In "The cost from 100 yuan to 1 million yuan, what exactly is a virtual person? In 》, we try to define virtual people and analyze the internal causes of virtual people's popularity. In essence, virtual humans are the natural result of human pursuit of better content and better experience, and are mixed with enthusiastic expectations for the metaverse. Although the virtual human industry is still in its early stages, it has attracted a considerable number of practitioners. In this article, we will further discuss what the current situation of the virtual human industry is? Who are the players? What is the business model?
At the end of 2021, with the popularity of concepts such as virtual humans and meta-universe, Liu Zhongli, the founder of Duodoule, decided to be a virtual human.
Doudoule is an anime MCN located in Malan Mountain, Changsha, Hunan. It has anime IP such as "My Name is Fang Xiaoguo" and "Be Mengpo from scratch". Liu Zhongli believes that the years of accumulation in the animation field of over 10 million IP fans on the entire network, coupled with the technical support of Huawei , is his confidence in being a virtual person.
takes Liu Yexi's popularity at the end of last year as a time node, and virtual human enterprises usher in a wave of growth. Qichacha data shows that in 2021, more than 1,000 newly registered related enterprises, an increase of 63.69% year-on-year. As of May this year, there are 3,834 companies involving virtual idols/virtual people.
"We have been paying attention to the virtual human industry since 2019. When we felt that the technical feasibility plan was completed last year, we decided to do it ourselves," said the Kumquat 2049 creative team.
virtual people are becoming the gold rush for many companies.
01 5 types of virtual people
Founder of Quantum Smith Star Wang Boxuan believes that the virtual people industry can be divided into three layers:
- The first layer is infrastructure layer
- The second layer is an interaction layer composed of wearable devices, software and hardware interaction systems
- The third layer is a content layer composed of virtual people and other carriers.
Picture source: Network
Infrastructure layer is more of a field of giants and geniuses, and is not suitable for most entrepreneurs. Therefore, there are currently two main categories of virtual human companies: one focuses on the interaction layer, focusing on technology development and application; the other focuses on the content layer, focusing on virtual human operations. In terms of
technology, according to different technical directions, the industry's virtual human companies currently have two main backgrounds.
1. Game animation film and television companies, such companies are strong in character modeling.
Just like most of the people behind Liu Yexi’s team are from film and television companies, compared with the virtual human companies that have just started, game animation film and television companies have obvious advantages in talent and technology accumulation. Many of the founding teams of virtual human companies such as Xuezhao Technology, Duodoule, and Jiguangmiao are from the field of game animation film and television. "yoyo Luming_Lumi" produced by
mhayou . Source: B station
Hunan Xiji Culture Technology Co., Ltd., where Chen Lingyu belongs, is an animation company located in Hunan. It has produced well-known animation works such as " Rainbow Cat Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes" and "Fighting Break the Sky". Thanks to its relationship with the entertainment industry, the other party occasionally uses its surplus production capacity to undertake some celebrity digital people business at the evening party.
"We used to help a party to create digital people for Huang Xiaoming ." Chen Lingyu believes that "makes 3D animations to drive racing , and virtual people to drive civilian cars, and there is a big gap in technology."
Even industry insiders said that virtual people are just a repackaging of backward technologies in the field of game animation film and television, and are technically incomparable.
2. Artificial intelligence , big data companies, such companies are strong in AI algorithms and AI drivers.
At the beginning of this year, blue cursor released virtual person Su Xiaomei , entering the virtual person market. This is inseparable from the support of Alibaba in big data.
The reason why Chuangjiang Technology can successfully carry out virtual human business is not only due to its own technical accumulation, but also part of the reason is the support of Baidu in artificial intelligence and other aspects. Liu Wei, founder of Chuangjiang Technology, revealed that his cooperation model with Baidu is that Chuangjiang Technology serves as product manager and front-end operation roles, while Baidu is responsible for platform construction and technical support. "Our virtual human technology comes from 100% from Baidu," added Liu Wei.In terms of
operation, according to different resources and purposes, the current virtual human companies in the industry mainly have four types of backgrounds:
1. Game animation film and television companies. The advantages of this type of company are IP copyright and content operation .
"The cost from 100 yuan to 1 million yuan, what exactly is a virtual person? 》 once mentioned that with the help of virtual human technology, well-known IPs such as Sun Wukong and Huluwa can become virtual humans and bring new value. Therefore, game animation film and television companies with a large number of IP copyrights have natural advantages in the virtual human industry.
Huace Film and Television Group President Fu Binxing mentioned in an interview with "Co-virtual" that an important layout direction of Huace in the future is to create virtual images, "forming the virtual image IP matrix of Huace Group represented by " Assassination of Novelists " and " Looking for Qin Ji ".
