In the video, the blogger used tweezers to pick up the cotton wool. The pulling sound when the cotton wool was separated was amplified by the radio equipment and became extremely clear, as if the foreign object in his ear was also removed from the ear.

On an ordinary weekday night, I habitually clicked on the homepage of a sleep-aid blogger I often read. In the

video, the blogger uses tweezers to pick up the cotton wool. The pulling sound of the cotton wool as it separates is amplified by the radio equipment and becomes extremely clear, as if the foreign object in his ear is also being taken out of the ear.

Along with the "rustling" sound coming from the headphones, I felt a numbness in my scalp, like an electric current flowing through my body, and the fatigue from work was swept away.

Search "sleep aid" on Xiaohongshu, and there are over 150,000 notes. One of the most liked posts was a video simulating ear picking.

This kind of sleep-aid sound effect that seems to bring an "ear-picking" experience usually comes from the anchor using a microphone and various tools to simulate regular trigger sounds, such as "knocking on the microphone"-hitting the microphone with different objects, using The brush sweeps the microphone back and forth; or "licking" - using food to guide the cat to lick the microphone to create a unique sound effect.

Another example is the "oral sounds" such as soft blowing and chewing, the sound of fingernails tapping on props, the friction of wrapping paper, the sounds of tools used in meditation such as bowls and tuning forks...anything. Any unexpected sound may become a panacea to soothe your nerves.

According to China Sleep Research Association data, with young people born in the 90s and 00s as the main force, there are currently .3 billion people in China suffering from sleep disorders . In terms of time, nearly /3 people have insomnia and cannot fall asleep until one o'clock in the morning.

If there is demand, there will be a market. On Douyin, the topic of "sleep aid" alone has plays of 29.28 billion times.

According to Xinkuai data (Kuaishou data platform under New Rank https://xk.newrank.cn/data/), in the past 30 days, "sleep aid" related videos have an average of 23.988 million views per day, and a total of 2.12 billion html views. times .

More than 10 billion sleep-aid contents have been viewed on the entire Internet, which undoubtedly reflects that there are not a few young people who suffer from insomnia, and these contents may become the last straw they can grasp every late night when they are unable to sleep.

From a content creation perspective, what are the forms of sleep aid content? What’s the highlight? Can you make money by helping people sleep better? This article attempts to help you understand the process.

What are the millions of netizens who have insomnia late at night watching?

Among the sleep-aid videos, the most common video type is to record the trigger sound produced by touching various props.

In addition to "no sound" videos that create trigger sounds, another popular form of sleep aid is scene simulation video . In this type of video, the blogger will preset a scene such as an ear-picking experience center, a nail salon, a shampoo shop, a dental clinic, or a bookstore, and assume the role of the "store manager", and you will come to seek it. Relaxed customers.

"Chunyun Sleep" (hereinafter referred to as "Chunyun"), a sleep aid blogger with 2.07 million fans across the Internet, told the new list that before he released his first scene simulation video, the average number of likes for Douyin videos Rarely exceeds 10,000. However, the video series " Northeastern dialect simulates black-hearted plastic surgery hospital" received more than 300,000 likes as soon as it was released. In the

video, "Chun Yun" transforms into a "black-hearted plastic surgeon" and performs beauty treatments for "customers" while speaking unauthentic Northeastern dialect.

Under the gentle guidance of the sleep aid blogger, you may be doing moxibustion one second, and teleporting to a teahouse to taste tea the next second, switching between multiple scenes. If you are willing, you can also "walk into the classroom and listen to the explanation of a major college entrance examination mathematics question", and the hypnotic effect is unparalleled.

Douyin's "Little Yellow Hat Loves Sleeping" scene simulation video

Compared with ordinary sleep aid videos, sleep aid live broadcast rooms are widely favored for their strong companionship. .

You never know how hard those sleep aid bloggers work to make you fall asleep. Starting at around 10 o'clock every night, search for "sleep aid" on platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, and a variety show will be staged before your eyes.

For example, some people use live streaming to wash their hair and help them sleep.

The rustling sound caused by the friction between foam and hair can also be heard by insomnia patients as "like listening to fairy music, and the ears are temporarily bright".

There are also bloggers who work hard on visual effects, wearing different luminous masks every night, attracting countless curious viewers to click into the live broadcast room.

The blogger sits in front of the camera and chats with the audience. This is probably the most common form of live broadcast to aid sleep. Fans can reward their favorite sound effects on demand through gifts.

Some types of sound effects that can be requested by listeners in the sleep-aid live broadcast

These anchors start the broadcast on time every day, and it often lasts for several hours until dawn. Even netizens couldn't help but sigh, are you touched that this young lady sacrificed her own sleep time to hypnotize you?

has a low threshold and fast realization. What are the prospects for the sleep aid track?

The threshold for making sleep aid videos is not high.

Take the "Chun Yun" mentioned above as an example. Her previous main job was a graphic designer, and being a sleep aid blogger was only a side job. She updated her account by herself, and she could maintain updates every two or three days. frequency. A video takes anywhere from two to five days from writing the script to shooting and editing.

In terms of expenditure, Xiaohongshu blogger "Zhizhi Mianzhi" (hereinafter referred to as "Zhizhi") said that he invested about 10,000 to operate his account from zero to nearly 100,000 fans. Mainly spent on purchasing hardware equipment such as microphones, cameras and sound cards.

In order to ensure the texture and clarity of the sound, binaural microphones are the most common sound-collecting equipment used in sleep-aid videos. The price on Taobao ranges from 2,000 to 5,000. This microphone uses a unique "two-way stereo recording" to allow the listener to hear the sounds up close and personal, as if they were there, even though they are separated from the screen.

According to observations, there are currently three main ways to monetize sleep aid bloggers.

