After ten years of development, the situation of the game live broadcast industry may not only point to the survival of the business model, but also reflect the changes in the underlying logic of content consumption......

Reading Entertainment | yiqiduyu

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Recently, the two live broadcast platforms of Douyu and Huya have successively announced their 2024 annual financial reports, although one is profitable and the other is loss, but both financial reports show the difficulty of transformation and survival brought about by changes in the market environment.

Huya's total revenue in 2024 will be 6.08 billion yuan, and its net profit will be 2.7100 million yuan, the company emphasized that in 2024, Huya seized the opportunities brought by strategic transformation and new games to promote the improvement of overall profitability; Douyu's revenue in 2024 will be 4.271 billion yuan, and the net loss will be 688010,000 yuan, the co-CEO of Douyu said that the company took the initiative to reduce inefficient investment, and stabilized the core game content of the platform and the fundamentals of the company's business.

The two traditional game live broadcast platforms that have fallen into the cold winter are struggling to find new opportunities, while comprehensive platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili continue to eat away at the market share of vertical fields by virtue of traffic siphoning and ecological integration.

After ten years of development, the situation of the game live broadcast industry may not only point to the survival of the business model, but also reflect the change of the underlying logic of content consumption - watching live broadcast has changed from a simple "viewing behavior". "Completing the leap to "cultural participation".

1

Transformation and survival of traditional platforms

There are the same changes in the two financial reports of Huya and Douyu - reducing the proportion of live broadcast revenue and expanding innovative businesses. In 2024, the revenue of Huya's game-related services, advertising and other businesses will increase by 145.4% year-on-year to 13.3billion yuan, accounting for a percentage of total revenue7.8% to 21.9%; Douyu's innovative business, advertising and other revenue reached 1.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.6%, accounting for a higher proportion of total revenue28.1%。

The revenue diversification strategies of the two platforms are similar, and the core of them is to further explore game-related services to improve the business conversion ability of the platforms.

One is the sale of game items. Douyu has launched customized marketing activities in combination with popular game nodes, such as the "Peace Fashion Week Theme Market" in the Peace Elite Zone and the "Peace Fashion Week Theme Market" in the CrossFire Zoneyear-end good things live broadcast festival", etc., to attract users to pay with limited-time discounts and props; In January this year, Huya launched "League of Legends"-related prop jokes, and launched a limited Spring Festival transition to provide exclusive benefits for Huya, making Huya's monthly prop sales GMV hit a new high.

The second is voice social networking and advertising. The company said that at present, voice social networking has also become an important increment of Douyu's diversified income, and the advertising revenue relying on the game content ecology is also growing; Although Huya has not tested the waters in terms of voice, its advertising revenue has also grown with the support of the content ecosystem, attracting car companies and local lifestyle brands to enter the game.

While looking for new growth points, both platforms are also continuing to consolidate their respective content ecosystems. Huya 2024 covers copyright events for about 40 games, including the "League of Legends World Championship." "Honor of Kings KPL Annual Finals" "Counter-Strike2 Shanghai Major" and other blockbuster events, and at the same time, the volume of self-organized events has also increased. And in the fourth quarter of 2024, Huya tried "live broadcast + public welfare". model, in anti-fraud propaganda, rural revitalization and other fields to explore new traffic incisions, such as "e-sports +." "Cultural tourism" allows more users in sinking areas to experience a close-up e-sports experience.

Douyu also broadcast more than 50 official large-scale esports events in the fourth quarter of 2024 and launched nearly 40self-made events, and some events have also achieved a closed loop of commercialization through advertising placement and prop sales. Including in the fourth quarter, self-made live variety shows were also launched, such as "Urban Explorer" where the anchor explores food and "Border Adventure Team" where the anchor experiences the customs.

From live broadcasts to e-sports events to self-made content, Douyu and Huya are further enriching their respective content forms, in order to retain users more permanently and make the platform complete the transformation from "reward dependence". Transformation to an ecological service provider. However, it may be difficult for game live streaming platforms to compete with the changes in users' entertainment habits, and after watching short videos has become the mainstream entertainment method, it is difficult for live broadcasts perpendicular to games to be as attractive as they were at the beginning.

2

The "dimensionality reduction strike" of the integrated platform

Although there is no clear data, it is obvious that after the rise of short videos, game live broadcast is destined to face the problem of user loss, and when Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili have strengthened their respective live broadcast ecology, this situation is even more obvious, and even now even Xiaohongshu has begun to enter the live broadcast of e-sports events, wanting to get a piece of the pie. And the impact of these platforms on game live streaming is not simply "traffic crushing".

When these integrated platforms began to focus on the live broadcast business, there was indeed a scramble for top anchors and popular games. Zhang Daxian, Xu Xu Baobao and other head anchors switched to Douyin, Feng Timo to Station B and then to Douyin, etc., which have attracted a lot of attention, including the live broadcast of "League of Legends" and "Glory of Kings" last year, which also made the industry aware of "fighting exclusive." The time has passed.

However, what really makes these platforms a strong threat to game live streaming is the reconstruction of the ecological niche.

Taking Douyin as an example, although the user consumption scene may be different, there is a smooth path from short video to live broadcast, and there is also a foundation for the short video consumption habits that have been formed, such as the high-burning clip video of "Black Myth: Wukong" has obtained super high playback, and the user clicks into the live broadcast room through the video, and the user's drainage is completed, it is understood that the game has been on sale for two days, at least 6An anchor has increased his fans through the live broadcast of "Black Myth: Wukong" on Douyin150 thousand.

Station B is bound to the live broadcast of the game and the community ecology, and the "Three Schemes" strategy video produced by UP attracts players to enter the game, and players return to the community to share the experience, and then reward UP through the live broadcastMain – Forming "Content-Game." - Live "Triangle Loop, Station B The 2024 financial report also mentioned the steady growth of value-added services including live broadcasts, and said that Bilibili will continue to optimize the live broadcast operation capabilities and promote the continuous growth of the number of users and revenue, which also proves that the stickiness of the vertical community is still competitive.

The integrated platform not only has a larger user disk, but also has more incisions that can lead to live broadcasting, and the larger content ecology and user ecology enable live broadcast and social networking, short video, and e-commerce, and also allow the user habits cultivated by vertical platforms to migrate over several years under new entertainment trends and algorithm recommendations.

In the face of this battle for user time, traditional game live streaming platforms are still working hard. "AI" is mentioned in both Douyu and Huya's 2024 financial reports, and Huya has completed DeepSeek-R1The full-scene deployment of the full-blooded version of the large model tries to run through the "content production-" through the AI large modelDistribution-consumption" closed-loop to create AI IPThe new model, the creation of tools stylized virtual anchors, Betta will also be appliedAI programming efficiency tools drive overall R&D efficiency. Through the blessing of technology, we can improve the live broadcast experience of users, so that the live broadcast of games can be on par with the cultural infrastructure of the digital age.

The game live broadcast industry in 2025 is not only a life and death situation for traditional platforms, but also a testing ground for new forces. The financial report data of Douyu and Huya reflect the pain and hope of transformation, while the rise of Bilibili, Douyin, and Kuaishou indicates that the industry may move towards "content ecology and business cross-border" future.

For practitioners, the real winner may lie in who can upgrade the game live broadcast from "traffic business" to "". "Cultural infrastructure" will serve as a link between players, manufacturers, and society while providing entertainment value.

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