As Dong Yuhui finalised his long goodbye with East Buy, or Oriental Selection, it seems the educator-turned-livestream e-tailer has finally left behind the top streamer strategy, as many platforms seem to be doing.
The top livestreamers themselves, Dong included, are busy becoming either entrepreneurs like Dong and Crazy Little Brother Yang, or celebrities, like Li Jiaqi who had just made his appearance on the latest season of the popular reality TV show, Call Me by Fire, which started airing on 2 August.
However, with platforms seeking more options and top streamers branching out of streaming, are we looking at the end of livestream social commerce as we know it?
Platforms: de-top streamers-isation
Last year, Xiaohongshu launched its “buyer” e-commerce era, where streamers such as Chinese actress Dong Jie and Hong Kong-born Canadian actress and socialite Teresa Cheung Siu-wai, as well as expert users on the platform, provide a “buyer boutique”-style livestream where the streamer outlines brand narrative and features. However, after selling 300 million RMB (41.91 million USD) in 3 hours on Xiaohongshu, Cheung’s views and sales dwindled after moving to Taobao.
Since last year, merchant-led livestreams have been growing rapidly on multiple platforms.
Since last year, merchant-led livestreams have been growing rapidly on multiple platforms. Xiaohongshu is now furthering its narrative-led livestreaming by introducing the “entrepreneur” (主理人, lit. manager/business owner) livestreams.
Speaking of entrepreneurs, CEO livestreams also continue to grow after 618. JD.com, Taobao and Douyin are competing to get more CEOs on their channels. From Liu Qinagdong’s digital doppelgänger to Zhou Hongyi of 360 and Lei Jun of Xiaomi, CEOs are becoming stars of livestream shows. Taobao has openly called for SME CEOs to join its livestreams.
Streamers: getting more baskets for their eggs
Crazy Little Brother Yang has been one of the most successful in diversifying his business among the top livestreamers. Not only has his Three Sheep Group (三只羊, Sanzhiyang) launched on TikTok and entered Southeast Asian countries, starting with Singapore. Three Sheep has also created its own travel (文旅, lit. cultural tourism) channel and started livestreams on the ground at tourist destinations. This is a format popularised by Dong Yuhui at East Buy.
Dong Yuhui is reportedly replicating the structure of East Buy from his Walking with Hui company, which is rumoured to have exceeded 200 employees. In the first 5 days after parting ways with East Buy, Walking with Hui sold over 100 million RMB (13.92 million USD) of GMV and gained 600,000 followers.
Li Jiaqi is moving into showbiz with his appearance on the major reality TV show Call Me by Fire season 4
Li Jiaqi, on the other hand, is moving into showbiz with his appearance on the major reality TV show Call Me by Fire season 4, which just started airing this past weekend. Recently Li was again accused of selling jade with falsified certification and even selling fake Hetian jade.
Soon-to-be lost art?
As the top livestreamers distance themselves from the limelight, or rather, ring light and move backstage, they are, in the meantime, trying to bring out “disciples” so the livestream business can continue, but is more diversified.
This is, of course, on the same track as platforms who are diversifying their livestreaming. Xinba was the first one to start taking in disciples. His heir apparent Danfa has 99.05 million followers, a number close to her mentor’s on Kuaishou and Xinba declared his retirement when her following exceeds 100 million. She was the top seller on Kuaishou in 2023 with a 17.1 billion RMB (2.39 billion USD) GMV, more than Xinba’s 12.5 billion RMB (1.75 billion USD). Little Brother Yang also has a very successful disciple group of the “big 6”, and even the one with the least followers has 5.60 million. However, these successors face the same problems as their mentors, such as responsibility with the merchandise quality, as well as new challenges such as the homogeneity of livestreamers and lack of unique style as the first-gen top streamers.
Another new challenge is the rise of mid- and lower-tier streamers. On Douyin, 65% of the year-on-year growth in H1 2024 was driven by the 560,000 smaller streamers. The platform is putting more focus and resources on these smaller streamers to move away from overreliance on top streamers. 30% of the streamers with annual sales between 500,000 RMB (69,838 USD) and 5 million RMB (698.383 USD) have under 10,000 followers and 51% have followers between 10,000 and 100,000. Kuaishou and Taobao are also moving to smaller streamers.
An interesting recent development is that with courses and webinars becoming increasingly popular and lucrative, Little Brother Yang’s Three Sheep Group is also entering the arena, selling courses on livestream e-commerce. The novice offline training courses will have 30 students for 3 days and 2 nights while the advanced course will host 50 people for 2 days and 2 nights. The novice course costs 3,980 RMB (555.63 USD) per person while the advanced course, with lecturers including Du Gang, the CEO of Three Sheep Group costs 9,980 RMB (1,393.25 USD) per head. If this trend spreads to other top streamers, we might come to see Dong Yuhui or other former New Oriental teachers at the lectern again.
The accelerated decline of top livestreamers is also because of the change in strategies from platforms such as Taobao and Douyin, shifting away from simple low prices and discounts to boost sales GMV. Many top streamers who rely on “lowest online prices” as their main draw are forced to shift their focus. In response to the shift, Xiaohongshu is pioneering a “lifestyle” e-commerce concept to provide more intangible value than simple discounts to differentiate itself from other platforms deep in the price war.
However, top streamers as brands are still going strong. Even though Little Brother Yang appears on livestreams less often, Three Sheep remains the top multichannel network (MCN) in China, according to Hurun’s ranking. It would seem the top streamers are trying to build brands that can be translated into various forms such as disciples, travel streaming, overseas streaming, education and microdramas. Perhaps, this is another form of “intangible value” they can provide to consumers.
