"The cloud control system is for live broadcast traffic, and can control up to 20,000 mobile phones, without manual operation. After the cloud issuance of instructions, 2,000 customized speeches are automatically issued, and every sentence is different." In the test room of a media company in Zhengzhou, Henan, sales manager Li Fei was staring at the hundreds of mobile phones in front of him, explaining to customers who came from afar how the cloud control system developed by the company controls the traffic in the live broadcast room.
Behind him, the technicians operated it and the originally black screen mobile phones entered the same live broadcast room. If nothing unexpected happens, this system can perform commands such as "Follow the anchor", "Speak to the rhythm", and "Like like and give lights" on all mobile phones on the stand day and night.
backend operation page displayed by sales personnel. Photo provided by the respondent
In 2020, live streaming has become a new trend in the economic field. Internet celebrities, experts and celebrities from all walks of life have squeezed into the live broadcast room to "plant grass" for consumers and harvest traffic from it. Driven by interests, gray-producing people like Li Fei who batches traffic data emerged. In their hands, the traffic data is clearly marked. You can buy 500 machine fans for 90 yuan and enter the live broadcast room to speak with rhythm, which is for three hours. Users, from the intermediary MCN (Multi-Channel Network) institutions that incubate internet celebrities, to individual fruit farmers on the ridges.
In the live broadcast world where traffic data is paramount, anchors hold beautiful data and often have greater bargaining power when cooperating with MCN institutions and merchants. The top anchors press prices on merchants and strive for the "lowest price on the entire network" to attract customers; while MCN institutions incubate anchors, they must also prevent anchors from bypassing the institutions and directly cooperating with merchants. The anchor, MCN organization, and merchants seem to be mutually beneficial and win-win, but in fact they are full of competition and game.
In the second half of 2020, many top anchors were involved in the vortex of traffic data fraud and false propaganda. These whitewashed live broadcast rooms were finally exposed to the public.
live broadcast data "injected water"
sells goods for seven or eight minutes, and sells more than 500 orders. This is the "result" of a snack brand in Shenzhen this year to test live broadcasts for goods. Unexpectedly, the experience after the live broadcast made Huang Xingxing feel like he was riding a roller coaster.
In July 2020, an MCN institution found her, hoping to cooperate. The other party claimed that an anchor under it will make his debut on a certain short video platform, which is likely to reach the level of tens of millions of fans, and has spent a lot of money on the traffic promotion tool officially launched by the short video platform.
The two parties agreed that Huang Xingxing Company would pay a pit fee of 20,000 yuan, and the anchor commission would be charged at 20% of the product transaction volume.
Huang Xingxing recalled that the live broadcast lasted for 4 hours. Because it was a mixed broadcast, it only took seven or eight minutes to introduce her company's products. More than 500 orders were sold on the spot, and finally sold for more than 20,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, at least two-thirds of consumers initiated unreasonable refunds in the next few days. Huang Xingxing asked the anchor to make up for the broadcast, but the other party said he would not agree. Huang Xingxing suspected that someone might be brushing orders, and several brands she knew also encountered "being brushed orders". The false prosperity "brushed" during
live broadcast fell on real money after the live broadcast, and Huang Xingxing's company lost at least 15,000 yuan.
Nowadays, a new way of playing live streaming products has emerged, that is, spending money to buy machine fans into the live broadcast room to watch, set the pace, creating the illusion of "popular sales". Despite the platform's multiple rounds of cleanup, these gray-produced people are still active on social platforms.
searches "live broadcast popularity" as the keyword in the QQ group, and it is easy to find sellers who provide the increase in fans. A reporter from the Beijing News contacted Li Liang, a seller who provided volume swipe services through a QQ group. He said that as long as they inform the live broadcast room account and broadcast time, they can arrange their popularity at any time.
Judging from the quotation provided by Li Liang, "Scrolling to buy" is 20 yuan for 3 hours, 2,000 live broadcasts likes 10 yuan, live broadcast packages are popular for 100 people, 50 yuan a day, 500 people interact with the live broadcast room for 1 hour, 90 yuan, "Really speak around the content of the live broadcast room."
quotation list for people who browse the volume on social networks to attract customers.Photo provided by the interviewee
Beijing News reporter chose a live broadcast room selling fans on a short video platform, and then purchased a 20 yuan package of 3 hours of "rolling screen purchase" from Li Liang. After a few minutes, a pop-up window of "XX is going to buy" will appear in a few seconds during the originally inactive live broadcast.
