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“兔头学姐张铁根”中腰部UP主“恰饭”难
2024年4月22日，微博博主“兔头学姐张铁根”透露称，接下来针对“LGBT”“女拳”，以及具有“激化矛盾，撕裂社会，制造对立，鼓吹享乐，拒绝责任”等特点的舆论，将摆脱以往的封号禁言等管理模式，进一步追究刑事和民事责任。
2023年4月11月
文|《中国企业家》记者 胡楠楠
“团队3个人刷着信用卡交房租。我们还算是垂直领域的头部（创作者），都不能养活团队。”兔头学姐张铁根（以下简称“铁根”）告诉《中国企业家》。
2019年，铁根开始在运营账号更新视频。团队目前有三个人，在B站一共运营了三个账号，大号粉丝200多万，两个小号粉丝40多万。尽管已经可以靠广告“恰饭”，但不稳定的商单还是让团队面临入不敷出的局面。“去年过年前几个月，都没有接到一单广告。”铁根说道。
铁根也向《中国企业家》表示，断更潮是夸大的行为。“但存在有一些全职UP主出现经营困难做不下去的情况，这里有（UP主）自身经营的问题，也有平台运营的原因。”
铁根表示，平台对老UP主的打压很明显，现在的推荐机制不利于社区生态发展，同时也有过被B站平台撬单的经历。
而以短视频为主的流量推荐机制，则进一步挤压了老UP主的商业价值。这直接体现在账号数据上。“我们100万粉丝的时候，一期视频播放量在50多万。现在200万粉丝了，一期视频播放量30多万。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
在铁根看来，如今在B站，接商单确实越来越难了。2022年年底，临近过年，铁根团队一直没接到商单。这一状态持续到过年后才有所好转，接了两个商单。
据铁根介绍，B站的大广告主，主要聚焦在一些特定公司，基本就是电商和游戏两大块，比如、率土之滨、坦克世界，但这些公司基本也就找头部有影响力的UP主。
“粉丝数50多万的中部UP主，只能接一些电动牙刷、按摩枕等小厂产品，一单也就1万多元，而且非常不稳定，有时候一个月有两单，有时候几个月都没有一单。中腰部UP主如果是全职单人的话还可以，如果是工作室那基本上很难维持。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
由于高质量的长视频本身制作周期长，时间和人力成本，是硬性投入。“做一期视频，算上房租、水电及人力，成本大约3万元。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
由于是B站的签约UP主，铁根团队目前每月的签约费2万元，加上流量分成1万元左右，加起来刚好覆盖一期视频的成本。
这就意味着接不到商单的话，做一期视频纯粹是“用爱发电”。
而接单和视频产量有直接关系。“一个月最多做2~3期视频，只能接1单广告。你不能每个视频都是广告。”铁根表示。
铁根团队的商业化，算是比较快的。从2019年开始，到账号粉丝做到50万，团队只用了几个月，然后就开始接广告。
最初，一单广告报价是2万多元，如今，铁根团队大号报价1单15万元。B站的广告报价和粉丝量有直接关系。“粉丝数除以15就是你的账号广告报价。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
不过，随着B站推荐机制的调整，铁根账号视频的播放量受到了很大影响。2021年，铁根的账号粉丝量从100万涨到200万，但播放量却从50多万降到30多万。粉丝增长了，但播放量却不如以前了。
推荐机制的改变直接影响了铁根团队账号的商业价值。“现在商单越来越少，以前是我们挑商单，现在是商单挑我们。”铁根表示，“因为你的粉丝影响力直接体现在数据上。”
由于和B站签了独家，目前铁根账号内容只能发在B站。不过铁根也表示，“今年（独家合同）到期我们会考虑多平台发展。”
铁根向《中国企业家》列举了几个B站的运营问题。
首先是短视频的“入侵”对高质量、长视频内容的冲击。铁根认为这改变了B站的生态。“这两年B站力推短视频，让本身传播性差、制作周期长的UP主在面对制作周期短、传播性强的短视频制作公司面前，彻底丧失竞争性。”铁根表示。
为推短视频而指定的新推荐机制，则让铁根觉得，作为B站发展根基的社区文化正在丧失。
新的推荐机制下，视频是否被B站推荐主要看完播率、投币、点赞、收藏等互动指标，而完播率又占很大权重。“2分钟的视频和20分钟的视频，肯定是时间短的完播率更高。”铁根称。
新的推荐机制下，在首页刷不到你关注的UP主了，甚至是同类型的视频很久都刷不到。“以前你关注某个UP主，他的更新你会第一时间收到，并展示在首页。现在你就算关注了UP主，他更新了只会在关注的页面上出现一个红点，首页更是经常刷了很久都找不到一个关注的UP主视频或者同类型的视频，基本都是平台想要扶持或者根据算法推送的短视频。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
铁根举了个例子，比如，以前桌游区的一些UP主，他们的主要收入就是桌游推荐，但现在桌游公司也不会找他们了，因为找了没用，观众看不到，社区也不存在。
在铁根看来，此后，B站出现了一种“诡异”的防御性运营策略。“因为担心UP主做大后被挖走，所以会在UP主发展期签约独家或者首发，然后根据签约的属性不同，做不同程度的推荐。但当（你的粉丝量）到达100万左右的时候，就会开始限制其曝光和推荐，也会有意破坏UP主在同类型社区的影响力，防止出现做大后跳槽带来的破坏，也防止头部UP主垄断资源，新UP主无法出头的情况。”铁根告诉《中国企业家》。
这些运营的问题，在铁根看来，对B站社区文化建设都是毁灭性的。
在铁根看来，头部UP主是破圈用的，一般内容质量都比较高，哪怕不是垂直领域的用户都可能喜欢他们的作品，中部UP主是主要垂直领域的内容创作者，用来丰富领域内容的，避免用户流失。
英文翻译
“Student Rabbit Head Zhang Tiegen” has a difficult time with her waist up.
