MEET48: From Star-Making Factory to On-Chain Netflix — AIUGC and Web3 Reshaping the Entertainment Economy
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MEET48: From Star-Making Factory to On-Chain Netflix — AIUGC and Web3 Reshaping the Entertainment Economy
Web3 entertainment is transitioning from a bubble burst to a restart, with projects like MEET48 reshaping content creation and value distribution paradigms through the integration of AI, Web3, and UGC technologies. They are building sustainable token economies, evolving from applications into infrastructure, striving to become the "Netflix on-chain," and driving mass adoption of Web3 entertainment.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor:
Jessica Feng, Investment Manager of Hash Global BNB Fund;
Henry Yang, Investment Partner, Head of Hash Global Secondary Market Funds.
The Bubble Has Burst: The Reboot Moment for "Web3 Entertainment"
In the previous cycle, gaming and entertainment captured significant attention in the crypto world.
In 2021, GameFi and X-to-Earn innovatively combined financial incentives with entertainment experiences, marking the breakout year for Web3 applications.
However, the wave quickly receded. Most projects collapsed shortly after initial hype: token prices plummeted, users left, and communities disintegrated. Once-popular narratives such as GameFi, X-to-Earn, metaverse, and NFTs have gradually faded from community focus, leading many to question whether entertainment ever truly needed Web3.
We disagree with this view. The failure of early projects was not due to flaws in the model itself, but rather stemmed from a lack of compelling content, absence of real users, and overreliance on financial instruments. "Entertainment" became merely a shell for speculation, while Web3’s true potential to create value in the entertainment industry was overlooked.
We believe Web3 technology can reshape value distribution in cultural entertainment, and strongly support the synergistic potential of combining "Web3.0 finance" with "influence." Therefore, in November 2024, we clearly stated: "Web3’s mass adoption will begin with cultural entertainment."
The entertainment sector naturally possesses high traffic, strong community engagement, mature business models, and proven monetization capabilities. When the right integration points between Web3 and entertainment are identified, entertainment will become a key breakthrough for Web3 mass adoption, and Web3 will usher the entertainment economy into a new era—what we define as "Web3 Entertainment."
Under this framework, Web3's principle of "everything as an asset" will no longer serve speculative finance, but instead form the foundation for fair value distribution. We believe Web3’s token economy will remain the core engine of Web3 Entertainment, but its focus must shift from Fi (Finance) to Economy—from short-term financial incentives toward sustainable economic systems.
Over the past year, as we've advocated and advanced the vision of Web3 Entertainment, we are pleased to participate in and witness a series of Web3 entertainment projects—including MEET48—that are actively implementing our proposed blueprint, using BNB’s tokenomics as a template. Key elements include:
- Basing the ecosystem on real users and high-quality content, using Web3 technology to connect and unlock ecological value;
- Establishing a sustainable token system that combines both value and utility as the core mechanism for economic circulation;
- Phased improvement of the token economy, progressively enhancing token utility as the ecosystem grows;
- Returning ecosystem-generated value back into the token system, enabling a two-way circulation between assets and ecological value.
Leveraging over a decade of experience in social gaming and idol development, MEET48 has already established an initially verifiable model.
Web3 + AI + UGC: Web3 Entertainment Will Usher in the Era of Co-Creation Economy
What makes this cycle unique is that technological boundaries are being completely redefined.
Generative AI is lowering creative barriers at an unprecedented pace, making mass creation possible. Next-generation models like Sora2 are reshaping the foundational logic of content production and social interaction. As platform-dominated content models (e.g., Youku, iQiyi) decline, AI will further push the industry toward user co-creation (UGC/AIUGC).
In the AIUGC era, content assets will grow explosively, and the structural flaws of Web2 models will become increasingly apparent—the inherent conflict of interest between platforms and users turns fair value distribution into an unsolvable paradox.
Content creation has long been decentralized, yet revenue remains tightly controlled by platforms: users generate value, platforms capture it.
The future of UGC must be built on a more open and equitable value loop. Web3 will serve as the foundation, providing mechanisms for ownership and circulation to harness the productivity unleashed by AI. Together, they will evolve UGC from "User-Generated Content" to "User Co-Creation Economy."
