This article comes from WeChat public account: Sina Technology (ID: techsina) , author: Li Nan, Yang Xuemei, head Figure source: Figure worm
The wind of WeChat public account payment has been blowing for a while. During the period, there was a large-scale water test on the head. An article earned more than 52,000 yuan in paid income, showing the industry the space for paid commercialization.
But in fact, not all accounts have this potential. Since the WeChat public account paid internal test, some people are excited, some wait and see, some people think that there is no new opportunity for the WeChat public account, this move is just to retain the head creator.
For WeChat, it is no doubt that we want to further activate the output of original content when we test pay for reading. However, at present, WeChat seems to be too slow. From the perspective of the WeChat public account itself, the overall open rate has dropped. Statistics show that The average open rate of the WeChat public account in August 2019 is only 1.20% . From the outside, competition is on all sides Surrounded by, the big environment has long been different.
With the value of fragmented information paid down, is it too late for WeChat to accelerate?
Readers: You charge, I take the charge
For content creators, public account pay reading is undoubtedly a new opportunity.
Mai Zi is the director of September Medi Studio Creative Studio. She pays for knowledge-based courses in handbooks. She told Sina Technology that the launch of WeChat public account paid reading function will affect her product layout. “For example, I used to spend some money to make some entry-level content for people who bought the course to see. Now I just need to pay for reading, receive a little money, let users see my content, see if they like it, whether I need it. “
Before, Maizi tried similarly on other platforms, and it worked well. In her opinion, Paid reading of WeChat public account will benefit some authors who are good at writing dry goods . However, for the content of tracking hotspots and sharing the curiosity bonus, Mai thinks that there are fewer readers willing to pay for it. If it is not handled well, it will be easy to lose powder.
Li Jianqiu, who is concerned about current affairs and history, is not optimistic about the good paid reading of WeChat public. He conducted a test with his public account “Li Jianqiu’s World” and concluded that unless Tencent pays for drastic improvements, he will not publish paid articles in the future. In his view, WeChat paid reading has three major problems.
First, the payment model is more rigid, the starting point cost is too high, and it cannot be flexibleSet a payment limit, up to 208 yuan, I don’t know who will pay such a high fee for an article. It is understood that the payment amount of WeChat paid reading is divided into 35 files, with a minimum of 1 yuan.
Second, the form of payment needs to be optimized. Li Jianqiu believes that one should not only pay to watch an article, but also a paid form such as a column. “Every article is published as usual, and the form of the column is charged. Do not disturb the normal article, and those who are willing to pay will pay, and those who are unwilling to pay will not have to pay. Everyone will get what they need.”
Finally, there is the issue of Apple tax. Beginning in July 2008, the iOS App Store has charged developers 30% of the flow. Later, Apple Corps has updated regulations that require all in-app subscriptions, game currency, paid content, and unlocking to be paid through IAP < span class = "text-remarks" label = "Remarks"> (In-App Purchase) completed, the Apple platform will charge a 30% service fee.
“Tencent should continue to work hard to negotiate with Apple, even if it is not possible, at least reduce the proportion.” Li Jianqiu wrote in the summary article.
Li Jianqiu pointed out that other users have similar feedback. However, some problems are not with Tencent itself, such as Apple tax, other applications in the Apple ecosystem are facing the same situation. The charge setting is also related to Apple. Jianchen, a product manager who has been following WeChat for a long time, said that the price charged must be in accordance with Apple’s standards. There is no way, “Apple only gives 200 price ranges.”
But from the reader’s side, it’s all about the actual experience. Li Jianqiu’s message to readers of Sina Technology showed that after launching a paid article, some readers clearly stated that “the day before yesterday I watched your article and followed you, and charged you today to get you off.” And a similar attitude is not uncommon in online discussions.
Sina Technology launched a survey on Weibo to try to understand the attitude of netizens-what would you do if you started charging for the WeChat public account you subscribed to? Among them, about 70% of netizens said that they would take the pass. Most of the remaining netizens said that they would look at the specific situation of the article. Only about 2% ~ 3% of netizens chose to pay for reading.
From the point of view of netizens, most people still think that the open rate of public accounts is low now, not even free, let alone pay. Today, with more content and products to share user time, the survival status of public accounts is not as good as before. From the perspective of many people, there is less real high-quality content, and the value of fragmented information is low. Netizen Xiao C said: “The public numbers I follow are video summaries of the beauty and beauty masters at station B. If you want money, you may only watch station B.”
Looking at it this way, the opportunity for public accounts to pay for reading this time is also very risky for content creators. And if it cannot be recognized by readers, there is no way for creators to accept it.
Author: I charge, difficult to make money
From the creator ’s perspective, article charges may not be a good deal.
Statistics of the WeChat Handbook show that the average open rate of WeChat public accounts in August 2019 is 1.20%, and the statistics of Weibo 100,000 + active public accounts show that the average open rate of public accounts in November 2019 is 1.08%. The opening rate of Li Jianqiu’s account is 37%, far exceeding the average, but when communicating with Sina Technology, his paid articles were clicked 9787 times, paid 788 times, and the paid rate was only 8%. Although the article charges 3 yuan, the profit is only 2364 yuan, plus the loss of users caused by the payment, paid reading is not worth the gain.