On April 22, 2024, the Weibo blogger “Tutou Senior Sister Zhang Tiegen” revealed that the next target would be “LGBT” and “female boxing”, as well as those with the characteristics of “intensifying conflicts, tearing society apart, creating antagonism, advocating enjoyment, and refusing responsibility” “Public opinions with characteristics such as “banning accounts and banning comments” will get rid of the previous management models such as banning accounts and further pursuing criminal and civil responsibilities.
April 11, 2023
Text | “Chinese Entrepreneur” reporter Hu Nannan
“The three members of the team pay rent with their credit cards. We are still the leaders (creators) in the vertical field, but we cannot support the team.” Zhang Tiegen (hereinafter referred to as “Tiegen”), a senior student at Tutou, told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
In 2019, Tiegen began to update videos on his operating account. There are currently three people in the team, and they operate a total of three accounts on Station B. The large account has more than 2 million fans, and the two small accounts have more than 400,000 fans. Although they can rely on advertising to make ends meet, the unstable business orders still make the team unable to make ends meet. “In the first few months of the Chinese New Year last year, I didn’t receive a single advertisement,” Tiegen said.
Tiegen also told “Chinese Entrepreneur” that the discontinuation of updates is an exaggeration. “However, there are some full-time UP owners who have difficulties in operating and cannot continue. There are problems with (the UP owners’) own operations, as well as reasons for platform operations.”
Tiegen said that the platform’s suppression of old UP owners is obvious. The current recommendation mechanism is not conducive to the development of community ecology. At the same time, he has also experienced being exploited by the Bilibili platform.
The traffic recommendation mechanism based on short videos has further squeezed the commercial value of old UP owners. This is directly reflected in the account data. “When we had 1 million fans, one video had more than 500,000 views. Now we have 2 million fans, and one video has more than 300,000 views.” Tiegen told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
In Tiegen’s view, it is indeed becoming more and more difficult to receive business orders at Station B. At the end of 2022, as the Chinese New Year was approaching, the Tiegen team had not received any business orders. This situation lasted until after the Chinese New Year, when it improved and I received two business orders.
According to Tiegen, the big advertisers at Station B mainly focus on some specific companies, which are basically e-commerce and games, such as Land of the Earth and World of Tanks. However, these companies basically only seek influence from the top. Powerful UP master.
