The title picture is from Oriental IC, this article is from WeChat public account: Internet and Entertainment Strange Team (ID: TMTphantom) , author: Pei Pei, high-Bowen, coke fir
Station B, full name “Bilibili Bilibili”, nickname “Little Break Station”. When it comes to station B, what do you think of? 2D, Generation Z, VLOG, Barrage, Second Creation, Ghosts? Chicken you are too beautiful, big bowl of wide noodles, prime minister vs. Stuart, anger of the head, wheat yield of eighteen acres, seal you as Count Glamorgan? The community atmosphere is excellent, but is commercialization more Buddhist?
Yes, the commercialization of station B seems to be more “Buddhist,” but its community atmosphere is completely speechless. Whether you are a UP host or a passerby like me, you should admit: Among all domestic mainstream content communities, the community atmosphere of station B is the best, the friendliest, and the healthiest. There is no one.
We can make a hypothesis: Even if station B loses a lot of high-quality content copyrights, the game distribution business encounters bottlenecks, there is no progress in advertising and e-commerce, and there is no big breakthrough in content creation, as long as a good community atmosphere exists, It will continue to fire. Many people want to copy the myth of station B, but you must first copy the community atmosphere of station B-unfortunately, this cannot be copied. So there will be no substitutes or natural enemies at station B.
(Does the homepage of station B change significantly in 2011 and 2019?)
The number of users on Site B is already large, widely distributed, and growing rapidly
On the second quarter of the 2019 conference call, the management of Site B proposed an ambitious plan to further expand the user base. Investors are dubious: Site B does not intend to cancel the answering mechanism, nor does it intend to use a payment instead of answering questions, nor does it intend to become a “big and all” video platform like iQiyi and Tencent Video; how does it intend to expand users? The facts speak louder than words: in the third quarter of 2019, the MAU of station B reached 128 million, a year-on-year growth rate of 38.0%! With such a large base, such a rapid growth rate is really admirable. There is no web drama based on stars, and there is not a lot of marketing promotion bonuses. Why can the MAU of station B still increase steadily?
One of the reasons: the user stickiness of station B is very high, and the regular member (users who have answered questions) has a retention rate of 80% in December the above. The threshold for integration into station B may be high, but once you are integrated, you do not want to leave. Incidentally, the overall retention rate of station B is not low.
Second reason: The eruption of native PUGC video content and the high-quality content promote the incremental effects of users in terms of breadth and depth. From 2017 to 2018, the number of contributions from station B blew up, especially the game video partition and the living video partition.
At the tenth anniversary meeting on June 26, 2019, the company announced that the newly established business Vlog community has 460,000 UP masters, with 1.45 million contributions and 3.3 billion cumulative playbacks. In terms of game video, station B has more than 1.8 million UP main creative game videos, with more than 21 million game videos and 60.1 billion playbacks. In 2018, PUGC video playback accounted for 89% of total playback, an increase of 3.5pct year-on-year. The diversity of the submission and playback volume of station B is also increasing, which also shows that the user group is becoming more diversified and popular, and the future user incremental space has potential from the perspective of horizontal type expansion.
(MAU trend at station B, all on the left and mobile on the right)
So, what kind of people are the users of station B?
First, analyze from a data perspective. According to the data we monitored in June 2019 (Note: non-company official disclosure data) , male users at station B accounted for 51.6%, male to female ratio Basically balanced; in contrast, the three major video platforms are all female-dominated.
From the perspective of age, 43.3% of users in station B are under 24 years old, and 33.9% of those in 25 to 30 years old; from January 2018 to June 2019, a significant proportion of users are 25-30 years old Promotion. We often say that station B is a community of generation Z. The road of continued growth of station B is to conduct a comprehensive “raiders” not only in the post-95s and post-00s crowds, but also in the post-90s or higher age groups. Keep working.
