Mid-Form Videos: The Better Alternative for Chinese Video Platforms?

Find out why mid-form videos are popping off on Chinese video platforms and what this video concept offers.

 

Online video platforms such as Tik Tok, Kwai or iQIYI have all started to publicize bite-sized dramas on their home page. The Chinese video streaming industry calls these skits “medium-length videos” or “mid-form videos”. This concept, formally introduced in October 2020 by Watermelon Video's CEO Ren Lifeng, is now trending on all major video platforms in China.

Source: 36kr.com

 

Mid-form videos

 

According to Ren Lifeng, a typical mid-form video will have the following characteristics: 

• The video duration can be anything between 1-30 minutes, but a length of 5-15 minutes is more commonly seen. 
• The video content has depth. There are currently two types of content: popular science and summarized versions of long-form videos.
• The video creator has professional knowledge and experience.
• The video has a more refined production. Although it may not be very professional, the content arrangement, picture layout, clarity and subtitles are of higher quality.

Why are online video platforms pushing for mid-form videos?

 

Based on the definition above, mid-form video is not a new concept for sure. So what then can explain the mid-form video’s rising popularity on all Chinese streaming platforms?

1. Short-form and long-form video’s limited profitability

 

The one-minute duration of short-form videos constrains the depth of content covered and makes it hard to weave in advertisements. The platforms are also finding it hard to maintain user engagement due to the homogenization of content overly focused on entertainment.

 

On the other hand, long-form video platforms have been burning their money for copyright issues over the years, while short-form video platforms eat up part of their market share. As a result, these platforms have suffered continuous losses, and the trend is expected to continue.

 

2. Witnessing the success of YouTube

 

YouTube is dominated by mid-form videos, with an average video length of about 15 minutes. Even though YouTube faces fierce competition from other short video platforms, it can still maintain its user size at a compound growth rate of 21.56%. The success of YouTube’s mid-form video model has attracted other platforms to follow suit. 

 

3. 5G Technology and changing consumption habits

 

With 5G technology, platforms can stream videos at a higher definition, fluency, and lower cost. As a result, consumers are no longer satisfied with short videos that are mainly for entertainment. According to the Professional Development Report of Mid-form Video Creators released by Watermelon Video and Newrank, about 70% of mid-form video users want to develop skillsets and enrich themselves. Therefore, high-quality video content will better meet the needs of this changing consumption habit.

 

The growing demand for mid-form videos

 

According to the Professional Development Report of Mid-form Video Creators, the number of high-frequency video users in 2020 has reached 605 million with a penetration rate of 64%. Therefore, compared to the total volume of Chinese Internet users (940 million) and the penetration rate of online video users (95%), there is sufficient room for the growth of mid-form videos. 

 

The 2020 Annual Mid-form Video Platform Market Research Report released by Bigdata Research shows that the daily consumption time per capita for mid-form videos in 2020 has increased significantly, exceeding 100 minutes in December 2020. In addition, demand for 10-20 minutes long videos grew by 10.7%.  

In terms of age, 78% of medium video users are under 30 years old. Among them, those with a college degree or above account for more than 45%.  

In addition, user preference differs among different age groups. For example, the post-00s generation prefer videos on cute pets, slimes, and other niche categories; the post-90s generation like to watch unboxing videos about clothes, new electronic games, and commentary; the post-80s prefer sharing of household products and funny jokes, while the post-70s love cute children and romantic dramas.  

 

A highly competitive market

 

In recent years, the mid-form video market has emerged as a battlefield strongly contended by existing players.

July 2019: Kwai extended its video recording time to 5-10 minutes. Less than a month later, Tik Tok also allowed videos to stream up to 15 minutes.

 

April 2020: iQIYI launched a video streaming product named "Suike", which aims to be the Chinese YouTube. This was followed by a collaborative move between iQIYI and Baidu, allowing users to use one account and access both platform's videos.

 

July 2020: Weibo launched a plan worth RMB 500 million (US$78.1) to support mid-form video creators. A month later, both Xianghongshu and WeChat added features to support the streaming of mid-form videos.

  

October 2020: Zhihu launched a "video" section, focusing on knowledge-based videos of more than one minute. Baidu launched an independent App, "Baidu Kankan", which focuses on mid-form video streaming. Watermelon Video announced that it would spend at least RMB 2 billion (US$0.3 billion) to help video creators improve their content quality in the next year.  

