Live streaming and product selling, as well as ad placements, are all new trends and one of the main channels for various influencers to monetize their traffic.
Donât underestimate these two channels.
No need to talk about ad placements; theyâre usually about sneaking in some ads into videos, then placing product links in the comments section, which everyone has seen often.
The price for ads isnât fixed!
Some companies pay readily, some are stingy, some pay according to fan count, and others according to video views and conversion rates.
Live streaming product selling is an advanced method and the primary channel for influencers to monetize their traffic; thereâs no âone ofâ, itâs the main one!
"Those big influencers, the ones with explosive popularity, feel like theyâre just grabbing money during live streams, easily making hundreds of thousands in one go.
Piece of cake."
Yang Dong explained, "Itâs hard to say exactly how much they can earn because the data on product selling and the slot fees are kept very secret, and are generally not disclosed to fans..."
If you see anything disclosed, itâs either fake or partially true to fool the fans.
No way!
How could this be made public?
If fans find out that the "poor kids" and "humble royal daughters" theyâve been following are just pretended, living in luxury cars and mansions in private, wouldnât their persona crumble?
"Doesnât Huang Qing know?"
Chen Ba was very curious. If Yang Dong, an outsider, couldnât gather that information about influencersâ earnings, then Huang Qing surely could, right?
Being the general manager of an MCN company before joining Tianba Studio, Qing Bro knows the ins and outs better than anyone in the studio.
"He knows, but he signed a confidentiality agreement, so he generally canât disclose any details, otherwise, heâd be held responsible."
"Bullshit confidentiality..."
Chen Ba scoffed, "In my opinion, the reason he doesnât dare to disclose is probably that it involves some tax evasion; if he dares to speak out, heâd be hunted down."
Influencers donât evade taxes?
Thatâs a joke! If there are actually a few influencers who pay their taxes honestly, Chen Ba doubts it. He thinks itâd be good if two or three out of a hundred influencers were honest.
"Forget it, if we donât know, we donât know."
Yang Dong sighed, "Itâs actually not a big dealâafter all, âI Am a Big Influencerâ is a virtual network game, so earnings in the game wonât have much impact."
"You canât say that..."
"We are simulating influencers. If even their incomes need to be guessed and figured out, the simulation would surely suffer greatly."
Chen Ba strongly opposed the idea of filling in income randomly. Since itâs a simulation, just do it for real.
If influencers and MCN are tight-lipped, and no useful details can be gleaned, why not switch the perspective and directly ask the companies that participated in the live selling?
"Hey! Youâre right!"
Yang Dong suddenly realized, "How come I didnât think of it? Those companies whoâve worked with influencers must know details about slot rates and contract commissions."
This is how the game should be made.
Just like in reality, how products are sold will be exactly replicated in the game, focusing on real restoration without mixing in any fictional content.
"By the way, tax evasion..."
As he said this, Chen Ba seemed to make a certain decision and gritted his teeth, "Letâs add it in too, let the players choose themselves."
Honestly, without this content, the game would lack a sense of reality by half, and the simulated influencers would seem very fake. After all, if youâre paying taxes honestly, can you still claim realism?
"This... This isnât good, is it?"
Yang Dong raised his brows, "If we open this choice to the players, wouldnât 99% of them take this path, leaving very few honest players?"
No need to think about it.
With the gamersâ vibes, if thereâs a tax evasion option in the game, nearly everyone would choose it, completely ignoring the little law-abiding tips below.
This was Yang Dongâs worry...
Does the presence of this content in the game mean it might be condemned for "negative guidance" or even "being detrimental to social harmony," etc.?
"Donât be so tense, it shouldnât count! If it did, every P-studio player wouldnât escape the lawâs reach..."
Chen Ba was indifferent.
Though such content in the game sounds sensitive, compared to other games, youâd find out whatâs the big deal?
In simulation-strategy games like âIce Ageâ and the âCivilizationâ series, some of the statutes or ordinance contents appearing are of even higher sensitivity.
Compared to those, adding this mechanism playfully in âI Am a Big Influencerâ is negligible.
"Makes sense, I was overthinking."
Yang Dong rubbed his brow, then said with a little trouble, "Right, Ba, thereâs something else I need your help with."
"What is it?"
"Can you sort out the music library licenses? Our game canât be without various upbeat BGM!"
Chen Ba: "..."
Hey, is this even something a person would say?
To make a game, directly buying the authorization for an entire music library? How much had Yang Dong had to drink to make such an outrageous demand?
"No, do you... do you know how expensive it is to buy the entire music library, like those that sell in bundles?"
Chen Ba was speechless, "Let me tell you this, currently if we sell our Tianba Studio, we probably still couldnât afford complete music library rights."
"Youâre really daring to make a demand; this request wonât be successful for anyone, it really isnât something we can achieve..."
"Letâs just do this: support some popular music file formats, and let players upload and share while they play."