Ying Universe: Who said that Internet companies must have 'burned money'?

Every editor: Tang Yuan

Analyze the new layout of cultural and creative enterprises. Today, we bring you an observation of the universe.

Industry status: The track is more diverse and more vertical

China's online live broadcast industry started in 2005, ushered in an explosion in 2016, and entered an overall mature period in 2019. Stimulated by the epidemic, the live broadcast economy has been deeply integrated with various fields of society, and live broadcast e-commerce has advanced rapidly and entered the era of trillions of yuan.

As the market matures, China's live broadcast users have grown significantly. By the end of 2021, there are 700 million domestic online live broadcast users, and the penetration rate of netizens has exceeded 68%. According to iResearch, the domestic live broadcast market will exceed 220 billion yuan in 2021.

The live broadcast content has penetrated from a single live show to e-commerce, education, culture and sports, social networking, finance and other fields. Some subdivided tracks, such as e-commerce live broadcasts, have experienced explosive growth. China Business Industry Research Institute predicts that the scale of China's e-commerce live broadcast market will further increase to 1,507.3 billion yuan in 2022.

Company Profile: From Yingke to Ying Universe

Ying Universe (original name: Yingke, officially changed its name on June 15, 2022) belongs to Beijing Millywood Network Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in March 2015. The company is headquartered in Chaoyang District, Beijing. In May 2015, the core product Inke Live was launched, creating a new era of domestic mobile live broadcast.

In 2018, Ying Universe was listed in Hong Kong, becoming the first stock of entertainment live broadcast on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At present, the group has subsidiaries in Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou, Haikou and Hong Kong, with a total of more than 3,000 employees.

With the development strategy of "matrix products", Inke has incubated a number of phenomenal audio and video social products, including the online dating product "Duiyuan" and the interest social product "Jimu", etc., and has been ranked among the top 100 Internet companies for two consecutive years.

On June 15, 2022, Inke officially changed its name to Ying Universe, hoping to create a seamless sense of interaction between offline people and people in the metaverse through new products.

The picture "inkeverse reflects the universe" public account

Growth Logic: "Small and Beautiful" Matrix

Ying Universe first started with the product "Yingke APP". It is a pioneer in the live broadcast industry and has established a wide range of awareness among users. In 2019, it began to deploy diversified products and entered the field of social networking and blind date. Now it is in the leading position of the above-mentioned subdivisions, and gradually established the prototype of the full-scene social platform matrix. Its development has roughly gone through the following three periods:

(1) The start-up period. In May 2015, the "Inke Live" App launched related business, attracting more than 1 million registered users in November of the same year.

(2) Deep cultivation period. Continuously polish vertical products, open multiple channels such as music, radio, friends, outdoor, secondary yuan, e-commerce, etc., and take the lead in the Chinese live broadcast industry to open the "live broadcast + variety show" and "live broadcast + mini-drama" model. Effectively expand the user base. At the end of 2016, there were nearly 150 million registered users, 30 million monthly active users, and 30 million anchors. In 2017, the number of registered users reached 195 million; it was successfully listed in 2018.

(3) Matrix period. In order to cope with the market impact, Inke clarified the development strategy of "interactive entertainment + social networking" in 2019, developed social networking with strangers, acquired the social product "Jimu" of the Z generation, etc., and continuously enriched the product matrix. Its video blind date product "Duiyuan", Located in the first echelon of the track.

Picture "Yingke" public account

From the perspective of development, Ying Universe is the only company in China's Internet companies that has not "burned money", and has been profitable since its first year. The underlying business logic of Ying Universe is that the products are made "small and beautiful", which can complete the business closed loop and support the sustainable development of the company with stable cash flow and profits.

From live broadcast to social networking, to the creation of blind date products, Ying Universe accurately grasps the needs of users. "It does not always pursue the first in scale, but pursues the benign and healthy development of the team in this process."

With the help of the language system, social mode and business logic of many "small but beautiful" products to form a matrix, it is the core competitiveness of Ying Universe.

