Xiaomi CEO’s live-streaming debut gets more than 50 million viewers, US$30 million in sales

A two-hour live-streaming show on Sunday saw Lei Jun pitch several Xiaomi products, including flagship smartphone Mi 10 Ultra
In an internal letter, Xiaomi reiterated the goal to sharpen its strategy on smartphones and so-called Artificial Intelligence of Things over the next decade

Xiaomi

Che Panin Beijing

Published: 4:15pm, 17 Aug 2020

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Lei Jun, founder and chief executive of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp, made a successful live-streaming debut on popular short video platform Douyin on Sunday, reaching more than 50 million viewers and ringing up 210 million yuan (US$30 million) in smartphone and television sales.

“Both numbers have broken records,” Lei said in a post on microblogging site Weibo on Monday, adding that the results surprised him.

In a two-hour live-streaming show on Sunday, Lei pitched to his large audience several Xiaomi products, including the Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition and new flagship smartphone Mi 10 Ultra. Launched on August 11 to mark the company’s 10th anniversary, Mi 10 Ultra supports 8K videos and is priced at 5,299 yuan.

With his campaign on ByteDance-owned Douyin, Lei joined the ranks of mainland Chinese tech industry chieftains to become a star in the country’s fast-growing live-streaming video market.

Why China’s tech chieftains have become live-streaming stars

The market has grown rapidly amid the integration of live-streaming video features with various e-commerce and entertainment platforms, and more recently, strong household and corporate demand during China’s coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Beijing-based Xiaomi, meanwhile, named four senior executives to the company’s partner team, the firm’s top decision-making body, according to an internal letter released by the company on Sunday. They will join Lei and four other existing partners in this group.

The new partners include: Xiaomi president Wang Xiang; Chew Shou Zi, senior vice-president and president of international operations; Zhang Feng, vice-president and group chief of staff; and Lu Weibing, vice-president and president of China business.

Wang and Chew joined Xiaomi in 2015. Zhang and Lu joined the company in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

Xiaomi says it still wants to make its own smartphone chips as Huawei runs low on Kirin processors

Xiaomi’s internal letter reiterated the company’s commitment to sharpen its strategy on smartphones and so-called artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) devices over the next decade. In January last year, Xiaomi announced a plan to invest at least at least US$1.5 billion on AIoT and smart devices over the next five years.

Hong Kong-listed Xiaomi, the world’s fourth-largest smartphone vendor, recorded better-than-expected financial results in the March quarter, on the back of US$30.3 billion yuan in handset sales. Revenue from Internet of Things and lifestyle products, such as smart TV and routers, reached 13 billion yuan in the same period.

Xiaomi achieved a 10.1 per cent share of the global smartphone market in the second quarter even as Covid-19 lockdown measures worldwide led to a 14 per cent drop in smartphone shipments, according to research firm Canalys.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Xiaomi CEO’s video debut rings in big sales

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