Huaxia Times reporter Yu Yujin reports from Beijing
The relatively low-key Good Future has also had to step forward in the near future. On the one hand, its live streaming room, Xueersi Premium, has flooded into many consumers, and the number of fans has doubled; On the other hand, Xueersi continues to bet on the learning machine track, launching new learning machines and increasing their pricing.
On December 19th, TAL Education's subsidiary, Xueersi, officially released its new learning machine series xPad2 Pro, which is an upgrade to the first generation learning machine xPad1. At the same time, due to the public opinion turmoil caused by Dongfang Zhenxuan and the loss of fans, Xueersi's live broadcast room unexpectedly became popular. Although it was not as good at taking advantage of the situation as Gaotu Jiapin's live broadcast room, its fans also increased. On December 15th, it was urgently renamed (formerly "Xueyoupin") to enhance brand recognition. After the "double reduction" policy, Good Future, which had been in a slump for a long time, gradually came to an end after relying on learning machines to turn losses around.
Launching a new learning machine
On December 19th, Xueersi officially released its new learning machine product, the xPad2 Pro series.
Zhao Puzheng, the person in charge of Xueersi Learning Machine, said that many traditional learning machines are "pieced together content+outdated hardware", making it difficult to ensure their professionalism and systematicity, resulting in poor actual utilization and effectiveness, ultimately leading to an extremely high rate of failure.
"The Xueersi learning machine is definitely the ceiling in terms of hardware, and the content is even more so. Currently, the TAL Learning Machine covers 14 million minutes of video explanations, which is 30-40 times higher than traditional learning machines." Zhao Puzheng revealed that the content production cost of the Xueersi learning machine is only about 8000 yuan per minute.
According to the reporter's understanding, on February 6th, Xueersi, a subsidiary of TAL Education, launched its first tablet type intelligent learning machine. The official flagship store of a certain platform had an initial price of 4599 yuan, making it the main intelligent hardware product under TAL Education.
In May and June this year, Xueersi learning machines appeared three times in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, with over 4000 units sold on the evening of June 15th; In addition, XRS also made full use of its matrix account in Tiktok to launch learning machines in multiple live broadcast rooms. According to IDC data, the shipment volume of TAL Learning Machine in the second quarter of 2023 was about 90000 units, ranking fourth in the domestic learning tablet market, with a market share rising to 8.6%.
First Shanghai analyst Dan Yucui pointed out in a research report that due to the impact of summer vacation and the 618 shopping festival, the sales of TAL Q2 learning machines are estimated to be 100000 to 150000 units, an increase from the sales of 50000 to 100000 units in the previous quarter. Currently, about 80% of purchasing users use them at least once a week, and their daily usage time has gradually increased to about 1 hour.
Thanks to the hot sales of learning machines, TAL Education has achieved its first turnaround from losses to profits after the "double reduction". In Q2 of fiscal year 2024, TAL achieved a revenue of 412 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 40.1%. The net profit attributable to TAL was 37.902 million US dollars, while the net loss attributable to TAL in the same period last year was 787000 US dollars.
Benchmarking iFlytek
According to the reporter's understanding, under the huge market demand, learning machine brands are emerging one after another. Currently, the learning machine market has formed a distinct competitive pattern, with traditional manufacturers such as Bubugao and Shulang, as well as iFlytek and Xiaodu becoming transformational manufacturers with strong technological and educational attributes such as Xueersi and Youdao. There are also many new manufacturers emerging like mushrooms after rain, and market competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
It is reported that the initial launch prices of Xueersi's latest learning machine are 8599 yuan (14 inch model xPad2 Pro Max) and 6599 yuan (12.35 inch model xPad2 Pro), respectively. This pricing has significantly increased compared to the first generation product and also sets a benchmark for iFLYTEK on the same track.
Industry insiders have told reporters that although TAL Education's learning machine is priced higher and directly compared to iFlytek, its teaching content is highly loved by parents, and parents are likely still willing to pay for it. Especially with the upcoming winter vacation, parents also need to prepare for their children's winter vacation learning. At this time, launching a learning machine is also finding the right demand point for parents.
It is worth noting that in the midst of corporate chaos, the market also divides companies with learning machine products into either technical or educational factions. TAL Education is seen as a representative of the educational faction due to its educational content being "resistant to attacks", while iFlytek is seen as a representative of the technical faction due to its technological advantages. However, players from all walks of life seem to not want to be labeled with this label. Xueersi, who comes from an educational background and embraces the technology school, also emphasized its technological advantages when launching the learning machine this time.