Under normal circumstances, users cannot buy without logging in, but through the "scrolling purchase" volume operation, even if they are not real viewers, they can click "shopping" to create the illusion of "popular sales" in the live broadcast room.
This kind of service is also customized. Another person who claimed to be in Guangdong, Xu Bin provided a 4-second video to reporters. In the picture, dozens of mobile phones with the same appearance are placed on the stand, and all the mobile phones show the same live broadcast room. The staff switches back and forth between the mobile phones, with skillful movements. A female anchor shouted at the top of her voice, "This one can be considered versatile."
batch production of traffic
brushes the number of viewers, browsing shopping carts, speaking with rhythm and other traffic data "injected", a gray industrial chain has grown wildly. In the live streaming industry chain, Xu Bin is equivalent to the role of an agent and is in the midstream link, while the chain is further upstream, and is a cloud control system developer.
As early as 2018, the company where sales manager Li Fei works began to develop a cloud control system to attract traffic to the live broadcast room. "We will go wherever there is traffic."
According to sales staff, "This system breaks through the mechanism algorithm of the short video platform, and can control up to 20,000 mobile phones with 7.0 or above versions, and does not require manual operation. After the cloud issuance of instructions, 2,000 customized speeches, and every sentence is different, which can bring more natural traffic to the live broadcast room."
But the new account did not have recommended weight at the beginning. Only after active for a period of time will the platform gradually label the account as "active" in a vertical field. Technician Xiao Wang introduced a quick method. Simply put, after purchasing the system, he will batch up some counterfeit mobile phones with a unit price of about 300 yuan, and then use his mobile phone number to register a short video account. Then, according to the "experience" they figured out by their algorithm, the account will get weight in about three days.
"Mainly, live broadcast guilds, MCN institutions and e-commerce companies are buying our system, and many big anchors are using it." Li Fei said that their customers specifically increase the amount of paint for their anchors, and when they are idle, they rent it out, or take some personal orders, and some people sell fattening accounts.
Li Fei estimated that it would cost 26,000 yuan for customers to purchase the system based on the number of 100 mobile phones. But customers are willing to invest in this. In addition to the availability of their own anchors, they can also take other orders and become a middleman. If you spend money on buying a mobile phone, you can quickly make a profit and even make huge profits. Although
is at the upstream of the industrial chain, Li Fei's computer room has only one or two hundred mobile phones, which are used to test the stability of the system. They originally did not take the job of brushing the volume because the profit margin of selling the system is greater. But in early 2020, live streaming sales became popular all of a sudden, and the number of anchors who made a purchase increased significantly. This place was like a transit station. Orders that customers couldn't afford were eventually gathered in Li Fei's hands. He then sent them to customers with an average position to earn the difference from them.
has been immersed in the industry for a long time. Li Fei found that the speech contents that anchors of different levels need to be released during live broadcasts are different. The speech area of the small anchor mainly focuses on questions about the product itself, or bargaining, "This is typically to make money by selling goods." For anchors with 400,000 or 500,000 fans, someone in the live broadcast room was responsible for leading the pace, "I have bought this product, and the effect is quite good." The anchors of tens of millions pursue the selection. As soon as they were on the broadcast, they shouted, "If you like this product, you will be deducted 666 first." "This means that the product is very popular and its appeal is established in an instant."
Li Fei felt that this method of setting the rhythm was fake, but laymen could not see it. "It is all real numbers, one machine, one IP, and it will not be monitored by the platform at all." According to him, it is normal for some big anchors to buy traffic to burn hundreds of thousands of yuan a day. Strong anchors also spend money to support a fan group, and call people to the live broadcast room to set the rhythm, and give benefits regularly.
In the background of the cloud control system, you can set the content of the live broadcast room to speak at will.Photo provided by the interviewee
How big is the scale of this gray industrial chain? According to media reports, on July 25, 2019, at the Tencent security salon, Zhang Baofeng, a senior researcher at Tencent Network Security and Crime Research Base, gave a data. There are more than 1,000 types of flashing platforms in my country, and the top 100 companies have a monthly turnover of more than 2 million yuan.
