With the news that Blued's parent company BlueCity Brothers submitted its prospectus, a unicorn in the vertical community field began to enter the public eye from the capital circle. People outside the industry may not know much about this APP, but judging from the words "largest in China", Blued's achievements in the domestic and even global LGBTQ community market are very "remarkable". It is certain that the prospectus submitted by Blued not only demonstrates the huge value of the vertical field, but also plays a positive role in promoting social awareness of sexual minorities. Blued “crosses the cycle” Benefiting from a more open culture, social platforms for the LGBTQ community first appeared in Europe and the United States. The earliest one was Grindr, which was launched in 2009. Driven by Grindr, new products such as Jack'd and Scruff appeared in 2010. Blued, a domestic product, was launched in 2012 and officially started its international layout in 2015. It was also a product that entered this field early, so it has certain first-mover advantages. Grindr was acquired by Kunlun Wanwei in 2016 and announced its IPO plan in 2019. At the same time, Blued also announced that it would prepare to list on the US stock market. The global battle for LGBTQ people has suddenly become a competition among Chinese players, and people inside and outside the industry are watching to see who will become the first stock in the industry. But this year, the industry landscape has changed again. In March, Kunlun Wanwei's Zhou Yahui was forced to sell Grindr, disrupting the listing plan. Three months later, Blued submitted its prospectus. There is no doubt that Blued has taken the lead. Blued's predecessor was Danlan.com, which was founded in 2000. In 2012, with the rapid development of mobile Internet, Danlan.com transformed from a forum to a mobile application Blued, successfully entering the mobile Internet era from the PC era. In the following years, Blued made steady progress and successfully obtained multiple rounds of financing. In 2016, Blued launched the live broadcast business on the cusp of mobile live broadcasting, and the live broadcast business has become the strongest pillar of revenue. Blued has also successfully entered the commercialization stage. In 2015, Blued began to expand from the domestic market to overseas markets, initially starting in Southeast Asia and gradually covering the entire Asian region. Geng Le also confidently stated in an interview that "we must take the lead in the Asian market and become the No. 1 in the region." Since 2018, Blued has expanded beyond Asia. It can be seen that in the past 20 years, whether it is the transformation from PC to mobile, or from local to international, Blued has seized every opportunity for transformation and upgrading, and has been able to "cross the cycle" in an environment where similar products have gradually collapsed and policies have been constantly changing. Blued, which has become a unicorn in a vertical field, has built a solid barrier for itself. First, Blued's first-mover advantage should not be underestimated. Since the LGBTQ community has a small social circle and fewer applications to choose from, they are more attached to the products they have already started using, which makes it extremely important for products to have a first-mover advantage in the same-sex social field. Early entry and continuous product improvement can often form a barrier. Secondly, Blued has already laid out multiple businesses such as live broadcasting, social networking, and healthcare, and has the ability to integrate multiple services and provide solutions. For early players, the diversified business layout can meet users' various needs including social networking, entertainment, shopping, and medical care, which makes users more sticky to the product, and the frequency, duration, and user retention rate of use will be higher. Source: Company prospectus In addition, Blued has been committed to public welfare projects since its inception, which is one of the characteristics that cannot be ignored in its rapid development process. In 2008, Blued's parent company Blue City Brothers established an independent public welfare brand "Danlan Public Welfare", which provides services including HIV testing and consultation, care for infected persons, Internet intervention, etc. Then in 2011, it established the "Danlan Happy Testing Room", set up monitoring points in many cities across the country, and provided free HIV testing and consultation services. Blued has cooperated with governments, communities, organizations and international institutions at all levels, and has made considerable social benefits by taking advantage of the Internet in HIV prevention and control. It has also fully demonstrated the company's sense of social responsibility, and has been widely recognized by mainstream media at home and abroad. Overall, Blued, which has been deeply engaged in vertical fields, has built its competitive advantages in vertical fields. The Matthew effect of the Internet determines that Blued will further accompany the growth of vertical groups, provide "full life cycle services" for the LGBTQ community, and enjoy more dividends. The data disclosed in the prospectus is the best proof of Blued's achievements: Blued currently has more than 49 million registered users in more than 210 countries and regions around the world, with an average monthly active user base of 6 million in the second quarter of 2020, and overseas monthly active users account for more than 49%. At the same time, Blued's average monthly active users are six times that of the second place in the same industry, and its average daily active users are nearly seven times that of the second place in the same industry in China. In India, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, Blued is also the largest online LGBTQ community in the local area. In addition, according to data from the Frost & Sullivan report, the average daily stay time of Blued's active users in 2019 was more than 60 minutes, the average number of times active users opened the app per day was more than 16 times, the average next-month retention rate of active users reached 71.0%, and the ARPPU of the live broadcast service business reached 2,059 yuan, which shows the strong user stickiness and payment ability. Source: Company prospectus Blued’s Imagination Space Currently, BlueCity Brothers' revenue sources mainly include live broadcasting, membership, advertising and other services. Other service sectors include medical health and family planning related product sales and services. According to the prospectus:- In 2018 and 2019, Blued's live broadcast revenue was 460 million yuan and 670 million yuan, accounting for 91.3% and 88.5% of the total revenue, respectively. In the first quarter of 2020, the live broadcast revenue was 180 million yuan, an increase of 31.9% over the same period last year.