 

December 2020: Tencent Video jumped on the bandwagon and started to stream mid-form videos.  

 

A better alternative for video platforms?

 

Although mid-form video serves as a strategic growth point in the video streaming industry, its future remains uncertain. Quibi, a video platform streaming short plays over the years, has failed and left the market. Bilibili, known for its diverse range of mid-form videos, continues to make losses.

In terms of content production, while short-form videos are dominated by User Generated Content (UGC), mid-form videos with higher content depth requirements mainly rely on Professional Generated Content (PGC). However, depending solely on a narrow scope of PGC risks repeating the unsuccessful path of Quibi. This is why video platforms need to produce diversified content to attract users continuously.

Yet, most Chinese video platforms, especially those focusing on long-form videos, do not have an ecosystem as comprehensive as Bilibili for content creation. Few merchants are willing to cooperate with content creators for ads or live streaming e-commerce. Even though mid-form video platforms promise content creators guaranteed salaries plus commission, their incomes remain pretty volatile. Most of them rely on subsidies from the platforms' incentive plans.

In addition, viewers of mid-form videos are more loyal to the content creators than the video platform itself. This means that once the content creators switch from one platform to another, the viewers will also follow suit. 

YouTube as a mid-form video platform is successful because of its developed business model consisting of Professional User Generated Content (PUGC), content consumption by users, advertising revenue and income from viewership. In contrast, Chinese mid-form video platforms are still at their experimental stage. Compared to the typical long dramas, it is harder to attract investments and viewership for mid-from skits due to the limited clout.

Chen Rui, the CEO of Bilibili, questioned the concept of mid-form videos, as he believes that the length of the video does not matter. Instead, it should be about whether the viewers like the video content or not, regardless of the video length.

The success of the mid-form video concept remains to be seen. Time will testify the ideal content suitable for mid-form videos, its profitability and how mid-form video platforms should operate.

中视频，是伪概念还是新出路？

如今，无论打开抖音、快手这样的短视频软件，还是爱奇艺、腾讯这一类长视频软件，都会为你推荐各种短剧。对这些短剧，业内还有个专门的术语：中视频。这个2020年10月由西瓜视频总裁任利锋推出的新概念，如今在中国的流视频平台十分红火。

图片来源：36kr.com

什么是中视频？

 

按照任利锋的定义，中视频具备以下几点特征：

1. 时长在1-30分钟之间，一般情况下5-15分钟更适宜。
2. 有一定内容和深度。目前有两个内容大方向：趣味科普类内容；长视频的微版。
3. 创作者有一定的相关专业知识、经验丰富，很少小白创作者。
4. 有一定的拍摄质量水准，虽然不是很精美很专业，但在内容编排、画面布局、清晰度、配音字幕等方面都有一定讲究，不是那种随手一拍的东西。

为什么推出中视频？

 

从定义上看，中视频并不是新概念。而互联网界此次兴师动众，原因何在呢？

1. 短视频的流量已趋饱和。一分钟以内的时长，限制了短视频平台的内容深度，也让其基本无法穿插广告。而内容的娱乐化、同质化使平台难以保持用户粘性。
2. 长视频平台连年烧钱买版权，而流量和广告份额却被崛起的短视频蚕食，就连疫情下的“宅家红利”都无法扭转其连续亏损的势态。
3. Youtube视频平均时长约15分钟，即使在短视频平台快速吸引用户注意力的情况下，其用户规模仍然保持21.56%的复合增长率。成功者的经验自然吸引大批追随者。
4. 5G带来的高清晰度，流畅度，和低资费，使得人们不再满足于纯娱乐的短视频。有优质内容的中视频在满足部分用户需求的同时，也更适合用户碎片时间的利用。根据西瓜视频联合新榜发布《中视频创作人职业发展报告》，七成中视频用户希望能提升技能，充实自我。

市场需求情况

 

根据《中视频创作人职业发展报告》，近一年高频消费中视频的用户达6.05亿，网民渗透率达64%。对比中国网民整体规模（9.4亿）及网络视频用户的渗透率（95%），依然有很大上升空间。

 

