At present, the number of short video accounts on the whole network has reached 1.55 billion, which even exceeds the total population of China. In this context, it is undoubtedly a huge challenge to stand out through self-media or video production.
Text: Huang Jingyuan
In recent years, the traffic effect of the Internet has continued to be significant. According to the "43rd Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network" released by the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of short video users in China has reached 648 million.
After rapid development and expansion, short video platforms are gradually approaching the market saturation point in terms of user scale, user activity, and industry competition, so they have begun to turn to more subdivided fields for deep cultivation. Among them, online games have become an important development direction of mainstream short video platforms. Since 2018, a number of short video platforms have begun to set up live streaming windows to attract and game streamers in a commercial way. In addition, some short video platforms have actively entered the field of game live broadcasting, and have launched attractive plans such as the "Million Game Creator Support Program".
It's easy to see why short-form video platforms are moving into the game live streaming space. Online games have a huge user base, strong user stickiness, and high monetization potential. According to the video data report released by Xigua Video, as of 2023, the average number of views of short game videos has exceeded 190 million, and the average daily original release volume ranks first in all categories of Xigua Video.
Xu Dawang, a game video maker, has been involved in the field of video production for more than 10 years, and his number of fans on the Bilibili platform has exceeded 3.8 million. As a pioneer in the field of e-sports, Xu Dawang can be said to be the first batch of game content creators who are attached to e-sports. He told the sports business: "I think the current audience, even including myself, has been developed into an aesthetic habit by fast-paced short videos, and it is difficult to calm down to watch long videos, short, flat, fast, and capture the audience's emotions within 5 seconds, this kind of video is the mainstream now." ”
01
In the early days of e-sports, there was a lack of entertainment resources
In this digital age, esports has become a favorite of hundreds of millions of gamers around the world. Among them, League of Legends is undoubtedly a popular esports sport. Nowadays, watching League of Legends match live streams, entertainment videos, etc. has become a daily entertainment for many people. However, it may be easy to ignore that a few years ago, when the Internet was not so developed, gaming entertainment videos were a valuable entertainment resource for gamers to survive.
Back around 2012, with the rise of League of Legends, a large number of new players poured into this world of challenges and opportunities. At that time, live streaming technology was not yet mature, and players lacked channels to intuitively understand game strategies and techniques. As a result, game video makers and streamers have emerged to meet the dual needs of gamers for knowledge and entertainment by creating and sharing videos of all kinds of game-related content.
After graduating from university, Xu Dawang initially worked as a TV presenter, but because of his strong interest in games and his dream of working in the industry, he resolutely resigned from his original job and joined a small game media in Shanghai. Due to the small size of the company, he was able to dabble in a number of jobs, including game commentary. However, he humbly stated that he has no special talent for games, especially in team fights, and it is difficult to cope with commentary tasks, so he is mainly responsible for hosting tasks, such as reading sponsor advertisements.
Talking about why he later started making game videos, Xu Dawang said that it stemmed from his love for games. At first, he started creating as a hobby, but it gradually developed into a career. Regarding whether there is a "money scene" in this industry, Xu Dawang said frankly: "It was not for profit purposes, and I initially started to make game videos only because of my personal love for games. In fact, when we first started in 2012, there was no financial return. At that time, there were no mechanisms such as traffic monetization and creative incentives. However, over time, I was fortunate enough to catch the bonus period of video creation, which allowed me to reap some financial benefits from it. ”
It is worth mentioning that these game entertainment videos also played an important social role at the time. Players meet like-minded people by watching and discussing video content, and this interaction and communication fosters the prosperity and growth of the gaming community.
02
"Teacher Xu Comes to Patrol the Mountains" has been shortlisted for "Asia's Most Popular Online Video"
Whether a program is popular with the audience or not is related to many elements, and most popular programs conform to the requirements of the times, cater to the psychology of the audience, and have high-quality content. Most game enthusiasts like to get a sense of accomplishment from the game.
Among the many game shows, "Mr. Xu Comes to Patrol the Mountains" is a typical successful case, and the reason why it is loved by the audience is not only because of Mr. Xu's unique dubbing style and the funny atmosphere of the show, but also because of his in-depth excavation of the connotation of the game and his accurate grasp of the audience's psychology. It is worth mentioning that "Teacher Xu Comes to Patrol the Mountains" has also been shortlisted for "Asia's Most Popular Online Video".
When King Xu first made videos about "League of Legends", he started with his "Road to the King". At first, the show was not as lively and interesting as it is now, and the show just started to use the way of TV program recording, which was a little boring. So later, Xu Dawang changed to the current mode of video, and in order to increase the funny effect of the show, he used an accelerator to change his voice, and also added funny jokes to the recording, which became a major feature of Mr. Xu's program. King Xu added a layer of cloak to the game, and successfully persevered.
