MEET48's ambition in the fan economy By Chainwire

Singapore, Singapore, August 23, 2024, Chainwire

In 2007, Japanese virtual idol Hatsune Miku debuted with synthesized voice technology, establishing the UGC model in the virtual idol industry. In 2012, her success led to the emergence of more virtual idols, with organizations such as Japan's Hololive and Korea's PLAVE adopting the PGC model, using real-time motion capture and rendering.

However, the PGC model faces challenges such as high costs, slow content creation, and limited creativity. In contrast, AI, the Metaverse, and Web3 technologies offer a new approach by emphasizing user-generated content. This shift allows users more freedom to create and share content, leading to a more open and inclusive virtual idol ecosystem.

MEET48 exemplifies this new direction, integrating these technologies to foster user participation and creativity.

MEET48: Revolutionizing traditional virtual idols

While MEET48 may be new to some, its connection to well-known girl group SNH48 highlights its potential. SNH48’s annual election earned RMB 110 million, demonstrating the strong bond between fans and idols. MEET48 adopts the successful “48 Group idols” model, which allows fans to actively participate in the growth of idols, fostering a cohesive fan culture and generating high returns with minimal investment.

MEET48 rented an entire street in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

MEET48 has made significant strides in the Web3 industry, including renting a street in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong, for promotion. The project expanded its ecosystem with initiatives such as the CoinIdols airdrop on TON and the CoinFish project, aiming to attract idol culture fans through various channels.

AI and user-generated content create a new era of prosperity for virtual idols

AI-generated content is essential to overcome the industry challenges faced by virtual humans, as inconsistent content and high production costs hamper their growth. For example, Lehua Entertainment spent 30 million yuan on ByteDance’s technology to revive its group A-SOUL.

MEET48 leverages a self-developed large multimodal model to train virtual humans in music and dance, offering AI tools and MaaS editors for easy creation, demonstrating its core competitiveness. MEET48’s COO mentioned that their model is trained on 500TB of data, nearly 1000 times more than the 570GB used for GPT-3, showing MEET48’s vast data resources.

There is no similar vertical model on the market; MEET48 has developed IdolGPT and SRMBuilder, which allow users to generate virtual idols from photos and create songs and dance moves through text input.

MEET48 is launching a next-generation virtual idol community that fuses virtual human and AIGC music and dance technology with MaaS services, spanning Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. It offers tools and resources for UGC and PGC creators, while supporting UGA and PGA content creation. MEET48’s social metaverse fosters Web 3.0-native virtual humans and real idols.

With over 24,000 UGC videos uploaded and over 10 million views, MEET48’s fan-driven UGC system is thriving. Fans can become “idol creators” and “partners,” realizing their idol dreams in the MEET48 metaverse.

WEB3 + Fan Economy: New Hope (OTC:) for Mass Adoption

The Web3 industry needs a “killer app” for mass adoption, as many protocols reach growth ceilings around 100,000 users. Leveraging SNH48 Group’s 30 million follower base, MEET48 has the potential to break through this ceiling. If just 1% of these followers become active users, MEET48 could dominate the Web3 market. With 50,000 daily active users, mass adoption is within reach.

MEET48’s Web3 platform and wallet feature a transparent on-chain voting system. Fans earn points through activities, redeemable for NFT voting tickets, ensuring transparency and immutability. The Dapp ranks first in DappBay’s social category, with over 3 million registered users for the ‘2024 GIPR2’ voting event, revolutionizing traditional voting with the support of fans registered on the blockchain.

In 2025, MEET48 plans to integrate SNH48 idols and host a global idol voting event in Hong Kong, merging virtual and real idols and marking a new era in the idol industry.

Recently, MEET48 expanded internationally by establishing offices in Japan. On August 27, MEET48 will co-host the official WebX opening party, featuring SNH48 and popular Japanese idols. On September 4, MEET48 will be sponsoring SNH48’s TOP16 Tokyo tour, promoting their global virtual idol and Web3 strategy.