Going out to sea too early
Editor’s note: This article comes from the tiger sniffing young content public number “Don’t escape “(ID: huxiu4youth) , author: Hu Zhanjia.
On October 30, 2019, a grand Halloween celebration was unfolding in Cairo, Egypt.
On the eve of the ceremony, the fierce guild PK competition attracted 32 famous guilds. Each guild would compete with other guilds on three online anchors to compete for the final championship.
On that night, hundreds of anchors and local singers danced together to witness the birth of the Top5 Guild and Top20 anchors in the Middle East. The 100-gram gold medal was also broadcast live on the online PK Champion.
The push behind this event – MICO’s moments of money are also being seen by everyone. By providing online matching dating functions, and incorporating a variety of pan-entertainment elements such as multi-persons, live broadcasts, short videos, etc., the social platform MIMO, which is the main stranger, was officially launched in February 2014, carrying a wave of live broadcasts into the Middle East. Mysterious country.
In 2016, it was the moment when the live air outlets were violently blown up in China. The obvious signs were reflected in the number. At the peak, the live broadcast company reached two or three thousand. After a fierce “killing”, the industry quickly shuffled. At the same time, the market is also becoming saturated. So a large number of entrepreneurs have turned their eyes overseas, and the international version of TikTok has set off a wave in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia; Cheetah Mobile has brought Live.me into Europe and America; tentacle live broadcast in Indonesia on the game.ly… According to the forward industry According to the statistics of the institute, by 2021, the overseas live broadcast market will exceed 10 billion US dollars.
The Middle East, which has desert camels, oil local tycoons, and the six countries of the Fusui Gulf, has also become the Nuggets “New World” where entrepreneurs are rushing into the air. A wave of “adventurers” hopes to lay a downside in the Middle East.
Going to the Middle East to dig gold
As the first wave of entrepreneurs from the Middle East, Zynga’s former China General Manager Tian Xingzhi and Ouyang Yun, former deputy general manager of Tencent’s strategy department, jointly founded Uplive. After being officially launched in July 2016, it became the first truly true sense. Pushing the pan-entertainment sea company in the Middle East.
The Middle East includes 17 countries and regions. In terms of geographical division, one is a poor area like Egypt and Algeria. Of course, for the live broadcast platform of Uplive, more important are Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. The wealthy areas of the six countries. In addition to being a gathering place for the rich, in the Middle East, Internet penetrationThe rate is over 90%, and the 4G network is basically covered.
“Live is the product of 4G.” Jiang Yubo, head of MICO marketing, said. In his view, Internet companies must meet two foundations in order to make money. The first is the network, and the second is the maturity of payment-related systems. “In terms of these two aspects, the Middle East has a lot of blue oceans and opportunities.”
“Their market is too backward, there is no product in the local.” When talking about the status of entering the Middle East, Tian Xingzhi told the tiger to sniff.
The strict religious system makes the social media in the Middle East boring and extremely depressed; the entertainment industry is not developed. On weekdays, a group of people sitting together to smoke a hookah and talking all night is the norm.
In Jiang Yubo’s description, influenced by cultural customs, Saudi Arabia has a lack of entertainment venues such as KTV, and local women do not even have the right to sing. The desire to know people and want to socialize naturally cannot be met.
Middle Eastern social networking rankings, European and American social products have already occupied a place, the most popular is Facebook, Saudi Arabia is the second largest country in the world of Snapchat users, video sharing site YouTube average user viewing rate is also far ahead. “But these products are not well localized.” Jiang Yubo said.
So in the cracks left by the giants, Chinese entrepreneurs struggled to leave footprints in the blanks and look for opportunities to become unicorns in one fell swoop. But not everyone can find the stars in the sea on this journey.
In the early days, I mainly worked as a stranger in the Middle East. I hope to realize the realization of MICO through advertising. It is called “Overseas version of Momo”. “The ambition is very big. I believe everyone will advertise. The result is not too many people. Interest.” Jiang Yubo said. The unclear business model and the miscalculation of the market made MICO’s early development in the Middle East not smooth.
