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last september, at the douyin e-commerce author summit, crazy xiao yangge won the "outstanding individual award for successful careers" from douyin, and three sheep network also won the "outstanding organization award for successful careers". xiao yangge, dressed in a black suit, gave a speech on the stage titled "never forget your original intention" and expressed his gratitude to douyin:

douyin and i met because of dreams, and we walked together because of trust.

image source: three sheep network wechat official account

before winning the outstanding individual award in 2023, xiao yangge had won several official awards from douyin. on september 9 this year, the douyin e-commerce author summit was held.brother yang, who won the douyin e-commerce author award for two consecutive years, was absent.

yu hui xing xing won the douyin outstanding author award. the 20 influential authors of the year were all familiar faces, such as qi er, jia nailiang, mr. dong, etc., but there was no xiao yang ge who has 112 million fans on douyin. wei wenwen, president of douyin e-commerce, emphasized at the meeting that "good content" has become the primary productive force for business growth.

this inevitably makes people wonder: is the honeymoon period between douyin and xiao yangge over?

just one week before the douyin e-commerce summit, simba, the top anchor of kuaishou, blasted brother xiao yang, accusing him of problems in quality inspection, after-sales service, and compensation attitude, imitating xinxuan's business model, and that some products previously sold by brother xiao yang, such as moutai liquor and pork with preserved vegetables, had quality problems. if brother xiao yang did not deal with it, simba would use 100 million yuan to compensate brother xiao yang.

xiao yangge was caught in a public opinion crisis. a few days later, xiao yangge was again involved in the "false advertising" controversy of meicheng mooncakes, which attracted relevant departments to file a case for investigation, and xiao yangge's previous problems of selling counterfeit goods were also dug up.

image source: hefei high-tech release wechat official account

in the face of huge public opinion, douyin, which has supported xiao yangge, may no longer be able to work with xiao yangge based on trust.

xiao yangge seems to be facing the same problem as simba's "sugar water bird's nest", but xiao yangge is not simba, and douyin is not kuaishou. for kuaishou, simba and xinxuan behind him occupy an important proportion of kuaishou's e-commerce, but xiao yangge's share of douyin's e-commerce is not that important.

simba was still at its peak at that time, and xinxuan accounted for about 30% of kuaishou's e-commerce gmv. for the current xiao yangge, "china entrepreneur" once reported that sanzhiyang's gmv (gross merchandise volume) would reach 16 billion yuan in 2023. this proportion is not as important to douyin's e-commerce with a trillion-dollar scale as simba was to kuaishou at the beginning.

currently, douyin is adjusting its relationship with big anchors, accelerating its support for mid-level anchors and supporting store anchors. if it were to start over again, the relationship between xiao yangge and the platform might also undergo major changes.

for a long time, xiao yangge and douyin can be said to have achieved each other. xiao yangge went from a rural student to the founder of a company with a production value of tens of billions, and it is also the development history of douyin from a rising star to a company that can compete with established e-commerce companies.

in 2018, xiao yangge, who switched from kuaishou to douyin, caught the opportunity of douyin's attack on the sinking market.

at that time, douyin was positioned in first- and second-tier cities, and these users accounted for 45% of douyin. on the contrary, douyin had no presence in the lower-tier markets. when yue jianxiong, vice president of iqiyi, met zhang yiming in 2017, zhang yiming told yue jianxiong, "although douyin only has 20 million users, they are all in first- and second-tier cities, and the speed of development from high-end to low-end will be faster."

the emergence of xiao yangge just filled the gap of douyin in the sinking market, which was in line with douyin's demand for content at the time. xiao yangge, who appeared on douyin, had the flavor of an old friend and a similar tone to simba, and quickly gained fans in the sinking market. in one year, xiao yangge accumulated 10 million fans on douyin, and the number of fans exceeded 40 million in 2020.

as xiao yang said, "bage (simba) told me a lot about how to play on the internet. i just followed bage's (simba) way of playing." xiao yang's fans are mainly young people from third- to fifth-tier cities. data from daduoduo shows thatusers in third-tier cities reached 25%, and generation z and young people from small towns accounted for 44%.

douyin's penetration into lower-tier cities has achieved significant results. according to questmobile statistics, in march 2020, douyin had 37.62 million new users, of which 70.5% were from third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities. by 2022, the douyin penetration market data insight report released by bytedance showed that the proportion of users in lower-tier markets was higher than that of users in higher-tier cities, and they were also the main source of content supply, accounting for 61%; they were also the main content consumption power, accounting for 55% of content viewing.

such a fan portrait also provides a user base for xiao yangge's subsequent transformation into live streaming sales, which is a user who pursues cost-effectiveness and is highly sensitive to prices. in 2022, xiao yangge became the first amateur anchor on douyin to have over 100 million fans, and set a record of over 100 million yuan in sales in one hour, becoming the top seller on douyin.

