Reporter of the Economic Business: Xu Lianlian Reporter of the Economic Business Business: Dong Xingsheng
On the evening of August 22, TFBOYS's "Sunlight Travel" 7th anniversary concert was exclusively launched on NetEase Cloud. This is the first full-on concert in 7 years since its debut. Data shows that the number of tickets sold for the seventh anniversary concert exceeded one million, and the highest number of people online at 786,000 at the same time. Based on the minimum ticket price, the ticket revenue alone for this concert exceeded 30 million yuan. This is the first time that NetEase Cloud Music has held such a large-scale online concert, and it is also a domestic online music platform that tests the online concert payment model.
2020 is the year of celebrity concerts. Due to the impact of the epidemic, many concerts have no choice but to cancel. Since then, platforms including Tencent Music and NetEase Cloud Music have been trying to move the concert online. TFBOYS online concert trials the paid model, which is also an exploration of the online concert business model.
But the question is, can the online concert payment model truly work?
TFBOYS concert went online for the first time
Some people sighed that there is no light card battle for the concert of the three little ones this year. As a top Chinese group, TFBOYS has amazing fan stickiness and consumption power. TFBOYS is the abbreviation of The Fighting Boys, and its Chinese name is Come on Boys. He made his official debut on August 6, 2013. On September 16, 2017, the three TFBOYS people opened their own studio official Weibo account respectively, and went solo and did not disband, entering the "post-TFBOYS period" of independent development.
Image source: Live screenshot
Even if you never pay attention to traffic stars, you will be familiar with the names Wang Junkai, Wang Yuan, and Yi Yang Qianxi. They should be China's most successful "cultivation" idol. Even though the three of them rarely merge, their respective fan groups are still strong. On the occasion of the 7th anniversary, due to the epidemic, TFBOYS held an online concert for the first time.
Daily Economic News reporter noticed that TFBOYS's many new songs and dance scenes have triggered many hot searches on Weibo, such as TFBOYS's first sing song "Together with You" and "Lights", Wang Junkai's first singing song "Beautiful", Wang Yuan's first singing song "Petals", Yi Yang Qianxi's first singing song "Pink Fog Sea", etc. From the overall presentation, it is more like a large-scale online light musical in terms of audio-visual effects.
Due to the star effect of the three, the ticket prices for this online concert are divided into three levels, namely 30 yuan, 158 yuan and 860 yuan. The rights and interests that tickets of different prices can enjoy are different. For example, the rights obtained by consumers who pay 860 yuan include Blu-ray 1080P live broadcast, opening a single-person camera for everyone, a luxury version for concert replay, as well as a T-shirt and fisherman's hat set priced at 280 yuan; a PVC shoulder bag gift for 168 yuan; a 7th anniversary version of "Heart" mini vinyl record and photo album for TFBOYS member dolls, etc.
is only 860 yuan. Many fans think it’s not worth it after reading it, and say that they were “lonely”, which caused controversy among fans. Some fans also complained: "I spent money, but I saw a recording, not a live broadcast", "I spent money to watch various camera positions' slow-motion replays".
Daily Economic News reporters made a simple calculation. Judging from the minimum ticket price of 30 yuan per ticket, the ticket sales revenue of this concert has exceeded 30 million yuan, and the actual number must be far more than that. At the same time, the reporter of the China Business News also noticed that there were also many commercial sponsors at this online concert. For example, when the three people were connected live with the host, the three people placed Uni-Fresh Orange, Park Hyatt Mineral Water and Baicao Flavor on their desktops respectively. The homepage of the concert also directly sets up a peripheral sales entrance. From this level, there are many ways to monetize commercially in this online concert.
Daily Economic News reporter learned from NetEase Cloud Music that TFBOYS is the first project to open, and the online large-scale concert is still in the trial stage. We are exploring how much commercial space and how much can it be done. The platform also prepares online concerts such as Yu Dingshi (soda green). Can the online concert payment model of
be implemented?
In fact, TFBOYS online concert is not the first time NetEase Cloud Music has tried the payment model. In April this year, NetEase Cloud Music launched the "Light-up Live Action", among which 100 high-quality live music performances will be conducted in the online paid live broadcast mode, and the paid live broadcast revenue will be 100% to the musicians.
From a business perspective, the lively TFBOYS online concert may not be acceptable to the entire industry. TFBOYS's concerts every year cause huge discussions, with a large fan base and high loyalty. The matter of selling tickets will not be rejected by fans, so the platform can boldly test the waters of commercialization, and the deep logic behind it is still driven by the fan economy.
But from this case, we can't tell that the transfer of celebrity concerts to online is an absolutely good business for the platform. A reporter from the China Business News observed that many celebrities held concerts online this year, but they basically adopted the free admission mode. The platform is still exploring the profitability of online concerts.
Image source: Live screenshot
As Tencent Music's Q2 financial report shows that since its launch in March this year, TME live has successively created nearly 20 online concerts, and participated in the stars including Mayday, Eason Chan, Rene Liu, etc. Tencent Music has designed and provided various value-added services, such as VIP exclusive and virtual gifts. For example, R1SE's online concert has tried the mode of member-only viewing, and other celebrities' online concert investment has also attracted many brands.
A traditional offline concert, the revenue channels are mainly ticket sales revenue and brand sponsorship. The proportion of brand sponsorship is small, and most of them rely on consumers to buy tickets. A reporter from the China Business News noticed that after TFBOYS's online concert tried the payment model, the profit model of online concerts was mainly online rewards, user payment and brand sponsorship.
online concert is more about traffic monetization ideas. Judging from the number of online people, the number of viewers of TFBOYS's online concert can fill nearly 10 bird's nests (the audience capacity of bird's nest is 80,000), and an offline concert is obviously impossible. But this monetization method has a very high threshold. After all, not all celebrities or singers have huge traffic, which can make fans willing to pay for the ticket price and make the brand willing to invest.
But TFBOYS online concert also gave NetEase Cloud Music the first step of experience. Industry insiders believe that whether it is Tencent Music or NetEase Cloud Music, the exploration of online concerts will continue, but whether the new opportunities brought by the special environment of the epidemic can last longer also needs to be questioned, which is also a test of the platform's operating model. The person believes that online concerts will become a unique model in the future, but offline concerts will definitely not die.
"After all, the atmosphere of offline concerts is irreplaceable online. Many people just want to take a look at the singers they like and feel the atmosphere on the scene. This is like although you can watch online movies during the epidemic, consumers will still go to the cinema after the cinema is opened." The above person said.
Daily Economic News