The first is the incentive plan of major platforms, such as Xigua Video and Douyin’s Medium Video Plan, Bilibili’s Creator Plan, and Kuaishou’s Photocooperator Plan. Depending on the amount of playback and interaction, it will be converted into corresponding benefits.

The second is the live broadcast room . "Chun Yun" with 1.3 million Kuaishou fans told the new list that he broadcasts about ten to fifteen times a month and earns nearly 10,000 yuan in gift income. In addition to rewards, some bloggers will join MCN organizations or live streaming unions to get extra rebates.

Douyin showcase and Kuaishou Little Yellow Car can also bring some revenue. When viewers enter the Kuaishou platform to purchase goods, the blogger will receive a certain percentage of commission.

"Chun Yun"'s Douyin display window and Kuaishou Little Yellow Car interface

"But I won't explain the products specifically. Generally, before the broadcast, I will tell you that if you can't sleep, you can go to the Little Yellow Car and have a look. It is more Buddhist-like." "Chun Yun" "Replenish.

The third is business orders and advertising .

"Chun Yun" said that she initially received mostly business orders from Kuaishou, but recently the number of business orders has begun to tilt towards , Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. She has a small agreement with fans - videos with subtitles are basically advertisements.

According to Xinhong Data (the homepage of the Xiaohongshu data platform under Xinbang - https://xh.newrank.cn/data/), the average quote for a business order from a sleep aid blogger with tens of thousands of fans is 2,000. Ranging from 5,000 to .

"Gardenia" said that she receives an average of two or three business orders a month, and the products are mostly cosmetics, snacks, and sleep aids such as melatonin.

Some sleep aid bloggers also sell exclusive ASMR audio on the platform "Ai Power Generation", and fans can pay a monthly fee to listen to it. Take the UP owner "Gege Dreamer" as an example. He can earn nearly RMB 70,000 per month through "fan power generation".

According to iiMedia Consulting data, the number of online audio users in China has reached 570 million in 2020 , and this number is still growing. These users may actually become potential users of ASMR, and sleep-aid videos are also taking advantage of it. Economical outlet for upper ears.

However, "Zhizhi" also admitted frankly that the development prospects of sleep aid content are not optimistic. Compared with other types of bloggers, sleep aid bloggers can accept fewer types of business orders, and their fans increase more slowly.

On the one hand, sleep aids are still a niche in China. In addition, the soft pornographic sidelines also make sleep aid content more likely to be restricted.

Since some sleep-aid content needs to be completed by blowing and chewing sounds or simulating sleep, a slight deviation may lead to a minefield.

As early as 2018, "sleep aid" related content on Douyu , Huya , Bilibili, NetEase Cloud and other platforms were removed from the shelves on a large scale due to alleged borderline soft porn and other issues.

Source: Beijing News

In September last year, Litchi App was also interviewed for issues such as "provocative sleeping aid content and multiple sleep aid anchors luring and selling vulgar pornographic audio and video."

Currently, searching for the keyword "ASMR" on site B will display a blank page. When searching for "sleep aid", most of the videos that appear are , pure music, , rain sound effects, etc. It can be seen that the platform is also controlling and governing.

The page that appears when searching for "sleep aid" on Site B before and after the rectification

In order to avoid side effects, "Gardenia" will choose female-oriented topics in content creation, such as immersive makeup, jewelry store scene simulation, etc. At the same time, you will also pay special attention to your dress and tone of voice.

"I have been doing sleep aid live streaming for more than two years. Everyone jokingly calls me the 'head' anchor because I only show my head in the video. When ASMR is mentioned, the public will associate it with soft porn. , how to make people take sleep aid seriously? Rong's blogger proudly tells his relatives and friends about his career? "In the opinion of "Chun Yun", "the proliferation of soft porn will shorten the life of this industry."

sleep aid content can really help. Helps you sleep? The reason why

sleep aid content has such a large traffic is that it can indeed alleviate the troubles of falling asleep for people with insomnia. The Baidu Encyclopedia entry for

ASMR mentions that the famous foreign neurologist Michael Yasinski believes that the mechanism of ASMR is similar to meditation. By listening to some regular sounds, people can concentrate on relaxing their body and mind , the part of the brain responsible for tension and anxiety. It will also be temporarily closed.

Douyin "Asmr for Sleep" topic introduction

"At first, I liked watching ASMR, and then I tried to post my favorite sounds online. When you find someone who likes these niche sounds as much as you do, you will feel a little happy. " "Chun Yun" shared.

Although there are also issues that make her anxious, such as the damage to health caused by sleep-aid live streaming. "There was an abnormally high liver indicator during the previous physical examination. After that, I immediately stopped live broadcasting and took liver protection tablets for two weeks before the indicator finally dropped."

Sometimes I also receive malicious private messages, which are abusive. The reasons were all kinds of strange - some were scolded for speaking so quietly, while others were scolded for speaking at all.

comes more from the anxiety of creating content. "Every day your mood is linked to the data of your work. If the data is good, you will be happy, but you will also be anxious whether the data of the next video will be so good."

But it is undeniable that, with sleep aid content as a link, both fans and bloggers have gained an irreplaceable emotional experience.

"Fans often share their daily life with me in private messages, saying that they often have insomnia, but they sleep very soundly after watching my videos. Whenever this happens, they feel that what they do is meaningful." "Gardenia Gardenia" said.

Some fans also confided to "Chun Yun" that they would come to her live broadcast room when they couldn't sleep or were stressed, and fell asleep while watching. When they woke up, their phones were still bright and hot.

" I think sleep aid bloggers and fans are a two-way achievement ," "Chun Yun" said, "They gain companionship and peaceful sleep, and I gain satisfaction."