The situation has gotten so intense that even cats are starting to smell like cattle and horses. First, there was the working class saying, "We can't give up our money for dignity," and then there was the "human-machine cat" bowing down for three kibbles of cat food.
The story's protagonist is a British Shorthair silver shaded cat named Fen'ertou, and its owner is a blogger who looks very much like actress Qin Hailu, also known as Fen'er's mom by netizens.
The interactions between the two mostly take place in the live stream of the Douyin account "Fen'er Tou is a Cat, Not a Pig". Fen'er's mother introduces the products she is selling while encouraging Fen'er to cooperate in the business.
Fen'er's mom wanted to put a purple eggplant scarf on it, but it refused and took a bite to express its resistance.
I tried a second time, still didn't like it, so I took another bite—quick and precise.
In crucial moments, food is still the most effective. Fen'er's mom pulled out a bag of cat treats, took out three treats, and placed them in a row on Fen'er's head. The "human-machine cat" instantly became fully charged, obediently remaining still and cooperating perfectly.
Not only does Fen'er's hair complement the scarf, but it can also lift the corners of her mouth to reveal a kind smile like that of the Mona Lisa.
This professional fake smile is Fen'er's signature expression. Even if she is unwilling, as long as she has cat food and freeze-dried food, she can dress up in any style she wants and easily pull off 10086 cosplay outfits.
The battle of wits between Fen'er's mom and Fen'er's head has not only been dubbed "Qin Hailu vs. the evil silver gradient cat" by netizens, but it has also boosted the account's followers and livestream sales. According to Newrank's Douyin data tool, NewDou, "Fen'er's head is a cat, not a pig" has gained 1.54 million followers in the past 30 days, and the estimated cumulative sales from livestreams are between 5 million and 7.5 million yuan.
What opportunities lie behind netizens' "virtual petting" of pet products? How long can pet live streaming maintain its popularity?
The "Evil Silver Gradient" livestream gained 1.54 million followers in 30 days and became a viral sensation.
The live stream of "Fen'er's head is a cat, not a pig" was as entertaining as a TV series.
Other kittens are all sweet and cuddly, but Fen'ertou is all about hissing, biting, and refusing to cooperate. If her food isn't plentiful, Fen'ertou's mom can't get anything done in the livestream.
Although Fen'er's mother "spared" her food rations, Fen'er would still seize the opportunity to be the first to eat.
When Fen'er's mom was promoting yogurt sticks, she held them up to Fen'er's face to show the viewers in the live stream. Fen'er pounced on them like a hungry tiger, chewing and crushing the yogurt sticks in a few seconds.
When faced with Fen'er's mom's "motherly love pUA" of choosing between large and small jerky, Fen'er was surprisingly clear-headed and decisively gave up the so-called "mom's love" small jerky, choosing the large jerky directly.
If Fen'ertou completely gives up and cooperates with the live stream, Fen'er's mom will bring out her younger brother—another golden shaded kitten named "Ercun'er"—and feed him a handful of treats to provoke Fen'ertou in front of everyone.
Broken Fen'er, Gluttonous Brother
After her brother left, Fen'er slowly got up and pretended nothing had happened as she looked for the broken pieces that had fallen earlier.
Fen'ertou's rebellious spirit during her live stream earned her the nickname "Evil Silver Shaded Hair." In fact, even before the live stream, Fen'ertou had already revealed her evil talent evolution in her mother's videos.
In 2018, "Fen'ertou is a cat, not a pig" posted its first Douyin video. At that time, Fen'ertou was just a kitten a few months old. Little did it know that a few years later, netizens would jokingly call it "fat as a pig." Then, in July 2021, Fen'er's mom began to regularly update her interactions with Fen'ertou, such as trimming its nails, cleaning its litter box, and dressing it up, with likes ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands.
Early videos would occasionally have a small yellow shopping cart icon displayed below them.
In July 2023, Fen'er's mother filmed Fen'er's bizarre sleeping posture, which resembled a human head, and used her underwear as a blanket and a neck pillow as a pillow. The video was very "human" and received 4.41 million likes on Douyin, making it the most liked video to date.
By this time, Fen'er had already learned to "punch hard".
In the early days, "Fen'er's head is a cat, not a pig" did not gain followers very quickly.
According to data from Xindou, the account's Douyin followers exceeded 100,000 in February 2022 and surpassed one million in September 2023. Recent viral livestreaming activities directly led to a 1.54 million increase in followers within 30 days, bringing the total number of followers to 2.87 million as of press time.
