Big business
Livestreaming in China is big business.
See here:
Top 5 Apps You Need To Know https://pandaily.com/livestreaming-in-china-top-5-apps-you-need-to-know/ – Posted on July 17, 2020
It is estimated that more than 520 million people watch user-generated livestreams in China in 2020.
In 2019, the total revenue of livestreaming e-commerce industry reached 433.8 billion yuan, and it is expected to increase to 916 billion yuan by 2020. What sets livestreaming apart from other methods of marketing is its straightforward, highly targeted and efficient delivery of real-time content.
The top five:
- Inke was launched in May 2015 with the slogan that anyone can livestream and currently has over 25.5 million monthly active users
- Taobao Live is Alibaba Group’s dedicated livestreaming e-commerce channel.
- DouYu which literally translates into “Fighting Fish”, is an app by DouYu TV and was first launched in 2014. DouYu, the largest game-streaming platform in China, is backed by both Tencent and Phoenix Media.
- KuaiShou, literally meaning “fast hand”, which is also known as ‘Kwai’, was first launched in 2011 as ‘GIF KuaiShou’. It changed its name and function to what we know today in 2014.
- This #1 app spot should come as no surprise to many, and it rightly belongs to Douyin (or for the uninitiated, Chinese precursor to TikTok).
YINKE
October 2019: Yinke is the leader in the live streaming market in China. It’s the number one Live Streaming APP in China. As of October 14th, it was just ahead of QQ and below Alipay in terms of downloads on the Apple Store.
However, after using it for a while, my Apple shop informed me: “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the Belgian store”.
Not sure why… I then tried a bit KuaiShou (still working).
I cannot download Douyin. I did try TikTok but not able to “register” and use. Not clear why.
A Wild East
Livestreaming already became a hot topic in 2016, see this China Daily article:
20 December 2016 – Live streaming offers instant fame
By Xinhua | China Daily
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2016-12/20/content_27722542.htm
See also this article from 2016 where foreigners still appeared:
161016 LivestreaminginChina
Source: WalktheChat
There is/was a lot of strange stuff on livestreaming in China. See here some earlier screenshots, many “trans”, and many girls with a huge following. It’s big business as followers spend (a lot of) money to send “gifts” to their preferred girls (or boys).
I looked a bit around out of curiosity, even tried some posts but then gave up. Not my favorite pastime.
A booming market
More insight on how it started years ago:
“Click state: inside the machine churning out stars for China’s voracious live-streaming appetite. With revenue set to surpass box office takings, online hosting is big business, spawning an entire industry offering training, work space and even loans for cosmetic surgery to women.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2087149/click-state-inside-machine-churning-out-stars-chinas-voracious
and:
“China live streaming: Would-be internet stars boost billion-dollar market”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-livestreaming-idUSKBN17E0EV
More to report in next post!