"Attracted by high profits, many underground industry practitioners have gradually poured into this industry, and false traffic has entered the texture of the entire Internet." Zhang Baofeng said.
The interest game behind traffic anxiety
The flood of live broadcasts is the anxiety of anchors, MCN institutions, and even brands about traffic.
Li Fei said that their system has also served celebrities. Some brands and suppliers are worried that live streaming will "turn over" and will actively buy traffic for celebrities. "Everyone wants the data to be good." In an interview with a reporter from the Beijing News, Huang Xingxing, as a brand, also mentioned that the size of the anchor traffic is an important reference standard for their cooperation.
It seems that merchants, anchors and MCN institutions are communities of interests, but reality is full of competition and game.
Generally speaking, the anchor will settle commissions according to the actual amount of money received by the merchant. But for top anchors, before selling goods, the MCN institution that acts as a broker will agree on a pit fee between the merchant, ranging from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, or even higher. While paying the pit fee, the merchant will also require the MCN institution to promise to guarantee sales.
Huang Xingxing contacted and visited more than 100 MCN institutions on behalf of the company within one year. She found that many MCN institutions had a routine when bargaining, "Business always keeps the price very low, and they always ask you to discount and promote. If you don't agree, business will bring out the quotation orders of other big-name anchors. It is very strong and does not give you room to bargain."
low price is the golden rule for opening the sales of products in the live broadcast room. The anchor is also well aware of this rule. The lower the price you negotiate with merchants, the more fans like it, the easier it is to make a deal. The anchors and MCN institutions with beautiful data will have chips in the next round of negotiations, which also means they can obtain greater traffic support from the platform.
For the too strong partner, Huang Xingxing refused to bow his head. "For us small and medium-sized merchants, the purpose of choosing live streaming to sell goods is very simple, which is to sell more goods. The company has considerations in terms of cost and inventory. If you make concessions everywhere, you will not be able to take the goods out in the end, and it is yourself who bears the losses." After trampling on some pitfalls in the early stage, Huang Xingxing also summarized several experiences, "The number of fans does not represent the ability to carry goods, it depends on the ability to convert, and whether the product can be explained thoroughly."
Some MCN institutions bypass the organization's private cooperation after preventing anchors from connecting with merchants. Generally, the work of connecting with merchants is completed by the organization's business, and they will give the anchor a product introduction before the broadcast, which leads to the anchor's lack of understanding of the products and the selling points are not explained thoroughly.
Huang Xingxing now prefers to find experts who have not been signed by institutions to cooperate with them. This work is not easy to do, because there are too many merchants and too few high-quality anchors, and the resource allocation is seriously unbalanced. In order to please experts, she sent good morning and good night to others every day for a month, hoping to send a sample, but she has never received a reply. On Christmas Day, she sent another private message, "I want to wish you a happy Christmas if I don't reply to the message!"
For small and medium-sized brands like Huang Xingxing, a boss who claimed to be an MCN organization for two years told the Beijing News reporter, "The starting points of both parties are different, and it is difficult to cooperate, because you don't understand the difference between planting grass and selling goods at all. I think that if you find a big anchor, you will have to sell how much goods you have to sell. However, there are many complex factors in reality, and it is impossible for each scene to succeed. Moreover, the effects pursued by different anchors are different. Big-name anchors require continuous investment in order to promote products, and small merchants are reluctant to invest money. How can you play together?"
live streaming and mixed broadcasting and special broadcasting. In mixed broadcasts, an anchor broadcasts dozens of products in each scene, which seems to give more merchants the opportunity to show their faces and fans have more choices, but in fact there are many routines.
Wang Dongzheng, who operates the Zhengzhou MCN organization "Zhesi Interactive Entertainment", revealed to the Beijing News reporter that the popular products that will definitely be popular products that attract traffic as soon as they are on the air. After the popularity reaches its peak, they will slowly introduce the most profitable products. After selling it almost, their popularity will drop. Then they will promote standard products and daily necessities, such as toilet paper. This kind of thing is cost-effective and it is easy for fans to place orders.
