The business of metaphysics has always been regarded as a model that is difficult to be elegant in both the commercial field and the social class.
Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “Koi Finance” (ID: jinlifin) , Author: Koi content group.
The frightened 2020 is about to pass in the blink of an eye. The gray memory of the beginning of the year is lingering in everyone’s mind, but we always have to take the old joys and sorrows to the next journey again. Perhaps it is because more and more people want to find psychological comfort in the ups and downs, and the metaphysical intentions who once wandered on the edge of the law gradually became popular.
Chinese people have always sought spiritual sustenance in metaphysics. It is reported that China has a population of about 1.4 billion, and the target users aged 16 to 50 account for about 45%, of which about 16% are paying users. Their average annual minimum consumption for fortune-telling is 1,000 yuan. In total, the metaphysics industry is over 100 billion. market. According to Pencil Road. As of September 2018, there have been dozens of metaphysics-related entrepreneurships The project received financing ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions.
In Douban searched for “divination” and “fortune-telling”. More than 60,000 posts were hit. There were more than 400 groups related to fortune-telling, and the group with the most people reached 380,000. People, especially many leading Internet companies, believe in Feng Shui.
More unexpectedly, in 2012, a Singapore Feng Shui company went public in London; in recent years, the Japanese fortune-telling website appallas has developed rapidly. It is reported that as early as 2008, the monthly paid registered users of the website increased by 21% year-on-year.
However, “Zibuyu is a strange force, it’s undeniable that metaphysics is a business, Whether in the business field or in the human relations class, it has always been regarded as a model that is difficult to climb.
“Imported Metaphysics” rescues Eastern masters
In November 2018, the metaphysical self-media “Shen Gun Ju”, which once received tens of millions of financing, published an article about Wangjing SOHO from the perspective of Feng Shui. Coinciding with the unfavorable years of Wangjing, the familiar station A, Xiaolan Bicycle, Uber China, Touch Technology, and Wang Sicong’s pandas have been broken here.
At this time, the Shencun Bureau made a big fuss about Feng Shui, which undoubtedly hit Pan Shiyi’s most sensitive pain point. After that, Pan Shiyi filed a lawsuit with the court, and the fascinating Shencun game in the metaphysics track fell. Although Pan Shiyi once regarded Feng Shui theory as a criterion, his opposition to the court of Shencun Ju once again confirmed the fate of metaphysics in the market: it can only live in secret but not grow out.
Unlikely, the previous Weibo account “Kanxiang Zen Master” was suddenly blocked during its heyday. It is reported that the account provided fans with a series of services such as consulting fortune-telling, selling Buddhist beads, posting spells, and live broadcasts of religious ceremonies. 50 million.
Under the guise of mystical metaphysics, reaping the “IQ tax” recklessly, the ending of these so-called “masters” does not seem to be surprising. But even so, we have to admit that the huge dividends of the metaphysical students can still attract more and more entrants.
But these entrants, on the one hand, have to put on their own business a cloak of mystery, on the other hand, they must always beware of falling into the forbidden abyss. Therefore, the mysterious Western “power” that can cleverly avoid minefields without losing the metaphysical hat quickly became the sweet pastry in the eyes of masters.
The most common Tarot card and constellation as an example. According to legend, “Tarot” can be traced back to ancient Egypt. It gradually developed in the form of “cards” in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was introduced to my country during the Qing Dynasty. “Tarot” is a transliterated word meaning “nature’s mysterious library”. “.
Nowadays, this kind of imported metaphysics has gradually taken a place in our country, and the limelight has even surpassed the local traditions. It is worth mentioning that the Internet market, which traditional metaphysics has always wanted to touch, but is afraid to touch, is also easily opened up by this mysterious “power”.
It is reported that at station B, the views of Tarot and constellation related videos exceeded 15 million, with 200 million views; the total number of videos on the Douyin topic “Tarot Test” exceeded 1.9 billion; < a class="project-link" data-id="1923" data-name="小红书" data-logo="https://img.36krcdn.com/20200729/v2_ab1e6e140c534b69b811c7385b668107_img_000" data-refer-type=" 2" href="https://36kr.com/projectDetails/1923" target="_blank">Little Red Book alsoNo exception, the popularity of related notes remains high, with a total number of more than 330,000, and a series of about 4,700 items; on Taobao, a set of Weite suits is 252 yuan, with monthly sales of 1,000+.
Previously, there have been reports that the domestic Tarot divination business has been modeled, whether it is an e-commerce platform or a social platform, the homepage of the “Tarot” studio is impressively hung up, and businesses with clearly marked prices are everywhere. Online tarot teachers earn 20,000 yuan a month easily. Paid tarot card courses are offered on Weibo, and recruitment information for trainees is also common.
In 2018, 360 Mobile Assistant also launched the “Constellation Tarot Card Predicting Your Annual Chinese Characters” function in the “Shining” APP annual list.
In fact, it is not difficult to see that if the metaphysical mind is combined with the Internet, it is obviously a fantasy to rely solely on feng shui fortune telling to read palmistry, especially when the market is blocked by the red line of the law, the tarot cards and constellations are at a certain level The above has opened the way for many Eastern “masters”.
As each head account is banned, I don’t know how many masters are waiting for this “mysterious Western power” to rescue. Although all are metaphysics, business in the West is obviously much better than in the East.
“Koi”, “Water retrograde”, “European gas”… New Classics of Internet Metaphysics
Why can Tarot cards and constellations easily roam the Internet market? This is not because “foreign moons must be rounder than China.” In fact, in the final analysis, Tarot cards and constellations have natural network genes. In recent years, with the rise of young consumer power, various niche cultural circles have spawned many potential markets, such as “Hanfu”, “Blind Box”, and “Lolita” are the number one beneficiaries of niche culture .
