Author: Thick Code

This year's 618, Video Number remains quiet.

Without shouting slogans and rallying cries, it naturally did not stir up the intense battlefield like other platforms. The topic about it lies in the analysis of the consumer demographic structure behind it and the question of whether there is a flagship anchor born.

In fact, whether it's anchors or MCNs, everyone wants to seize this fertile land of Video Number first, but exhausted from running around everywhere, they have not completely chosen to go all out on Video Number.

Even though Jiaogepengyou, which joined Video Number on April 23, did not welcome Luo Yonghao during the 618 period. Last year's 618, Jiaogepengyou joined JD Live, and Luo Yonghao created a sales record of 150 million yuan. In stark contrast, Jiaogepengyou's first broadcast on Video Number in April had an estimated sales revenue of 1.24 million yuan and an audience of 93,300.

Jiaogepengyou Joins Video Number

Despite a poor start, Jiaogepengyou still emphasizes that it does not undervalue Video Number. Cui Dongsheng, Vice President of Jiaogepengyou, said in a media interview during the 618 period, "Video Number relies on WeChat, a nationwide communication tool, and its potential and imagination space are both very large."

At the same time, Cui Dongsheng also admitted that Jiaogepengyou faces many challenges on Video Number, "We need to embrace the attitude of exploring together with the platform, making early layout, and continuous learning." In terms of transaction data, Cui Dongsheng said that the effort invested is more important than the data, and Video Number will not have a significant proportion within Jiaogepengyou at this stage.

Although Jiaogepengyou is just a starting point, it undoubtedly reveals the question of "where are the big anchors" faced by Video Number. Even with the introduction of top live broadcasting IPs, there have been cases of acclimatization difficulties. Meanwhile, while native top bloggers are emerging, there is still a big gap compared to the top bloggers on Taobao, Douyin, and Kuaishou.

Video Number has been in the 618 game for 3 years. How much of its power has it exerted? In the hot e-commerce battle, has Video Number finally chosen the right armor and weapons?

01

Middle-aged women with money and leisure,

Supporting Video Number's 618

Slow and steady wins the race, is the product philosophy of WeChat's founder, Zhang Xiaolong.

Zhang Xiaolong hopes that valuable products can develop slowly, with the gap gradually opening. Because this is a gradual process, from WeChat to mini-programs and then to Video Number, almost all follow this theory without exception.

This year's 618, when platforms like Taobao, Douyin, and Kuaishou all fired the first shot around May 21, Video Number remained "slow and steady," choosing to start the "618 Good Things Festival" on May 31.

On the Video Number live broadcast page, a separate 618 special area was set up, divided into nearly 20 categories such as clothing, shoes, bags, home textiles, food, and alcohol. Brand stores and influencer live broadcast rooms are displayed side by side.

At the same time, Video Number also launched the 618 Good Things Festival Sales List, divided into four dimensions: Today's Sales, Total Sales List, Brand, and Influencer.

At 10 pm on June 18, the top five on the total sales list were "Image Matching Teacher Qiao Jiaozhu," "Putuo Mountain Xiao Shuai Guide," "yiyi is me," "Guo Yiyi," and "Yan Yi Couple," with the highest heat value reaching 3.88 billion.

Video Number's Total Sales List (June 18)

Through this list, we can see to a certain extent the current development status of live e-commerce on Video Number.

First, the clothing category is the flagship, especially women's clothing for the middle-aged, such as "Image Matching Teacher Qiao Jiaozhu" and "yiyi is me," who are both fashion influencers and recommend quality outfits suitable for middle-aged women. Most of the single-item prices are above 200 yuan. "yiyi is me" even clearly states on their homepage's self-introduction, "Providing respect, accomplishment, and value for women over 30 with high-quality clothing," and often shares emotional videos on how women over 40 can enrich themselves.

Second, lifestyle influencers are quite popular, with positive energy content such as marital advice, family life, and mother-in-law relations widely welcomed.

For example, the fourth-ranked "Guo Yiyi," her videos mostly record daily life in marriage. Her personality is distinct, not only a second-time mother but also a highly educated graduate student. Her luxurious life with her wealthy husband provides endless conversation topics. It is reported that during last year's Double 11, she achieved over 50 million yuan in sales in a single live broadcast, which is also a benchmark case promoted by Video Number and was once invited as a guest to WeChat's open class.

