【China Startup】Ready to buy lifestyle | 一条：文艺变现之路

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The modern Chinese netizen loves lifestyle. Elites and aspirants devour good quality programs showing them off-the-map stores, craftsman profiles, new-wave architecture, and independent designers. 

So when a group of senior media workers launched online lifestyle platform Yitiao on WeChat in 2014, a million people flocked to subscribe within weeks. 

With one video posted per day, concentrating on exquisite slow-motion footage of lifestyle products and designers, a 100,000 viewer-per-video average has been steadily maintained. 

Now the business is starting to cash in. Loyal viewers are buying into a new innovation, using Yitiao as a high-end lifestyle shopping platform. The business has integrated e-commerce to capitalize on its rich links to quality design and crafts. 

Some 20 million RMB (three million US dollars) in profits were earned within the first half month of Yitiao’s e-commerce platform being launched. Now the company boasts a valuation of 200 million US dollars, growing roughly 43 times bigger in the two years since its birth. 

In Yitiao’s office and studio, located in Shanghai’s famous petit bourgeoisie block, CCTVNEWS spoke to Xu Husheng, the man behind one of the most popular online video accounts in China. 

The employees of the magazine’s new media office have given Xu the nickname “Xu Da” (Xu Big), a respectful yet light moniker to reflect his irreplaceable professional position in the team. 

Q1: What concept is Yitiao trying to bring to viewers? 

Xu: We are trying to introduce a way of life through a video magazine. In the offline world, you have Eslite Bookstore and Ikea. We are creating a lifestyle magazine in video format. People love this kind of content, and the number of subscribers multiplies thanks to the influence of the Internet. 

There are tons of good-quality designs out there in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Japan and northern Europe. But it is hard for people to find them on China’s Internet, which has been dominated by entertainment and gossip stuff. You have JD.com (one of China’s biggest e-commerce platforms) to give you popular commodities. And you have us to link high-quality designs to high-end people’s needs. We are targeting the rising middle class of China. 

Q2: A steady production of quality videos has helped build Yitiao’s reputation as a genuine content provider. But now it is embarking on a commercial path. Why’s that?

Xu: Our core value is interviewing the craftsmen. Lots of online media nowadays are eager to engage in criticism rather than interviews. But the interview will always be media workers’ professional power. Every interviewee has a craft to explain in an interview. And through the hundreds of people Yitiao interviews per year, we have gained significant resources. So it is natural for us to embrace e-commerce with the help of mobile payment. 

Yitiao chooses interviewees very carefully. We have high standards. So when we present the products made by them, there is naturally a good purchase rate. 

Q3: What kind of market is Yitiao competing for? 

Xu: We are targeting consumers in their 30s. This group of people has a way better living condition in China and a natural appreciation for good stuff. Believe me, there are far more of these people out there than you can imagine. 

Q4: How do you maintain high-quality video production while attracting enough clicks online? 

Xu: Netizens often decide in a split second whether or not to click on a video. So the headline is quite important. We write some eye-catching headlines from time to time - and it is necessary. Lofty and pure does not sell on social media. The ever-changing media present big challenges for traditional media workers. 

We shoot a dozen hours’ footage for a three to five-minute video, and the editing procedure takes a long time as well. That’s where our standard of production lies. We want our interviewee to feel that our video is the best possible showcase. When we first went to Japan for a designer’s interview, local people didn’t immediately bond with us, but we had our previous amazing work to show them how good we are. 

I don’t want to do a popular magazine that the professionals think is trash. It would be boring. 

Q5: What were your initial plans when you started the project?  

Xu: In 2013 and 2014, I recognized the decline of print media. I closed down my two magazines and started to dig video. I saw its possibilities. People thought our business model was unsustainable when we started by producing one video per day, a practice not seen even on YouTube. So we started by considering ourselves as a small team producing video about lifestyle. 

We were just transferring what we liked and were good at back in the paper age to online. Then we realized that low-end entertainment stuff was not the only content that could be popular on the Internet. We got our first million subscribers within the first half-month after launch. That was the moment we knew that Yitiao would survive.

One can’t tell whether people will love your product or not before it is launched. All you can do is to insist on what you like. I have been talking about timing. If we did this two years earlier, Yitiao may have turned into an attraction for a minority. That would have been fine with me as well. 

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