Tarot and constellations are no exception. In particular, the constellation, as the leader of the ancient “non-mainstream” culture, has gained a large number of loyal fans as early as the millennium. Even today, the activity of constellation lovers cannot be underestimated.
According to the survey findings, in Baidu Tieba, “Zodiac Bar” has 1.32 million followers. Small bars with the same attributes, such as “Zodiac Bar” , “Zodiac Story”, “Horoscope” and so on, the highest number of followers is more than 400,000.
Having a unique network advantage and a huge fan base, this is the key reason why the Xuan student intends to excel in the Internet market.
In our cognition, the majority of people who are willing to pay for metaphysics are middle-aged and elderly people, but this does not seem to be the case. A domestic constellation Internet company has made statistics, and the users of its horoscope app are mainly aged from 19 to 23 years old, with the youngest being 18 years old and the oldest being 45 years old.
Previously, the Zhouyi service platform “Gaorenhui” has publicly stated that China has a population of about 1.4 billion, and the target users aged 16-50 account for about 45%, of which about 16% are paying users. They have the lowest average annual fortune-telling. The consumption is 1,000 yuan. In 2019, the “Science Literacy Survey of Chinese Citizens” showed that the population without scientific literacy accounted for more than 91% of the total population. In other words, the younger generation has unknowingly become the main force of metaphysical consumption.
However, the daily metaphysics of young people is obviously different from that of middle-aged and old people. They are not keen on palmistry, fortune-telling, burning incense and worshiping Buddha. More often, they regard social platforms as “worship”, and “koi forwarding” can be seen everywhere. “Water Retreat”, “European Gas Spray”…
Since 2013, after the first “koi transfer” on Weibo became popular, “Worship Koi” has become the mainstream of new metaphysics on the Internet. Up to now, the topic of koi transfer on Weibo has been read in the hundreds of millions. The top V “Koi Koi King” sits on 21.58 million and has two Taobao stores.
In fact, there are many accounts that forward koi on Weibo. Checking their Weibo, in addition to monetizing advertisements, metropolis will open their own Taobao stores, diverting traffic from the platform to the store, and selling various transshipment accessories. In Kaishou, there is a short video team that specially publishes transfer videos, and the comment area is all about “getting rich, thin and beautiful” and “Every exam “Must pass” and “Get off the order as soon as possible”, it can be called a large-scale wishing scene.
The first Koi video released by Kuaishou Koi “Hu Yidian” has received 30.13 million views, 2 million+ likes, and 90,000+ comments.
Traffic comes at your fingertips, and cash is just around the corner.
It can be seen that whether it is Feng Shui fortune-telling, Tarot constellation, or Koi transfer, in fact, there has never been more than one metaphysical idea on the Internet.
The calculated beginning VS the uncalculated ending
An interesting phenomenon is that metaphysics can not only become the spiritual sustenance for ordinary people to get out of the promotion examination, but also be regarded as a standard by countless speculators. It can be used by Internet companies to bless servers, and it can also have a certain amount in the venture capital circle. The right to speak.
Previously, Tang Shaoqi, the founder of Lanshan Venture Capital, determined the investment plan only by looking at the founder’s character without meeting or investigating the project; Chen Weixing chose to give up investing in the blockchain because of his own character. More interestingly, in January last year, CLSA released the “Feng Shui Index Report” to remind investors to remain vigilant.
It is reported that last year was the 25th time that CITIC CLSA released the “CITIC CLSA Feng Shui Index”. The Feng Shui Index was first published in 1992. It was temporarily suspended from 2006 to 2008 and resumed in 2009.
However, the metaphysics that has flourished in the venture capital circle cannot predict their own destiny. When Shen Gun Ju was banned, many people ridiculed it, “It can be calculated that Wangjing’s Feng Shui is not good, but it can’t be counted that they are facing a tragic ending of being titled!” But in fact, Shen Gun Ju was prepared before publishing the article. , Fans are transferred on a large scale to prepare for a comeback in the future.
Of course, this “preemptive strike” move in the magic stick game is definitely not an unpredictable move. In fact, this self-protection consciousness also proves that the metaphysical student intends to be on thin ice in the market at all times. It is worth noting that the survival crisis does not only come from whether you are facing the doom of being banned, but more often, there are industry chaos, user conversion, realizing and skipping orders, etc., no matter what, if you don’t pay attention, you will suffer heavy losses. .
At present, there are basically three profit models in the metaphysics industry: “advertising + e-commerce + value-added services”. This model undoubtedly requires extremely high user conversion rates, but according to understanding, user conversion has always been an industry The biggest pain point. Taking the online Zhouyi platform “Yibeixuan” as an example, it is reported that its user conversion rate is still less than 25% after three years of launch.
Therefore, there is a very crazy trend in metaphysics nowWhen everyone is in danger, everyone is working hard to transform. What is worth mentioning is that they embarked on the same path by coincidence.
After being banned, the Shengun Bureau gradually began to embark on the road of “knowledge payment”; Yibeixuan established the medical garden and Yixueguan offline; the first domestic fortune-telling company to set foot on the Internet Smart Culture, plans to unite with traditional cultural big IP, together with Chuangfang develops.
There are various signs that the master does not want to be a “master” anymore. Perhaps in the near future, we will be able to see the metaphysical students trying their best to remove the metaphysical coat and slowly put on a “cultural shirt”. This is probably “Not crazy, not live”.