The policy is strict and the era of "barbaric growth" ends the predicament that webcast is trapped in profit eternity and reshuffle.

this round is called the strictest regulatory order in history. In addition to emphasizing that the relevant LVB platforms must be "licensed", it is worth noting that it highlights the supervision of PGC (professional content production) content on the LVB platform.

with a strict order from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the era of live broadcast by the whole people and that everyone can become an "Internet celebrity" is coming to an end. On September 9, the State Administration of Press, publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the Circular on strengthening the Management of Live broadcast Services of online Audio-visual programs. Once again, it is reiterated that live broadcast organizations of network audio-visual programs must obtain a "license for information network dissemination of audio-visual programs" to carry out live broadcast services in accordance with the law, which is tantamount to re-emphasizing that the relevant live broadcast platforms must be "certified to take up posts".

according to the reporter's inspection, it is found that many well-known live broadcast platforms, including Douyu, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Panda TV, and so on, have not publicized the relevant information about the "license for Information Network to disseminate Audio-visual programs." According to live broadcast industry insiders revealed to reporters, before this round of "strict control order" issued, the regulatory level has interviewed several large live broadcast platforms to collect materials for decision-making. It can be predicted that before the end of the year, regulators will further strengthen supervision, the entire live broadcast industry will further usher in the reshuffle period.

following the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television tightening the supervision of live broadcasting, the Beijing Municipal Internet Information Office also ordered the local live broadcast websites under its jurisdiction, such as Yingke, Zanthoxylum, continuous broadcast, Xiaomi Live, six rooms, Kuaishou, and live broadcast, to carry out comprehensive rectification.

strong > the era of "barbaric growth" ends / strong >

this round is called the strictest supervision order in history. In addition to emphasizing that the relevant live streaming platform must be "licensed", it is worth noting that it highlights the supervision of PGC (professional content production) content on the live broadcast platform. The

notice emphasizes that even if you are "certified to work", you still need to obtain a relevant business license. Among them, there are two articles related to live broadcasting, one is to carry out live video and audio broadcast of major political, military, economic, social, cultural, sports and other activities and events through the Internet, shall hold a "license" and the licensed project is the fifth item of the first type of Internet audio-visual program service. Second, the live video and audio broadcast of general social groups, cultural activities, sports events and other organizational activities through the Internet should hold a "license" and the licensed project is the seventh item of the second kind of Internet audio-visual program service.

"this is tantamount to setting a second threshold for the supervision of live streaming platforms, specific to the detailed regulation of the content of live streaming platforms," said Wang Chuanzhen, an interactive entertainment analyst at Analysys think tank. Since last year, in order to compete for users, various live broadcast platforms have competed for content differentiation, regardless of novelty and beauty, and all kinds of content are mixed. Over the past few months, the supervision of live streaming has also been strengthened. In April this year, 19 webcast platforms, including Douyu, Huya TV and YY, were included in the Ministry of Culture's investigation and punishment list. Subsequently, the Papi Jiang video was ordered off the shelves by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for rectification on the grounds that there were many foul language in the video and were asked to rectify the vulgar content before it could be put back online.

the SARFT's strict regulation order is further strengthened on the basis of the previous emphasis on the real-name system of anchors, the addition of watermarks and other regulatory measures. "in the live broadcast of games, the previously popular live broadcast of e-sports may also be restricted." Wang Chuanzhen said.

strong > strict supervision or long-term profit / strong >

the requirement of "holding a certificate" has become a delicate threshold for the live broadcast platform.

according to public data, as of May 31, 2016, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has issued a total of 588 licenses. License holders are mainly news and publishing, enterprises and institutions, as well as some websites.

the reporter consulted public materials and found that the status of "holding a license" is now roughly divided into three categories: one is that video websites such as Youku Tudou, iqiyi, Letv share a license with their live broadcast platforms; secondly, some live broadcast platforms, such as Tiger Yingke and so on, publicize the network audio-visual license at the bottom of the official website; while popular live broadcast platforms such as Douyu, Zanthoxylum bungeanum and Panda TV have no relevant information.

most platforms have adopted a low-key silent posture on the issue of "license". The reporter did not get a positive answer to whether he held an audio-visual license or not when he asked the relevant senior officials of Douyu for confirmation. "Douyu is not involved in audio-visual hearing-related business," the official said. According to his understanding of the regulatory policy, "live broadcasts of online performances are managed by the online cultural operation license of the Ministry of Culture, while live broadcasts of political affairs are managed by audio-visual licenses."

