The concert was sold out and the drone show also exploded! Charged on a per-flight basis, manufacturers can earn hundreds of thousands in 15 minutes

Drone performance at a theme park in South China Source: Times Finance

The offline performance market is back to life, singers’ concerts are sold out, and drone formation performances are also booming.

"Starting from the first lunar month, dozens of performing companies throughout the country are in high demand and have long waiting lists.". "A few days ago, at the 2023 Seventh World Drone Conference and the Eighth Shenzhen International Drone Exhibition, Yang Jincai, the founding president of the Shenzhen Drone Industry Association, said.

On the first day of the conference, Susan was still promoting the company's formation drones to Times Finance in the morning, and in the afternoon she took foreign guests to the factory to visit and discuss cooperation. Her colleagues operated drones on site to perform performances, and many people watched and filmed each performance.

Chen Lian, the brand manager of another formation drone company participating in the exhibition, told Times Finance that with the adjustment of epidemic prevention policies and the country’s encouragement and support for the low-altitude economy, the performance approval time has been shortened, there are more and more orders, and production capacity has increased. Can't keep up, the company's new factory location is under negotiation.

Low-altitude economy refers to a comprehensive economic form that relies on low-altitude airspace and is driven by low-altitude flight activities such as manned and unmanned aircraft, radiating and driving the integrated development of related fields.

At the end of 2022, the "Strategic Planning Outline for Expanding Domestic Demand (2022-2035)" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council emphasized the need to "release the consumption potential of general aviation" and also mentioned the need to accelerate the cultivation of low-altitude tourism.

“There are performances every day and I’m so busy”

"In this year's drone market, the field of drone formation performance is the most explosive." Yang Jincai publicly stated that this is a low-carbon, environmentally friendly, and high-tech performance.

Susan received a government worker at the exhibition, who asked if he could order 500 drones to perform at festivals. He told Times Finance that he came here from Fuzhou, 800 kilometers away.

On the same day, a large company approached Chen Lian’s Shenzhen Damo Dazhi Control Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Damo Dazhi Control") to book a formation drone performance for its anniversary celebration.

Exhibition site Source: Interviewee

In some places, drone formation performances have become daily performances, such as Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Xi'an Tang Furong Garden, Hangzhou Songcheng Performing Arts, etc.

Chen Lian revealed that this year, there will be more than 200 formation drone performances in the Shenzhen North Railway Station Central Park, which means that citizens can see the performances at least two days out of every three days. The performances will be funded by the government and managed by Damo Dazhi Control. Three or four people are responsible for on-site execution.

Starting from the Spring Festival this year, the number of performances has gradually increased, with an average of two to three performances per week. From May Day to now, there are performances every day. According to Chen Lian, the company's order volume has experienced explosive growth in recent times. Compared with the same period in 2019 before the epidemic, the number of projects has increased by at least 1.5 times.

Moreover, the size of the drone fleet is also getting larger. In 2019 and before, the number of drones in a single performance of Desert Dashong was basically between 200 and 500. Now it starts with 600. Sometimes The number has reached 2,000. The more drones participating in the performance, the more detailed the images presented in the night sky.

According to a report by the Tourism Data Research Institute and the Tourism Data Innovation Alliance (TDIA), in 2021, 79.3% of the number of performance drones will be between 100-300.

Chen Lian also mentioned that due to the support and encouragement of national policies, the approval time for drone formation performances has been greatly reduced. It might have taken a week or two in the past, but now it only takes a few days.

Due to the surge in orders, Damo Dazhi Control Company does not have enough manpower and drones. Chen Lian said that the company plans to expand production and is currently looking for a new factory site. This work is currently being negotiated with external parties.

He also revealed that Desert Dazhikong will expand its team. The number of R&D personnel may increase from the current more than 20 people to 30 or 40 people, and the number of his subordinates will also double.

Times Finance has observed that in the face of the current blowout market, leading companies are recruiting agents, hoping to sell products, provide technical support and after-sales services, and occupy a larger market share.