而根据比达咨询发布的《2020年度中国中视频平台市场研究报告》，2020年中视频平台月度人均日消费时长增长趋势明显。2020年12月，其人均日消费时长已超过100分钟。用户对10-20分钟的视频内容需求增速达10.7%。

而从年龄上看，目前78%的中视频用户年龄在29岁及以下。其中大专及以上学历的占到45%以上。

此外，不同年龄段的用户偏好各异。比如00后喜欢萌宠、史莱姆等小众圈层的品类；90后更喜欢观看穿搭、潮玩等开箱视频，以及游戏解说、评测视频；80后喜欢观看生活居家类、搞笑段子类的分享；70后爱看萌娃，以及情感类小剧场。

 

火热的竞争场面

 

于是以往在夹缝中求生存的“中视频”又重新被提出并定义，成为老玩家们必争的高地。

2019年7月，快手开放了5-10分钟的录制时长。而后不到一个月，抖音也逐步放开15分钟长视频权限。

2020年4月，爱奇艺上线了综合型视频社区产品“随刻”，直言对标Youtube。

2020年5月，百度宣布将好看视频与爱奇艺号打通，此前的百家号视频也会默认同步全民小视频、好看视频。

2020年7月，微博启动视频号计划，5 亿现金分成扶持创作者。紧接着，小红书上线视频号，将支持最长15分钟视频的发布，突破此前不超过5分钟的限制。微信上线“长视频”功能，开始支持1-30分钟的视频创作。

2020年10月，知乎上线了“视频”专区，重点发力1分钟以上的知识类视频。百度上线独立 App“百度看看”，主打视频流。西瓜视频宣布未来一年至少拿出20亿元帮助优质视频创作者。

2020年12月，腾讯视频开始了对中视频的布局。

 

这是个伪概念？还是新出路？

 

尽管中视频被认为是视频平台寻找增长点，完善生态链的一步良棋，然而其前景依然是个谜。Quibi专注短剧多年，如今却已黯然离场。国内有大量中视频的B站，也还在连年的亏损中。

从内容生产来看，不同于以UGC生态为主导的短视频，中视频的优质内容高度依赖PGC创作者的输出。

 

单靠PGC的生产模式，势必会走Quibi的老路。而目前国内的视频平台，尤其是长视频平台，不具备B站那样完整的社区生态氛围，中小UP主没有完整的上升的通道。商单广告和直播带货这种头部创作者常见的商业变现形式，对于粉丝基础薄弱的中小创作者来说几乎无法实现。而中视频“保底+分账”带来的收益目前依然不确定，风险很大。中小创业者现在大都依靠平台的激励计划来补贴。

此外，中视频的粉丝对创作者的依赖大于平台，一旦创作者出走，其身上具备的流量与价值也会随之迁移。

 

从商业模式来看，YouTube的成功在于形成了一个“PUGC内容—用户内容消费—平台广告变现—创作者内容分成”的良性生态闭环。然而国内短剧的商业模式仍在实验阶段，与长剧集相比，短剧的影响力周期较短，从招商到寻找买方都是难题。

 

B站的CEO陈睿也对中视频这个概念提出质疑，他认为选择权在用户，视频的长短不重要，难点在于用户是否喜欢内容本身，未来用户需要的视频产品一定会是覆盖全场景多个屏幕的。

 

当短视频、长视频、直播平台们再次同台对垒，哪家能突围是个未知数。炙手可热的中视频，该做什么内容，该如何运作，其前景究竟如何，还有待时间来考量。

The Operations of Internet B2B Products

Understand how the three critical aspects of operations in the internet B2B industry come together in a digital transformation process.
 
Today, the main battlefield of the internet has shifted focus from B2C to B2B.  Unlike B2C products, which can attract consumers through various ways, B2B products require a digital transformation in marketing. Find out what are the different forms of product operations (ops) in the internet B2B industry.

Source: RfidWorld

 
The internet B2B industry
 
The internet B2B industry moves traditional business processes online through digital tools. It forms an online closed-loop ecosystem and a unified, organized data space for all stakeholders. The key feature of the industrial internet is supply chain optimization, in which resources are allocated to reduce asymmetric information, improve data efficiency, and create incremental value to accelerate business growth.
 
Internet B2B products
 
B2B products meet the "business needs" of enterprises by improving their operations. Therefore, B2B products should come from a standpoint that is designed to solve business pain points.