From June 16 to 18, "Guo Yiyi" broadcasted continuously for 3 sessions, mainly selling daily household items. "Yan Yi Couple" is also a couple online, attracting fans with positive energy topics and the couple format. Their content focuses on popular topics related to a deaf-mute male babysitter. In the comment section, many users often express empathy, saying things like "married well" or "married a good one." Their product selection is mainly in the beauty category, supplemented by essential items and cost-effective products.

The homepages of "Guo Yiyi" and "Yan Yi Couple" on Video Number

Thirdly, there are bloggers who have a certain degree of popularity and fan base both inside and outside the platform, but their core fan base is middle-aged and elderly people. For example, "Putuo Mountain Xiao Shuai Guide," who has 20.5 million followers on Douyin, introduces multiple tourist attractions across the country, including Putuo Mountain. The products sold in his Video Number window are mostly Buddhist-related jewelry, symbolizing good luck and prosperity, catering to most middle-aged and elderly people.

These accounts have a firm position on the 618 Video Number sales list, which is closely related to the consumer portrait of Video Number.

At this year's WeChat open class, relevant responsible persons said that female consumers on Video Number account for 78%, and consumers from first-tier, new first-tier, and second-tier cities account for more than 60%. The 30-50 age group contributes 40% of Video Number's increment.

In summary, this is a group of middle-aged women around 40 years old, with money and leisure. They have strong spending power and a low product return rate. They are an incremental group not yet covered by Douyin and Kuaishou, and they have become the main consumer force for Video Number's 618 this year.

02

Publishing lists and finding stars, Video Number lowers its stance

"It's not exclusive to top players, not inviting stars to join, and not spending money on content" is the principle of equality and inclusiveness emphasized by Zhang Xiaolong for Video Number.

But in the face of "ironclad platform traffic and changing top anchors," this inclusive principle has already failed.

Whether it's Li Jiaqi from Taobao, Dongfang Zhenxuan from Douyin, Xinba from Kuaishou, or Dong Jie and Zhang Xiaohui from Xiaohongshu, e-commerce players have all found top anchors with enough influence to break the circle.

Combining the top 5 influencers on Video Number's 618 sales list, although "Image Matching Teacher Qiao Jiaozhu" and "Guo Yiyi" are native fashion and lifestyle influencers on Video Number who have accumulated a stable fan base, they still have a significant gap in national discussion compared to top anchors on other platforms.

Similarly, Video Number does not want the situation of "one branch dominating" to emerge, intervening and regulating as a platform.

It has been reported in the media that in 2023, the Dongfang Zhenxuan team sent two vice presidents to visit WeChat to discuss joining Video Number. WeChat only welcomed them to broadcast but clearly stated that there would be no traffic support and would not treat them differently on a daily basis.

On the other hand, Taobao once sent a team of 20 people to invite Dongfang Zhenxuan, and soon after, in September 2023, Dongfang Zhenxuan joined Taobao Live with high profile.

An MCN founder told Yifan (ID: finance_yifan) that Video Number rarely released MCN or influencer ranking lists before, and sometimes even the internal ranking situation of service providers was not allowed to be published externally. "After publication, many influencers/brands may tend to choose top service providers. WeChat prefers all service providers to compete fairly based on their own capabilities and does not want certain service providers to dominate due to ranking endorsements."

Interestingly, in February this year, Video Number launched the "Hourly Sales List." By entering any sales live broadcast room, one can see the rankings of different categories of live broadcast rooms through the list. The above-mentioned MCN founder also expressed his sentiment: "Video Number has ultimately bowed to the general trend."

Also changed is the "not inviting stars to join."

On the evening of June 18, the star Christy Chung live broadcasted on Video Number, with a total heat value of 420 million, setting a record for Video Number's first live broadcast with over 10 million views, becoming the No. 1 star sales list on Video Number that day.

