A brief discussion on subscription fund-raising (Part 1): How to understand "囧星人 ceases subscription system"

[This article](https://medium.com/@frank040737/%E8%AB%87%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E9%9B% 86%E8%B3%87-%E4%B8%8A-%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E7%90%86%E8%A7%A3-%E5%9B%A7%E6 %98%9F%E4%BA%BA%E5%81%9C%E6%AD%A2%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E5%88%B6-%E5%91%A2- e26ec1f9f889) Author Qiu Taocheng, Ziqian is a small copywriter who uses five keyboards to type in turns. I don’t think I’m as good as a copywriter, so I’m just a writer. Currently, I specialize in keyword advertising and copywriting marketing. Looking forward to finding a dignified way to survive. Thank you for the permission to reprint, hereby thank you.

Preface

囧星人 expressed in the live broadcast on December 31, 2017 that he will withdraw his current monthly subscription sponsorship of approximately 200,000 yuan and shift his income focus to other incomes such as industry distribution, which aroused discussion in the community.

This article will first understand and discuss the Jon incident, but there will be a more detailed discussion on subscription system, including the characteristics of open content and closed content. The corresponding suggestions are in “[A Brief Discussion on Subscription Fundraising (Part 2)](https://www.content hacker.today/2018/01/kyon-subscription-comment-part2.html)” and “A Brief Discussion on Subscription Fundraising (Part 2)”.

The following contents are my own personal opinions and do not represent the views of others. If there is any error in the content, please feel free to let me know and I will correct it as soon as possible.

*Updated on January 11: Newly added content: Discussion on the decline of the “Subscription Fundraising” project.

*Updated on January 16th:囧星人[PressPlay official statement](https://www.pressplay.cc/project/vippPage/%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%85A7%EF%BC%85E8%EF%BC%85AA%EF% BC%85AA%EF%BC%85E6%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%85B8%EF%BC%85E9%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%8586%EF%BC%85E8%EF%BC%85B3%EF%BC%8587%EF%BC%85E5 %EF%BC%85B0%EF%BC%8588%EF%BC%85E6%EF%BC%85A1%EF%BC%8588%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%85B0%EF%BC%8587%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%859C%EF%BC% 85A8%2B201832%2B%EF%BC%85E7%EF%BC%85B5%EF%BC%8590%EF%BC%85E6%EF%BC%859D%EF%BC%859F/CD9A5D41510ECF266AA3E707FD4335A2).

*Updated on January 17: Added follow-up discussion──

• “A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): About the choices and breakthroughs of “public content” creators”

• “A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): restrictions and challenges for “closed content” creators”

Conclusion before the article

Because this article is very long as usual, I will write the conclusion first.

Personally, I think the most important indicator for creators to be able to get along well with the subscription system is “whether they can create a healthy positive cycle”, continue to expand their influence, and increase their own sources of income.

The reason why the fans chose to suspend the “Storytelling” fundraising project is that the current sponsorship plan cannot create such a positive cycle and may even jeopardize long-term development.

At the same time, during the project, she has gained enough voice and resources through this project, which is enough for her to carry out other types of creations. In order to gain greater autonomy and flexibility in creation, we stopped sponsoring the project.

If you are a creator and find that the subscription system will make your future path narrower and narrower, attract fewer and fewer people to follow, and even make it difficult to create the creations you want, then you should remain alert to the current situation and not regard the subscription system as the only means of survival.

Subscription can be a short-term method of raising funds and monetizing fans. However, for different creators, it may not be suitable for long-term operation of the subscription system. What needs to be considered is whether the subscription system can create a positive cycle for them and whether they can continue to expand their influence.

What is a subscription system?

For those who are not familiar with subscription sponsorships, they may not understand the subscription system very well. The so-called “monthly subscription sponsorship of 200,000 yuan” means that the sponsor has sponsored a total of 200,000 yuan to the creator every month for use in this subscription project.

However, this amount usually needs to be deducted from the platform’s 10 to 20% commission (the commission ratio negotiated by each platform and each person is often not the same. If you do it yourself, you will naturally not have this commission, but there will be other costs derived accordingly).

