Sichuan Radio and Television Station entered the new media four years ago. As early as 2017, "Sichuan Watch" set up accounts in various Internet channels to publish content. But it was not until 2020 that "Sichuan Watch" entered the fast lane of rising powder. The number of fans has accumulated from 0 to more than 80 million. In Yue Xueyuan’s view, the key to qualitative change caused by quantitative change is to find a new media operation mode in the Internet era.
Subscribers range from 0 to 80 million.
The popularity of "Sichuan Watch" should start from 2019.
In March 2019, Sichuan Watch released its first video in Tik Tok. At the beginning, this number was not updated frequently, and there was no regularity at all. I filmed short dramas and imitated the content styles of other explosive accounts at that time, but the effect was not obvious, and the number of likes was only around a few hundred.
In August 2019, Sichuan was hit by a rainstorm, and officers and men of the armed police were put into the front line of rescue and disaster relief. At that time, "Sichuan Watch" released a video of the armed police running to help the disaster area, and the masses sent food themselves, and the number of praises reached 650,000. After several months of trying, "Sichuan Watch" put the main track on the pan-information.
In 2020, the update frequency of "Sichuan Watch" has obviously accelerated, with an average of about 20 videos released every day, most of which are related to the epidemic hotspots at that time. Short video styles tend to be unified: the top and bottom of the video are marked with obvious subtitles, and the picture is played in the middle. In April 2020, the number of users of Sichuan Watch in Tik Tok exceeded 8 million.
After the epidemic situation stabilized, the content of "Sichuan Watch" spread from local news to all aspects: including international current affairs, people’s livelihood disputes, entertainment gossip, animal world and anecdotes. Its update frequency, update speed and wide content coverage have attracted many netizens’ attention to the Tik Tok, and "Sichuan Watch" has also been dubbed as "looking around" by netizens. The emergence of "Sichuan Watch Looking Around" is a watershed in the surge of subscribers to "Sichuan Watch".
After this stalk became popular, as long as "Sichuan Watch" didn’t move for a period of time, netizens would swipe the screen in the comment area-"You haven’t updated it for xx minutes." The news reporting method of "Sichuan Watch" has aroused discussion in the whole network. A lot of content produced by it has been transported across platforms, and many netizens and media have forwarded it as "tap water".
After leaving the circle, the number of fans of "Sichuan Watch" surged, growing at a rate of 1 million almost every day at the most lively time. By the end of 2020, the number of Tik Tok fans of Sichuan Watch exceeded 40 million. The out-of-the-box account of Tik Tok has also driven the growth of account fans on other platforms. As of the press release date, the number of fans on all accounts has exceeded 80 million. In the view of Yue Xueyuan and his team, the popularity of "Sichuan Watch" is not accidental: First, the team has grasped its core advantages-being born in traditional media and having a solid foundation for news production; The second is to find a model suitable for new media communication.
"How to do a pan-information short video? Everyone is groping. We have accumulated some experience by trying on the short video platform. However, Tik Tok’s model cannot be completely copied to other platforms such as Weibo and bilibili. Different platforms, different audiences and different user habits, so it is more accurate in operation. "
Yue Xueyuan further shared the new media operation model currently explored by "Sichuan Watch": First, follow the news law, and a good pan-information short video product also needs to include all the elements of news; Secondly, different strategies are needed to launch products in different channels. What topic is suitable for Weibo to do, whether it is voting or long text? What are the user preferences in Aauto Quicker? Different channel contents need to have different emphases. At the same time, the operation of fans is also very important, and it needs someone to be responsible. Which points of fan comments should be selected for reply? How to reply? Everything behind it is worthy of scrutiny.
In the era of information explosion, behind this whole new media process, a strong editorial team and a clear editorial process are needed to support it. Team response speed must be fast, and it must be able to accurately capture network hotspots. The report on Ding Zhen’s incident reflects the hot spot sensitivity of "Sichuan Observation".
