time allocation discussions after a certain level.

So last year, I felt the time was ripe. The stars were in the new media at that time, some people earned money to develop, and some people stepped on the pit and overturned the car. In this case, basically everyone is not so unfamiliar with this piece. I began to look for some suitable stars, and it was in this context that Liu Ruihong signed a contract with Worry-free Media at the end of 2021.

China Business Daily: What is the process of Liu Qihong signing a contract with Worry-free Media? What was the course you set for him at the beginning?

Lei Binyi: Liu Qihong's signing process was like this, at that time, a friend of Liu Qihong's agent knew that I had the idea of signing a star, so he recommended Liu Qihong to me. I looked at it, the conditions are good, the debut is early, the fitness has been for many years, the husband and wife are loving, the three children are very cute, and overall, it should be the kind of family that most people will envy.

That line, we made an appointment to meet and talk, at that time we were about to meet in the office in Hangzhou, in fact, I was more worried about his time investment problem, I also asked him: "Can you last so long for a live broadcast?" He joked that he was physically strong.

Liu Qihong has experience in carrying goods and his own ideas. Previously, he had cooperated with some companies to bring goods on Taobao, and his ideal was very clear, that is, to spread the concept of fitness and healthy life. He is willing to put in the energy and share his health philosophy and experience.

I thought it was fine and decided to sign him. At the earliest, we set down and recruited people to look at five basic judgment criteria: appearance, emotional intelligence, talent, appeal and character. Basically, there are two or three conforming to the relatively excellent, if the five are in line, it is very excellent, I think Liu Ruihong's appearance, emotional intelligence, talent, appeal and character are very consistent.

We are headquartered in Hangzhou, and Shanghai also has a short video team, so I suggested that Liu Qihong move to Shanghai to settle down, and the team specifically collided with them on how to make short video content, and Liu Qihong also agreed. Later, we sent an e-commerce team from Hangzhou and experienced a process of early exploration and team run-in.

Liu Qihong's initial live broadcast, mainly to do family scenes, was in his home. Because they themselves are a very enviable family, husband and wife love, family harmony, healthy diet, present this life as it is, he is not opposed.

In December 2021, we began to share content from the theme live broadcast of family scenarios, and he also did some volg to record his life. In February this year, after the Spring Festival, we began to live stream the goods. At the same time, he also opened his gymnastics live broadcast room, when Douyin launched the fan base function, we built some fan groups for Liu Qihong in Douyin, so that fans can answer questions in time.

Relevant data show that Liu Qihong's jumping exercise is very popular with users, and the fan base is quickly filled up. So at that time, we made a decision not to rush to bring goods for the time being, and concentrate on doing fitness content.

Originally, during the exploration period, there was no fixed live broadcast time and frequency, and seeing this trend, I directly fixed the time period: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 7:30 pm, Friday and Monday rest, and Saturday at 9:00 am to continue the exercise.

Around March, the background data basically rose at 50,000 to 100,000 people a day. I think this trend is good, each time online with up to tens of thousands of people, including worry-free media also has a lot of employees with Liu Qihong jump exercises. Not long after he was fired, the dance studios of our branches in various places were changed to dancing exercises by employees in Liu Qihong's broadcast time. In some small branches that do not have dance studios, employees use the office area to follow the exercises.

"China Business Daily": Douyin banned broadcast twice, Liu Qihong wore a cotton jacket but went out of the circle, is this the idea that the team thinks?

Lei Binyi: I also learned about wearing a down jacket later when Liu Ruihong was angry, and the team told me that he was blocked because of platform censorship, but the problem has been solved.

In fact, at that time, Liu Qihong was sealed, the team did not know what the reason, the scene hurriedly handed him a down jacket, because he just had a down jacket that had just been washed, hanging on the side, he was going to wear this dress, it was not a deliberately planned move, but it was a coincidence born in a more urgent situation.

Unexpectedly, the data changed a lot after that, and more than 1 million fans rose in almost a day.

Liu Qihong's fire is indeed a thick accumulation process, not to say that wearing a down jacket is suddenly on fire, we can see the data gradually rising in the background. When he signed the contract before, he had 1.35 million fans, up more than 3 million in less than a month, and after the down jacket incident, it rose by more than 1 million.

Fire needs to be good for people at all times

China Business Daily: In terms of video dissemination and fan base, what was your highest expectation for Liu Qihong?

Lei Binyi: Frankly, we didn't set such a goal. In 2017, we put forward a mission: "Let everyone not be hungry on the road to chasing dreams." "But to what extent we can really end up on fire, it's not our decision."

I expected Liu Qihong to be on fire, but I didn't expect it to be so hot. I told the insider before that this person must sign! Liu Ruihong will definitely be able to do it! It is not necessarily the word "fire", because "fire" can be encountered but not sought, and it needs to be favorable at all times and places.

Liu Qihong's fire should indeed be the most out-of-the-loop and wider in our history. To this extent, in the entire short video platform, it is relatively rare. Such a fast speed is indeed a favorable time and place, coupled with his own accumulation of hair. But how to continue to "fire", but also need their own skills and the company's professionalism to calmly face.

"China Business Daily": Previously, Worry-free Media signed a contract with anchors such as "Big Wolf Dog Zheng Jianpeng & Yan Zhen Couple", "Redundant and Mao MaoJie", "Liu Siyao" and other anchors also have different degrees of fire, how does the company team behind this help them check, can you give detailed examples?

Lei Binyi: Taking the Guangdong couple as an example, we signed a Contract with a Guangdong Couple at the end of 2018, and they had 1 million fans when they signed the contract.

In 2019, on the issue of offline and online energy investment, they struggled for three months, and finally decided to focus on online in May 2019, and the next three months rose by 1 million fans, and soon ranked first on the platform on the Douyin commercial advertisement.