The remaining amount needs to be deducted from the project rewards promised by the creator himself, such as sending books, small gifts or small cards, etc., and finally is the real “income”.

Why did the Jonkers stop the subscription system?

In March 2017, JonStars launched a subscription fund-raising campaign on the PressPlay platform, raising astonishing results of more than 400,000 yuan in monthly subscription sponsorships. As of January 2018, there is still a monthly subscription sponsorship of 200,000 yuan. Although the amount is slightly different from the beginning, it is still a high amount.

※Note: Some readers responded: The amount of the sponsorship project changed by the fans was because the rewards items were adjusted by the fans during the process. Many projects were refunded and adjusted, so there was some difference in the amounts. But because I am not a sponsor, I currently do not have trend charts and related data.

But there are still several cases that we can discuss about the decline in the amount of this type of subscription financing cases, and I will discuss them below.

At this juncture, Ji Xingren plans to stop the monthly financial aid of about 200,000 yuan. She initially launched a subscription fund-raising campaign, which attracted huge amounts of money and attracted attention. And now that she is about to stop her fund-raising project, the report in Today’s Weekly [“Emergency call to raise 210,000 yuan a month, embarrassing celebrities reveal the bitterness behind Internet celebrities”] (https://www.businesstoday.com.tw/article/category/154768/post/201801030030) has also aroused huge repercussions.

Based on this exclusive interview and live broadcast, readers can have a rough idea of ​​what the Jon star said.

[](https://www.pressplay.cc/project /vippPage/%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%85A7%EF%BC%85E8%EF%BC%85AA%EF%BC%85AA%EF%BC%8 5E6%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%85B8%EF%BC%85E9%EF%BC%859B%EF%BC%8586%EF%BC%85E8%EF%BC%85B3%EF %BC%8587%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%85B0%EF%BC%8588%EF%BC%85E6%EF%BC%85A1%EF%BC%8588%EF%BC%85E 5%EF%BC%85B0%EF%BC%8587%EF%BC%85E5%EF%BC%859C%EF%BC%85A8%2B201832%2B%EF%BC%85E7%EF%B C%85B5%EF%BC%8590%EF%BC%85E6%EF%BC%859D%EF%BC%859F/CD9A5D41510ECF266AA3E707FD4335A2)

As far as I understand:

• Jonah has used this fundraising project to increase her voice and resource leverage, so that she can create without relying on sponsorship funds from subscriptions.

• She realizes that the amount of sponsorship is bound to continue to decline, but the method of increasing the amount of sponsorship is not a healthy way for her own brand, nor can it achieve her goals.

• The project goal of the subscription-based project - embarrassing storytelling, left her no time to create other types of content (because she had promised to do this project and the other party also paid for it), and she lost a lot of flexibility in creation.

• For subscription-based projects, public dissatisfaction may be a potential public relations risk. For a creator who relies on the community to feed himself, this cannot be ignored.

But in my opinion, the most critical point is that the people of Jon Star realize that the subscription system is not a good positive cycle for their own brands. If we don’t take the opportunity to transform, we will eventually fall into a stagnant situation. This proposition is also worthy of discussion for many subscription creators - is subscription a bitter medicine for creators, or is it poison to quench thirst?

Creator’s original wish

Froggychiu expressed the content creator’s thoughts in this paragraph on his personal Facebook:

As a creator, my true inner desire is for everyone to see our most wonderful creations. However, tailoring some content that is “really exciting” and “limited to a small audience” for subscribers simply goes against the creator’s innermost motivation.

From my personal understanding, as a small creator, the most important thing to measure a creator is his influence; and this influence is often based on traffic and number of views - that is, how many people know and like this creator.

And this influence can bring a lot of extra chips to the creators, achieving a greater leverage effect. For example, if you can create 1 million traffic a month, you may only get 30,000 yuan in revenue from YouTube advertising revenue, but the benefits and influence behind 1 million traffic are definitely worth more than 30,000 yuan.

Just like singers now do not mainly rely on income from records. When a singer becomes famous, the income from concerts, endorsements and activities is the most important.

As a creator, I always hope that more people can see and discover themselves, and then create more creations.

So, how do you let more people see your creations?