of course, the reason why brother yang can become a top anchor is inseparable from douyin’s support for his traffic.according to shijie, a senior person in the live broadcast industry said that xiao yangge's popularity has a lot to do with douyin's strong support for white-label products and the inclination of traffic. behind this is the result of douyin's efforts in e-commerce.

in 2020, bytedance established a first-level e-commerce department. in september 2021, xiao yangge switched to live streaming. in the second half of 2022, douyin e-commerce shifted its focus to small and medium-sized businesses, established a merchant development department, mainly serving small and medium-sized businesses, and launched a series of support policies. xiao yangge's live broadcast room and his own brand "xiao yang zhenxuan" also received more traffic.

at the douyin e-commerce author summit in september 2022, xiao yangge, who had just transformed into live streaming for a year, won the douyin e-commerce outstanding individual award for the first time. in 2023, as soon as xiao yangge's own brand "xiao yang zhenxuan" went online, sales exceeded 10 million orders in half a year. in may of the same year, at the douyin e-commerce ecosystem conference, xiao yangge once again won the "influential author of the year" award, and the three sheep network also won the title of "influential mcn agency of the year". at that time, other top anchors such as dongfang zhenxuan, make friends and qi'er also went on stage to receive the award.

image source: three sheep network wechat official account

in the era of short videos, douyin has made xiao yang ge successful. just as xiao yang ge thanks douyin,"it is very open and inclusive, and it provides everyone with an equal opportunity to show themselves."brother xiao yang also brought a lot of users to douyin. at its peak, brother xiao yang had more than 120 million fans on douyin. during the live streaming period, brother xiao yang became a top anchor with the support of douyin. douyin also needed super anchors like brother xiao yang to compete with old e-commerce companies that had anchors such as li jiaqi and simba.

during the 618 period last year, xiao yangge and simba had a live broadcast together.

brother yang called simba "ba ge" and said frankly that simba was his idol and role model, "ba ge (simba) will always be my role model". however, simba said, "one day you will cause great harm to our platform, and when i need to fight... then i will fight." the words revealed that "you and i don't interfere with each other", and the live broadcast ended in a harmonious and friendly atmosphere.

a year later, the two started a war of words on the internet. the reason for the quarrel was that both parties were selling hairy crabs in the live broadcast room, and simba's low price attracted reports from xiao yangge and his fans, which made simba unable to continue selling. behind this dispute is that as the dividends of live broadcast e-commerce have peaked, the competition between these two big anchors with extremely similar styles in terms of traffic, users, brands, prices and other aspects has become increasingly fierce.

the alphabet list once analyzed and pointed out in "little yangge stepped into simba's trap":as the two people's sales territory continues to expand, the target audiences of xiao yangge and simba will inevitably overlap, and the two sides may not be able to avoid a war.

xiao yangge and simba are similar to each other to a great extent. xiao yangge can even be called the "simba of douyin". both of them have down-to-earth styles. they have established a family-based live streaming sales network by recruiting apprentices, and have attracted many fans in the sinking market. similarly, live streaming rooms are often the focus of "anti-counterfeiting".

in the end, xiao yangge and simba stepped into the same river that was under investigation for "false advertising."on september 17, the market supervision and administration bureau of hefei high-tech zone issued a situation report stating that it has filed a case to investigate three sheep network technology co., ltd. for suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors during live broadcasts, and will handle it in accordance with the law based on the results of the investigation.

when simba was caught by wang hai's anti-counterfeiting "sugar water bird's nest", he first issued a lawyer's statement to deny it, but later admitted that there was indeed exaggerated publicity and was willing to refund one and compensate three, a total of 61.983 million yuan. after the guangzhou market supervision department released the results of the investigation, the anchor involved was banned by kuaishou for an additional 60 days on top of the original 14 days. simba was also banned by kuaishou for 60 days for inappropriate remarks in the live broadcast room.

brother xiao yang’s ending is unpredictable.according to the detailed rules on false advertising in douyin e-commerce cited by "huaerjie reference", that is, when merchants release false information in their information, deceive and mislead consumers, "... use text, pictures, oral broadcasts, props, etc. to express or imply false information that is inconsistent with the actual content of the goods..." among the handling measures, the general situation of the goods will be removed from the shelves, the particularly serious goods will be banned, and the payment of the illegal goods will be frozen for 90 days.

particularly serious cases include those that generate major public opinion and regulatory risks. douyin has not yet given a clear response as to whether xiao yangge and the three sheep group are "particularly serious cases." douyin's attitude toward xiao yangge was only expressed by a staff member of the douyin mall consumer customer service hotline: the platform has intervened and will jointly investigate with the market supervision department, and will not condone him just because he is a live streamer.

according to simba's path, compensation and being banned may be the best ending for xiao yangge. but after returning, will xiao yangge still be as successful as simba in kuaishou?

