Recently, in the A-share intraday, the millet economic concept index rose by more than 10%, the 20% daily limit of individual stocks in the sector, Deyi Cultural and Creative, Huali Technology, and Aofei Entertainment, Hengdian Film and Television, Shifeng Culture and other shares, among which Shifeng Culture and Guangbo both won 5 consecutive boards.
The "millet economy" is suddenly popular, and the two-dimensional enthusiasts are gulping "eating grain" is affecting the capital market! Related concept stocks are popular in the market. With the rapid development of the "second dimension" and its derivative economy, the emerging markets created by its peripheral commodities "millet" have risen rapidly and are becoming a new outlet for the investment market.
What exactly is the "millet economy"?
The word "millet" is transliterated from the English "Goods", which generally refers to various peripheral products derived from content IP (intellectual property) in the two-dimensional culture, such as comics, animations, games, idols, special effects and other copyrighted works. The word is derived from the Japanese word "goods" (goods), which is pronounced similarly to "millet", so it is widely adopted by Chinese two-dimensional enthusiasts.
Millet includes a variety of forms of goods, such as posters, cards, pendants, stands, figures, dolls, etc. Among them, "吧唧" is a particularly popular badge, derived from the Japanese word "バッジ" (badge), which is pronounced similar to the Chinese "bar 唧", which is "the first choice for eating grain". On the other hand, "pain bags" refer to bags that are full of badges and dolls of anime characters.
The millet economy is mainly young people, involving the licensing, production and sales of animation and game IP. This type of company is known as "Millet Economic Concept Stocks". Different from the aesthetic realization of trendy toys, millet products carry the ACG IP, which is an important form of expression of the ACG peripheral and derivative industries. The consumer group is concentrated in the younger ACG users, which significantly shows the consumption mentality of "paying for content".
According to the data of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the scale of China's ACG industry has increased from 18.9 billion yuan in 2016 to 221.9 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 42%, of which the scale of peripheral derivative industries has increased from 5.3 billion yuan to 102.3 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of 53%, and it is expected that the scale of the ACG industry will reach 590 billion yuan by 2029.
The popularity of the two-dimensional market and the rise of the "millet economy".
With the wide spread of ACG culture and the continuous growth of its core user groups, coupled with the increasing popularity of collectible gameplay, the emerging field of "millet economy" has gradually attracted the attention of many institutions. Since September this year, a number of well-known brokerages, including Shenwan Hongyuan, Soochow Securities, Haitong Securities and Zheshang Securities, have released research reports on the "millet economy", delving into the consumption trends of this dynamic market.
At present, the industrial chain of "millet economy" shows great potential for development, among which IP (intellectual property) acquisition and channel construction are regarded as the two key elements of the industry. Compared with the leaders of the trendy toy industry who have formed a complete industrial chain layout, there are still a few enterprises that have achieved full coverage of the whole industrial chain in the field of "millet economy". Some companies mainly focus on product design, development and distribution, enhancing production capacity by obtaining upstream IP licenses and establishing their own supply chains, while actively exploring downstream sales channels to complete the business monetization process. However, the relatively limited contribution of these companies' self-operated stores to their total revenue indicates that they are in the process of moving towards a more comprehensive industrial layout.
It is worth noting that although the ACG derivatives market presents a high profit margin and a low product technology threshold, its market competition pattern is very fierce. The presence of a large number of competitors in the market and the overall low concentration result in suppliers being at a disadvantage in price negotiations, while consumers have strong bargaining power. In addition, due to the low barriers to entry and the threat of substitutes, it is expected that more new players will join the competition in the future, further intensifying the competitive situation in the market.
The AI line behind "Millet".
Pop Mart has set an example for the millet economy, which has prompted investors to rush to look for similar potential stocks in the A-share market. In addition to being optimistic about the growth potential and consumption boom of ACG culture and its surrounding commodity market, investors have also noticed the close connection with artificial intelligence (AI) technology behind "millet", which has become one of the important application scenarios of AIGC (artificial intelligence generated content).
Nowadays, the role of AI technology is becoming more and more significant in the millet economy, and its influence runs through multiple links such as product design, marketing, and IP licensing.
Platform innovation: Taking Pop Mart as an example, it has developed a fully self-developed artificial intelligence integration platform "HeyLisa". The platform integrates a variety of natural language processing models and advanced speech recognition technologies to support customized services and realize seamless integration of AI with internal business processes. In this way, "HeyLisa" aims to help companies reduce the cost of developing new products and improve work efficiency.
Product innovation: With the advancement of science and technology, AI toys are gradually becoming a trend in the toy industry. Whether it is dolls, models or music boxes and other traditional millet products, they have become more interactive and interesting after integrating AI technology, thus attracting more consumer attention.
Inspire creativity: With AI technology, companies can create content more efficiently and dramatically reduce the cost of creative development. For example, with the power of AI, a series of IP-related designs can be quickly generated, accelerating the transformation of products from concept to market, and further enhancing the business value of IP.
It is recommended to pay attention to companies with the ability of the whole industry chain
With the vigorous development of the millet economy, more and more game giants continue to increase their investment, which promotes the rapid growth of the entire industry chain. This industrial chain is mainly composed of five parts: the upstream includes IP creation and operation, the midstream covers the production and sales channel construction of millet products, and the downstream is the consumer-facing market.
Domestic game companies, animation producers, and online literature platforms are the core forces to create unique IPs, which have become an important cornerstone of Guzi's economic development. Once consumers have a deep emotional connection with a certain IP, the millet economy has a strong momentum for development.
On the basis of having high-quality IP, the professional operation team can design a variety of peripheral products around these IPs and bring them to the market through systematic business strategies. Coupled with the joint efforts of millet producers and channel partners, a wide range of millet products can reach consumers smoothly.
According to the iFinD database, several A-share listed companies have set foot in the field of millet economy, such as Guangbo Co., Ltd., Aofei Entertainment, etc. It is worth noting that those chain millet stores that rely on high-profile IP resources are expanding at an astonishing rate, showing strong growth potential. In the short term, businesses or brands with an extensive retail network are more likely to capture industry growth opportunities; However, in the long run, the focus of competition between companies will shift to product development capabilities and product selection strategies, which will ultimately be reflected in the differentiated products provided to the market.
To sum up, the key to the success of the "Millet Economy" lies in its strong IP licensing and operation capabilities, efficient supply chain management, and extensive sales channels. Therefore, it is recommended that investors pay attention to those companies that have the ability to integrate the whole industry chain and whose IP can quickly gain market recognition.
