Coronavirus has sped up the digital revolution, with China leading the way

Name: Why live streaming is becoming China’s most-profitable form of electronic media
Uploaded: 2020-09-07T08:30:20.000Z
Duration: 4 min 33 s
Description: Why live streaming is becoming China’s most-profitable form of electronic media

From live-streaming sales to building lasting business relationships online to adopting AI in manufacturing, Chinese companies have risen to the challenge of the pandemic and offer the rest of the world a glimpse of the future

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Zhang Qin, an overseas returnee, introduces eggs on March 13 via a live stream on an e-commerce platform she founded in Huitang village in central China’s Hunan Province. Photo: Xinhua

Mark Wang

Mark Wang is president and chief executive officer of HSBC China.

Published: 4:30pm, 7 Sep 2020Updated: 10:29pm, 7 Sep 2020

In April, when many were still stuck at home and worried about a gloomy economic future, over 2 million online viewers logged on to watch one of China’s new generation of live-streaming superstars auction a rocket launch for 40 million yuan (US$5.6 million).

It was an unusual but uplifting moment during the height of the months-long nationwide lockdown amid Covid-19.

The epidemic has taken a heavy toll on the Chinese economy – gross domestic product contracted 1.6 per cent year on year in the first half of 2020 – and businesses continue to struggle. But while Covid-19 poses unprecedented challenges, it has also created powerful incentives to do things differently. Like other major crises, the pandemic has challenged old assumptions and shattered long-established routines.

In China, where the shock of the pandemic was first felt, lockdowns and social distancing have accelerated change at the technology frontier.

Live-streaming – live, sometimes interactive, broadcasting over the internet – has quickly become the dominant new path as manufacturers and companies in China look for fresh ways to reach consumers’ hearts and wallets. While the auction of the Kuaizhou-1A rocket launch, which offered the buyer the chance to have the rocket painted and access to the launch, is likely to be a one-off, the explosive growth of live-streaming as a sales channel is here to stay.

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Why live streaming is becoming China’s most-profitable form of electronic media

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, there were more than 4 million live-streaming sessions in the first quarter of 2020. More than eight times as many merchants were using Taobao Live, a live-streaming arm of China’s e-commerce giant, in February compared to January.