Picture "Yingke" public account

Status of live broadcast industry in Chengdu: more than 1,000 companies and perfect policies

Chengdu is a well-known Internet celebrity check-in place in the country. Chengdu people are tolerant and innovative. They like to pursue new things and are willing to try, which has laid a market foundation for the development and prosperity of the live broadcast industry. Whether it is a traditional enterprise in Chengdu or an Internet enterprise, in recent years, they have increased their live broadcast business layout.

Data shows that as of November 3, 2021, there were more than 1,648 live broadcast e-commerce-related companies in Sichuan Province, of which more than 1,000 were in Chengdu, accounting for more than 60%.

Chengdu also has a sound support policy. For example, Wuhou District provides one-time incentives ranging from 200,000 yuan to 1 million yuan for MCN institutions with a registered capital of more than 10 million yuan, and enjoys preferential policies in terms of taxation and infrastructure support.

Development suggestion: focus on verticality, build emotion, attract talents

Based on the analysis of Ying Universe's growth path, the live broadcast industry can build capacity from the following aspects:

(1) Identify the advantageous track and deeply cultivate the vertical field

Whether it is a Chengdu company that is just starting out or a local company seeking further development, it is necessary to have a clear and definite market positioning in the choice of live broadcast track. The live broadcast content should not be large and comprehensive. Refine and summarize, and realize the development and operation of follow-up products.

Based on the case analysis of Ying Universe in the field of blind date, based on the sharp drop in the birth rate in China, the change in the concept of marriage after the 1990s and 2000s, and the asymmetric social information, the current situation of the younger group's life circle is further tightened. Start with the pain points of the object, use Internet tools, and use online video to accelerate users' understanding of each other, quickly filter and match, and improve the probability of successful offline dating. This is the main logic of Ying Universe's establishment of related businesses after launching the blind date track, and successfully opened up a new field in the blind date market.

Live broadcast companies can start from subdivided tracks and use Internet tools and platforms to find market pain points in an efficient and low-cost way, solve user needs, and facilitate user experience, thereby enhancing their core competitiveness.

(2) Establish emotional connection and enhance user stickiness

The heating up of the industry has set off a wave of national live broadcasts. If Chengdu live broadcast companies want to take advantage of the momentum to develop, they need to deepen the emotional bond with users.

On the one hand, it strengthens the emotional connection between the audience and the anchor. Using background data, analyze the user participation of the anchor's live broadcast topic, strengthen the communication of fans' preferences, and plan and guide new live broadcast topics.

On the other hand, it strengthens the emotional connection between the audience and the audience. Expand the interaction of fans, strengthen the activity in the live broadcast room, and continue to improve user stickiness, so as to obtain higher realizable value.

(3) Improve the live broadcast base and recruit high-end talents

The "2021 Live Broadcast Industry Talent Report" shows that the demand for live broadcast talent recruitment is mainly concentrated in new first-tier and second-tier cities, and the number of positions in the two accounts for 36.73% and 23.44%, respectively, higher than 21.39% in first-tier cities. The number of jobs in southern cities accounted for 59.04%, significantly higher than 40.96% in the north. It is worth mentioning that Chengdu, known as the "fifth largest city of Internet celebrities", also ranks in the top five in terms of job demand.

High-quality live broadcasts and leading anchors can attract more users to stay. Chengdu live broadcast companies need to further improve the construction of live broadcast bases, provide better environmental support, and achieve the goal of gathering people, goods, and venues for live broadcasts.

The development of the live broadcast business is increasingly perfect, bringing more job opportunities to job seekers. The employment chain around the live broadcast format is moving towards a high degree of professionalization and specialization. Knowledge-based and high-end will be the future trend of the live broadcast industry.

At the same time, in addition to focusing on the cultivation of core talents such as anchors and broadcast assistants, talent training for emerging auxiliary positions such as product selection, script planning, operation, and field control should be systematically added to improve the professional level of the live broadcast industry as a whole.

We welcome the continuous attention of cultural and industrial workers, and hope that think tanks, industry associations, market players, and research institutions will keep in close contact with us, provide more forward-looking perspectives and innovative practice cases, and promote ideological exchanges, industry-financial integration, and government-enterprise cooperation. Realize information communication, element aggregation, and value multiplication.

Chengdu Cultural Industry Development Promotion Center Contact: Mr. Cao

Tel: (028) 86612272; Email: 313198732@qq.com

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