In addition, Xu Anyi can become a top virtual anchor on Douyin, which is inseparable from the CG industry background of the founder of Ji Guangmiao; A-SOUL can become a top virtual idol girl group in China, which is inseparable from the experience of Lehua in idol operation.
In essence, virtual people are also a kind of content. Content creativity and operation planning are the key to whether virtual people can succeed.
2. MCN Company, the advantage of this type of company is its grasp of traffic and content.
Just as Duodoule hopes to expand the IP value of Fang Xiaoguo through virtual people, Quantum Smith Star also hopes to use virtual people to expand business boundaries.
Wang Boxuan introduced that Quantum Sword Star was originally a video account MCN, but the problems existing in the live anchor made him decide to set up a new company and carry out virtual human business. "Live anchors not only have low work efficiency, but also have contract risks. They may just be successful incubation and the anchor will run away."
In fact, leading MCNs including Yaowang Network have tried to launch virtual people. Understanding the content and grasping traffic have made many MCNs believe that their own virtual people are more likely to stand out and become the next Liu Yexi.
Kong Xiang is the first virtual person launched by Yaowang Network. Source: Douyin
For MCN, virtual people are a new traffic entrance.
3. Live e-commerce companies, such companies use business needs to reverse the virtual human business.
Huawei AI was originally a face-scanning payment company, and once became the leader in the industry, but due to the epidemic and other reasons, the company had to consider transformation.
made Liu Wei decide to be a virtual host of goods. It was an e-commerce salon in Yiwu . This salon made him understand that traditional e-commerce companies are having a hard time living and hope to transform by live streaming, but they can’t find a suitable anchor when doing store broadcasts. Doing a broadcast is a loss to make money and gain publicity. They urgently need a good solution. Virtual hosts are one of the choices.
Chuangjiang Technology itself is a live broadcast company, operating more than 10 brand live broadcast rooms. During the cooperation with the brand, Liu Wei discovered the brand’s demand for hyperrealistic virtual people and hoped to transform into a virtual anchor service provider.
With the help of original resources, building teams, making products, and meeting the new needs of old customers is the basic logic of such companies.
4. Brand companies, such companies hope to build brand IP with virtual people.
Li Weike is essentially different from virtual people such as Liu Yexi and AYAYI.
LA.WK Li Weike Technology partner Li Tian introduced that LA.WK Li Weike Technology is essentially a smart hardware product company, and its main product is AI+AR glasses . The Li Weike AI family will eventually land in glasses to interact with users intelligently.
"Li Weike quickly gained a large number of fans after launching it, especially among young people. We hope to establish interaction and communication channels with Generation Z through Li Weike and establish a brand image of technological trends and coolness."
glasses are an important symbol of Li Weike. Source: Douyin
Of course, LA.WK Li Weike Technology has considerable technical strength in artificial intelligence and AI algorithms, and can be a virtual person by itself. But for more brand companies, finding third-party companies is a more realistic choice, such as Hua Xizi's virtual person Hua Xizi and Watsons' virtual person Watsons' virtual person.
It is worth noting that Wang Boxuan analyzed that has a background in a large company and its main business can support consumption or continue to raise funds is the basic premise of virtual people.
has a background in a large factory and is often easier to cross the technical threshold of virtual people. The high cost requires virtual people to be able to afford a certain amount of time to invest and trial and error. For example, the founder of LA.WK Li Weike Technology is a partner of the original Xiaomi TV and Tmall Ghost , and the company also received Byte Investment.
Recently, the copyright of the "Virtual Digital Human Application Platform" software of Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Douyin, was approved for registration. Since the beginning of this year, Kuaishou and Douyin have significantly accelerated their layout in virtual people.
In general, the background and resources are different, and the entry methods are different, but with the popularity of virtual people and meta-universe concepts, many companies are preparing to bet on virtual people.
02 The three major business directions of virtual people
Although it is a new industry, virtual people companies are sharpening their knives and are currently running some business directions.
1. Technical service provider
From the perspective of industry positioning, this type of company is more like selling water.
Some technology companies are mainly aimed at virtual human companies, and their core business is to provide technical implementation solutions for other virtual human companies. Take Mofa Technology as an example. Founder Chai Jinxiang is a PhD in artificial intelligence robotics at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. His vision for the company is to "build the infrastructure for the virtual world."
Some technology companies are mainly aimed at brand merchants, and their core business is to sell virtual human live broadcast software. takes Zhongke Shenzhi as an example. According to "New Voice Pro", its main products are virtual human live broadcast software such as "Chuangmengyi Auto Broadcast" and "Yun Xiaoqi".
