China’s mania for live streaming reaps big rewards for online celebrities
Meet the do-it-yourself internet stars and their armies of fans happy to spend thousands of yuan on memberships and virtual gifts as they watch them dress up and perform songs in front of webcams
Coloured contact lenses and fake eyelashes firmly in place, a young woman belts out the latest Chinese love ballad from her bedroom, done up princess-style in pink. Tens of thousands of adoring fans watch her sing as the performance is streamed in real time via the webcam on her home computer.
Heart emoticons and comments roll across the screen in rapid succession as viewers respond to 23-year-old Shen Man’s performance – “You’re so beautiful”, “Please sing another song!”
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Shen is among 900,000 registered users who regularly live-stream themselves singing, telling jokes or even giving tips on popular software via YY.com, one of China’s largest video-based social networks.
Since she started streaming on the site two years ago, Shen, known affectionately to fans as ManMan, has attracted an average of 15,000 viewers, who log on to watch her two-hour show every night.
Cynics might say that Shen appeals to China’s population of zhai nan – nerdish guys more comfortable staying at home in front of computer screens than going out with friends.
To be sure, many of YY’s live-streaming personalities are pretty young women or amateur musicians, but the platform isn’t just for dolled-up girls or wannabe singers.