If you want more people to see your creations, you need to put effort into promoting your own works and operating your own [brand] (https://content.tw/power/), but the most important thing is often - working hard to create better content.

However, it’s easy to understand that creating good content takes time and relies on resources. And when a creator cannot continue to produce good content, he is destined to perish and be forgotten by everyone.

In other words: on the premise of being able to support oneself, coupled with good works and promotion strategies, this is the issue that creators have to face.

The role of subscription funding

For authors like Ji Xingren, the original purpose of subscription fundraising is to “give themselves more resources” to create, rather than to specialize in producing content to serve sponsors.

Public content creators often fall into this category, including Ji Xingren, chuchushoes, Taiwan Bar, and images and text do not match. Their content output is often aimed at the public, and they also have a large fan community.

In contrast, gated content and closed-door content tend to be technical-related, such as investment, copywriting, singing and dancing, and language. They usually enter a niche market and cultivate it intensively. Subscription financing provides a channel for content payment (the details will be discussed in the next article).

For public content creators, the main meaning of subscription fundraising is to “support them to create more”, and its nature is closer to sponsorship (donate). The amount of the subscription is to allow them to meet the basic threshold - the premise of “supporting themselves”, so that they can create without any worries.

In this article, we first discuss public content creators like Jonker. Can subscription fundraising bring a better positive cycle?

Increase/decrease in sponsorship amount

As mentioned before, the fans have adjusted the items for sponsorship rewards, which may lead to adjustments in the amount. In this paragraph, I will add a little bit about the ups and downs of the amounts of several subscription-based projects.

Take this report on March 26, 2017, and [this article](https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/2017072 3/1166066/), and this content data:

*囧星人: 410,000/month (March 2017) → 210,000/month (January 2018)

• [Jiujiu Shoes](https://pressplay.cc/project/about/%E5%95%BE%E5%95%BE%E9%9E%8B+-+%E5%B9%AB%E4%BD%A0%E7%9A%84 %E5%A4%A7%E8%85%A6%E9%96%8B%E5%A4%96%E6%8E%9B%21/EE991CCCAF9201FA916CE825682B951D): 230,000/month (March 2017) → 110,000/month (January 2018)

• Adi English: 210,000/month (March 2017) → 580,000/month (January 2018)

• [Scum text](https://www.facebook.com/%E7%89%B9%E6%80%A5%E4%BB%B6%E5%B0%8F%E5%91%A8% E7%9A%84%E4%BA%BA%E6%B8%A3%E6%96%87%E6%9C%AC-526175220750138/): 160,000/month (April 2017) → 70,000/month (January 2018)

• [Lao Wang loves to joke](https://pressplay.cc/project/about/%E3%80%90%E8%80%81%E7%8E%8B%E6%8 4%9B%E8%AA%AA%E7%AC%91%E3%80%91-+%E7%82%BA%E6%82%A8%E6%B4%9E%E6%82%89%E5%85% A8%E7%90%83%E8%B2%A1%E7%B6%93%E8%88%87%E6%8E%8C%E6%8F%A1%E5%8F%B0%E8%82%A1%E 4%B8%BB%E6%B5%81%EF%BC%81/E7DD815ED1397807432214C22B11CD67): 1.06 million/month (July 2017) → 1.13 million/month (January 2018)

Most of the proposers should have reform feedback projects. Because the project itself is subject to change, Ati English has more than doubled in size, Lao Wang is still firmly in the millions, and the other three have experienced certain declines, which are mentioned here for your reference. (※However, due to the lack of data from the platform, I cannot accurately understand the complete context and trend changes.)

Methods and means to maintain the subscription amount

Once the creator starts to subscribe to raise funds and enters this cycle, if the creator wants to maintain the subscription amount, as the celebrity mentioned, there are probably the following methods:

• Expand the traffic base: Let more people see the content and make more people join the subscription plan.

• Add substantial incentives: add exclusive content and enrich feedback items. The only ones you can see here are the rewards items that most people are willing to buy.

• Selling personality bonus: Selling celebrity products, such as autographed photos, meet-and-greets, etc., cannot replace the product. It is usually based on the fact that only you like this person will pay for it.