There are three types of values created by the internet: the value realized by the product itself (the value obtained by the customer from using the product), the value delivered by marketing, and the value received directly by the customer.
 
The value realized by the product focuses on product design and its functionality, which is the product manager (PM)’s primary responsibility. The value delivered by marketing and the value received by customers relies more on product ops instead.
 
Internet B2B product operations
 
The goal of B2B product ops is to increase sales by improving the customer value proposition. Channel development, customer maintenance (service), brand building, word-of-mouth marketing and content delivery are operational processes that can improve customer satisfaction.
  
B2B operations are user-centric, which means operators need to be familiar with the targeted users and the stakeholders around them (other colleagues and business contacts). It is impossible to optimize the traditional chain if product ops lack the relevant industry expertise and depth.
 
1. The operations of internet B2B products consist of three main roles:

Marketing operation: the intervening strategies related to areas of publicity and exposure of a product through marketing.
 
Platform operation (including user operation, content operation and community operation): the main job of this process consists of communicating with users, maintaining their preferences, and obtaining feedback. According to user needs, the firm needs to produce high-quality content to stimulate interested users to interact in the platform. During this process, it is essential to turn such communication into collectable behavioural data.
 
Business operation (or BD-business development, sales): this is about negotiating with potential customers and selling the respective products. 
 
2. In a transformation process, the priorities differ in different operational stages
 
When the product starts from scratch, operations should focus on experimenting with a specific business scenario. This is a low cost and holistic method that allows for feedback and further understanding of the market.
 
In the midterm, the business gradually develops. Product ops should try to obtain more data and follow up the transformation process. If any problems exist in the product, the product ops team should forward it to the relevant department for iterative optimization.  
 
When the number of users proliferates in the business development period, the enterprise will begin to make profits. During this stage, the product operations team should assist the product department to continuously perfect the product details as new product functions will be needed. The team can consider external cooperation if necessary.
 
When the business is relatively stable, the bulk of sales come from a steady stream of customers with sustainable demands. In this case, product operations serve to maintain the current service and customer relationships.
 
3. The purpose of product operations
 
First, product ops help a B2Bproduct deliver its core value. As mentioned, B2B products meet the business needs of enterprise users. This is the reason why operation systems revolve around user demand and user behaviour.   
 
Therefore, the product department needs to teach the product ops team how to operate the product system and tell users where problems lie. The team should understand the basic logic of the product design to communicate smoothly with the users.
 
Second, product ops also assist in industry implementations. Before teaching the marketing department how to promote a product, the product ops team should first understand the target users. Operation strategy will differ based on different groups of users. Upon understanding the target users, the marketing department can forward the user feedback to the product ops team and identify the customer pain points.

The process of B2B internet product operations
 
B2B products need to establish an online user operating system that includes user activation, user transformation, and user value maximization. Product ops need to integrate "online" with "offline" processes perfectly. They should run through the whole business process, understand how to design the system, and add relevant digital tools to improve the product. There are two ways how B2B internet product ops work:

 
1. Offline to online: this process includes research and feedback on customer service and operations.
 
Research: research of B2B products should focus on market research instead of simple user research. The product manager needs to go through the industry analysis, product evaluation, data mining and other analytical processes. Through research, we can figure out the business status and identify the bottleneck, the product positioning, and the expected gains.  
 
Feedback on customer service: This is about collecting user feedback and collating all input to the product manager. The product manager will filter accordingly and extract crucial information during this process. Excellent B2B product managers must have a rich, practical experience that allows them to identify the real pain points of users accurately.
 
Feedback on operations: the development of front-end sales and e-sales personnel should focus on identifying real users and promoting sales.
 
2. Online to offline: this process includes customer pain points analysis, product manual, and online training.  
 
Customer pain points: the ultimate value of B2B products is to increase the enterprise’s profit, which can be done by improving efficiency and reducing costs. Enterprises realize value through sales, and sales volume is directly related to making profits. After the product (system) is launched, there may exist customer pain points that hinder sales. Provide user-friendly instructions and solutions from a product design standpoint.
 
