“Live-streaming in e-commerce is a very innovative model that enables interaction and participation of users,” said Zhang Dingding, an internet industry commentator and former head of Beijing-based research firm Sootoo Institute. “That interaction, in turn, can drive up transactions to some extent.”

Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, for example, was one of the first major tech industry leaders to make a big splash in China’s live-streaming video market in 2018, when he did a campaign on Taobao Marketplace. Taobao, China’s biggest online retail platform, is a subsidiary of Alibaba, parent company of the South China Morning Post.

Li Jiaqi, China’s ‘Lipstick King’, raised more than US$145 million in sales on Singles’ Day

Ma took part in a one-on-one competition against professional live-streamer Austin Li Jiaqi over who could sell more lipsticks on Taobao Live, the Alibaba retail platform’s marketing channel.

Their widely viewed match, also seen on Alibaba-owned streaming video platform Youku, was easily won by Li, who has gained popularity as China’s “Lipstick King” since he started doing streaming videos almost everyday on Taobao in 2017. He once sold 15,000 lipsticks in just five minutes on Taobao Live.

Last year, Ma did another live-streaming video campaign for farm produce with Taobao’s top live-streaming broadcaster, the former singer Wei Ya.

Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel services provider, has cultivated its own live-streaming star in co-founder and executive chairman James Liang Jianzhang. On his live-streamed video campaigns, Liang wears ancient Chinese clothing, known as hanfu, to pitch hotel room bookings with the Nasdaq-listed Trip.com, formerly known as Ctrip.com International.

Sohu launched an unsuccessful live-streaming service Qianfan in 2016, when the industry seemed to have reached its peak. The number of live-streaming platforms at that time grew to more than 100, but monthly active viewers were in decline, according to market intelligence firm iResearch.

These developments in China’s live-streaming video market show the potential of how fast the tech industry can recover, following the broad economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus crisis.

With e-commerce and entertainment helping spur increased adoption, the total number of live-streaming video users in China is projected to reach 526 million this year, up from 504 million in 2019, according to iiMedia Research.

“The popularity of live-streaming was already strong before the pandemic, but the [coronavirus] lockdowns moved it up another notch,” said Mark Tanner, founder and managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy China Skinny. “I expect its popularity will continue beyond the pandemic. Still, a drop from its peak is expected because Chinese consumers will have less idle time [in future].”

Chinese mobile users now spend over 6 hours every day online – that’s almost 2 full days a week

The stakes are also high for China’s major tech players in live-streaming video services, including Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance. The industry’s size is predicted to surpass 900 billion yuan this year, according to iiMedia, as China remains the world’s largest internet and smartphone market.

While tech industry leaders taking part in live-streaming video campaigns may offer less novelty than professional streamers, the “shoppertainment” trend is blurring those boundaries.

“This model will continue to grow rapidly and become the new growth engine for China’s e-commerce industry and even the new digital economy,” said analyst Zhang. “The market is inclusive and big enough for a lot of participants.”