What’s giving rise to online stardom in China?

CGTN | 13-Nov-2022 | CGTN Global Business and Yin Yue

They’re known as “social media influencers.” They create and stream online content. The most popular are treated as celebrities. Brands, domestic and international, often collaborate with these influencers to promote their own products. So, what’s giving rise to online stardom in China? Check out the video:

Bai Meimei, an independent cartoonist gained about 700,000 followers after four years. In her comic universe, forever in a little black dress, she shares her life. Her most popular series is called “My ex-boyfriends,” which is semi-fictional yet purportedly based on her actual past relationships. Her stories are often flooded with comments from people who have gone through similar emotions. “When something needs to be said, I can be the one to say it. When people agree with me, I feel like we are holding hands through screens. I also feel comforted, knowing that I’m not alone, that what I went through was actually a phenomenon. I didn’t know about this before,” she said.

This then became her brand. In 2015, she started advertising for beauty products and hotel bookings. Despite the income varying from month to month, she manages to make hundreds of thousands of yuan in annual revenue. Compared with magazines and TV channels for women, she thought that her edge is that she’s “more direct” with her fans. “When I say something, it feels like it’s coming from their neighbor,” she said. In 2018, the total number of influencers in China like Bai Meimei – with over 100,000 followers – grew by 51 percent. Those who’ve reached into the millions grew by 23 percent. In total, the whole industry attracted over 588 million followers last April.

The general increase of both influencers and followers fuels the market. Live-streaming, for example, is expected to be a business worthy over 100 billion yuan (14.8 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020. For China’s Trend Group, one of the dominating companies in China’s fashion industry, the game has totally changed. Now it’s social media that sells. The company has been in the market for 25 years now, which is long enough for any company to stay relevant. Fan Baile, digital vice president of Trends Group highlighted the importance of working with influencers. “During the past 25 years we’ve gained success, and the key point to that is to keep engaging. Now we are overwhelmed by influencers, we won’t shrink from that, we welcome it,” Fan said.

Besides the existing business, the company now takes the role of a Multi-Channel Network (MCN) – a business helps brands and influencers connect. The company is not alone in the game. Thousands of MCNs are already in business. Besides simply matching the two parties, some MCNs also nurture influencers to take market precedence. As the pivot behind the process, MCNs centralize individual choices and form a digital market for exchanging values and influences.