Product manual: Before releasing a new product manual, the product manager, the customer success department, and the marketing department should discuss the implementation scenarios and the product value description. The marketing department helps upgrade the sales tools, while the customer success department improves the implementation scenarios and the customer use cases. When training the sales team on the new product manual, the marketing department should focus on the product value and implementation scenarios. A complete product demonstration is unnecessary (the more complex the product, the less necessary the demonstration. 
 
Online training: Apart from value delivery, the internal training of the customer success department should focus on functional and operating components as they will need to help customers solve operating problems.
 

产业互联网产品如何运营推广？

如今，互联网的主战场已经从C端转移到B端。不同于C端产品可以通过烧钱补贴等方式吸引用户，B端产品的运营需要具备营销的数字化转型思维。本文我们来讨论一下B端产品的运营该如何做，才能让平台更大更强，并与产业相结合。
 

图片来源：RFID世界网

 
什么是产业互联网?
 
产业互联网是传统产业利用互联网工具将传统产业线上化，同时链接产业链各参与方，整合产业链资源，串联产业前中后端、形成线上产业闭环生态。其本质是供应链优化的过程，是让资源重新找到最合理的配置，消灭信息不对称，提升行业的效率，创造出增量价值，从而加速产业经济的发展。
 
什么是产业互联网产品？
 
B端产品满足的是企业的“业务需求”，帮助企业精细化运作。因此从设计源头起，B端产品就应该立足于解决用户的“业务痛点”。产业互联网的产品价值有三层：产品实现的价值（客户使用产品所得到的价值）、营销传递的价值以及客户接收到的价值。

产品实现的价值侧重在产品设计和产品功能的体验，这部分是产品经理的重点工作。营销传递价值以及客户接收到的价值则更多依托于运营去实现。
 
产业互联网的运营
 
产业互联网产品运营的目标是提升产品的销售额，为客户传递使用产品后可能获得更大的价值。渠道拓展、客户维护（服务）、品牌建立、口碑传播以及内容投放等，都是帮助产品提升客户满意度。产业互联网的运营实际就是用户运营。运营人员往往与用户相熟，不但需要了解用户本人，还需要了解与其相关的人（如：企业同事）及生意相关的人（产业上下游）。如果缺乏行业的专业度和深度，是没有办法在传统的链条上做优化的。
 
1. 产业互联网的运营岗有三种角色：

市场运营（又称业务运营）：主要工作内容是以marketing为手段，通过花钱的不花钱的方式，进行对产品的一系列宣传，曝光，营销等行为的干预手段。
 
平台运营（包括用户运营、内容运营、社区运营）：主要工作是与用户沟通，维护用户喜好，获取用户反馈。根据用户所需产出高质量的内容，刺激有相同想法的用户，进行互动交流并沉淀行为数据。
 
商务运营（又称BD、销售）：主要工作内容是与意向客户洽谈合作并售卖产品。
 
2. 传统企业转型过程中，不同阶段运营岗所需的重点工作:
 
业务初期，产品从0-1时，运营需要做的事情更多是针对某一具体业务场景试水。快速获得反馈进一步了解市场，完成最低成本的投入和尝试。业务中期，业务逐步开展起来，用户也逐步开始使用产品，运营要做的是通过各种渠道和手段获取更多的线索，跟进线索的转化过程，发现产品存在的问题，快速反馈给产品部门进行迭代优化。
 
在业务发展期，用户快速增长，企业开始盈利，这时运营要做的就是协助产品持续打磨产品细节。因为发展迅速，用户规模上来后，必然会暴露出新的需求，新需求需要新的产品功能来满足，自身功能不足的情况下需要我们与外部合作。最后在业务稳定期，销售已经有大量稳定的客户积累，有稳定持续的需求来源，这是运营需要做的就是守住阵地，服务好销售打下的天地。
 
3. 运营的职责
 
职责一：帮助产品传递核心理念。B端产品的核心理念是满足企业的 “业务需求”。在传递这一理念的过程中，企业用户自然就是运营体系的核心，一切都是围绕用户的行为和意愿进行。因此，产品需要教会运营如何使用系统，如何告知用户哪里有问题，而运营需要明白产品设计的基本逻辑，整理出客户能明白的话术。
 