We believe Web3 Entertainment is entering a new growth cycle. As Web3 and AI technologies mature, the paradigms of content production and distribution are becoming ripe for reinvention.
When Disruptive Technology Meets Premium Content: MEET48 Is Reshaping the Industry, Aiming to Become Web3’s Netflix
Technology is never the end goal—it’s a tool to unlock content value. True pioneers aren’t platforms that “talk about tech,” but teams that use technology to create compelling content and drive cross-over appeal.
MEET48 stands out as one such leader. This powerhouse from traditional entertainment previously created Asia’s top idol IP SNH48 and the hit music-dancing game "Audition," and is now pioneering the convergence of AI and Web3 within the emotionally resonant and highly sticky "idol economy."
MEET48: Project Development Timeline
MEET48 has become a breakout application in the BSC ecosystem, boasting over 3.8 million active users and 500,000 on-chain wallets, with more than 100 million on-chain interactions. It consistently ranks at the top of BNB Chain’s social applications. The project has been selected for the BNB Chain MVB program and received strategic investment from YZi Labs. In June 2025, MEET48 completed the TGE of its $IDOL token, listing simultaneously on Binance Alpha, PancakeSwap, Bitget, Gate, and MEXC. By November, the project’s FDV exceeded $164 million.
MEET48’s Vision: From Application to Ecosystem, Building Industry Infrastructure
From a viral app to an emerging ecosystem, MEET48 aims to become a benchmark Web3 entertainment project and build next-generation Web3 entertainment infrastructure. At its inception, the team adheres to a content- and user-first philosophy, leveraging its strengths in the idol economy to deeply integrate years of idol cultivation expertise with AI and Web3 mechanisms—injecting authentic engagement and user stickiness into the Web3 entertainment ecosystem.
In the digital wave, idol culture is advancing into a new phase of virtualization and intelligence. AI breaks physical performance limits, enabling virtual idols to offer round-the-clock companionship, interaction, and personalized expansion beyond human capabilities. The commercial potential of virtual idols is rapidly being validated: Japan’s Hatsune Miku and China’s Luo Tianyi have become top-tier cultural IPs. With breakthroughs in generative AI, major entertainment players are entering: South Korea’s SM Entertainment launched the virtual idol Naevis; Netflix debuted virtual groups HUNTR/X and Saja Boys through its animated film "K-Pop Demon Hunters," breaking multiple records previously held by real artists on Spotify. As a16z noted, virtual idol cultivation is evolving into a massive, billion-dollar-scale opportunity.
Yet these still operate under centralized "platform-driven stardom" models. Among entertainment giants, MEET48 is the first to break free from the Web2 framework. With sharp industry insight and nearly two decades of accumulated content operations and technical R&D, MEET48 is using AIUGC tools combined with Web3 mechanisms to democratize "stardom creation."
Backed by a 30-million-fan base and over 40,000 music copyrights, MEET48 has built a complete creation and value circulation system:
MEET48’s Web3 Flywheel
- AIDOL Producer: An all-in-one AIUGC toolkit supporting character creation, stage design, and performance generation;
- Mars Protocol: A content asset tokenization solution offering monetization pathways;
- Metaverse: An immersive social and creative space enabling long-term user and asset retention.
Additionally, drawing from deep industry understanding and operational experience, MEET48 has introduced a new Web3 model for the creator economy:
- Proof of Creativity (PoC): Replacing proof-of-work or proof-of-stake with creative value, where community members and fans use governance tokens to vote on content valuation;
- Virtual World Assets (VWA): Incorporating virtual characters, works, and content into a tokenized circulation system, providing creators with assetization and commercialization foundations.
PoC establishes value consensus around content creation, while VWA gives content economic form—jointly forming the foundational layer for the AIUGC era.
When platforms cease to be value monopolists and instead become empowering tools; when creativity is unleashed and content is properly owned and rewarded, value truly returns to users, and the full potential of the creator economy is unlocked. This is the unique opportunity offered by AI+Web3—and the inevitable direction of content industry evolution.