Until early 2017, merged with Kitty Live, a live broadcast application, and integrated into a pan-entertainment module such as live broadcast and short video. After the transformation of “social + live broadcast”, the situation of MICO improved. In May 2018, it also ushered in large-scale profit. It is understood that at present, MICO has 80 million users in the Middle East. “From May last year to now, the monthly revenue is about 10 million US dollars.”
The entrepreneurs who understand the human nature have tried their best to find their own way in the Middle East and rise rapidly. In addition to the Middle East, Uplive’s business covers most countries and regions in the global live broadcast market, with 14 offices abroad, mainly operating in Greater China, East Asia, Southeast Asia, North Africa and India. “Our core model is to operate the social model of China’s running through the world.” Tian Xingzhi said.
When the platform side enjoys the sense of accomplishment of taking profits, it is alsoThe local people in the Middle East have created a spiritual utopia.
The Saudi tyrants smashed the Egyptian female anchors, and finally married the couple; the Moroccan widow solved the family poverty through live performances; the master graduates’ live rewards can be compared with the local universities… With the Chinese entrepreneurs constantly rushing Into the poor Egypt and the rich Saudi Arabia; the tyrants of the local tyrants and the glamorous youth anchors completed a field-crossing stride, staged an amazing myth of making rich.
A local business
“We have activities every month, and the global anchors are together on our platform PK.” Tian Xingzhi told the tiger to sniff.
The PK method is for 24 hours without interruption. Each person has a 30-minute schedule. After the normal program ends, the party with the highest reward will win. Of course, the area with the largest amount of money behind the rewards is the Middle East.
The Middle East is the first place to enter Uplive. At the peak, the anchors on the platform in the region can get hundreds of thousands or even millions of RMB in bounty in one month. The head anchor is even more.
“Humanity is like this, there is competition for money.” MICO market leader Jiang Yubo told the tiger to sniff.
MICO’s social live application Kitty Live, through the PK reward for the Miss Kitty event election campaign, has been going on for many years, the anchor on the platform, with the amount of rewards to decide the winner. In addition to being able to prove the popularity of the anchor, the event is also a key moment for local tyrants to demonstrate their strength.
“The Middle East is basically a live broadcast, although everyone likes a different style. But the anchors that are popular with local tyrants are mostly high-value, talented, interactive, and interesting. Friends. Many users with a wide range of circles will naturally become popular anchors.” Lao Huang, head of the MICO Middle East business, told Tiger.
Lao Huang, who came to the Middle East at the end of 2007, initially started his own international trade. In 2017, he joined MICO and became the head of MICO Middle East.
According to Lao Huang, the Middle East contains people from different countries, and they all have a strong sense of national honor. Every time the platform hosts different national anchor PK events, users will try their best to vote for their country’s anchor. In order to win the favorite anchor, the local tyrants will do their best.
The online payment that has been very popular in China is relatively backward in the Middle East. In order not to delay the reward for the anchor, local tyrants often drive a bag of cash to solve the problem of recharge and payment. “This may not be imagined in China.” Lao Huang said, “When we pay, we also use sacks to carry cash. For safety, some people even use guns to get paid.”
And the reason why the locals are so crazy, in a sense, the anchor hasIt bears the emotional sustenance of the local tyrants.
“At the beginning of the performance of special effects, Lamborghini is already a very good special effect, but the local tyrants do not look.” Jiang Yubo said.
Tian Xingzhi also has a deep understanding of this. In order to meet local needs, the most expensive gift on their platform is diamonds. The degree of exquisiteness and pricing are unmatched by other platforms. 10 diamonds are 80,000 RMB. According to him, this is specially requested by the Middle Eastern people. “They want to give them.”
When the interested anchor touches you at some point, you will definitely pay some money. Some women in the Middle East have even relied on live broadcasts to get rid of poverty. Some head anchors have received millions of dollars through the PK Festival. While some big local tyrants gave their anchors a reward, the two sides also gave birth to feelings and flew to the city where the other party was located, and the feelings rushed.