In the short term, people in the post-90s or higher age group have greater spending power, which gives station B the commercial space now; post-00 and post-05 are more important for the continued operation of station B. Although they At this stage, there may not be a strong consumption ability, but after going through adolescence and falling in love with station B, the interest is likely to continue, and it will be the main consumption force after 5 to 10 years.
(Gender and age portraits of users at station B, data from our monitoring estimates)
Why is the user base of station B more and more diverse, and they can still coexist in harmony? Because whether it is a two-dimensional culture or the content culture that other young people love, it is inseparable from the user.Value orientation for entertainment content. The content value orientation of B station users can be described by “three extremes”: extreme tolerance, extreme harshness, and extreme loyalty.
Extreme tolerance, that is, users can accept works with low production costs, no stars, and no big IP, whether PUGC or regular film and television dramas. They will talk about the “picture of poverty” and “the result of lack of budget” in the barrage, but as long as the content is new and sincere, they will support it.
Extremely harsh, that is, content creators must not have a “conscience”, they can’t make up counts, and they can’t arbitrarily pretend to be false. For example, the user of station B spoofed a traffic star, not because he was hostile to him, but that he really did not play basketball and had to set up a basketball flag, “the dish is the original sin.”
Extreme loyalty means that under extreme tolerance and harsh conditions, if the demand is met, users will use extreme loyalty and love to give feedback. They are very willing to be “tap water” to actively “Amway” to spread and pay material In return. Young people in the new generation share a lot in common. “Conscience” and “original” are placed in high places by young people. They are more and more recognized for their passion and hard work, and their pursuit of details is becoming stricter. Whether it is a well-produced animation work or a PUG video of the UP autobiography, even the funny videos of the ghost animal area or the living area, the UP master needs to put in his thoughts and efforts. Quality original content is increasingly appreciated and respected. People’s choice of respecting each other based on the same value orientation for content allows users to coexist.
(Content value orientation of B-site users: three extremes)
So, you will find that compared to other content platforms, Station B is a “magic pure land”: Here, the market for swiping lists and fake traffic is small; those who have no “odorous powder circle” are entertaining themselves Music; you may have a hard time getting fans, but one fan top ten fans elsewhere; users really plan for their favorite content. How did all this take shape and persist? This involves community operationsThe core issue of the camp.
How did the community atmosphere at station B develop? Self-discipline is a core advantage
When talking about the community operation of station B, most people will first think of the “answering mechanism”: formal members of station B have privileges over barrage, comment, and submission compared with ordinary members. Formal members can use invitation codes and answer questions. Format, in which the answer needs to reach the passing level within 2 hours. The design of the question type includes community norm questions mainly involving barrage comment etiquette, and choose 3 to 8 subjects from games, film and television, technology, animation, art, popular frontline and ghost animal division Answer your choices. Although the answers to most of the test questions can be found on Baidu, it takes at least half an hour to complete the full set of test papers. Moreover, with the accumulation of qualifications, the level of regular members will continue to rise, and senior regular members can even sell for a good price on Taobao.
Why does station B have to set such a high barrier to entry, and it has not yet been cancelled? This seems to contradict the Internet industry’s style of “holding high, playing horses for enclosures.” The three major video platforms will not set up such an answering mechanism, nor will Weibo; it is known that the invitation system was established in the early years, and then cancelled. The purpose of setting up an answering mechanism at station B is simple: at least to ensure that those who speak at station B really want to be part of the community to express themselves. B station certainly wants user growth, but more wants “valuable and tonal” user growth.
The existence of members ‘entry barriers ensures the quality of the interactive content of station B and promotes the enthusiasm of members’ interaction. As we all know, all video platforms have opened the barrage function, but only the barrage at station B is “visible”; the content review area at station B is also the cleanest. In the third quarter of 2019, the average monthly user interaction at station B was 2.5 billion times, which is equivalent to approximately 0.7 interactions per day per MAU. It turns out that users agree with the membership threshold and regard it as an honor. They are willing to spend time to pass this threshold-in the third quarter of 2019, the official membership of station B reached 62 million, a year-on-year increase of 48%!