Just like when the mini program was first unveiled, the outside world was arguing about what kind of service is suitable for the mini program platform. Now, similar considerations must be made for paid reading of WeChat public account. “Quality” is a necessary condition, but it is not enough.
Maizi believes that users are willing to pay for serial content such as novels, industry in-depth interpretation, and professional introductory knowledge. Li Jianqiu believes that content that can be directly converted into income, such as stocks, can be tried for a fee.
Sina Technology’s investigation found that stock content did receive relatively enthusiastic paid feedback. An account that claimed to take readers to read a few words in a minute. Previously, the number of articles read was between 2400 and 2800. The test article was set to pay 6 yuan, more than 580 people paid, and the payment rate reached 20%.
In addition, for some super-sized, the payment situation looks good. More than 50,000 paid articles were paid for “Zhengshitang 2019”, and more than 40,000 paid articles were paid for “Lukewen Studio”. According to the new list data, the corresponding readings of both are 100,000+, and the payout rate Both are high. However, this does not prove the superiority of paid reading.
Some science and technology media people have told Sina Technology that, for such head accounts with high rewards, there is no problem in paying for reading, but other readers struggle with the number of 10,000 or 20,000, which is very It’s hard to pay. He mentioned that he had only paid for some report content before, because subconsciously felt that most of the content of public channels and other channels would not be of much value, “the article can’t be read if it doesn’t matter.”
Furthermore, for the creation of public accounts, advertising is an important source of income, but original content that is set to pay for reading is not allowed to insert advertisements. In comparison, the revenue from payments may not be higher.
What’s more important is the impact of fees on the content of public accounts. “The host usually needs more fans, but the fee itself will interrupt the source of new fans.” Li Jianqiu told Sina Technology that he expects that even the host who insists on charging may only charge once a month or Twice, it is impossible to charge for each article.
Chen Duan, editor-in-chief of China Digital Creative Industry Development Report (2019) and associate professor at Central University of Finance and Economics, pointed out to Sina Technology that The popularity of Internet content issues is rapidly declining. Will produce the effect of swiping the screen again. The payment model that the public account currently prohibits reprinting just cuts off the path of forwarding and swiping the screen.
Zhang Xiaolong once admitted that the public platform was not intended for the media, but this does not prevent WeChat from becoming the largest content production and distribution platform. However, in today ’s headlines and Baidu, with the strong input of the content ecology, the appeal of public accounts to content creators is also declining. If the public account is paid, other channels cannot be synchronized.
Platform: Second spring, hard to come
After the WeChat launched paid reading testMany articles mention that content creators have been waiting for this opportunity for three years. In fact, as early as the second half of 2015, there have been relevant test news. In February 2016, it was discussed.
However, it is not until the beginning of 2020 that WeChat will be officially launched. At this time, the general environment has been greatly different from before. After the wind passes, it may not be easy for the WeChat public account to use the paid reading to stimulate the second spring of the content ecosystem.
From the WeChat platform itself, the overall vitality of the public account has declined. According to the new list, statistics on the number of reads and likes / views of active public account samples in the past 5 years have been calculated. The average number of reads of a single public account article has continued to decline, while the average number of likes has been relatively stable. From the external environment, the competitive pressure on WeChat public accounts continues to increase.
Source: New List
Right now, the WeChat public account is now facing not only the scramble for excellent creators by other graphic platforms, but also the reader’s demand for content has changed.
Chen Duan pointed out to Sina Technology that the most important reason for the decline in the influence of WeChat public account content in the public opinion field is the rise of information flow platforms represented by today’s headlines, Douyin, etc. and emerging social platforms represented by Station B. , Absorb a large amount of attention resources of the new generation. “It’s a problem on the demand side, not a problem on the supply side.”
In her opinion, excellent content creators have been lost to other platforms, and the result of the diminishing influence of the public account platform itself in the era of diversified micro-dissemination. “ (WeChat) Now starting from the supply side to reform by paying, it may not be a hit.”
WeChat tried paying for reading and no doubt wanted to further activate the output of original content, but at present, WeChat’s action is too slow.
Zhang Yi, chief analyst of AI Media Consulting, paid attention to WeChat ’s move. In his opinion, WeChat has mastered the two basic elements of user social + user traffic, promoted and achieved some achievements in paid reading, and theoretically no Problem, but the form of the product, the depth and quality of the content are particularly important. In most articles, the product form does not have the elements of success, and it is difficult for users to generate a rigid demand for payment.
Jian Chen, product manager, said that from the public version of the previous few years into the information flow, we can see that the platform has shifted from “number” to “articles”, hoping to highlight the value of the article rather than the number. From this perspective, the focus of payment should also be articles. He predicted that for high-value, high-frequency output subjects, it is possible that WeChat will launch a paid subscription account later, but the subject must be strictly delimited by the platform.
In short, in the face of an already very different external environment, WeChat may need to accelerate its content ecology. Paying for reading is not necessarily an important move, and how powerful this attempt is, let the bullet fly for a while. More interesting now is the short content mentioned in the WeChat Open Class Pro.
“WeChat’s short content has always been our direction. If it goes well, we may see you soon.” With Zhang Xiaolong’s notice, short content may be the future of WeChat content ecology.
This article comes from WeChat public account: < span class = "text-remarks"> Sina science and technology (ID: techsina) , author: Li Nan, Yang Xuemei