ZhiXing Column · 2025-08-21

Startup Commentary”Multiple top groups disbanded. Is group streaming entering an adjustment period?”

Read More《多个头部团解散,团播进入调整期?》

Positive Comments: The Adjustment Period Accelerates Industry Shuffle, and Group Live Streaming Transforms towards Professionalization and High – Quality

The group live – streaming industry has shifted from rapid growth to an adjustment period. It may seem like the “growing pains” of the intensive dissolution of top live – streaming rooms, but in fact, it is a crucial turning point for the industry to develop from extensive expansion to refined and professional development. This round of adjustment not only exposes the problems of early wild growth but also injects new impetus for sustainable development into the industry through platform – based standard guidance, the rise of high – quality content, and the entry of professional forces.

First of all, the implementation of strong platform supervision and regulatory policies has laid the foundation for the healthy development of the group live – streaming ecosystem. As mentioned in the news, platforms such as Douyin and Video Account have recently issued the “Specifications for High – Quality Group Live – Streaming Content” intensively, clearly prohibiting behaviors such as vulgar performances and distorted special effects, and promoting the compliance operation of institutions through symposiums and seminars. This “tough crackdown” is not to suppress the industry but to eliminate the “pseudo – innovations” that rely on traffic speculation and edge – cutting behaviors, and to tilt resources towards truly high – quality content. For example, the platform deducts points from live – streaming rooms with “insufficient talent proportion”, which directly forces guilds to improve content quality. In the past, the model of attracting traffic through appearance and popular dances has gradually become ineffective. However, live – streaming rooms like the ancient – style girl group “A Dream of Splendor”, which focus on professional dances, have gained hundreds of thousands of fans within three months because their content conforms to the platform’s orientation, and they have stronger traffic and monetization capabilities. This shows that the adjustment of platform rules is essentially establishing a new order of “content is king”. In the long run, it will reduce internal consumption in the industry and allow truly creative teams to have room for survival.

Secondly, the rise of professional talent groups and the entry of state – owned art troupes have significantly raised the content ceiling of group live – streaming. In the past, the core attraction of group live – streaming mostly relied on “appearance + popular elements”, resulting in serious content homogenization. After users got tired of the same old things, the traffic naturally declined. But now, professional teams in niche fields such as Chinese – style dance, musical instrument performance, and second – dimension performances have begun to dominate the market. For example, the participation of state – owned art troupes such as the Shaanxi Song and Dance Theatre and the Jiangxi Song and Dance Theatre combines traditional art with the live – streaming scenario. It not only ensures the professionalism of the content (such as the level of dance choreography and musical instrument performance) but also expands the audience scope through the interactivity of live – streaming. This “professional art troupe + live – streaming” model not only solves the problem of limited dissemination channels for traditional art but also brings differentiated content to the group live – streaming industry, meeting users’ demand for “high – quality talent”. Statistically, the user retention rate and willingness to pay of such live – streaming rooms are significantly higher than those of the early “traffic groups”, indicating that the market’s acceptance of professional content is increasing.

Finally, the industry shuffle accelerates the optimal allocation of resources. The dissolution of top group live – streaming rooms may seem like a “failure”, but in fact, it is the market’s elimination of inefficient teams. In the early days, many guilds adopted a “pipeline – style” operation, quickly replicating appearance – based girl groups and compressing anchor costs to expand their territory. However, this model ignored the professional sustainability of anchors (such as health problems caused by extremely long working hours) and the innovation of content (severe homogenization). When the traffic dividend faded and platform rules tightened, such teams naturally found it difficult to survive. After the dissolution, the anchor resources may be redistributed to higher – quality teams or turn to individual development; guilds will also shift from “quantity expansion” to “quality deep – cultivation”, concentrating resources on the creation of professional talent groups. This redistribution of resources helps to improve the overall efficiency of the industry and accumulate strength for subsequent long – term development.

Negative Comments: The Adjustment Period Exposes Industry Pain Points, and the Extensive Development Model Is Unsustainable

Although the adjustment period has brought transformation opportunities to the group live – streaming industry, the intensive dissolution of top live – streaming rooms also exposes deep – seated problems in the early development, such as the lack of anchor rights protection, serious content homogenization, and traffic dependence. If these problems are not solved, they may hinder the further upgrading of the industry.

Firstly, the contradiction between the high – load work of anchors and professional sustainability has become the direct cause of team dissolution. As mentioned in the news, the working hours of group live – streaming anchors generally last up to 14 hours (6 – 8 hours of live – streaming + 3 – 4 hours of makeup, training, and review). Long – term dance practice and performance also cause a heavy physical burden. Some anchors frankly said that “high income is exchanged for health” and are even called “assembly – line workers” in the industry. Under this “overdraft – style” operation model, the loss of anchors is almost inevitable. When their bodies cannot bear the high – intensity work, they can only enter a “personal adjustment period”, and the team is difficult to maintain due to the lack of core members and finally dissolves. For example, the dissolution announcement of SK Jiujiang 097 clearly mentioned that “anchors are in a personal adjustment period, and the team’s strength is difficult to assemble completely”, which is a typical manifestation of this contradiction. This model not only damages the rights and interests of anchors (health and professional development space) but also makes team operation fall into a vicious cycle of “recruitment – training – loss – re – recruitment”, making it difficult to form a stable content output ability.