From a rookie maker to many fans today, Xu Dawang said: "On the road of my growth, the most critical factor is undoubtedly persistence. I'm not a one-time video creator, I had been working on game videos for more than three years before the series "Mr. Xu Comes to Patrol the Mountains" became widely popular. I've tried a variety of different video genres, some of which like Attack on Elementary School have gained some popularity. In fact, many of my current fans have been following me since that period and have been with me for more than a decade. Therefore, I believe that perseverance is the most critical factor for me to grow along the way. ”
03
Losing the development dividend, the game video industry is facing a reshuffle
Previously, the education authorities and university websites in many places have announced the "Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on Strictly Checking the Employment Data of 2022 College Graduates". The "Circular" clearly stipulates the statistical indicators for the employment of college graduates. Among the indicators related to the new employment statistics of college graduates, "self-employment" and "freelancing" are particularly eye-catching. In terms of self-employment, the opening of online stores is included in the statistics, and in the case of freelance work, Internet marketers, official account bloggers and e-sports workers are also included.
At the same time, these new employment indicators reflect the current social trend, which is that more and more people want to become streamers or esports UP owners. Tencent once released a report "QQ Big Data Micro Report: The Big Start of the Post-95 Shake Screen Career Choice" shows that nearly sixty percent of the post-95s have expressed their desire to become Internet celebrities. However, although the influencer industry is favored by young people, it is not as glamorous as the outside world sees.
Among them, it is mainly reflected in the difficulty of video production. Xu Dawang said: "At the technical level of video production, the threshold is significantly lower than in the past. This is due to the increase in productivity, which is reflected in the efficiency of editing software, the enrichment of video special effects, and the application of advanced technologies such as AI dubbing and AI scripting. In the past, for example, subtitling required professionals to listen to the content and type it word for word, and then integrate the subtitles into the video. Today, this cumbersome process has been replaced by one-click generation, which greatly improves production efficiency.
However, in the context of video production, the current competitive pressures are far greater than ever. The root cause of this can be boiled down to the word 'volume'. The number of short video accounts on the whole network has reached 1.55 billion, which is even more than the total population of China. In this context, it is undoubtedly a huge challenge to stand out through self-media or video production. ”
At the same time, in recent years, due to the impact of the macro environment and the internal laws of the game market, the growth rate of China's game industry in terms of overall revenue has slowed down significantly. As an important branch of the game industry, the game video industry is also facing a round of deep adjustment and reshuffle.
In terms of subsidy policies, major short video platforms have gradually returned to rationality after experiencing fierce subsidy competition. The number of platforms that use cash as a means to incentivize high-quality content is decreasing, and more platforms are beginning to shift from cash rewards to diversified incentives such as revenue bonuses and traffic distribution.
For example, the Penguin has stopped its "exclusive" logo policy for two years, and the previous high subsidy policy has been removed. Although Penguin has launched the TOP program to nurture quality content creators, the general consensus in the industry is that the reduction of subsidies has become an indisputable fact. Liu Shuopei, commercial director of Tencent Interactive Video, said: "Everyone has a clearer sense of purpose, and they can't live on subsidies. ”
At the same time, he also pointed out the practical dilemma of the gaming video industry, although game vloggers and game live streamers belong to the same gaming circle, it is rare for bloggers to be able to juggle both game video production and live streaming, because both jobs require a lot of energy and time. As a result, most gaming vloggers are not able to enjoy the live streaming bonus.
Xu Dawang said frankly: "In the past period, the video industry has indeed experienced a peak period of profitability, which is the dividend period of the industry. However, the situation has changed significantly. At the moment, only a handful of top video makers are still monetized. From the perspective of revenue structure, in the past, it mainly relied on the revenue of traffic sharing, advertising and e-commerce. However, video traffic is now almost impossible to bring substantial revenue to producers, so the revenue mainly depends on advertising and e-commerce. This change reflects that the video industry's market environment and profit model are undergoing major adjustments and changes. ”
04
Video content is gradually transitioning from gaming to esports
Esports has quickly risen from a marginal niche culture to a mainstream cultural phenomenon today. The booming esports market has not only driven innovation in the gaming industry, but also spawned a series of emerging industries that are closely connected with it, building a huge esports ecosystem.
In this era of esports for all, esports competitions have attracted hundreds of millions of viewers, who follow every action and every game of esports players through online live streaming, social media, and video platforms. This large fan base brings tremendous business value to the esports industry, while also providing unprecedented opportunities for content producers.
The fan economy behind e-sports is becoming increasingly prominent, which is not only the audience's love and support for e-sports players and teams, but also translates into actual economic benefits. Esports-related content producers monetize by producing high-quality content such as live streams, videos, event analysis, and commentary, which attract the attention of a large number of fans. These producers not only earn money through advertising, sponsorships, and paid content, but also develop and sell a series of derivative products through partnerships with esports players, teams, and brands, further expanding the esports value chain.
The positive impact of esports is becoming more apparent, but with it, audiences are becoming more demanding, and producers need to present richer and deeper content. "The audience's tastes will undoubtedly continue to improve, and looking back at the videos I have made in the past, it seems that there are indeed roughnesses," Xu said. But at the time, the content was still enjoyed by a wide audience due to the relatively small number of video makers and limited entertainment options. However, in the current environment, it is clear that this is no longer sufficient for the audience. ”
However, we must recognize that commercialization in the esports space is not as straightforward as in other industries. Video content has extremely high requirements for quality, and its distribution ecology is also special. Whether these content producers can successfully expand their influence and quickly achieve their commercialization goals through such a high-exposure platform as esports still needs to be tested and proven by time.
Note: The pictures used in this article are from Xu Dawang