(User level of station B:” Big Member “and” Full Member “do not contradict)
It is worth mentioning that “Big Member” and “Official Member” of Station B are two parallel and inconsistent lines. The former is determined by the payment and the latter is determined by the answer. Some people have been wondering whether station B will launch a mechanism of “paying for full membership”? The official answer from station B has always been: No! Become a big member, you can see a lot of paid content, get super clear picture quality and avatar pendant privileges, but you do not get the right to full membership; no matter how much you spend, you still have to pass the exam to become a full member! Many investors may think that Station B is too “Buddhist” and too in a hurry to realize cash; but the management of Station B is sober-minded-never kill the golden rooster for the golden egg, and never sacrifice the community for the current benefit Atmosphere.
(The number of user interactions at station B is high and growing rapidly)
In addition to the entry threshold, station B has a self-discipline and strict punishment mechanism. The small black house system is jointly responsible by the “Discipline Commission” and the administrator. It is the autonomous decentralization of content community management by Station B, which can effectively maintain the tone of the community, improve user honor and participation, and reduce it to a certain extent. Work cost of station B employees.
Small Black House is a publicity platform for users’ penalties. If users violate the community guidelines and are punished by the administrator, they will be posted in the small black house. Each publicity has a reason to comment. Violations include, but are not limited to, barrage or comments posted by the user regarding lead warfare, personal attacks, malicious screen swipes, etc. When the user’s membership level exceeds Lv4, and there are no violations within 90 days, after participating in real-name authentication, you can apply to join the Disciplinary Committee to participate in reporting and ban review. In reality, most violations are reported by the “Discipline Committee” and handled by the community of.
For example: mixed with other content communities (Weibo, Zhihu, Douban, Post Bar, etc.) Many content creators have been “hung up”. The two were in conflict because of a point of view, and they “hanged” with each other until they evolved into naked physical attacks. Whether it is graphic content or video content, as long as there is a “stick”, “spray” in the comment area, the community atmosphere will be completely destroyed. Some big Vs even use cyber violence to incite their fans to participate in personal attacks and conduct human flesh searches. However, this set does not work at station B!
Personal assault, invasion of privacy, and instigation are all major crimes that can be directly blocked. Piloting, spoilers, and screen swiping are also key targets. It is no exaggeration to say that the members of the “Stink Powder Circle” arrived at station B. According to their behaviors on Weibo and Post Bar, they will almost certainly be blocked within 24 hours.
Open the “Little Black House” page at station B, and you will be surprised to find that the person at station B is really soft! Insulting his beloved fan drama and insulting other fan dramas will be blocked because of “leading”; casually saying “this heroine will die eventually” will be blocked because of “spoilers”; accusation of another barrage publisher’s brain flood Will be blocked because of “personal attacks”; call on everyone to do a human flesh search for UP masters you do not like will be blocked because of “violation of privacy” … Blocked are all qualified members with barrage qualifications! Isn’t station B afraid of user loss? In contrast, station B is more afraid of destroying the community atmosphere and losing its tone. The embankment of thousands of miles is broken in the ant hole. Only by punishing the destructive interactive behavior from the root can the B station community be evergreen.
(Blocking mechanism for illegal content on site B)
Which party B is doing today? From March 28, 2019, station B has added a penalty rule for “low-quality content”. If the creators of the creative incentive plan submit a large amount of ‘low-quality content’ and receive a profit, the UP owner of this type will be punished by the reduction of income and continuously monitored.
Severe offenders will be banned and returned. Low-quality content includes, but is not limited to, the following characteristics: ① Low-quality content that simply stitches and edits web material ( such as simple text editing or dubbing commentary) ; ② simple audio track replacement for other people’s videos. The major misunderstanding of Internet traffic is that many people think that attracting traffic requires a “title party” and even copying (Tampering with or deleting original content of others, but The core content is plagiarized) .