The first point is to increase the base of traffic, and the latter two are to increase the conversion rate of traffic and increase purchase motivation.

Next, let’s talk in detail about the meaning behind these three.

The first point: increase the traffic base

Everyone wants it, but it’s not easy to implement. Even if you say more people will see it, more people will see it! In particular, can people who “newly see your content and are willing to join and subscribe to you” catch up with “lost sponsors”? Well, this will be a big question mark.

In addition, this is a cycle that can never stop. It is like a treadmill. As long as the pace is slightly out of step and the traffic growth bottlenecks, the amount will continue to decline.

Taking the “Storytelling” project as an example, the theme of “Storytelling” has 200,000 views on YouTube per episode. I think the new sponsorship amount will be a little difficult to catch up with the loss rate of the project itself (from 400,000 in March 2017 to 200,000 in January 2018, you can make a simple inference).

※Some people say that it would be better if your film is more popular and popular.

The difficulty with this is that even if you create a very popular video (which you may not be able to do), the traffic and crowds brought by such videos may not necessarily subscribe and sponsor you. It is not something you can take for granted.

Point 2: Add closed-door content

Regarding increasing closed-door content, one thing I don’t think is something every content creator can afford. Choosing closed-door content often means choosing a niche that is intensively cultivated.

It is difficult for ordinary creators to take into account both internal and external content at the same time. As far as Jon Star is concerned, even if the content she currently provides is closed-door and exclusive, I don’t think it is enough to get a high price relationship, because her current content is not scarce and necessary enough.

Some people may spend millions just to have lunch with Buffett because they believe that they will get substantial returns for this expense. This is true for hiring a tutor, learning a language, or learning a skill, so currently closed-door content is often “stakeholder”; in other words, in terms of consumption behavior, it is more of an investment behavior.

The greatest value of a Jonker’s film is not the change it brings about when it is watched by one person, but the impact it has on a group of people after watching it. At the same time, as a YouTuber, she also hopes to gain greater voice and influence; if she operates closed-door content, it will inevitably affect her further expansion of her traffic, and it is reasonable to be unwilling to do this type of content.

Point Three: Selling Personality Dividends

The premise is that the creator must have personality bonus to sell.

If the creator can do this, this is very feasible (but many people simply don’t have this condition). For example, if you sponsor more than 3,000 yuan on the Twitch platform, you will receive a pillow and a signed photo of the live-streaming girl, which is the embodiment of this approach.

Live broadcasters must establish themselves as idols and opinion leaders, and they must continue to attract affection from the community and treat themselves as commodities in order to support the entire subscription project.

Ati English’s projects have such a tendency, so they must work hard on Facebook and Instagram to maintain the popularity of the community in order to continue the project (the same is true for many live broadcasters, and the management of the community must be in place).

For example: in the Atidi English sponsorship project, the 500-yuan sponsorship options are: “The birthday girl of the month can receive a birthday card written by Atidi’s sister, and register for PR books from time to time!”, and the 800-yuan “We will also hold a video call every month to chat and interact with you more closely” are based on this.

The problem with this model is that it may not last long, and it may not be controllable. Every sale is a waste - how long will people like you? How long does it take to buy?

There are limits to such scale. When the number of sponsors increases, it becomes very labor-intensive. When the project was first launched, Jon Star and Tweet Shoes also had similar sponsorship projects. However, they later found that they were too time-consuming and not cost-effective at all, so they canceled them and turned into the simple sponsorship projects we see now.

In this report, we can also get a glimpse of the impact of preparing rewards and subscription systems on creators.

Adi believes that the current situation in Taiwan is that most subscribers still want to “pay for rewards” rather than simply “support”. For Taiwanese creators, feedback has become very important, but this actually reduces the creator’s time for doing their job (producing content).

In the more mature ecosystem in the United States, subscribers mostly subscribe with a “supportive” mentality: “I am not subscribing because I just met you or just because your stuff is good; I am subscribing after I have known you for a while and I will not subscribe until you open the subscription.”

Back to the situation of Jon Star this time

Returning to the topic discussed in this article, what is the main issue? Let’s analyze the three things that must be done when talking about subscription.