According to data collected by Xindou, the earliest Douyin live stream of "Fen'ertou is a cat, not a pig" started on January 5, 2024, lasted for 3.5 hours, had 237,000 viewers, and generated sales of between 100,000 and 250,000 yuan. The products featured in the live stream were mainly pet food, freeze-dried food, and cat litter boxes.
As the popularity of Fen'er's hairstyle spread, the number of viewers and sales in the live stream also increased.
During a nearly four-hour live stream on September 6, the number of viewers reached 3.92 million, and the sales volume was between 750,000 and 1 million yuan, making it the highest-grossing single live stream to date. Both the number of viewers and the sales volume increased more than 10 times compared to earlier sessions.
Since each live stream lasts about three or four hours, and Fen'er's head often pants and doesn't cooperate, some netizens are discussing whether there is any controversy about cat abuse.
In response, Fen'er's mother explained during the live stream that Fen'er's personality wasn't like this before. It changed drastically after Fen'er had feline panleukopenia at the age of three and received two injections. "When Fen'er first woke up, she was fine no matter how much we played with her, but after a while, she wouldn't let us play with her anymore."
At the same time, she also said that cats hold grudges, and if she really treated Fen'er badly, it wouldn't obediently lie in her arms and sleep.
After Fen'er's mother explained, some cat-owning netizens expressed their understanding and support for her.
Cat and dog live streams are common, but human-machine cat live streams are rare.
The reason why netizens enjoy watching the TV series "Qin Hailu battles the evil silver gradient" is partly because it closely resembles the beautiful spirit of working people.
From being rebellious and uncooperative to faking a smile to sell freeze-dried cat food, Fen'er's transformation is endearing and reminds working people of themselves.
Fen'ertou is not the first pet livestreamer to sell products via livestream.
In 2021, a Shiba Inu named "Xiao Shiba" became an internet sensation in live-streaming rooms. It didn't have any special talents; it just ate and slept.
During the first half of the live stream, "Shiba Inu Xiaoshiba" first showcased a mukbang (eating broadcast) while also demonstrating the products being sold that day. After eating and drinking its fill, it lay down to sleep, occasionally turning over or adjusting its position to get up and go back to sleep. Behind "Shiba Inu Xiaoshiba" were human live streamers working hard to sell the products.
In August 2021, the monthly sales of "Shiba Inu Xiao Shiba" live stream exceeded 1 million yuan. The live stream company that cooperated with it also offered generous benefits: if the monthly sales did not reach 100,000 yuan, Xiao Shiba's guaranteed income was 5,000 yuan; if the sales reached 200,000 yuan or more, there would be different percentages of sales revenue sharing at each stage.
However, "Shiba Inu Xiao Shiba's" path to becoming an online celebrity did not last.
In December 2021, the owner had already transformed Xiao Shiba into a travel blogger, releasing multiple videos on the theme of "traveling with dogs," and changing the name of the Douyin account to "Xiao Shiba's Exclusive Experience."
While the reasons for "Shiba Inu Xiao Shiba's" transformation have not been publicly stated, its owner mentioned in a report by "Tech Planet" that live streaming Xiao Shiba sleeping can attract a lot of attention in a short period of time, which helps with sales. However, if the live streaming room cannot continue to improve its entertainment value in the future, it will inevitably decline.
Also worth noting is the purchasing intention of the fan base.
The interactions in the "Fen'er Tou is a cat, not a pig" livestream show that many viewers like cats, but don't actually own them and are not the target customer group. Fen'er's mom also tried including human snacks in the livestream, but the sales results were significantly less than those of the "freeze-dried meat" that Fen'er Tou loves.
In terms of the three key elements of live streaming – "people," "products," and "venue" – even if pets are very popular, they can only serve as the "venue" component. The success of sales still depends on the "host" and the "products." Just as no matter how cute a pet host is, they can't fully understand human speech, this explains why there hasn't been a benchmark host in the pet industry yet.
However, compared to other conventional live streaming rooms, pet live streaming marketing can still be considered a unique approach.
Recently, a travel blogger promoted a group tour to Africa by dressing up as a native and dressing up his golden retriever as a "lion," attracting the attention of netizens who joked, "This must be the Golden Lion King."
Rather than saying that pets made live streaming popular, the real issue that content creators need to focus on is how to maintain that popularity. As a result, many pet bloggers are trying to extend the life of their accounts by adding more pet characters to their videos or live streams and expanding their story scope. This approach is also seen in Li Jiaqi's "Neva Family".
Moreover, not all kittens are as willing as "Evil Silver Shaded" to bravely enter a live stream for a few treats. Where else can influencers find "human-machine kittens" to turn live-streaming e-commerce into a long-term business?