Before the broadcast on May 13, Tencent Advertising's official WeChat public account also released a recruitment post for Christy Chung's first broadcast on Video Number. According to Yibang Dynamics, during the 618 live broadcast, there were a total of 9 brands appearing in Christy Chung's Video Number live broadcast room, including Flyco shavers, Fuanna, MissWiss, Chando, and other skincare and lifestyle categories. There were 29 product links, with an estimated sales revenue of between 7.1 million and 7.5 million yuan.

Screenshot of Christy Chung's Video Number live broadcast

Currently, Christy Chung has 8.68 million followers on Douyin, which is quite a gap compared to fellow celebrity sellers like Jia Nailiang, and her sales journey on Douyin has not been smooth sailing. In 2023, it was reported that after receiving a 50,000 yuan slot fee, she only sold 7 items.

This time, Christy Chung's move to Video Number is also to avoid the fierce internal competition on Douyin to a certain extent.

However, some media and merchants also said that Christy Chung's sales data in the morning was around 5,000 orders, and merchants still needed to pay a 30,000 yuan slot fee, with a conversion rate of only one-fifth of a percent. Compared to other native influencers on Video Number who achieved 20 million to 50 million yuan in a single session, Christy Chung's performance was not ideal. Other merchants added that Christy Chung's sales this time were not suitable for the local market, which was related to her youthful product selection style. Moreover, Christy Chung came to Video Number to sell products without the support of private domains such as public accounts, group chats, and moments, relying solely on platform traffic, which was too single and inaccurate.

03

Does Video Number Need a "Super Anchor"?

This year's 618 was almost the quietest one since its inception, signaling the end of the era of big promotions.

According to Star Chart data, the total sales revenue of the entire network during this year's 618 was 742.8 billion yuan, compared to 798.7 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year decrease of 7%. Among them, comprehensive e-commerce platforms Tmall, JD, and Pinduoduo totaled 571.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.9%; live e-commerce platforms Douyin, Kuaishou, and Diantao totaled 206.8 billion yuan, an increase of 12%.

Not only were sales sluggish, even top anchors lay flat.

Data from Chanmama shows that as of 17:00 pm on June 18, the top three on the Douyin influencer sales list during the 618 promotion were Guangdong Couple, Jia Nailiang, and Hui Tongxing, with Jiaogepengyou and Dongfang Zhenxuan ranking 10th and 11th, and Crazy Xiaoyang ranking 17th. On the other hand, Xinba from Kuaishou also said in March this year that there was nothing exciting left in the live streaming industry for him, and he would suspend broadcasting for two years to learn artificial intelligence before starting anew on a new track.

Douyin Influencer Sales List for 618 - Source: Chanmama

Faced with this background, Video Number's live e-commerce obviously cannot simply replicate past successful models to break through, and whether it needs a super anchor is not the key to solving the problem.

If relying on native influencers can steadily grow within the private domain and attract a group of sticky audiences, there is a lack in brand building, mostly relying on influencers' own brands or white labels. On the other hand, international brands like Estee Lauder also broadcast on Video Number during the 618 period, but their welfare mechanisms are basically the same as Taobao and Douyin, making it difficult to find differentiating points. Classical self-media era head public account owners such as "Insight" and "Li Xiaoyi" also performed on the evening of 618, mainly targeting their original public account fan base, which already has high stickiness.

It is worth mentioning that Video Number has recently released proposed rules to restrict digital human live broadcasting. Using plugins, AI, and other tools to generate virtual avatars for live broadcasting is a typical violation. In the past one or two years, digital human live broadcasting has become a perpetual motion machine in sales live broadcast rooms due to its low cost and 24/7 availability. JD even launched a digital human anchor named "Caixiaodongge" using the image of its founder Liu Qiangdong this year. Some industry insiders believe that Video Number's move to restrict digital human live broadcasting is mainly because its user base tends to be older, with weaker discernment of digital humans, and concerns about issues like digital human fraud.

AI Digital Human - Source: Internet

In this way, middle-aged and elderly users are both Video Number's differentiating advantage and also limit its breakthrough in e-commerce development.

Regarding whether e-commerce can truly break through and when Video Number's warm water will boil, this 618 did not provide an answer. The question of how to solve the problem will continue to plague the upcoming Double 11 period.

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