The first point is to increase basic traffic: Jonker chose the “Storytelling” project. The subject matter and audience breadth of this project cannot meet this requirement. We can see this from her recent YouTube traffic and project status. The only way is to generate other kinds of film themes. But under the current sponsorship program, it is difficult to do so. (Lack of time, worried about sponsors questioning)

The second point is to create exclusive content: This goes against her original intention as a YouTuber and is not what she wants to do; on the other hand, she has no time to do this anymore. I personally don’t think she has a strong advantage in doing this type of subject matter, or that it is healthy for future development (it should still be possible, but it won’t be her best, and I think the benefits will only be average).

The third point, personal bonus: I think Ji Xingren has the chips to operate this, and she has done some of it before (early high-amount reward projects). It seems that she personally is not willing to do this. Judging from the current situation, she wants to do other themes.

In other words, if the Jonkers continue to be constrained by the subscription system and only produce storytelling-based programs, their influence will continue to decline and their subscription amounts will be lost day by day.

Within this logic, the continued creation of storytelling by Jon Star cannot allow her to leverage more resources. This is an unhealthy cycle.

Therefore, she took advantage of the popularity brought by the subscription amount of 400,000 at that time to adjust her income structure. The most important thing is that she wants to take back the control of her own creation and develop a greater influence in the market.

This is how I personally understand this incident.

Conclusion

Here, I will post the first narrative again for readers to do a quick review.

I personally believe that the most important indicator for creators to be able to get along well with the subscription system is “whether they can create a healthy positive cycle”, continue to expand their influence, and increase their own sources of income.

The reason why the fans chose to suspend the “Storytelling” fundraising project is that the current sponsorship plan cannot create such a positive cycle and may even jeopardize long-term development.

At the same time, in the process of the project, she has gained enough voice and resources through this project, which is enough for her to carry out other types of creations. In order to gain greater autonomy and flexibility in creation, she stopped sponsoring the project.

If you are a creator and find that the subscription system will make your future path narrower and narrower, attract fewer and fewer people to follow, and even make it difficult to create the creations you want, then you should remain alert to the current situation and not regard the subscription system as the only means of survival.

The subscription system can be a short-term method of raising funds and monetizing fans, but for different creators, it may not be suitable for long-term operation of the subscription system. Creators need to consider whether the subscription system can create a positive cycle for themselves and whether it can continue to expand their influence.

There is often no right or wrong in business models. The most important thing is to find a survival method that suits you.

Next episode preview

• However, do all creators face this dilemma? What’s the solution?

• What are the successful cases for open and closed types now, and what are their characteristics?

• Which creators have actually created a healthy positive business cycle?

These issues will be discussed in subsequent articles.

• “A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): About the choices and breakthroughs of “public content” creators”

• “A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): restrictions and challenges for “closed content” creators”

Above, thank you for reading.

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★[This article](https://medium.com/@frank040737/%E8%AB%87%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1% E9%9B%86%E8%B3%87-%E4%B8%8A-%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E7%90%86%E8%A7%A3-%E 5%9B%A7%E6%98%9F%E4%BA%BA%E5%81%9C%E6%AD%A2%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E5%88 %B6-%E5%91%A2-e26ec1f9f889) author Qiu Taocheng. Thank you for the permission to reprint, hereby thank you. ★ Image source: [Qiu Taocheng Medium](https://medium.com/@frank040737/%E8%AB%87%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E9%9B%86%E8%B3%87-%E4%B8%8A-%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E7%9 0%86%E8%A7%A3-%E5%9B%A7%E6%98%9F%E4%BA%BA%E5%81%9C%E6%AD%A2%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E5%88%B6-%E5%91%A2-e26ec1f9f889), PressPlay, YouTube

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Further reading

• A Brief Discussion on Subscription Fundraising (Part 2): About the Choices and Breakthroughs of “Public Content” Creators
• A brief discussion on subscription funding (Part 2): Restrictions and challenges for creators of “closed content”
• [Lazy Bag] To subscribe or not to subscribe? That’s the question：Lazy Bag stopped raising funds for subscription event [Updated on the evening of February 2nd]

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