It’s great to have dreams and money.
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “Talk Entertainment” (ID: huayufunds) , Author Hunan pig bloodball, Editor Ruqian. Published with permission.
“FPX Niubi”, “doinb, I want to give you baby pigs”, “Lwx, brother-in-law loves you” …
In the recent “League of Legends” S9 World Championship finals, the Chinese FPX team swept the European G2 by 3: 0 and finally won the S9 World Championship. Domestic players are extremely excited.
According to Esports Charts ’finals data, the number of simultaneous online viewers (excluding the number of spectators in China) on the final day of this year reached over 3.7 million, making it the second highest number of simultaneous viewers in history. Compared with last year’s iG FNC finals, the highest simultaneous online at that time was 2.05 million people, which can be said to have doubled substantially.
Other uncertain data show that during the event, Kuaishou, as a partner of S9, broadcasted live during the whole process, with a total of 72 million viewers. According to the official data released by the fist, the number of independent audiences in the 2018 League of Legends Global Finals reached 99.6 million, while the number of online users peaked at 44 million, and the average minute audience was 19.6 million.
In short, this online game, which has been in China for more than 8 years, is still very hot and attracting money. No, not long after the end of the finals, B will spend a lot of money planning to take the solo rights of the “League of Legends” finals in the next three years into his arms.
On December 3, according to the “Beijing News” report, Station B won the “League of Legends” Global Finals for three years of exclusive live broadcast rights in China for 800 million yuan. Other companies participating in the auction are some domestic live broadcast platforms such as Kuaishou, Douyu, and Huya.
As soon as the news came out, netizens expressed shock: Is it so worth a few games, station B is really rich, station B now has the heart of a giant …
01. Commercial value of “League of Legends” events
Although “League of Legends” is basically at the low end of the game player’s contempt chain, it seems that there has never been a game in the country that has been popular since the public test until now.
Why is League of Legends enduring? In addition to the easy operation of the game, Tencent’s huge user base, high fairness, strong competitiveness, strong promotion, etc., another key reason is the hosting of various events. Including the Chinese LPL League, the Korean League, the American League and the most noticeable S/ span>
As a product created by the main group of young people, in recent years, station B has also become more and more e-sports.
In December 2017, station B established the BLG e-sports club with its League of Legends, Jedi Survival, and Overwatch pioneers; in October 2018, station B confirmed the establishment of an e-sports company, and former battle flag CEO Chen Youyou was appointed President; At the same time, Station B also won the live broadcast and on-demand rights of the 2018 LPL, Global Finals and Intercontinental. In September 2018, Station B also obtained a permanent seat in the OW League.
Although the layout of e-sports is a dangerous step, the current e-sports industry is so popular that the second-dimensional circle and the e-sports circle have a certain audience overlap, which can be said to be a homeopathy.
This time, station B once again bought the three-year solo copyright of the League of Legends Finals. I have to sigh that this second-class student is really rich, but station “rich” is far more than that.
Since the NASDAQ went public in March last year, Station B has begun to expand at a high speed like a giant. In 2018, there were more than a dozen investments and mergers and acquisitions involving Station B. Only two months after its listing, Station B invested in 4 two-dimensional content production companies.
In 2019, Station B invested in 7 companies, including 4 animation companies, 1 social network company, 1 game company, and 1 documentary production and operation company.
Of course, Station B is also leaning against a big tree. Currently, Station B has received a total of 6 investments. The shareholders behind it include Alibaba, Tencent, CMC Capital, Junlian Capital, Chinese Culture, IDG Capital and other well-known institutions.
Not long ago, Station B released the third quarter of 2019: monthly active users reached 128 million, and mobile active monthly users exceeded 100 million for the first time.
The more eye-catching data is the live broadcast service at station B. In the third quarter of this year, non-game business revenue increased by 176% year-on-year to 930 million yuan, accounting for 50% of the total revenue of station B. In the non-gaming business, revenue from live broadcast and value-added services increased by 167% year-on-year to 450 million yuan.
B station said that the live broadcast business has maintained a growth of about 100%. The diversified content categories have attracted the continuous growth of live broadcast viewers, especially in the field of e-sports, which has become more and more popular, and the highest number of concurrent online users who watched the 2019 League of Legends Professional League Global Finals live broadcast has doubled year-on-year.
In the industry’s view, at this time, the League of Legends Global Finals for three years in China was sold at 800 million yuan for the exclusive three-year live broadcast right, which is intended to bring a large number of accurate users to the platform through live broadcast of e-sports events.
But in the field of live broadcast, especially in the field of game live broadcast, standing in front of station B are big men like Douyu and Huya. According to QuestMobile data, as of June 5, 2019, the daily number of bettas was 15 million and that of Huya was 11 million. Of the 92,000 head anchors, Douyu and Huya have 57402.
More disturbing is that according to the third quarter 2019 financial report released by Station B, its revenue for the quarter was 1.86 billion yuan and its net loss was 406 million yuan. In contrast, the net loss for the same period last year was RMB 246.1 million, which was a year-on-year increase.
Along with the massive expansion, the scale of losses also expanded after listing. Despite the stride layout, there is still a long way for Station B to become a true Internet entertainment giant.