The role assets that come with Chuangmengyi AutoBroadcast Software
Picture source: Xinsheng Pro
In fact, many virtual people companies have dual identities in technology and operation, customizing virtual people for brands and developing meta-universe platforms for related units is their important source of income.
Of course, just as only Douyin's plate is large enough that DP has enough room for development, technology companies are highly dependent on the development of the virtual human industry.
2. Content traffic service provider
From the perspective of industry positioning, the gameplay of this type of company is no different from that of traditional advertising companies, and the core is content creativity.
Just as the next culture incubated Ling, Ranmai Technology incubated AYAYI. With the help of traffic resources such as stars, as well as rich content and operational experience, this type of company is often better at incubating virtual people into fans and influential IPs, and then planning corresponding marketing and promotion plans for brand customers.
In essence, virtual people have become a new traffic entrance to "please" brand customers, eating the marketing budget of brand customers, and includes MCN companies, live e-commerce companies, etc., and they all take this path.
3. Solution Solutions
From the perspective of industry positioning, this type of company is between technology companies and content companies, and the core of is full-case service. Pang Bo, marketing director of Xuezhao Technology, introduced that Xuezhao Technology can help brand customers solve the entire process of virtual people production, incubation and operation.
"Many companies can only create virtual people, but we can also be responsible for the operation of the second half of the virtual people." Pang Bo said that by self-incubating virtual people and forming a virtual person live broadcast guild, Xuezhao Technology not only accumulates experience in incubating and operating virtual people, but also can direct traffic to customers' virtual people at low cost.
Snow Claw Technology's self-incubated virtual human gina. Source: Weibo
At this point, a virtual human company was announced to be born. What is waiting ahead is unknown cash.
03 7 ways to make money for virtual people
According to data from the Toubao Research Institute, the current virtual digital people market size has exceeded 200 billion yuan, and is expected to reach 270.3 billion yuan in 2030. So, how did this 200 billion yuan be created?
1. Live streaming and selling goods is one of the easiest virtual human application scenarios. There are currently two main ways to play on the market.
, a category of
, is represented by the face AI, which solves the needs of brand virtual anchors from scratch.
Merchants do not expect virtual anchors to achieve traffic diversion and conversion efficiency like live anchors. The core purpose is to complete the platform's 24-hour live broadcast requirements, strive for platform traffic support, and earn some conceptual dividends of virtual people. Therefore, simplicity and cheapness are the core requirements of merchants for virtual anchors.
For this reason, Huabang AI provides a set of virtual live broadcast software, with a simple version of 19,800 yuan/year and a luxury version of 39,800 yuan/year. With this software, merchants only need to select the virtual human template and enter relevant languages to start the virtual human live broadcast under the power of AI.
virtual human template for glossy AI. Source: Respondent
Liu Wei introduced that the cost of a flower-faced AI anchor can be controlled at dozens of yuan a day.
It should be noted that this type of virtual anchor is mostly used in traditional e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com. YBon Power once reported that JD.com implemented a whitelist system for virtual live broadcasts. As of May this year, the number of stores applied for broadcasting was about 400. However, content e-commerce platforms such as Douyin may determine such live broadcasts as screen-recorded videos and no longer distribute traffic.
, a category, is represented by Chuangjiang Technology, which solves the brand's marketing and sales needs.
brand hopes to use the perfect appearance and pioneering characteristics of virtual anchors to increase the brand story, and also hopes to replace increasingly expensive live anchors. Liu Wei introduced that the development cycle of Chuangjiang Technology anchors is 4-6 months, the cost is one million, the market price is 100,000 yuan per year, and the brand gets a super realistic virtual person that can be freely driven and secondary.
It should be noted that only big brands usually have budgets to purchase hyperrealistic virtual people, and only by using the most powerful people can the value of hyperrealistic virtual people be fully utilized.
2. Creating IP
IP virtual person may be the application scenario of virtual person with the highest commercial value.
Fan Shiyu, founder of Jiguangmiao, the operating company of Xu Anyi, believes that in theory, virtual people can be more money-making than real people. Judging from the ranking of the world's most valuable IPs, the top virtual IPs are Hello Kitty and other virtual IPs. Creating IP is also the most commonly mentioned word by major virtual human companies.
Source: Sohu
Currently, there are three main business models for IP virtual people:
first, virtualize well-known IP.
With the help of virtual human technology, well-known IPs such as Sun Wukong can be converted into virtual humans and release commercial value. Fan Shiyu mentioned that Jiguangmiao is creating real-time virtual human products for several well-known IPs with PGC video content as the main means of dissemination, helping customers continue to activate IP popularity and enhance fan stickiness in live broadcast scenarios. This business is a reuse of existing IP resources.