职责二：辅助产品应用于市场。在产业互联网有这么一句话：“即使再好的商业模式，再好用的产品，倘若运营做不好，就没有源动力”。运营在教会市场如何向用户推广产品之前，首先需要先弄懂你需要运营的对象是谁。对象不同，运营策略不同。弄清楚运营的对象之后，推广产品时，市场向运营反馈用户真实声音，并且弄懂销售“卡”点（不便于销售使用的场景及功能）。这一过程可能存在多次教育和反复沟通。要求产品和运营需要密切配合，最终达到产品能被市场接受，并且服务好我们的运营对象。

产业互联网运营怎么做？
 
产业互联网产品要建立一套以在线化为主要依托的用户运营体系，包括用户激活、用户转化、用户价值最大化。运营要思考如何把“线上”、“线下”结合好。运营人员需要优先跑通整个业务流程，明白如何设计系统，在系统中加入互联网等工具。
 
1. 从线下到线上。这个过程包含前期调研、客服反馈、运营反馈三个重要步骤。
2. 从线上到线下。过程包含销售“卡”点分析、产品手册制作以及上线培训。

前期调研： 产业互联网产品的调研，严格意义来说一定是市场调研，而不是简单的用户调研。产品经理需要通过行业分析、产品测评、数据挖掘等方法梳理业务流程。调研结果需要得出业务流程现状、业务流程的瓶颈、产品如何定位、最终期望获得什么收获。
 
客服反馈：搜集用户反馈，即来自真正使用产品的用户的反馈。所有的反馈汇聚至产品经理手里，经由产品经理深入的过滤之后再迭代。这样才能不断加强产品经理对业务和客户的判断。优秀的产业互联网产品经理一定有非常良好的一线实战经验，能第一时间知晓用户的痛点。
 
运营反馈：管理一线销售及电销人员，推进销售及电销引导真实用户。做好从线下到线上的三件事情后，接着需要完成从线上到线下的三个步骤，他们分别是销售“卡”点分析、产品手册制作、上线培训。
 
销售“卡”点：产业互联网产品最终的价值是为企业经营者盈利，或者提高效率降低成本。所以，企业最终要通过销售来实现价值变现，销售量直接关系到企业的利润。如果产品（系统）上线后，存在销售“卡”点。我们需要从产品设计的角度给出说明及解决方案，并为销售提供友好的使用说明。

产品手册：以运营角度为切入点，梳理出用户如何按步骤使用系统功能的文档。准备发新版前，产品经理与客户成功部、市场部一起探讨应用场景和产品价值描述，由市场部升级销售工具、客户成功部完善使用场景和客户使用的案例。由市场部对销售团队做基于产品价值和应用场景的新版本培训，并不需要做完整的操作演示（产品越复杂越不需要）。
 
上线培训：完成客户成功部内部的培训，除了价值传递，仍需要保留功能及操作的部分。因为他们是需要帮客户解决操作问题的。
 
 

Net Worth US$1.4 Billion, Taobao Live Streamer Joins China’s 500 Richest

Get to know Viya, the Livestream Queen in China and the four reasons that contributed to her success.

On 13 May 2021, New Fortune released its China 500 rich list. Viya, a 36-year-old Taobao host, together with her husband, ranked 490^th with a net worth of RMB 9 billion (US$1.4 billion). Different from others on the list, Viya came from a humble background. She is a representative of grassroots wealth creation and entrepreneurship.
 

Source: Everpedia.org

 
Viya's live broadcast achievements
 
If Jack Ma has shown everyone how big the Internet industry in China is – especially the e-commerce sector, Viya has demonstrated how live stream e-commerce can achieve breakthrough records unseen elsewhere.
 
This beautiful Anhui native previously debuted as a singer, and she even had collaborations with celebrities such as Jackie Chan and JJ Lin. Upon leaving the entertainment industry, she started selling clothes both offline and online. In 2016, she became the official video anchor of Taobao and continued her career till now. 
 
In a 2017 live broadcast, she guided the sales of a fur fashion shop that started with no followers and achieved a sales volume of RMB 70 million (US$10.9 million) in five hours. In 2018, Viya topped Taobao’s highest-earning list with an annual income of RMB 30 million (US$4.7 million). On the Singles Day Shopping Festival, her sales reached RMB 267 million (US$41.7 million). 
 
