In the days following the 618 shopping festival this year, it seemed that it was over for super streamers as we knew it. Li Jiaqi went on TV and offline; Xinba teased his retirement; “Crazy” Little Brother Yang was met with even more controversies while Dong Yuhui faced a decline in his popularity. But, to the surprise of many, a lot of these top streamers showed resilience and sold millions as Double 11 began early.
Xinba’s Kuaishou channel was suspended in September when he challenged Yang by handing out compensation to those who had bought controversial goods from him. On 14 October, Xinba welcomed the reactivation of his channel by teasing a “Super Double 11” livestream. In the livestream session, Xinba and three of his partners “took the knee” on camera to show respect and gratitude to his viewers. The 8-hour “Super Double 11” session on 19 October saw over 69 million views with over 4 million current at the highest point. Gross merchandise value (GMV) reached 6.41 billion RMB (898.64 million USD).
Similarly, Li Jiaqi of Taobao and Tmall, quickly reached over 100 million RMB (14.02 million USD) in GMV on the first day of the presale. The over 20 “subsidised trade-in” appliances sold nearly 400 million RMB (56.08 million USD) on the channel. Growing 20% in GMV compared to last year, Li became the top seller on Taobao and Tmall platforms.
Despite the success of some, others were not as successful with their comebacks like Luo Wangyu whose presale livestream only made a GMV between 2.5 and 5 million RMB (350,375.60 USD to 700,751,21 USD). Also, Douyin seems to be struggling this Double 11 without “Crazy” Little Brother Yang as Dong Yuhui and the Cantonese Couple (广东夫妇) are both facing controversies. Douyin’s top streamers all saw sharp drops in GMV compared to last year.
The livestream social commerce market experienced a huge expansion, with its penetration rate increasing from 4.9% in 2019 to 30.4% in 2022 and reaching 54.7% in December 2023, growing 15.9% year-on-year (YoY). Livestream e-commerce’s annual growth rate reached 85.3% between 2019 and 2023 but is projected to fall to 18% between 2024 and 2026. Without the fast growth rate, the streamers are now fighting over existing territory. This likely explains why the top of the top, like Li Jiaqi and Xinba are making waves while the rest are experiencing difficulties. We are likely to see a fuller picture after this Double 11.
