Easy entry and big profits have attracted thousands of users to the emerging webcasting platforms in China. By 2015, there were about 200 webcasting platforms with 200 million users, according to a report from iiMedia Research, a leading mobile Internet organization focusing on third party data mining and integrated marketing.
During peak hours, these platforms could be attracting 4 million users online simultaneously, watching 3,000 different hosts streaming themselves, acting cute, chatting with fans or playing video games.
As long as a person has a phone or computer with a camera and registers on a webcasting platform, he or she can start webcasting. One online source said that some webcast stars could earn as much as 500,000 yuan ($75,096) a month.
Yue Xi started webcasting May 10 and already has 16,000 fans on Yizhibo, one of the popular webcasting platforms in China. About 1,500 to 2,000 viewers watch her stream every day. She is often ranked among Yizhibo's top 10 hosts.
Pink pajamas
Unlike most of the popular webcasters who are Internet celebrities with elfin faces and long slim legs, Yue does not put on make-up or dress up. Her "studio" is her kitchen, and her "uniform" is pink pajamas. With a camera placed next to her stove, she cooks, talks, and shares her life with strangers.
Before the 2016 Spring Festival, Yue Xi left her job with a real estate developer. After two months of unsuccessfully looking for work, she decided to try creating her own business and asked her husband and friends about webcasting. Thinking that webcasting could be a good platform for her entrepreneurship, she registered an account named Rourou shiguang ("the meat is finished"), and began webcasting her cooking from home.
"I start webcasting at around 6.30 or 7 a.m. every day. I make a breakfast first, some desserts in the morning and then cook lunch. While webcasting, I make two meals and eat them," Yue said. Among the regular dishes that she makes during her webcasts, there are colorful rice balls, beef stew with tomatoes, pilaf and local dishes like noodles with seafood. After webcasting, she writes the recipes down and shares them on her Weibo account.
Yue has good reasons for webcasting in the morning. "There are many celebrities webcasting at night. They have backing from their agencies and fans. As an individual player, I need to choose the timing of my webcasts wisely," Yue said. She believes that she cannot compete with the celebrities so morning webcasts will help her attract more fans.
Most of Yue's viewers are parents, housewives and students. "In families with children, the parents are up at 6.30, and they need to prepare food for the family. They turn on my webcast while doing the housework. Housewives will be free after their husbands go to work so they can watch then. And students who don't have classes in the morning watch the webcast in bed," Yue said.
A big future
Yue believes that webcasting will become increasingly popular. "The webcasting platforms are gaining in popularity though not many people are using them yet. But this business will be popular. Maybe someone else instead of me will become really famous, but I feel that webcasting will be very popular in the future," Yue said.
All the webcasting platforms allow viewers to buy virtual gifts to give to their favorite webcasters. On Yizhibo, 10,000 virtual gold coins are sold for 100 yuan. Users can also buy "flowers", "yachts", and "cars" as gifts.
But webcasters cannot directly cash these gifts in - they split the revenue 1:2 with the webcasting platforms.
Usually Yue receives about 10,000 to 20,000 virtual gold coins every day, so she makes just 33 to 66 yuan from this.
"Some agencies demand that their Internet celebrities receive gifts worth a set amount every day. But as an unattached performer, I wouldn't expect that. My goal is to gain popularity and win fans on the platform," Yue said. She has already spent more than she earned from the virtual gifts in promoting her webcast.
Some experts believe that webcasting platforms are offering a new way for people to meet and connect with each other. "Webcasting platforms are one type of social network media," explained assistant research fellow Ding Fangzhou from the Institute of Journalism of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "The key characteristic of social networks is user-generated content. And the difference of webcasting platforms is that they allow users to generate different content in different formats. It has brought innovation in content and interactions.
"Webcasting lets users cross over geographical distances to be 'present' when the webcasters are live streaming," Ding said.
Wang Yue is also an assistant research fellow from the Institute of Journalism of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and she believes that the biggest difference between these webcasting platforms and traditional video sites is their business model.
"Compared with the video sites and the social network platforms, webcasting platforms allow webcasters to earn money through the virtual gifts," Wang said.