Secondly, content homogenization and traffic dependence make teams vulnerable to risks. The explosive growth of group live – streaming in the early days largely relied on the platform’s traffic support and users’ curiosity about the “new form”. However, most teams did not invest in content innovation but chose to “copy successful templates” – appearance – based girl groups, popular dances, and standardized processes became the mainstream. Under this homogeneous competition, users soon became aesthetically fatigued, and the traffic naturally declined. When the platform adjusted the traffic distribution rules (such as supporting high – quality talent groups), teams lacking content characteristics were the first to be affected. For example, many of the dissolved teams mentioned in the news were “appearance – based popular girl groups” because their content lacked irreplaceability. Once the traffic dividend disappeared, the decline in revenue was irreversible. In addition, many teams’ monetization models highly rely on user rewards and lack diversified income sources (such as e – commerce and IP derivatives), which further magnifies the impact of traffic fluctuations on revenue.

Thirdly, the “wild growth” in the early stage of the industry has overdrawn users’ trust and market reputation. Before strong platform supervision, some group live – streaming rooms resorted to edge – cutting behaviors (such as creating a peek – a – boo atmosphere by climbing over obstacles) and abuse of special effects (such as distorting the human body proportion) to attract traffic. Although this kind of content can increase traffic in the short term, it damages the user experience in the long run and gives group live – streaming a label of “vulgar” and “attention – seeking”. When the platform started to rectify, such teams were the first to be eliminated, but it may take a longer time to repair users’ overall impression of group live – streaming. For example, when SK Jiujiang 097 announced its dissolution, some fans said that they “had a premonition”, which reflects users’ lack of trust in the stability of team operation. And some users may reduce their enthusiasm for group live – streaming after experiencing the dissolution of their favorite teams many times, which affects the user base of the industry.

Suggestions for Entrepreneurs

The adjustment period of the group live – streaming industry is both a challenge and an opportunity. Entrepreneurs need to shift from “traffic thinking” to “content thinking” and at the same time pay attention to anchor rights protection and compliance operation. Specifically, they can start from the following four aspects:

  1. Optimize anchor management and build a sustainable talent system

    Avoid the “pipeline – style” employment model and pay attention to the health and professional development of anchors. For example, reasonably control working hours (such as keeping the total daily working hours within 10 hours), provide skill training in dance, performance, etc. to improve professional ability, and design a growth path of “personal IP + team cooperation” (for example, excellent anchors can be transformed into tutors or operate personal accounts independently). In addition, equity incentives, long – term contracts, etc. can be used to enhance anchors’ sense of belonging and reduce the turnover rate.

  2. Deeply cultivate content differentiation and build core competitiveness of “professionalism + characteristics”

    Break away from homogeneous competition, select niche fields (such as Chinese – style dance, musical instrument performance, and second – dimension performances) according to the team’s advantages, and strengthen professionalism. For example, cooperate with professional art troupes to introduce art guidance to improve the level of dance choreography and musical instrument performance; or explore regional cultural characteristics (such as local operas and folk dances) to form unique content labels. At the same time, increase interactive links (such as audience song requests and talent teaching) to enhance user participation and extend the retention time.

  3. Adapt to platform rules and explore diversified monetization models

    Closely follow platform policy changes (such as the “Specifications for High – Quality Group Live – Streaming Content”) to ensure content compliance. At the same time, actively connect with the platform’s high – quality content support programs (such as traffic tilt and event resources). In terms of monetization, in addition to user rewards, diversified income sources such as e – commerce (such as selling team peripherals and Chinese – style clothing), knowledge payment (such as dance teaching courses), and brand cooperation (such as co – hosted live – streaming with national fashion brands) can be explored to reduce dependence on a single source of traffic.

  4. Strengthen user operation and establish emotional connection and brand loyalty

    Pay attention to the maintenance of fan communities, collect user feedback through fan groups and live – streaming voice calls, and adjust the content direction in a timely manner. For example, in response to the problem of “user loss caused by team dissolution”, communicate the adjustment plan with fans in advance (such as continuing to interact after the anchor transforms into a personal account) to reduce user loss; or launch derivative content of the “group live – streaming IP” (such as members’ daily vlogs and behind – the – scenes footage) to maintain users’ attention to the team.


Title Page Separator Site title

Slug

Meta descriptionUse AIInsert variable

Discover AI-driven resources, tools, and insights tailored for global entrepreneurs navigating China’s business landscape. Stay ahead with expert analysis and innovative solutions.

SEO analysisEnter a focus keyphrase to calculate the SEO score

Premium SEO analysisPremiumAdd related keyphrasePremiumTrack SEO performanceInternal linking suggestionsPremium

Cornerstone content

Advanced

Insights

Use up and down arrow keys to resize the meta box panel.

The adjustment period of the group live – streaming industry is essentially a transformation from “quantity” to “quality”. Entrepreneurs need to seize the opportunities of platform standardization and the rise of professional content, take anchor rights protection as the foundation, content innovation as the core, and compliance operation as the bottom line to gain a firm foothold in the new competitive landscape and promote the group live – streaming industry towards a more sustainable future.

创业时评《多个头部团解散,团播进入调整期?》

ZhiXing-AIx
Chatbot