(Photo/CGTN)
Less than a month since 7-year-old online celebrity Gavin Thomas opened his social media account on China’s twitter-like Weibo in July, he has amassed more than 1,500,000 followers, which is far more than his Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
China’s Internet celebrity economy has achieved an extreme expand in recent years and its huge audience base and lucrative business are not just for the locals. They are also nudging foreigners to share a pie.
More and more content creators have begun to make their debuts on Chinese social media, gaining online popularity by live streaming or posting funny videos of their travels, daily experiences and more while speaking Mandarin.
Whether pursuing the fame or not, foreigners choose the career out of different motivations.
For someone like Stephen Turban from Harvard University who appears on a Chinese TV show and acts actively on social media, it’s just used to explore the country. For others like Chinese-son-in-law Afu Thomas, who's amusing videos attract tens of millions of views, it is just his life living in Shanghai as a German.
Who are they?
Cosmetics KOL
South Korea’s most famous beauty gurus Pony, who has 4.25 million subscribers on YouTube, uploaded her cosmetic videos to leading Chinese video platforms last year and has attracted more than six million Chinese followers on Weibo. The beauty KOL also stocks her makeup brand from her country, Pony Effect, to cash in on her influence.
Food Vlogger
According to academic reports, Chinese netizens like live streaming of foods and games the most, followed by fashion and funny videos. For foreign video shooters, Chinese food is an indispensable element of their contents and even the whole theme.
One representative is Canadian food vlogger Trevor James, who has traveled almost all over China to find out the most authentic local food since 2015. Better known as the Food Ranger in China, Trevor has his own channel on China’s Netflix-like platform Youku. His 119 documentary-style episodes with both Chinese and English subtitles, has made him stand out among food vloggers with a 9.3 rating out of 10.
Lifestyle Vlogger
Unlike others who only delve into one topic, lifestyle vloggers focus on topics about all aspects of Chinese society, trying to show the cultural differences through their lens.
New Yorker Jerry Kowal is a rising star among them. Once been exchanged to Taiwan, the 26-year-old young man can speak Mandarin fluently. Within one year, his video got nearly 100 million hits on China’s Youtube-style video broadcasting portal Bilibili.
Jerry doesn’t live in China, but takes the opportunity to work in China to shoot videos. With the help of a Chinese friend, he interacts well with Chinese fans and gets a lot of topic inspirations from them. From China’s dating culture to America’s tipping culture, Jerry’s videos meet the curiosity of Chinese audience by showing social comparisons.
Start-up Entrepreneur
One example, is the hugely popular Foreign Research Institute, a video content platform devoting to “let foreigners in China express their thoughts about the country and let Chinese know how expats think of them”.
It shows interviews with “Laowai” since late 2016, the videos often go viral on social media apps and streaming platforms, such as Weibo, WeChat, and Bilibili.
The start-up’s co-founder Raz Galor studied international relations at China’s esteemed Peking University. Galor wants to offer a new perspective to the audience of what modern China looks like.
The young entrepreneur has won the favor of many big brands such as WeChat Pay, JD.com, McDonald’s and Jeep for advertisements and joint productions as the company’s revenues.
Why can they be popular in China?
For fun
Chinese people are becoming more open-minded with China’s opening up, hoping to learn more about foreign cultures. Compared with serious news programs, these videos are funny and easy to watch. It also serves as a relaxing way for them to understand the cultural differences.
Gavin, who is known as “The Boy with a Fake Smile” in China, has interesting facial expressions that transcend language and cultural boundaries. Chinese Internet users made numerous funny memes with him.
For insights
Far beyond just using internet slang or challenging Chinese food, foreign vloggers also involve in discussions on trending society topics in China, standing in the position of the Chinese people to look at the problem and offer their insights.
In a video launched by @Realxinshidandan, French vlogger pretended to be a careless tourist, revealing the thief's trick in Paris to help Chinese visitors.
Jerry Kowal posted a Weibo on how to pressure on US government to find the missing Chinese visiting scholar Zhang Yingying last year. Jerry said he often received questions like “Is this true in your country?” or “Can you show us? from Chinese commemorators.
The Chinese app advantage
Decades ago, young Canadian Mark Henry Rowswell, also known by his Chinese name Da Shan, became an overnight sensation in China after he performed for the CCTV network’s New Year’s Eve Gala.
For many years, Da Shan was the most famous foreigner in Chinese media. But thanks to the emerging apps, there are now all kinds of outlets and video sharing platforms available to more foreigners looking to showcase their talents.
Demand for shorter, more straight-to-the-point content also made videos more convenient for people with different backgrounds, interests and languages. Foreign Internet celebrity who had to master the secret of the camera, movement and editing with the help of apps like Tik Tok, now just need good ideas to be an influencer in China.
What Chinese market can offer them?
Analysts say China’s Internet celebrity industry is expected to hit 1,000 billion yuan in 2018, with considerable growth in product endorsement, advertising, online tipping, offline commercial activities and paid subscription services to boost revenues.
In particular, advertising has become an important source of income. In the past year, the percentage of online celebrities who signed up with advertisers increased from 23.1 percent to 57.53 percent, according to a report by Sina Weibo and consulting firm iResearch.
With their international background, videos spoken in English,Chinese or both, and an alternative world view, foreign Internet celebrities will undoubtedly win over more Chinese audience in the future. Whether they are intended to make big bucks or not, a genuine curiosity about China and sincere love of its culture is the real reason for their popularity.