In fact, content and users are a two-way selection process. High-quality content can attract high-quality users and increase user stickiness and retention. The B site has penalties for posing as self-made original low-quality content. This is also the other side of originality encouragement to curb the misappropriation of the original. “Never tolerate evil is the best armor for good.” Closeness and self-discipline help to strengthen user trust, and the effectiveness of ads will be improved.
Starting from the student community, in addition to entertainment and trading, there is encouragement and learning. Perhaps the most unexpected and unexpected thing is that the videos that many users watch at station B are not anime, not film and television dramas, but popular science videos and learning videos.
Learning videos mainly include notes and interpretations of college students, lectures by teachers, courses of legal experts, and learning live broadcast. There are more than 4.2 million learning videos and 18.27 million learning videos at station B, with a wide range of types. The video, which is tagged with #study with me # (Learn with me) , has been promoted to the category with the longest live broadcast on station B, 2018 The annual live learning time was 1.46 million hours, and 1.03 million learning live broadcasts started at station B. The ideas of encouragement and learning can actually be seen in the corners of Station B. Under the blessing of self-discipline and closedness, the good community atmosphere of Station B will also be positively blessed.
(A glimpse of the learning companion videos at station B)
The rapid development of original content depends on the decentralization’s main support for new students UP
Original content is the mainstay of B-site video content, and UP Master is the source of continuous high-quality content creation. As of 3Q19, the number of monthly video uploads at Station B reached 3.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 81%, and the number of monthly active UP masters reached 1.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 92%. Behind this is also benefited from the decentralized incentive measures for the main support of UP at station B.
On January 15, 2016, Station B launched the UP main charging function. And on February 4, 2016, the charging plan for each district of the whole station was opened. The charging plan is similar to the user’s reward for the anchor in the live broadcast. This measure has lower requirements for the UP master. The self-made work page without any commercial elements will display the charging panel. The UP master can choose to join independently. The B station editorial team will review the application of the UP master. After joining the charging plan, a charging panel will be displayed on the personal space page of the UP main for fans to give away batteries. The direct function of the charging plan is to encourage the emergence of UP master original works, which is a special incentive policy for self-made works without commercial elements. The battery is a settlement prop for users to subsidize UP masters participating in the “charging plan”. A minimum of 20 batteries can be recharged each time. B coins) , there is no upper limit for charging.
(Video upload at station B and trend of UP masters)
The launch of the Creative Incentive Program further deepens the eruption of mature PUG content. The creative incentive plan (B station platform subsidy) was launched on February 1, 2018, supplementing the previous charging plan (user type(Reward) , to encourage and support original videos, column articles, and audio submissions made by UP masters, further motivate UP to create high-quality content.
Unlike the charging plan launched by Station B in January 2016, all the revenue generated by the UP host through the creative incentive plan is provided by the platform of Station B, rather than the user’s voluntary reward. The “Billibili Creative Incentive Program” opened the PC-side application entrance on February 1, 2018, and opened the mobile-side application entrance on March 28. This plan is a series of plans that comprehensively evaluate and provide corresponding benefits for self-made manuscripts created by the UP master. It is currently applicable to videos, column manuscripts, and BGM (Audio) footage. In the case of meeting the joining conditions, the UP master can apply for joining.
According to official statistics from station B, within two months after the entrance was opened, tens of thousands of UP masters have successfully joined July 11, 2019. Station B has launched a new application condition. The original video was: Fans over 1k or video cumulative playback over 10w, column: cumulative reading over 10w, material: homemade audio was selected into the mobile submission BGM material library. Under the new conditions, starting from July 15, 2019, the video incentive uses the beta version of electromagnetic force. As long as the creative force or influence in the electromagnetic force reaches 55 points and the credit score is not less than 80 points, you can apply. The electromagnetic force is evaluated and scored by staff at station B.