It is worth noting that there is no conclusion in the industry as to whether a well-known IP is suitable for virtual people. Xu Jiufeng, CEO of Fengyu Anime, believes that compared with the anime character Zombie Xiaoyu with strong plots and strong characters, the virtual human Hu Lili with weak worldview and strong characters is more suitable for live broadcast scenes.
Source: Douyin
"If the worldview and personality are determined to be dead, virtual people will not be able to jump away and interact with users."
Second, make virtual people into stars.
002, Hollywood released the movie " Simone ", which tells the story of a non-existent star Simone. Time has been put to the present, and Simone may become a reality.Li Tian believes that big movies are the best way to create IPs. From the perspective of character design and worldview creation, virtual people including Liu Yexi have been preparing for the creation of film and television IP.
Recently, a clip of a virtual actor audition for a director became a hot search on Weibo. The virtual man Chuncao amazed many netizens with his very smooth performance. It is reported that the operating company will launch the starring work of the same name "The Legend of Spring Grass".
From the perspective of business model, this type of virtual people is targeting real celebrities and eating the brand's marketing budget. For example, virtual people such as Liu Yexi, Axi, and Ling_LING have successively taken over brand endorsements such as vivo, Chery , and Bulgari .
Third, build virtual people into internet celebrities. IP virtual people like
have not that great "ambitions" and are mainly to earn traffic fees like Internet celebrities.Xiongge, director of Xigu Live E-commerce Group Research Institute, believes that because it mainly uses knowledge output and has little dependence on the people in it, it has strong replication, knowledge oral broadcast virtual people are one of the most realistic and most likely to be commercialized virtual people. Dr. Yu, a doctor launched by Quantum Smith Star, is a typical knowledge oral virtual person.
3. Creating a 2D virtual idol
2D virtual idol is currently the most active virtual human application scenario.
The common way to play 2D virtual idols is to earn fans rewards through live chats, stage performances, etc. Yuefu, founder of the virtual idol MCN witch company Project, said in an interview with "Blue Whale Muddy Waters" that its company's monthly turnover is about 1.5 million to 2 million yuan, more than half comes from live broadcast rewards, and the other part comes from original music and IP peripherals.
There are two keys to starting this business: 2D culture and Generation Z.
2D virtual idol cuts the cake of the 2D market, with strong circle attributes, so B site is currently the largest 2D virtual idol platform in China. Chairman of B station Chen Rui once revealed at the 12th anniversary celebration that a total of 32,412 virtual anchors have started broadcasting on B station in the past year.
Actor Cai Ming transformed into "Nanako" on B station and broadcast live as a virtual anchor. Source: The Internet
Z generation is the consumer group with the most loyal and consumption power of the second-dimensional virtual idol. "Virtual Digital Human In-depth Industry Report" shows that 50.6% of Z-Time users expressed their willingness to pay for virtual humans.
It is worth noting that Cheng Weizhong, the founder of Zhongke Shenzhi, said in an interview with "New Voice Pro" that Zhongke Shenzhi has not yet regarded 2D entertainment as its main target market, and the main market of 2D entertainment UP still needs to grow.
4. Creating virtual entertainment anchors
Virtual entertainment anchors are very similar to 2D virtual idols. However, the former is targeted by entertainment anchors such as PDD and Feng Timo , and the latter is targeted by traffic idols such as Yang Chaoyue and Liu Yu, and virtual entertainment anchors are not limited to the 2D and Z eras.
From the perspective of business model, virtual entertainment anchors are more like entertainment guilds, and they essentially make fun money. Xu Anyi, Kumquat 2049, Juju and Hu Lili are currently more popular virtual entertainment anchors.
Source: Douyin
Xu Jiufeng believes that the idea of operating virtual entertainment anchors and operating live anchors is the same. They both use game ideas to explore various live broadcast gameplay, constantly increasing freshness and interactivity to attract more users to participate.
He revealed that its virtual entertainment anchor Hu Lili has tried various monetization methods such as live broadcast rewards, IP peripherals, and digital collections. "Deducting the platform share, there is no big problem with the net income of Hu Lili's live broadcast rewards this year that exceeds 10 million."
It is worth noting that IP is the common expectation of virtual entertainment anchors and two-dimensional virtual idols. Fan Shiyu mentioned that Xu Anyi will try more content forms to adapt to market demand and platform ecology, and will not simply define it as an entertainment anchor.
Of course, IP cannot be made by spending money. In terms of creating IP, the difficulty of virtual people is not less than that of real people. There is currently no real virtual human IP in the industry.
