Chinese livestreamer sells rockets

The livestreaming industry in China had a surreal night on Wednesday night when two top Chinese internet influencers went head to head.

Luo Yonghao, founder of Chinese smart phone firm Smartisan, sold 170 million yuan ($24 million) worth of products on his e-commerce livestreaming debut on Douyin. 

The live broadcast, which lasted for three hours, sold a total of 22 products including mobile phones, projectors, foaming cleanser and crayfish. Per Douyin's data, it attracted more than 40 million viewers, a record high for the platform. 

On the same night, veteran live broadcaster Viya successfully sold a rocket worth 45 million yuan. Buyers were offered a 5-million-yuan discount by ordering via livestreaming. Over 800 people placed deposits of 500,000 yuan within minutes.

Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co won the bid and claimed the right to command the launch, decorate the rocket and visit the launch site of the Kuaizhou-1A solid-fuel carrier rocket.

The two live broadcasts showed the booming development of the live broadcast industry in China, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based industry analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"I don't see the two as rivals as China's e-commerce livestreaming industry is a cake big enough to share," he said.

The sudden outbreak of the coronavirus further accelerated the development of the livestreaming industry, he noted.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people confined at home have to find ways to develop their business online which helped to accelerate the development of livestreaming, which had already been growing fast even before the pandemic, Liu said.

"The live broadcasts offer more interaction with buyers. While the traditional e-commerce companies record a growth rate of 20 to 30 percent per year at best, livestreaming e-commerce companies have maintained an increase of more than 100 percent in the past two years," he said.

In the past month, over one million people have registered to open stores on Taobao and the number of stores involved with live-streaming has increased by 719 percent month-on-month, according to media reports.

The huge potential to sell products also lured CEOs to step into the livestreaming rooms.

On February 29, the CEOs of nine hot pot restaurants including Haidilao and Xiaolongkan had a collective debut on a Taobao live broadcast platform, which gained 2 million views in four hours.

This was followed by Liang Jianzhang, the chairman of Ctrip, who appeared in a Douyin live broadcast to endorse his products. This brought in 10 million yuan in one hour.

In addition to selling products, the livestreaming platforms also have the potential to sell knowledge and services, Liu said.