Charged by flight, six digits will be credited in 15 minutes

According to the aforementioned report released by TDIA in 2022, drone formation performances have emerged since 2016. After several years of development, the "Five Little Dragons" have emerged at the head of the industry.

The "Five Little Dragons" are Damo Dazhikong, Ehang Intelligent, Shenzhen Gaoju Innovation Technology Development Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Gaoju Innovation") to which Susan belongs, Yifei Intelligent Control (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Qianji Innovation Cultural Tourism Technology Group Co., Ltd. has an annual revenue scale of 30 million yuan to 70 million yuan from its related businesses.

Tianyancha shows that these five are all high-tech enterprises. EHang Intelligent is listed on NASDAQ in the United States, Yifei Intelligent Control (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Qianji Innovation Culture and Tourism Technology Group Co., Ltd. have completed Received Series B financing.

At present, except for EHang Intelligent, the main business and R&D focus of the other four companies are on UAV formation performances, integrating UAV formation product R&D, production, sales and flight performance services.

Richard from GaoJu Innovation told Times Finance that currently there are not many manufacturers in China that can develop and produce formation drones. They can be counted on one hand. Other companies in the industry have to purchase drones from manufacturers, and some still Manufacturer's agent.

Times Finance has observed that the threshold for R&D and manufacturing of formation drones is high, but the threshold for engaging in performance services is lower. If you buy a drone, you will program it accordingly and you can also take orders. The core competitiveness of the service lies in safety and image aesthetics. Especially safety, if the drone falls apart in the air, falls, or collides with other drones, it will threaten public safety.

Susan said that the first priority for formation drone performances is safety. It takes two to three years for the company to develop a drone. It needs to be constantly tested and run-in. If there is a little problem, it will be improved immediately. The problem hurts reputation.

GaoJu’s innovative drones Source: Times Finance

"Big companies like Coca-Cola and Sprite will not go to those small, unknown manufacturers... If the plane crashes or the picture is ugly, it will do great harm to their brand image." Chen Lian said , at present, compared with the high-end market, the competition in the mid- to low-end market is very fierce.

Therefore, the charges vary greatly between different companies.

Chen Lian introduced that formation drone performances are generally charged on a per-flight basis. Some start-up companies charge one or two hundred yuan per flight, while for experienced large companies, the cost per flight can be as high as seven or eight hundred yuan. Yuan, even though the show is only about fifteen minutes long.

If calculated at a price of 800 yuan per flight, a company can pocket 800,000 yuan if a drone formation with 1,000 flights performs for 15 minutes.

In addition, China is the world leader in the field of drone formation performances. Chinese companies have performed at the Singapore New Year's Eve Ceremony, Dubai World Expo, Beijing Winter Olympics and other occasions. The company will actively expand overseas markets, because since the end of last year, many international customers have actively contacted the company to seek cooperation.

Damo Dazhikong is optimistic about third- and fourth-tier cities and the advertising market. Many people in third- and fourth-tier cities have never been exposed to drone formation performances. Chen Lian said that even if people across the country have seen drone formation performances in the future, it will It can also be turned into an advertising carrier.

"We are expanding its application fields, focusing on creating aerial media to replace traditional LED advertising and building advertising... I feel that there is a huge demand for it, and the communication effect will be much better than traditional advertising media." He believes, Drone formation performances have high commercial value in the advertising field.

It is worth mentioning that at the 2023 Seventh World Drone Conference, unmanned helicopters, drone food delivery, drone inspections, etc. are also hot topics, and the low-altitude economy is developing rapidly.

Data shows that as of the end of 2022, there are 15,000 drone operating companies across the country, with an annual output value of 117 billion yuan, 950,000 registered drones, and about 386 million real-time drone flights. According to predictions from the Shenzhen Drone Industry Association, the domestic drone market will reach 160 billion yuan by 2024.

(Chen Lian, Susan, and Richard are pseudonyms in the article)

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