At the beginning, the Guangdong couple spent more energy on offline, Zheng Jianpeng himself is a member of the dance troupe, has a certain reputation in Guangzhou, and more income comes from offline performances. Later signed up with Worry-Free Media, I think his talent is suitable for online operations, but they have a hard time making decisions.

When you go a relatively smooth road, it is often difficult for you to choose another uncertain path for yourself. So they were really struggling at that time. At least most of them gave up the stable income and hard work offline at that time and chose another online that looked beautiful but was uncertain.

It was also a coincidence that in 2019, we held a worry-free night in Sanya, he rehearsed on the stage, fell because of the ground slip, and was sent back to Guangzhou for treatment on the same day, lying in a hospital bed for a month. Because of the waist injury, for a long time can no longer do a violent dance performance, Zheng Jianpeng naturally put more energy on the line at this time, wrote a lot of books to collide ideas with the team, immediately after being discharged from the hospital, put all his energy into the line, three months to increase the number of fans tens of millions. So a lot of advertisers came to the door, and they continued to do it.

From the end of 2019 to the first half of 2020, Guangdong couples have been trying to do live streaming with goods, and I think they are suitable. I remember that on August 1, 2020, I asked Zheng Jianpeng to come to Hangzhou to talk. At that time, our team had to fly to Guangzhou to support them, and the efficiency was relatively low. I asked him if he could move to Hangzhou as a family, which was a big decision for him because his wife had never left Guangdong for more than 30 years.

For the sake of the team to be better, they thought about it for half an hour and agreed to move over. So back to Guangdong for almost three days, packed more than 20 boxes of things, the whole family moved to Hangzhou, came over we first arranged to stay in the hotel, directly began to work, the same day to carry out the airport with goods broke 100 million yuan.

When the epidemic broke out in 2020, the Guangdong couple filmed a lot of entertaining content at that time, but it was not suitable for broadcast during the epidemic. This is another difficult time, what to do? They thought of first supporting Wuhan to fight the epidemic and donating materials. At that time, the government was calling for home isolation, so they used their own strengths to tell about home isolation in a non-boring way, but they did not expect that this kind of video played a very good effect, and was also selected by CCTV as a model of home isolation, and that month it rose to more than 10 million people.

We go back and say that the Guangdong couple was a blessing in disguise. But the core is that they themselves are this piece of material, and at the same time, they must make the right choices at the right time. Worry-free media is more about finding this piece of material, whether it can really be done or not, it depends on whether they are willing to invest it. If there is a fire, it really needs to be created by the times.

Fitness for all is a trend

China Business Daily: Regarding Liu Qihong's commercialization, what are your next plans?

Lei Binyi: I look out there and say that we have one price a day, and there is no such thing as it. Frankly, we decided that we needed to commercialize it, but the real price had not yet been set, and now it was just a screening and discussion process.

We have previously counted that Worry-free Media has cooperated with more than 1,000 brands in total. There are more than 100 companies that have taken the initiative to find cooperation for Liu Qihong. But we certainly can't carry so much, and we don't want to be too intensive commercialization, or we will take it slowly.

This is the time when we are discussing planning solutions, doing content, and discussing commercialization. There are many possibilities for monetization, and the path is also step-by-step, including advertising, endorsements, bringing goods, and going on programs. Formally, there is no such thing as focusing on a certain type of monetization.

We don't think about it now just for the sake of monetization. It is more important to do a good job of Liu Qihong's account, so that he can do more full and have better works. Monetization is a thing that comes with it. Like endorsements, advertising, e-commerce and even joint names for cooperation with brands, it is possible to say what form of participation, what depth of participation, and when to do it, these will be more important.

From the very beginning of this line of work, we know very well that we are certainly not going to do that kind of fleeting fire. What we have to do is how to continue to fire, continue to have commercial value, and have better content output, which is what we are more concerned about.

"China Business Daily": After Liu Qihong exploded, did it have a role in enhancing confidence in the company, and brought some inspiration?

Lei Binyi: Definitely helpful. We've been focusing on a new business breakthrough every year or two along our path. Like we did entertainment live broadcasting at the beginning, to do the most head; and then to do the short video section of the master, to do the head; and then focus on live streaming with goods, this year our two priorities are to do the network of stars and knowledge services. This has a lot of confidence in our team.

Inspiration is a further strengthening of our determination to continue to consolidate our internal strength. In 2016, when we did Weibo live broadcasting, we achieved the first platform in half a year. Many people support and recognize us. At that time, I said to the team: "Don't do something that is difficult to live under the prestige." ”

For us, because of good luck to seize the opportunity, this time is more motivating for us to consolidate our internal strength, strengthen internal construction and the improvement of our own team capabilities, including continuing to introduce high-quality talents to progress.

China Business Daily: Do you think online live fitness will be an outlet?

Lei Binyi: Many people ask, is short video live broadcasting an outlet now? Personally, I don't think it's an outlet, it's a trend. The development of short video and live broadcast to today, has reached the status of the new infrastructure of the Internet, everyone can better express themselves through short video and live broadcast, it is also a good interaction, fitness in my opinion is also a trend.

The state has emphasized national fitness for many years, and the Beijing Winter Olympics have ignited everyone's enthusiasm for sports. I see that the short video platform is also promoting positive health and driving national fitness, and this year a lot of fitness content on the platform began to emerge.

Many times, the outlet is not something you can create, but to go with the flow and find the right development opportunities. With the fire of Liu Qihong, it may further boost the boom of national fitness. With the improvement of the public's living standards, I think the national fitness should be a trend, everyone in the focus on work at the same time, will also begin to pay attention to exercise, healthy life.

(Editor: Hao Cheng Proofreader: Yan Jingning)