“Our platform launched a related activity for the big rewards, but the Saudi local tyrant who got the prizes, did not want to transfer the prizes to the Egyptian anchor.” Jiang Yubo said.
In addition to watching the anchor on the platform, the local tyrants will also broadcast live, and will be happy to introduce their friends to the platform, and reward each other. According to Lao Huang, users in the Middle East can easily make a squabble with others on the Internet. In order to resolve conflicts and appease the emotions of both parties, it is common for customers to chat for hours.
Undoubtedly, the main profit depends on the platform of the reward, with the local tyrants, the revenue has also had a good increase, naturally will be happy with the local tyrants to maintain good relations, such as regular visits to them.
“Stunned, I didn’t expect it to be so rich.” MICO staff said that when she first visited the Saudi underground garage, she was shocked by the scene, and the rows of luxury cars were neatly arranged. The code is in the garage, “the moment is refreshing your own perception.”
And these rewarding big ones show off their wealth, vanity, and the pursuit of honor. The psychology is also being used by the platform. Everyone harvests them and takes them.
The old Huang who has been in the Middle East for decades can be regarded as a half-local. He has full control and understanding of this market in the Middle East and the customs and customs here. In his view, he is taking the line for the locals. At the same time of entertainment, it is equally important to continue to eat dividends, do local management, and find out the local operational logic.
Middle East Country Survival Rule
“Language is not the hardest.” Lao Huang said.
The Middle East is far from China in terms of culture, national conditions, laws and regulations. How to fully understand the habits and preferences of users in the Middle East is a key step in localization operations.
MICO has about 50 people in the Middle East, mainly locals, managed by Lao Huang. In order to truly integrate into the Middle East culture, he often listens to suggestions from local employees.
In 2017, the live broadcast industry in the Middle East is in a primary ecology, and the anchor and trade union systems are not successful.Cooked, Lao Huang handed over the job of finding the anchor to the locals, and has a dedicated staff responsible for the anchor operation to help the anchor grow. Every time a major PK event is held on the platform, if the event ends at 12 am, the staff should also stare at 12:30 or 12:00.
Of course, regular symposiums with product technology are indispensable. “Which products are not local enough” are the most frequently mentioned words at the meeting; in order to integrate into the local culture, they will also be charitable in the Middle East. Send meat to the tramp on the street.
In Lao Huang’s view, localization is a continuous process and a work that has been promoted.
“Difficult, of course it is difficult.” When talking about localization issues, Tian Xingzhi kept feeling.
There are not many companies that can do live broadcasts around the world. In recent years, the number has not exceeded 20, and they have successfully gone to sea and can earn money to support themselves. Currently, there are no more than five. “Even now, the market is not mature, we are still in the education market.”
Overseas operations require time to settle, and laws, regulations, religious taboos, customs, supervision, and public opinion may all become constraints to live development. The Middle East is mainly concerned with Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The multi-ethnic convergence has made great differences in the culture of the Middle East. Different countries and regions have different problems, which poses great challenges to the platform.
In other words, any company wants to go out to sea, and some pits have to jump.
In Saudi Arabia, girls can’t show their faces; the anchor does not rule out the danger of being harassed during the live broadcast; because of the different customs, users and anchors have conflicts and other issues that will occur. In addition to going to appease and deal with, the platform itself will adjust the product.
Uplive has a complete process of video recognition + manual recognition and punishment system; video surveillance in the background, using the yellow identification technology to identify non-compliant and illegal audio and video, can quickly close within 5 seconds Stop the live broadcast; in addition, there are network police patrols, manual identification of bad content and after-the-fact accountability. The punishment methods mainly include three types: banned, phased down account, and permanent shutdown account.
In Uplive’s live room, smoking, drinking, and swearing are not allowed; it is not allowed to leave the live room for too long; no politics can be discussed; of course, in order to prevent pornographic reporting, the machine also scans the anchors that reveal the chest. “We must be the strictest in the management, and there is no risk.” Tian Xingzhi repeatedly stressed.