5. Making digital clone
Digital people rely more on real people, so there are two business models.
Star digital people are essentially reuse of celebrity traffic. At present, there are two main usage scenarios in this business: one is to use digital people as an extension of celebrity business capabilities, as endorsements and selling goods. For example, the digital people of Gong Jun and Yi Yang Qianxi have received endorsement cooperation; the other is to use digital people as part of the stage performance, such as the cooperation between digital people " Teresa Teng " and Zhoushen .
As for ordinary digital people, as the current production cost remains high, it is more used by entrepreneurs to sell goods, hold meetings, and tell stories.
Entrepreneur digital person made by Huawei AI
Many practitioners believe that as the costs in all aspects decrease, private custom digital clones will be an imaginative business.
6. Production of service-oriented virtual person
Many practitioners believe that service-oriented virtual persons that are suitable for different application scenarios will soon usher in a big explosion. With the popularity of concepts such as virtual people and meta-universe, virtual employees and virtual waiters are planned to be customized in fields such as culture, tourism, education, and finance.
has strong payment ability, low intelligence requirements, high industry barriers, and many expansion gameplay, which has made many virtual companies look at this cake.
It should be noted that the business prospects of this business depend on the continuous increase in labor costs, the continuous standardization of service scenarios, and the continuous improvement of virtual human intelligence. At the same time, because it is facing the B-end market, this business is very closed and relies heavily on the practitioner's connections or market development capabilities.
7. Telling capital stories
In the eyes of a considerable number of companies, making money is not the main task now. Using virtual humans as the incision, building a meta-universe platform and layout Web3.0 is the opportunity to truly make a lot of money. In addition to the virtual human business, another important business of Xuezha Technology is to help brands build the meta-universe virtual community.
Last year, Tianxiaxiu released a concept promotional video for the 3D virtual social platform "Honnverse Rainbow Universe". The next day, the stock hit the daily limit. For many companies, the greater value of virtual people lies in enriching the company's meta-universe concept.
The virtual human in the rainbow universe is similar to the QQ show. Source: Video number
depicts beautiful scenes in the future and leverages the attention of the capital market. It is also one of the ways for virtual people to make money. Overall, virtual people have explored quite a variety of monetization methods. Liu Wei revealed that all the virtual human projects of Huabian AI have achieved profitability. Lehua submitted an prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, saying that in 2020, the Pan-Entertainment revenue of Lehua Entertainment related to virtual artists was 21.1 million yuan, which increased to 37.9 million yuan in 2021, and the growth of the Pan-Entertainment business revenue mainly comes from A-SOUL.
"As far as I know, most virtual people companies make money," said Pang Bo.
A careful study will reveal that the first four ways of monetization for virtual people are more about using virtual people to replace the existing business model, while the last three ways of monetization rely on the technological progress and future development of virtual people, and rely more on the conceptual dividends of virtual people.
Are virtual people more efficient and attractive than live streaming anchors, celebrity idols, and entertainment internet celebrities? Will the metaverse become the next generation of the Internet? These questions are yet to be verified. Taking the digital clone business as an example, taking the current user experience of meta-universe platforms such as Meta and Xirang , it is hard to imagine that they can leverage users' digital clone needs. Although
has various monetization methods, as a new thing with technical barriers and low production costs, virtual people seem to have not yet explored a sexy and unique business model for virtual people.
04 Conclusion
Chen Yan, the founder of the Second World Culture, believed in an interview with "all-weather technology", that "now 90% of companies or products on the virtual track are in the early stage or 0.5 stage."
In essence, A new thing with imagination never relies on supplementing traditional business or satisfying market curiosity, but on being able to discover and solve people's real demands and create a new and more efficient business model.
Most virtual people are just a beautiful picture. Most virtual people have not created real value yet. Many people have not yet figured out what the future of virtual people is. is the objective status of the virtual people industry.
"The virtual human industry is still in a stage of blowing bubbles, but it has passed its peak point and is slowly cooling down," Liu Wei believes.
cooling down will be the main theme of the virtual human industry in the future.
So, what difficulties will the virtual human industry face? How should we view this industry?
Author: Yun Feiyang; Editor: Zhang Jie; Proofreading: Truffle
Source public account: Xinbang (ID: newrankcn), focusing on observation and reporting in the Internet content field, caring about people and things related to the content industry.
This article is authorized by the cooperative media of Renren Product Manager @Xinbang. Reproduction is prohibited without permission.
question picture is from Unsplash and is based on the CC0 protocol.
The views in this article only represent the author himself, , are both product managers and only provide information storage space services.
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