“The central UP owner with more than 500,000 fans can only accept products from small manufacturers such as electric toothbrushes and massage pillows. Each order only costs more than 10,000 yuan, and it is very unstable. Sometimes there are two orders a month, sometimes several There hasn’t been a single order for a month. It’s okay if you’re a full-time single person, but if you’re a studio, it’s basically difficult to maintain,” Tiegen told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
Due to the long production cycle of high-quality long videos, time and labor costs are hard investments. “The cost of making one video, including rent, water, electricity and manpower, is about 30,000 yuan.” Tiegen told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
Since they are the UP owners of Station B, the Tiegen team currently earns a monthly signing fee of 20,000 yuan, plus traffic sharing of about 10,000 yuan, which in total just covers the cost of one video.
This means that if you can’t receive business orders, making a video is purely “generating electricity with love”.
There is a direct relationship between order taking and video output. “You can only make 2 to 3 videos a month, and you can only receive one advertisement. You can’t make every video an advertisement,” Tiegen said.
The commercialization of the Tiegen team is relatively fast. Starting in 2019, it only took the team a few months to reach 500,000 followers on the account, and then they started accepting ads.
Initially, the quotation for one advertising order was more than 20,000 yuan. Now, the Tiegen team’s quotation for a large advertisement is 150,000 yuan. The advertising quotation of station B is directly related to the number of fans. “The number of fans divided by 15 is your account advertising quotation.” Tiegen told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
However, with the adjustment of the recommendation mechanism of Bilibili, the playback volume of Tiegen account videos has been greatly affected. In 2021, Tiegen’s account number of fans increased from 1 million to 2 million, but the number of views dropped from more than 500,000 to more than 300,000. The number of fans has increased, but the number of views is not what it used to be.
The change in the recommendation mechanism directly affects the commercial value of the Tiegen team account. “Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer business orders. We used to pick the business orders, but now the business orders pick us.” Tiegen said, “Because the influence of your fans is directly reflected in the data.”
Due to the exclusive contract with Station B, the content of Tiegen’s account can only be posted on Station B at present. However, Tiegen also said, “We will consider multi-platform development when (the exclusive contract) expires this year.”
Tiegen listed several operational problems of Bilibili to “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
The first is the impact of the “invasion” of short videos on high-quality and long-form video content. Tiegen believes that this has changed the ecology of Bilibili. “In the past two years, Station B has been promoting short videos, which has made UP owners with poor dissemination and long production cycles completely lose their competitiveness in the face of short video production companies with short production cycles and strong dissemination,” Tiegen said.
The new recommendation mechanism designated for promoting short videos makes Tiegen feel that the community culture that is the foundation of Bilibili’s development is being lost.
Under the new recommendation mechanism, whether a video is recommended by Station B mainly depends on interactive indicators such as completion rate, coin input, likes, and collections, and the completion rate accounts for a large weight. “Between 2-minute videos and 20-minute videos, the shorter one will definitely have a higher completion rate,” Tiegen said.
Under the new recommendation mechanism, the UP owners you follow can no longer be viewed on the homepage, and even videos of the same type cannot be viewed for a long time. “In the past, if you followed a certain UP owner, you would receive his updates as soon as possible and display them on the homepage. Now even if you follow an UP owner, when he updates, a red dot will only appear on the page you are following, and the homepage will be updated. I often browse for a long time but can’t find a UP main video or a video of the same type. They are basically short videos that the platform wants to support or push based on algorithms,” Tiegen told China Entrepreneur.
Tiegen gave an example. For example, in the past, some UP owners in the board game area made their main income from recommending board games, but now board game companies will not look for them because it is useless and the audience cannot see it. Community doesn’t exist either.
In Tiegen’s view, since then, a “weird” defensive operating strategy has emerged at Station B. “Because I’m worried about being poached by UP owners after they become big, I will sign an exclusive or first-run contract during the development period of UP owners, and then make different levels of recommendations based on the attributes of the contract. But when (your number of fans) reaches about 1 million When the time comes, they will start to limit their exposure and recommendation, and will also intentionally destroy the influence of UP owners in the same type of communities, prevent the damage caused by job-hopping after becoming bigger, and also prevent the top UP owners from monopolizing resources, and new UP owners will not be able to get ahead. situation.” Tiegen told “Chinese Entrepreneur”.
In Tiegen’s view, these operational problems are devastating to the community culture construction of Station B.
In Tiegen’s view, the top UP owners are used to break out of the circle. Generally, the content quality is relatively high. Even users in non-vertical fields may like their works. The middle UP owners are content creators in major vertical fields. They are used to Enrich domain content to avoid user loss.