“There is no embarrassment, you can only understand the customs of overseas, and do a good job of controlling the content.” Tian Xingzhi knows the importance of strengthening the monitoring of content, in addition to controlling the content, recruiting and managing the platform. The anchor is also crucial.
Uplive currently employs more than 200 people overseas, mostly based on locals. According to Tian Xingzhi, in the same size Internet companies, they have the largest number of overseas. The main job of these natives isLooking for anchors, Facebook, Instagram, model companies, performing arts companies are their channels, find anchors, teach, train, and sign.
At present, on the Uplive platform, the global contracted anchor is 100,000, and the number of anchors launched every month has exceeded 1 million. The entire volume and installation volume of the live broadcast is already in the first echelon in the industry.
Overseas live broadcast, just as “juvenile”
“Live is overseas, and it belongs to a young market.” Tian Xingzhi said.
From the historical process of Chinese products going to sea, it is mainly divided into four different stages. The earliest batches went out to be tool-based products such as 3G portals and anti-virus software; the second stage was e-commerce and game industry; the third stage was smart hardware products such as smartphone manufacturers; the fourth stage was the live broadcast of content-based Short video, pan-entertainment products.
With the policy orientation of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese entrepreneurs follow the footsteps of Silk Road and spread Chinese culture and product lines to the sinking markets overseas. Equipped with the policy Dongfeng, the first wave of live broadcast products, caught up with the opportunity that only 10 to 20 years. According to the data of Tencent Research Institute, there are 12 hotspot countries along the Belt and Road, and there is no shortage of live broadcast platforms. In the regional distribution of the live broadcast platform, the area affiliated with the “Belt and Road” countries reached 69.82%.
In Tian Xingzhi’s view, going to sea is a big market that needs to be continuously cultivated. But he said that there is also a kind of cognition that has already formed in the hearts of the Middle East: Chinese people go to the sea to be barbarians to dig gold.
“Some entrepreneurs in China are too rude and too purposeful. They go out to sea like bulldozers. The first step to entering overseas is to think about harvesting, rather than providing long-term value. It is true that the Chinese are capable of nuggets, but It is also necessary to understand the local area, and the products that have been savagely expanded to complete the harvest are destined to have a long-lasting vitality in the overseas market.” In the opinion of Tian Xingzhi, it is because of this that it has led to the production of many products in the past two or three years. frame.
Of course, the timing of the trip is also very important.
Some companies choose to go out from the beginning of the establishment; some companies develop to a certain stage to go to sea; some companies go to the sea after they have peaked, and the things considered at different stages are also different. But one thing is certain. If the business is very mature and then go to sea, the bottom is basically a failure. The falsification of WeChat and the defeat of the fast hand can be used as evidence.
What companies can achieve long-term development when they go out to sea? Tian Xingzhi’s answer is a multi-regional layout. “A lot of companies that broadcast live to the sea this year, the business is only developed in a single region, or only in the Middle East, or only in India, while the comprehensive income is reduced, but also increases the risk of development.”
A fact that cannot be ignored. In the world, except for China and the United States, other single-zone income plates are limited and cannot support a company to become a unicorn. “In the Middle East, it will also achieve a valuation of up to 200 million US dollars.. “This means that for overseas entrepreneurs, it must be operated in multiple regions, and comprehensive income is likely to win.”
There are Muslims in the Middle East; the anchors of India and Vietnam are welcomed by many countries, and the mobility of the population has also increased the weight of victory for multi-regional layout.
It is understood that Uplive and MICO are among the few companies that have achieved global coverage in the past four years. Payments and mobile phone bonuses also provide convenience for Chinese social entertainment products in overseas markets.
From the current situation, the next five to ten years will still be the dividend period for Chinese companies to go out to sea. Of course, the difficulty will be greater and greater.
As more and more companies go overseas, competition is gradually becoming hot, and industry reshuffle is an inevitable event. By then, a group of people who have harvested early dividends will probably have an absolute say.
Just like Zhang Ailing’s famous name, it’s too early to go out to sea.
编 | 云晞@出海
Picture|Pexels