- In 2018 and 2019, Blued's membership service revenue was RMB 4.717 million and RMB 36.738 million, respectively, accounting for 0.9% and 4.8% of total revenue, respectively. In the first quarter of 2020, membership service revenue was RMB 15.013 million, a year-on-year increase of 390.6%;
- In 2018 and 2019, Blued's advertising service revenue was RMB 32.92 million and RMB 35.384 million, respectively, accounting for 6.6% and 4.7% of total revenue, respectively. In the first quarter of 2020, advertising service revenue was RMB 5.596 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%;
- In 2018 and 2019, Blued's other service revenue was RMB 5.877 million and RMB 15.355 million, respectively, accounting for 1.2% and 2.0% of the total revenue, respectively. In the first quarter of 2020, other service revenue was RMB 7.221 million, a year-on-year increase of 560.1%.
It can be clearly seen from the above data that live broadcast service is Blued’s current largest source of revenue, accounting for more than 80%. At the same time, membership services and other service businesses have increased significantly. The large proportion of live broadcast business has brought some doubts to Blued, but judging from the information disclosed in the prospectus, more hidden information is worth noting. First of all, from the revenue structure, it can be seen that the proportion of Blued's live broadcast business revenue is on a downward trend, while the membership services and other services segments increased by 678.8% and 161.2% year-on-year in 2019 respectively, and the revenue growth is very obvious. Among other businesses, the sales and services of medical care, health care and family planning related products and services are particularly worthy of attention. Thanks to more than ten years of in-depth involvement in HIV prevention, treatment and testing, Blue City Brothers has gradually formed unique advantages in the sales and services of medical health, family planning and other related products for the LGBTQ population. In 2019, Blue City Brothers launched an independent health service brand "Hor Health" to provide the LGBTQ community with anti-HIV-related drugs and consulting services, as well as other services related to men's health. According to official data from BlueCity Brothers, the total transaction volume of health-related services has increased by more than 150% from April 2019 to March 2020. As the recognition of this group in society continues to increase, the "full life cycle" services provided by Blued will have greater room for growth in the future and may become a new growth point. Source: Hor Health official website Blued's total revenue is on the rise: 759 million yuan in 2019, up 51.4% from 2018; At the same time, LGBTQ people are more willing to pay. In the first quarter of this year, the number of paying users of Blued's live broadcast service increased by 29.9% year-on-year, and the ARPPU of the live broadcast service business was as high as 2,059 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61%. The high willingness of users to pay behind the continued growth of its business is evident. In the context that live streaming has already played a supporting role, the company will have more funds to strengthen community operations and the research and development of new technologies and new functions, thereby increasing revenue from other business segments. Therefore, if Blued is placed in the entire social industry, its business structure is actually very similar to that of Momo. Momo is also a player that caught the live broadcast trend in 2016. Relying on the huge traffic accumulated from social networking, live broadcast has become Momo's "second curve" and has thus maintained a stable profit status. At present, Momo's member value-added business is also in a steady growth state, and its live broadcast business revenue accounts for 70%, which is still its pillar business. Like Momo, Blued's membership service business and other businesses still have a lot of room for growth. For Blued, LGBTQ people have strong stickiness to the platform and willingness to pay. When the platform focuses more on developing new technologies and new functions, improving user experience and community operations, users will be more dependent on the product. At the same time, covering social, entertainment and other aspects of services will further enhance users' ability to pay. In addition, the Asian market is Blued's current main market. As overseas markets such as Europe and the United States continue to expand, Blued's revenue from overseas business still has a lot of room for expansion. Overall, the "pink economy" that supports the development of Blued has huge room for imagination. According to Sullivan's statistics and analysis, as of 2018, the number of LGBTQ people in the world exceeded 450 million, and the number of LGBTQ people in Asia was about 300 million. From 2014 to 2018, the proportion of LGBTQ people in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups increased by 0.7% and 0.4% respectively, which was significantly higher than other age groups. At the same time, compared with the general population, the proportion of highly educated people in the LGBTQ group is higher. This phenomenon also shows that more highly educated and young people have a higher degree of recognition of their own sexual orientation, and this group happens to be the main consumer force. Source: Sullivan Research Institute Lower household expenses, a desire for social recognition, and a gradually mainstream consumer culture have made the pink economy a "gold mine," and Blued is now standing at the entrance to the gold mine. As it accelerates its overseas expansion and successfully wins the title of "first stock" in the future, whether it can see a promising, high-growth unicorn is worthy of continued attention from both inside and outside the industry. via Deep Sound Original by Lu Yue |