In March 2019, Viya's live broadcast in South Korea had 4.6 million audiences, selling 850,000 items worth over RMB 100 million (US$15.6 million). Later, she did a five-hour live broadcast in Thailand, which had 5.4 million audiences and a sales volume of RMB 114 million (US$17.8 million). Afterwards, she was invited by New Zealand to live stream for two days, where she sold over 1.4 million items worth RMB 134 million (US$20.9 million) in total. On Taobao’s Singles Day, Viya held three live broadcasts, reaching a sales volume of RMB 2.7 billion (US$421.9 million). In 2020, her total turnover reached RMB 30 billion (US$4.7 billion), ranking first on Taobao Live.

Source: Zhaihehe.com

  
Viya’s keys to success
 
For many years, Viya has consistently ranked as the top anchor of China's live streaming platforms. She won numerous awards such as the "Global Quality Product Recommender" and "Chief Recommender". Her outstanding performance made her a national idol after Jack Ma. There are over 130 million anchors in the Chinese live-streaming industry. Still, most of them only earn RMB 3,000 to 5,000 (US $468.8 to US$781.2) a month, according to the Development Report of China's internet performance (live streaming) industry in 2020. Why is Viya so successful in the live stream e-commerce sector? 
 
1. Persistence
 
At Taobao's infancy phase, many merchants distrust Taobao's ability to generate sales. There was a lack of business cooperation with local merchants, which limited the profitability of e-commerce anchors. Many anchors turned to the entertainment industry for fast cash, but Viya persisted in the field of live stream e-commerce.
 
2. User trust
In an e-commerce live broadcast, customers will repurchase a good product at a competitive price with a pleasant shopping experience. Once the video anchor achieves the three conditions above, he or she will establish trust with the customers, and this relationship will continue to grow. Viya's studio always emphasizes that Viya has tested all the products. Customers believe in Viya because of the trusting relationship that is built between Viya and her followers.
 
3. Dare to try
 
Viya's studio sells products from many categories, such as household products, real estate, Starbucks and McDonald's coupons, movie tickets, and even rockets. As Viya said, "I am trying to make the impossible possible." This quote succinctly summarized her secret to success.
 
4. Originality
 
With the continuous development of Taobao Live and the influx of merchants, it is now easier for live stream anchors to make money. While some anchors started selling fake or flawed products for quick cash, Viya only recommends products after strict selection. She knows the importance of maintaining user trust. One disappointment can cause a follower never to trust the host again. 
 
Viya’s originality also comes from her efforts to alleviate poverty through e-commerce. She devoted herself to the social welfare sector since 2018, and these initiatives have received strong support from Alibaba and the government. Now, her studio frequently engages with stars, celebrities, socialites, and government officials. Her charity live broadcast promoting good products from rural areas won praise from the public. 
 

Source: Alizila

 
The booming Chinese live broadcast market
 
According to the China Association of Performing Arts, the number of Chinese live broadcast users reached 617 million, and the market size of this industry is about RMB 193 billion (US$30.2 billion) in 2020. 
 
Various live streaming platforms have also created many other popular anchors, such as Li Jiaqi, the number one lipstick seller in Taobao, with over 44.2 million followers and an average of ten million viewers per broadcast. Luo Yonghao, the former CEO of Smartisan, nearly paid off his RMB 600 million (US$93.8 million) debt by live-streaming on Tik Tok. Li Ziqi, a world-famous creator of short videos, earns dozens of millions a year through video streaming and user rewards.
 

Source: Lee Jiaqi and Luo Yonghao Weibo Profile

 
Can we copy the route to success?
 
With solid support from the government, the e-commerce industry has been doing well in China. Local governments use live streams to promote tourism and local specialities. They also run various training courses to teach farmers how to sell goods online and how to earn traffic income from their videos. Video platforms offer tutorials to develop beginner level anchors. 
 
The successes of leading anchors inspired many to follow suit. Chinese youths no longer aspire to become star celebrity. They want to enjoy both fame and money by becoming a live stream anchor instead.
 
While there are many ways to become a video anchor, here are some basic principles observed among successful anchors:
 
1.     Have the courage to try
2.     Be original
3.     Show a good attitude
4.     Keep learning
5.     Have a bottom line
6.     Never give up
 
While the core principles remain the same, individual anchors have different personalities and face different contexts. Aspiring anchors should not blindly copy after successful anchors but experiment and figure out their way instead.