During the process of releasing the new machine, the MathGPT model, which had already been registered in November this year, also appeared together. CTO of Xueersi Education Group, Tian Mi, revealed that the Chinese name of MathGPT has been determined as the Nine Chapters Model. "Just like chips are to mobile phones, the Nine Chapter Model is the AI chip of the Xueersi learning machine. Xueersi's high-quality content combined with the Nine Chapter Model, good content+good AI, creates the next generation of learning machines," said Tian Mi.
Xueersi Youpin Fans Doubled
The "Little Essay" sparked a big controversy, causing Dongfang Zhenxuan to quickly lose fans, but unexpectedly causing other education companies that have switched to live streaming sales to become popular. The Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room unexpectedly became popular, although it is not as good at taking advantage of the situation as the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room, its fans have also increased. As of December 20th, the number of Xueersi Youpin fans has reached 663000, which has doubled from December 14th.
According to the reporter's understanding, in late August 2022, Xueersi launched a full category live broadcast room called Xueersi Youpin, and began its first live broadcast. The person in charge is Ma Jiangwei. But this business has been lukewarm for a long time, and with the hot sales of smart hardware, TAL has also adjusted its business focus.
At the beginning of the evening of December 11th, a large number of scholars and fans flocked to Xueersi Youpin. With the increase in the number of people in the live broadcast room, more and more fans with "Oriental Selection" signs began to come to the live broadcast room.
On December 14th, Ma Jiangwei, Vice President of TAL Education, appeared in the live broadcast room. That night, the number of fans of Xueersi Youpin's live broadcast reached 297000, and the highest number of online viewers in the live broadcast exceeded the 10000 mark. On December 15th, the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room was urgently renamed (formerly known as "Xueersi Youpin"). According to official data from Xueersi, the highest real-time online number of Xueersi Youpin reached 16000 people on that day, with a daily transaction amount of nearly one million yuan.
Internet analyst Zhang Shule said in an interview with a reporter from Huaxia Times that the renaming of Xueersi Youpin's live broadcast room aims to strengthen the IP color, while highlighting the live streaming sales and boutique atmosphere. This is also a choice for "copying homework from the class with good grades".
"The reason for the renaming of the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room may be to better adapt to market demand and brand positioning, as well as to better highlight its educational attributes and brand characteristics. After the public opinion turmoil in Dongfang Zhenxuan, the number of fans in the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room has increased. This may also be due to the high professionalism and credibility of the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room in the education field, which can attract more users' attention." Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, also analyzed to our reporter.
On the evening of December 16th, Peng Zhuangzhuang, the President of Xueersi, appeared in the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room and announced that the female anchor Orange had been promoted four levels in a row. She was also invited to join the executive sequence and participate in executive meetings and company decision-making. The next day, on the evening of December 17th, the number of online users in the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room exceeded 80000 at one point.
With Sun Dongxu's dismissal and Yu Minhong serving as the CEO of Dongfang Zhenxuan, the protagonist of the incident, Dong Yuhui, has gained his rightful identity and benefits. As the controversy gradually subsides, can other live streaming rooms that have benefited from this controversy continue to maintain their popularity? "There must be a reliable moat: either high-quality anchor IPs to attract users, or exclusive or exclusive products to give consumers a reason to have to come; if neither is available, it will be difficult to develop in the future; otherwise, unexpected customers cannot be retained," Zhang Shule believes.
"Whether the Xueersi Youpin live broadcast room can develop well depends on its future operational strategy and market performance. Although the number of fans in this live broadcast room has increased, there is still a significant gap compared to the Gaotu Jiapin live broadcast room. In addition, this live broadcast room also needs to face the challenges of other competitors and the uncertainty of market changes." Jiang Han further stated, therefore, Xueersi's live streaming room needs to constantly innovate and optimize its products and services, improve user experience and satisfaction, in order to achieve better development in market competition.
However, in response to the unexpected "leak detection" incident, TAL News seems to have maintained a consistently low-key style. A spokesperson for TAL News told a reporter from Huaxia Times on December 14th, "Currently, there is no plan to purchase traffic. We still hope to retain old users and attract new users through 'premium products', maintain respect and awe for traffic, and do our best to leverage larger levels of traffic."