however, in the eyes of people in the industry, such an explanation is inevitably far-fetched. In accordance with the requirement of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television that live broadcast organizations of network audio-visual programs must obtain a "license for audio-visual programs of information network dissemination" in accordance with the law, even if they have obtained a license for operating network culture, similar live broadcast platforms such as Douyu still cannot bypass the audio-visual license.

the real trouble with the LVB platform also comes from the high cost of bandwidth and the lack of profit hope in the short term. Once live streaming is strictly regulated from content to form, the competition will become fiercer.

according to Xue Yongfeng, a senior analyst at Analysys International, Douyu is more like a capital-driven company with a relatively single model and lack of differentiated competitiveness. Therefore, after the completion of round C financing, Douyu put more emphasis on the transformation, from the game live broadcast to a diversified integrated live broadcast platform.

the high bandwidth cost is an important reason why the LVB platform cannot make a profit. Although live streaming platforms such as Douyu and Panda TV have not disclosed specific figures on bandwidth costs, we can refer to the relevant data of the happy gathering era. According to the financial report of Q4 in 2015, its bandwidth cost is 161.1 million yuan, equivalent to more than 50 million yuan per month. At this rate, no matter how fast Douyu and Panda financing are, they still can't compete with the speed of burning money.

"this is very similar to the policy regulation encountered by video websites in the period of self-production of content after excessive struggle for copyright." Wang Chuanzhen believes that some large live broadcast platforms may solve the problem of "audio-visual hearing" or save the country through the cooperation curve. However, at least from the current situation, it is not easy to apply for an audio-visual license. The new applicant is now required to be a wholly state-owned or state-controlled unit, and the registered capital should be more than 10 million yuan. The tightening of policy regulation has cast a shadow over the original profit-making live broadcast platform again.

strong > it is hard to predict the life and death of small and medium-sized teams in the industry reshuffle / strong >

. It will be small and medium-sized teams that really face life and death. Online celebrity brokerage companies that make money on parasitic live broadcast platforms have also begun to change the wind to avoid policy risks.

according to Zhang Ning (a pseudonym), a partner in a brokerage firm that specializes in incubating online celebrities, the company is in its infancy, and only more than 20 online celebrities have officially signed up. At first, these online celebrities adopted a "wide net" way of working as anchors on various live platforms. Many small live streaming platforms offer rewards to attract online celebrities, such as 100 yuan per day for each anchor on the premise that they promise to broadcast at least 20 days a month and two hours a day. The more than 20 online celebrities managed by Zhang Ning used to broadcast live on these small platforms, and reward is a very important factor.

"it is expected that by the end of this year, regulators will definitely control the live broadcast, and we are now gradually transforming to avoid risks." According to Zhang Ning, since last month, he has gradually transferred his anchors to major platforms such as Qixiu (iqiyi) and Sina Live. Because he is backed by large companies that already have relevant licenses, such as iqiyi and Sina, the network audio-visual license required by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will not constitute a threshold that is difficult to break through.

in the live broadcast industry, when making business plans, some entrepreneurs will set out a chapter detailing future policy risks. When investors come into contact with these projects, they usually already take into account non-business factors such as policy risks and complete licenses. It does not rule out that investors use their own network resources to help the live broadcast company "run license".

on the other hand, the money-burning subsidies of small platforms are not sustainable, and when investors' money is tight, the rewards will naturally be forced to be cancelled. To make matters worse, due to qualifications and other reasons, the "running certificate" of Xiao Ping platform is usually more difficult. Under the double attack of cost pressure and policy uncertainty, the live broadcast platform is expected to usher in a round of industry reshuffle soon, and small platforms are more likely to be filtered out. At present, no matter large or small, the more mature profit model of the live broadcast platform is nothing more than reward sharing or advertising, the model is relatively single, and highly dependent, and the content charge is out of reach.

of course, the landing effect of the policy and the degree of promotion of implementation are also unknown, and there will also be a game between the platform and regulators. The intensity of supervision by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will directly determine the future fate of small and medium-sized live broadcast platforms, and some platforms are still waiting and seeing with a fluke mentality. Some people in the industry believe that the supervision of the new audio-visual mode such as live broadcasting has been lagging behind, and the SARFT is also considering avoiding the situation of "death in one tube and chaos as soon as it is released".

with the tightening of supervision, the relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Internet Information Office said that in the recent management, Yingke, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, continuous broadcast, Xiaomi Live, six rooms, Kuaishou, live streaming and other live broadcast platforms have non-standard user account nicknames, avatars, signatures and other information, and the live broadcast content contains illegal and illegal content such as pornography and vulgarity, disturbing social order, undermining social stability, and so on.

Edit: yvonne