(Calculation Principles of “Electromagnetic Force” for B Station Creative Incentive Program)
Incentive revenue is calculated based on multiple dimensions such as content traffic and likes. The top priority is to encourage original content that you like.
UP masters who joined the incentive for video creation will start earning revenue when the volume reaches 1000 on the second day of submission; for columns, revenue will start when the reading volume of a single column reaches 1000; for materials, when other UP master uses BGM to make video (excluding small videos) , and when the video generates revenue, start to calculate the BGM material revenue. The incentive revenue is settled through the” shell system “.
Incentive income data will be automatically converted into shells and transferred to shell accounts 1: 1. After the shell account of the UP master reaches 100 shells, cash can be withdrawn (1 shell = 1 yuan) . The rewards of video incentives are mainly calculated based on the content value dimensions of play volume and likes, including indexes such as content popularity, user likeness, and content verticality. Column incentive income calculation dimensions are similar. The material incentive income is calculated from the number of times the material is used and the content value of the video (excluding small videos) using the material. According to the revenue disclosed by some UP masters, the incentive for every 1,000 playbacks is 2-3 yuan.
(Calculation dimension of B station creative incentive plan)
Since the launch of the Creative Incentive Program in February 2018, there will be additional incentives for incentives. In 2019, it will mainly be based on the policy of encouraging newcomers. More reliance on endogenous growth. In addition to the regular creative incentives, incentives will be awarded according to the content value of the manuscript.In 2018, there were 6 additional incentive activities, mainly double the incentive income and the payment of individual bonuses for some thematic activities, including the Spring Festival benefits, sharing millions Incentives, the 9th birthday week of Station B, the high temperature subsidy in August, the limited time incentives for the start of school, and the 11-themed activities. Since 2019, it has been mainly set up a monthly creative incentive rookie award for UP masters with less than 50,000 followers, and encourages new masters to submit contributions. The incentive plan is mainly aimed at the incentive measures for new owners who have the potential to be UP masters.
(Extra rewards for B Station Creative Incentive Program)
Any content community should encourage PUGC, in the final analysis lies in “two mechanisms”-traffic distribution mechanism, creative incentive mechanism. Traffic distribution depends partly on algorithms and partly on the community atmosphere, but in the end it depends on the manager’s thinking: Does the manager want to support PUG original content? Want to build a decentralized community?
In the three major video platforms, it is difficult to get enough traffic for PUG video content, because most of the traffic will be allocated to head dramas and head variety shows; on Weibo, the traffic is also increasingly inclined to head bloggers, especially It is a star celebrity, and it is difficult for vertical creators to get ahead. On the one hand, Station B insisted on decentralized diversion, and on the other hand, generously distributed profits to the UP master. Of course, the commercialization of station B is currently limited, and the cake distributed by the UP master is not large enough. With the maturity of various monetization methods such as e-commerce, the situation will be fundamentally changed.
Ironically, the reason why the three major video platforms are difficult to emulate the PUG content-oriented model of station B is largely because their commercialization is too fast and there are too many advertisements-watch an episode of 45-minute TV series, It’s understandable to endure a minute of advertising; watching a 5 minute video of a ghost animal, and also to endure a minute of advertising is difficult to understand. Many times, you see an interesting clip on the video platform, share it on WeChat and Weibo, but after your friend opens it, it will be “second off” because of an advertisement. How embarrassing! Station B stimulated the viewing and dissemination of PUG content with the promise of “never join a patch advertisement”.
Sugarcane has no sweetness at both ends, and gains and losses are lost. However, we believe that today’s restraint on commercialization can be exchanged for a better community atmosphere, more benign interaction, and better tone, and it will surely produce greater commercialization results someday in the future.
This article is from WeChat public account: Internet and Entertainment Strange (ID: TMTphantom) , author: Pei Pei, high-Bowen, coke fir Note: all the contents of this public number (Internet and entertainment monster group) only represent the personal views and do not represent The opinion of any institution or organization does not constitute any investment advice. This content is not equivalent to a formal research report.