What China’s Cross-Platform Livestreaming Freedom Means For Luxury

This article was firstly released by Beauty Matter.

Ahead of Double 11, something unexpected happened in China’s buoyant livestreaming sector. Luo Yonghao, Douyin’s top anchor (nicknamed “first brother 一哥”) hosted a series of live broadcasts with talk show comedians on both Douyin and Taobao platforms. The short video app’s popular livestreamers (New Oriental Education’s founder Yu Minhong and fitness trainer Liu Genghong) also joined Alibaba’s live commerce arm.

Even a year ago, it would be unthinkable for top hosts to move freely between platforms: they were exclusively bound to an e-tailer. For instance, Bytedance’s live e-commerce was dominated by the broadcast room of Luo Yonghao, “Make a friend 交个朋友.” Taobao had its three juggernauts — Austin Li, Viya, and Cherie — to whom it guaranteed most of its traffic. 

However, now we are seeing a monumental openness between tech companies. This year, 500,000 livestreamers from Douyin and Kuaishou joined Taobao Live. “Many influencers are beginning to change platforms or host multi-platform live broadcasts in order to obtain more traffic and greater commercial value, and are no longer betting on a single platform,” Franklin Chu, US managing director of the China e-commerce agency Azoya, says.

The latest government livestreaming regulation comprises 18 guidelines and 31 categories of prohibited content. These include fake products, provocative words, violence, and the flaunting of wealth. The introduction of official guidelines is seen as a positive signal. Chu believes that raising the bar for influencers and livestreamers is likely to build a healthier live e-commerce environment, adding, “we think the regulation is more effective in setting up a standard for livestream hosts and maintaining a satisfactory shopping experience for customers rather than pushing cross-platform livestreaming.”  Read the full article at Jing Daily.