How the crackdown on China’s top influencers is shaking up the once-booming live-streaming e-commerce industry
- There are signs that the curtain is falling on China’s top live-streaming stars amid Beijing’s increased scrutiny of non-state centres of influence
- China’s total of 344 million live-streaming viewers in 2016 doubled to 703 million by the end of last year, but the pace of growth is slowing
A week after Singles’ Day last year, analysts asked Alibaba Group Holding chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong if he thought the company relied too heavily on its top live streamers to generate sales during the annual online shopping extravaganza.
Zhang did not answer the question directly, but said Alibaba’s Taobao Live platform treated all online influencers – big and small – fairly.
Fast forward to today and Zhang’s silence on the question speaks volumes. Diantao, the e-commerce giant’s live-streaming e-commerce app, fell behind rivals Douyin and Kuaishou in sales during the midyear online shopping festival on June 18 after losing its top two influencers.
Austin Li Jiaqi and Viya, who represented their clients via Alibaba’s Taobao Live platform, were once formidable selling machines, promoting everything from lipstick to cars and even rocket launches.
Together they sold about 20 billion yuan (US$2.98 billion) of goods on the first day of the 2021 Singles’ Day shopping festival last November – equal to about twice of the annual sales turnover of China’s largest department store chain.