simba has returned, and xinxuan, the company behind him, is still an important mcn agency of kuaishou. according to reports, in 2021, after being banned for two months, xinxuan accounted for about 8% of kuaishou's e-commerce. simba eventually could not escape the fate of kuaishou's reduction of its vassal status. by 2023, the xinxuan family accounted for 5% of kuaishou's e-commerce.

for brother yang, the situation he faces is no longer the same as it was many years ago.on the one hand, douyin is supporting more big anchors, such as dong yuhui; on the other hand, douyin is supporting store broadcasts and shelf e-commerce. wei wenwen said that in the past year, douyin's e-commerce gmv increased by 46% year-on-year, and the shelf scene gmv increased by 86% year-on-year.

the situation that xiao yangge is facing is more complicated than that of simba back then.the reason behind this is naturally that douyin’s attitude towards big anchors has changed.

douyin first introduced and supported luo yonghao in 2020 in order to open up the live streaming e-commerce situation with big anchors, attract some big anchors and more powerful merchants to settle in, cultivate consumers' shopping mentality on douyin, and realize a virtuous cycle of the big anchor ecology.

to this end, douyin signed an exclusive contract with luo yonghao. in addition to the signing fee, douyin provided luo yonghao with tremendous resource support, such as splash screen advertising and live broadcast push to all users on the site.

later, douyin supported dongfang zhenxuan, and luo yonghao, who had retired from the internet, became the new no. 1 seller, supporting the reputation of douyin e-commerce. dongfang zhenxuan, which stood out from the knowledge-based sellers, greatly enriched the anchor ecology and content ecology of douyin. at this time, douyin's content ecology construction and user purchasing mentality were becoming more mature. dongfang zhenxuan has also been recognized by douyin officials for many consecutive times, such as the annual influential institution award at the douyin e-commerce author festival.

dong yuhui is currently the anchor that douyin is increasing its support for. douyin’s role cannot be ignored in shaping dong yuhui’s cultural ip.

for example, in march this year, dong yuhui revealed that the douyin team had an afternoon meeting with him and proposed many development ideas and expectations to him, especially hoping for faster development. in addition, douyin also supported dong yuhui in creating a series of interview programs "sports athletes say". the alphabet list once analyzed that the emergence of dong yuhui's ip just made up for the regret of bytedance missing out on li ziqi.

at the douyin e-commerce author summit not long ago, yuhui tongxing won the "outstanding author of the year award" and was the only organization to receive this award.

it can be seen that douyin’s requirements for big anchors are changing. it is no longer just about pursuing gmv, but also about pursuing high-quality content to achieve a virtuous cycle of anchor ecology and content.

the relationship between douyin and big anchors has also undergone subtle changes as the platform supports mid-level influencers, store broadcasts, and develops shelf e-commerce.

the 2024 douyin e-commerce talent growth report released by douyin e-commerce recently shows that in the first half of 2024, there are only more than 3,000 top influencers, while small and medium-sized anchors and mid-level influencers are more than 560,000 and 170,000 respectively. the number of small and medium-sized anchors and mid-level influencers is rising, and they are gradually becoming the backbone of the douyin e-commerce ecosystem.

store broadcasting and shelf e-commerce are also rising rapidly. wei wenwen revealed that in the past year, douyin e-commerce gmv increased by 46% year-on-year, douyin e-commerce shelf scene gmv increased by 86% year-on-year, and new merchants increased by 83% year-on-year.

in the past, in the era of big anchors, the business model of big anchors, platforms and merchants was: big anchors used their own traffic to bring goods by collecting commissions and slot fees from brands and merchants; merchants sold goods and the platform took commissions from them. now the platform supports store broadcasts and shelf e-commerce, and the business model has changed, eliminating third-party big anchors who earn commissions, giving small and medium-sized brands more development opportunities.

for the platform, it not only benefits users and brands, but also makes more profits for itself. store broadcasting has become a battleground for e-commerce platforms. this year, douyin launched the "ceo's explosion" series of ips, and domestic brand owners flocked to the live broadcast room to sell goods, which is also a way to indirectly support store broadcasting.

in the past, douyin needed luo yonghao to open up the market, needed xiao yangge to enter the lower-tier markets, and needed dongfang zhenxuan to support its reputation. now, douyin no longer needs big anchors.it remains to be seen whether brother yang, who is in crisis, can continue to work with douyin based on trust.

references:

"douyin e-commerce cannot do without brother yang" power plant

"xiao yang has long since given up on this job"

"douyin and kuaishou compete with each other and go deep into each other's territory" poison eyes

"do you believe that douyin will not "indulge" xiao yang? "huaer street reference

"douyin sells goods worth 10 billion yuan, revealing the crazy xiao yangge and the company behind him" china entrepreneur magazine

"crazy little brother yang is on the hot search: five years of popularity, half of the history of douyin e-commerce development" blue whale finance