In November 2020, on the day of Ding Zhen’s short video explosion, the "Sichuan Watch" team was still in a meeting at 11 o’clock in the middle of the night. "We thought he would become a phenomenal figure at that time, so we found the local government and the person in charge of media liaison at the first time." Yue Xueyuan introduced that at the beginning, the manuscripts and interviews of "Sichuan Watch" were all through the local news media. Dante really became popular, and various comments about him began to appear on the Internet, including some negative comments. "As a news event, it is convincing to arrive at the scene, so we quickly sent a team to the local area. Ding Zhen’s series of reports are arranged according to our judgment and direction of this news event. "
For the Ding Zhen incident, "Sichuan Watch" reported in various forms, including short videos and live broadcasts. Sichuan Radio and Television also invited Ding Zhen to participate in the New Year’s Eve party. After Ding Zhen became popular for more than half a year, "Sichuan Watch" produced a 16-minute Chinese video for re-recording. "An amateur can detonate the whole network through a short video, which is the change of communication ecology brought about by the development of the times. For our media, whether it is doing TV news before or doing short video content today, the key is to find the pulse of the development of this era. " Yue Xueyuan said.
Create together with users
In the face of netizens’ urging, "Sichuan Watch" replied: "This audience is too difficult to take. Is it really the donkey of the production team?" After "Sichuan Watch" became popular, CCTV News Tik Tok made a special issue to analyze the reasons behind it. "Sichuan Watch" also quickly followed up, editing CCTV’s comments into a funny short film called "Sichuan Watch, CCTV News Watch, Sichuan Watch", which once again triggered the enthusiasm of netizens.
The success of "Sichuan Watch" is inseparable from the interaction with netizens. However, in the new media era, the fan operation is more than just replying to netizens with a few witticisms. There is a deeper communication logic and psychology behind it. In short, it is to find empathy with netizens and create content with users.
One case is the report of Sichuan Watch last year about a girl crying on an online dating car. It was the girl’s birthday, but she needed to return to the company to work overtime when she received a call temporarily. The girl couldn’t help but collapse and cry on the online car. This scene was recorded by the driving recorder on the car. After getting this news, "Sichuan Watch" immediately pushed it, and many netizens sent birthday wishes to this girl in the comments. A host of "Sichuan Watch" also quickly produced a vlog. The host is also a foreigner, and she understands the girl’s feelings very well. Whether it’s the video of a girl crying in the car or the vlog made by the host, it hits the softest place in the hearts of netizens.
Another example happened in the live broadcast room of the "Sichuan Watch" short video platform. Every day, "Sichuan Watch" will broadcast the real-time scene of the road outside Chengdu Global Center, with only background music and no anchor commentary, and it will be updated 24 hours a day. At the peak, the number of viewers in the live broadcast room reached 10 million. The comment area of the live broadcast room has also become a "tree hole" for many netizens, where people express themselves, spit, make wishes and chat.
Whether it is the encouragement of birthday girls or the guardianship in the live broadcast room, it is reflected that strangers behind the network can accompany and comfort each other in the public space of the network. Yue Xueyuan revealed in a public speech that sometimes "Sichuan Watch" can even receive tens of thousands of submissions in one day. "Of course, these are not all news, and even fans keep diaries in the background, which also shows that we are emotionally connected with users. Sichuan Watch’ may be a group of people gathered into a personality, which produced’ we’ through user interaction. "
Localization and verticalization are the direction to break the situation in the future
How to maintain user stickiness after the number of users reaches a certain scale? How to explore the commercialization mode of "Sichuan Watch" media matrix? The number of users has reached today’s scale, which is only the beginning of the journey of "Sichuan Watch" new media.
There are about 100 people in the "Sichuan Watch" team. Sichuan Radio and Television Station has set up an all-media news center with more than 600 people, and all news ports such as website, radio station, information channel, satellite TV news, rural news and cultural news are built in it. All news departments in the station will contribute to Sichuan Watch.
If divided by content form, "Sichuan Observation" mainly includes the following aspects:
The first is short video production, including information flow content and IP production. As a news media, "Sichuan Watch" must ensure that the daily information supply reaches a certain volume. At the same time, based on its own brand, "Sichuan Watch" will also produce some IP-based short video content, such as "Spicy Room" on Tencent News.
The second is live broadcast. There are two modes of live broadcast: first, the master of incubation, the anchor of live broadcast must first be a master of some aspects, in order to produce more practical guidance to users; The second is the sudden live broadcast, which is the news media’s housekeeping skill. For all the breaking news in Sichuan, the "Sichuan Watch" team will strive to arrive at the scene at the first time, turn on the camera and transmit their own signals.