Riding the wave is just the beginning; execution capability ultimately determines success. Unlike most Web3 entertainment projects stuck in concept phase, MEET48 possesses one of the rarest assets in Web3: systematic execution ability:
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- Technically, MEET48 holds unique data and algorithmic advantages. Two decades of accumulated music and dance data provide natural training benefits for AI models. A research team exceeding 500 engineers spans 3D avatars, music-dance large models, AI entertainment agents, and metaverse socialization, forming a systematic technical architecture that fully upgrades the "idol cultivation" model for the age of intelligence.
- Operationally, the team previously created the phenomenon-level game "Audition" and built the SNH48 ecosystem—spanning five sub-groups, over 300 artists, and 30 million fans—giving them unmatched hands-on experience and launch advantages.
- In terms of traffic, MEET48 will migrate SNH48’s voting mechanism on-chain during cold start, injecting early traffic into the AIUGC platform; launch the Web3 virtual idol game "AuditionsGO"; and collaborate with Tencent Video to produce the world’s first AI Idol competition show, driving mainstream visibility.
Entertainment and content have always been among the most penetrating sectors online, and the virtual idol space—especially when enhanced with AI—is best positioned to achieve mass adoption first. MEET48 has precisely seized this moment, leveraging four core advantages—operational experience, technical architecture, execution capability, and traffic foundation—to lead the transformation.
Just as Netflix harnessed the internet wave to redefine content distribution, MEET48 is rewriting the rules of content creation and value flow with AIUGC and Web3, reconstructing the global entertainment system and setting the stage for a "Netflix legend" on-chain.
MEET48’s AIUGC Idol Super Group
From Application to Infrastructure: Building a Web3 Entertainment Empire
MEET48’s ambition extends far beyond a single app.
In its early phase, MEET48 functions as a "dream factory" for stardom in the Web3 world, using AIUGC to dismantle centralized production barriers and return creative power to users. But looking ahead, it aims for a grander vision—to become foundational Web3 entertainment infrastructure that reshapes the underlying rules.
To realize this, MEET Labs has already incubated GamingFi, a lightweight gaming platform, forming an initial cross-content ecosystem matrix. This is only the beginning. MEET48 plans to develop a PoC sidechain—a Layer2 compatible with EVM—within the BSC ecosystem, creating a closed loop of users, assets, technology, and applications:
MEET48’s Fourfold Advantages: Full Coverage Across Technology, Applications, Users, and Assets
- Technologically, EVM-compatible Layer2 is no longer a barrier;
- In applications and users, MEET48 boasts a massive fan base and proven product execution;
- In assets, AIUGC solves the supply of content assets (VWA), while PoC establishes value consensus and ownership frameworks.
Leveraging a comprehensive technical stack and strong support from the BNB Chain ecosystem, MEET48 aims to become a benchmark in Web3 entertainment, integrating and attracting more entertainment IPs, content, and applications transitioning into Web3, jointly developing the EVM and BSC ecosystems, and driving ecological and sustainable growth in Web3 entertainment.
Just as Binance evolved from an exchange to build BNB Chain, becoming Web3’s financial infrastructure—the "NASDAQ on-chain"—MEET48 is following a similar path: powered by AIUGC and built on Web3, it is redefining the entire chain of content creation and value distribution, aiming to become the on-chain "Netflix."
As the ecosystem expands, value generated within will continuously flow back to the base layer, opening up a first-stage growth potential worth billions of dollars for MEET48.
The Sole Carrier of Billion-Dollar Ecological Value: IDOL Is Retracing BNB’s Path of Value Leap
IDOL is the core value carrier of the MEET48 ecosystem, analogous to BNB in the Binance ecosystem. Its value capture mechanism closely mirrors BNB and can be analyzed in two dimensions:
- Functional Utility: As a utility token, IDOL serves multiple critical roles within the ecosystem—including voting and purchasing virtual goods and services—creating stable use cases and sustained holding demand;
- Asset Value: Achieved through deflationary mechanisms tied directly to ecosystem growth.