. For the sake of good data, the anchor will arrange the competitors together, operate them in real-time monitoring in the background, and invest some paid traffic according to the live broadcast room needs. This leads to a result: the better the good things are sold, and the more merchants lack competitiveness are selling, the more they suffer.
cloud control system developers showcased the scene of refreshing volume in the live broadcast room. Photo provided by the interviewee
game not only exists between anchors and merchants, but also competes with MCN institutions. Wang Dongzheng said that a large-scale food company had previously discussed cooperation, and the company arranged for the hosts they incubated to connect with, and the sales effect was very good. As a result, a few months later, the host was poached.
"If you incubate your anchors yourself, the institution needs to invest a lot of funds and costs to build them. When it has commercial value, you may leave. Then will I train you in vain?" Wang Dongzheng felt that doing this was not worth it. In order to avoid such a situation, they now focus more on making vertical short videos and will no longer bet on one or two anchors.
Wang Dongzheng and his colleagues went to the local Yinji Trading City in Zhengzhou to knock on the door, teaching the clothing wholesalers here to open stores on short video platforms. The material is the daily life of loading and unloading. The boss goes to the live broadcast room to promote without makeup. If he has a cooperation intention, the company provides operational services and charges a certain commission from the money earned by the bosses selling goods.
"The company does not need to bundle anchors, and does not have to worry about anchors being poached. It directly connects with merchants. There is no pit fee. When will you broadcast live and how many orders you place every day, it is your choice." Wang Dongzheng was unwilling to explain this model in detail, but just told reporters, "It is normal business cooperation, and you can make money together."
clarifies the responsibilities of anchors and live broadcast platforms
industry is mixed, and it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of routines. The consequence is that consumer complaints are increased.
Data released on the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation shows that in the first three quarters of 2020, 12315 platforms across the country received a total of 21,900 "live broadcast"-related complaints and reports, an increase of 479.60% year-on-year. Among them, the demands for "live streaming" account for nearly 60%, and the top five companies in the number of complaints and reports related to "live streaming" are all leading e-commerce platforms and short video platforms.
Recently, the Supreme People's Court announced a jurisprudence of Beijing Internet Court. Xu is an anchor of a certain platform. On May 28, 2019, consumer Wang purchased a mobile phone sold by Xu through the live broadcast room. After receiving the goods, he found that the mobile phone was a counterfeit machine. After the communication was fruitless, Wang Moumou sued Xu Moumou and the live broadcast platform to Beijing Internet Court on the grounds of an online shopping contract dispute.
On September 21, 2020, the Beijing Internet Court publicly pronounced a judgment on the case in accordance with the law, and determined that the anchor had the identity of an operator, which constituted fraud, and should bear the liability for compensation. The live broadcast platform fulfilled its relevant obligations and did not bear the liability.
Although consumers won the rights protection in this case, there is still controversy over how to determine the responsibilities of the anchor and the live broadcast platform and whether the live broadcast platform should be identified as an e-commerce platform.
"Now, emerging platforms have extended their business, but they cannot be classified as e-commerce platforms just because the anchors on the platform have the behavior of selling goods. They should distinguish between diversion and direct promotion of transactions. If the transaction occurs on the platform and the platform conducts substantive transactions in this process, the platform should fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of the e-commerce platform operators." Liu Xiaochun, executive director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from the Beijing News.
The relevant regulatory mechanism is also being improved for what kind of legal responsibilities the live broadcast platform should bear. On July 29, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation publicly solicited opinions from the public on the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Online Live Broadcasting Marketing Activities (Draft for Comments).
"Draft for Comments" points out that both traditional e-commerce platforms and short video platforms live streaming and selling goods are required to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of e-commerce platform operators in accordance with the provisions of the " E-Commerce Law ".
In Liu Xiaochun's view, live streaming sales can be regarded as a continuation of traditional e-commerce. The anchor uses his personal image to attract consumption desire and achieve the dual purpose of traffic monetization and commodity sales. This emerging sales model blurs the boundaries between merchants and individuals. There are still some imperfect areas in the development of the entire business model, and all sectors of society need to respond in a timely manner.
(Li Fei, Huang Xingxing, Li Liang and Xu Bin are pseudonyms in the article)
Beijing News reporter Jin Yilong
Edited by Liu Qian
Proofreading by Zhang Yanjun
1m11m11m11m111m111m11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