In 2020, Sichuan Radio and Television Station also established an MCN cross-project business unit. "Sichuan Watch" is responsible for the content and part of the operation, and another company in Taiwan, Golden Panda New Media Co., Ltd., is responsible for the main commercial operation. After the commercialization path of MCN business is clear, some monetization methods of vertical accounts will open up space.
In addition to the above business, the operation of Sichuan Watch App is a major focus of the "Sichuan Watch" team. Even if the major Internet giants have mastered many traffic portals, Yue Xueyuan believes that the opportunity for traditional media to launch Internet channels still exists, and this opportunity lies in localization. On the national platform, some local information, including the release of some policies and guidelines, is easily overwhelmed, but the demand of local users for these information and services is rigid.
"Professional Ability Training Course for Employees of County-level Media Center in Sichuan Province" went into Sichuan to observe and carry out on-site teaching.
According to reports, the development of Sichuan Observation App will become more and more localized and life-oriented. The localized client is very suitable for local government and enterprise customers to interact. In addition, many aspects of local medical care and education are closely related to people’s lives. Although some national platforms can do sub-channels, it is still difficult to implement them. These are one of the directions for local media to be clients.
At the same time, the operation of the client has also greatly exercised the team’s ability, including production ability, operation ability and judgment ability of content. "You need users-a large number of users to train your overall perception of the Internet. The client is actually not only a content channel, but also a way to publish content. Your technical ability and operational ability can be reflected in it." Yue Xueyuan said.
Just as Uncle Bing, the host of CCTV News, analyzed the popularity of "Sichuan Watch": "Sichuan Watch" subverts the audience’s traditional cognition of local media, and its quality, speed and online sense are all online. No matter how broken the circle, traditional media people can’t lose their housekeeping skills, with real content, rapid news and rich sources of contributions. The popularity of "Sichuan Watch" is unexpected and reasonable. I hope more and more similar accounts can break the circle and really play the guiding role of mainstream media on the new media platform.
Dialogue with Yue Xueyuan, Editorial Board Member of Sichuan Radio and Television Station and Editor-in-Chief of Sichuan Watch;
I hope to form a talent matrix outside the media matrix.
Interview/Chen Dan
Variety Daily: How did Sichuan Watch accumulate more than 80 million fans step by step? Which key nodes and decisions played a role in the development process?
Yue Xueyuan:The first is the support from Taiwan. When we first started making new media in 2017, short videos and live broadcasts were not so popular, and there were some opposition voices in Taiwan. However, the new media strategy formulated by Taiwan has been firmly promoted, and finally we seized this outlet.
The second is the promotion of the studio system. In 2018, we set up a number of studios, which have greater autonomy to innovate, including the currently established MCN team and the prototype of the studio.
The third is the establishment of MCN cross-project division. Taiwan has thought of many ways for us, including promoting the business convergence of different departments. The establishment of this division laid a foundation for the future business development of MCN.
Variety Daily: In the era of information explosion, the enthusiasm and attention of users gather quickly and dissipate quickly. After gaining a huge number of fans and traffic, how to maintain users’ attention and stickiness is also a difficult problem for many media. What are the successful experiences of "Sichuan Watch"?
Yue Xueyuan:For many talented people and online celebrity, their enthusiasm is really easy to dissipate. However, the content of pan-information is different, many events will happen all the time in the world, and the information is different every day, which puts forward higher requirements for the team’s news business ability. In the matrix and structured media operation, we need to make the timeliness, depth and width of the content, and strive to produce more exclusive content.
In the future, we also hope to form a talent matrix. The host and brand column of radio and television system are actually equivalent to the talents on the network. The operation of Daren and the operation of the vertical number will be the focus of our efforts.
Variety Daily: What is the development plan of Sichuan Watch in the future? What are the short-term and long-term development goals?
Yue Xueyuan:Our short-term goal is to make one or two talent models this year. In the long run, we hope to scale and model these operational capabilities and technical capabilities accumulated on the Internet, and realize commercialization through large-scale application.
For example, "Sichuan Watch" is a media matrix of client plus various channels, many of which involve interactive technology. Therefore, we have established a multi-module interconnected technology platform, in which there are many interactive technology research and development, including the template development of some client apps. In the future, we hope that these templates, technical packages and some interactive tools can provide services for other teams in the market who want to do MCN business and new media business.
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