BNB achieves deflation via quarterly auto-burns and transaction fee burns. Similarly, IDOL adopts a "dual burn mechanism":
- Voting Pool Burn: A fixed percentage of IDOL tokens from voting pools generated during SNH48 (and future virtual idols) elections will be periodically burned;
- Transaction Fee Burn: Ongoing transaction interactions within the ecosystem will continuously reduce IDOL’s circulating supply.
With shrinking supply and growing demand, a healthy token circulation is formed, allowing IDOL’s value to scale with ecosystem growth.
We believe today’s IDOL resembles BNB in 2019—on the cusp of explosive growth, with market yet to fully price in its potential. In the future, as the Web3 entertainment ecosystem expands, IDOL will emerge as the central carrier of billion-dollar value.
Conclusion: MEET48 Leads the On-Chain "Netflix Moment," Driving a New Wave of Web3 Entertainment
Just as Netflix reshaped global content distribution through streaming, MEET48—leveraging deep expertise in content and product operations and systematic breakthroughs in AI and Web3 technologies—is redefining the production and value distribution paradigms of the content industry, launching a new era of Web3 Entertainment centered on functional token design that empowers co-creation economies.
As a pioneer of this movement, MEET48 has already demonstrated the feasibility of merging Web3 with entertainment. Built upon a vast fan economy, mature business models, and proven monetization systems, MEET48 uses Web3 to align IP and fan interests, enabling shared value and rewards.
Looking ahead, MEET48 will continue exploring and building, using its successful implementation as a model and PoC Chain as an incubation base, to accelerate more projects along the Web3 Entertainment path, collectively shaping a new paradigm of decentralized entertainment economy and ushering in the Web3 Entertainment "Netflix Moment."
Announcement: MEET48 and Hash Global Join Forces to Launch the "Web3 Entertainment Alliance"
On November 4, 2025, Hash Global hosted a closed-door meeting in Hong Kong on "Web3 Entertainment," inviting teams including MEET48, OFFGRID (Web3 ticketing and Fanvestment IP incubator), Innow (Japan-based influencer and idol platform), IPDex (Hong Kong cultural copyright exchange), JCube (cultural-sports-entertainment IP holding and ecosystem operator), ENT (end-to-end music entertainment assetization and distribution platform), BitX (first UGC social prediction platform), and Sortes (on-chain welfare lottery and raffle platform). The goal was to share insights, pool traffic, and build consensus around Web3 Entertainment.
Coinciding with the release of this report, participating parties announced the joint formation of the "Web3 Entertainment Alliance," aiming to attract and connect more Web2 and Web3 entertainment projects and resources to jointly advance the decentralized entertainment economy and drive Web3 entertainment mass adoption.
The Web3 Entertainment Alliance will provide a platform to collaboratively explore key issues such as:
- How to base the ecosystem on real users and quality content, using Web3 technology to connect and unlock value;
- How to build economic circulation mechanisms centered on sustainable token economies that combine value and functionality;
- How to onboard and convert real Web2 users while attracting Web3-native users, bridging traditional entertainment audiences with on-chain communities;
- How to use Web3 to build a unified global user system and enable precise cross-industry audience targeting.
The alliance will host regular online and offline events to foster communication and collaboration among members, promoting the integration and co-development of Web2 and Web3 entertainment industries.
If you are interested in joining or learning more, please contact us via:
- Hash Global: X @HashGlobal
- MEET48: X @meet_48
Disclaimer
This report is for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute any form of investment advice, recommendation, or endorsement.
Hash Global is an investor in MEET48 and holds $IDOL tokens through its funds. The content and views expressed in this report may therefore reflect certain biases. Readers are advised to exercise independent judgment.
This report may contain forward-looking statements based on current market conditions and publicly available information. These views are subject to change due to market, regulatory, and technological developments. Cryptographic assets and DeFi projects carry high risk and uncertainty, and investors may face the loss of their entire principal.
This report has not been tailored to the financial situation, investment objectives, or risk tolerance of any specific investor.
Readers are advised to fully understand related risks and consult independent legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions.
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