“Live streaming comes naturally to me,” says the top host, who has over 80,000 fans on live streaming platform LiveMe. “When I’m online, conversations are easy and I can talk about all sorts of things. After all, your audience really wants to just talk to the other person, so all my broadcasts are simple and improvised. I really like that kind of authenticity.”
From Facebook to GoPro, users live stream from all over the world, with LiveMe being the most active live streaming platform in the US with 60 million users.
LiveMe, a client of East West Bank, is the fastest growing independent and live streaming app in the US and recently partnered with Musical.ly to integrate and merge some of their platforms and communities. The LiveMe portfolio also includes Cheez and Fluxr, which are also video and broadcast related applications.
“Live is really more about the raw and unedited connection between people,” says Yuki Hye, founder and CEO of LiveMe. “Today, platforms like Youtube, Instagram and Facebook are mostly dominated by big influencers and people with media status, so it’s hard for novice users to be discovered. On LiveMe, we create a space where everyone can broadcast, communicate and interact as equals.”
Research and Markets predicts the video streaming market will grow from $30 billion in 2016 to $70 billion by 2021, with some of the strongest streamers coming from the Asia-Pacific region. From lip-syncing to video games, content diversity correlates with a fragmented livestream audience. For companies, this can be useful information as they can identify the audience segment they want to target simply by following the trends and interests of their digital consumption. Currently, video content on social media generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined, and companies have shown higher conversion rates across various channels using video, notably reporting a 41% increase in web traffic from search engines. .
Who are you live streaming for?
As video streaming users and audiences are younger than traditional social media platforms, analysts predict this trend will continue to grow. Live streaming from Instagram Stories to Periscope has captured the attention of businesses and consumers alike.
“Our main demographic is people between the ages of 16 and 30,” He says. “We use both online and offline campaigns to engage our audience. Whether it’s meetings at our West Hollywood office or fun contests on LiveMe, we’re always finding new ways to engage with our audience.” The company also regularly visits university campuses to reach out to platform users and offer them the opportunity to become brand ambassadors. These ambassadors then organize meetings, parties, and competitions for their colleagues.
Live streaming in China vs. US
“The environment between streaming in China and streaming in the US is very different. “In China, live broadcasting is much more linear, with broadcasters serving content to the audience without much interaction. However, in Western countries people are more open and want to express themselves.” Sensitivity to censorship, combined with a culture of resignation, is pushing many ordinary citizens away from broadcasting on the Internet. As a result, broadcasters tend to be celebrities or affiliated with the media industry. “Most of the hosts on LiveMe are ordinary people who want to make friends or make themselves known. “Many of the users who gift to hosts are also hosts themselves, which is unique because in China, most users tend to just watch content or give gifts to hosts.”
TikTok (Dou Yin in Chinese) is the Chinese equivalent of a successful video app. Launched in 2016, the app has grown by leaps and bounds with thousands of users creating short videos, and in 2017 it entered the world of live streaming. With more than 300 million monthly active users in the country and more than 150 million daily active users (that’s one in ten Chinese), the huge number of people connecting to the application and additional opportunities for growth and monetization have made TikTok one of the most popular Chinese applications and the first in video and photo categories.
“I decided to launch LiveMe in the US because of its market opportunities,” He says. “Our engineering team is located in China, but when I had the idea to start this business, the intellectual property in China was already more developed than in other parts of the world.” Having worked on a number of different applications, including as product manager for the first generation of Tencent’s social instant messaging app QQ, He knew that live streaming and video content were the communication trends of the future. She also served as a director on the board of advisors for popular video app Musical.ly and saw it grow from a small company in Shanghai to a major American business. “It gave me a lot of confidence when I saw them grow,” He says. “I know that many other social media platforms have already launched a live streaming service, but I think there are other opportunities for LiveMe to enter the US market.”
Become a digital authority
“If you’re trying to become a digital authority, you’re going to have to really work hard,” Andrade says. “Stream every day with a good connection and get your subscribers going with strong momentum.” Since the age of five, Andrade has been acting and modeling, so she knew she would be an artist. When she was old enough to move to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, she tried to find ways to increase her fame and fan base. “I started LiveMe in December, but didn’t get serious about it until February or March,” she admits. “Once I saw the real business potential of the platform, I started going live two or three times a day for several hours. It’s like a full-time job where you dedicate yourself to working in front of the camera six hours a day.”
The investment of time and effort into broadcasting has paid off, as LiveMe now provides Andrade with the means to live. “I pay my rent and live off the gifts my fans give me during the broadcasts,” she says.
Digital Gifts and Safety in Live Streaming
The digital gifts that Andrade receives are trinkets that have monetary value and can be gifted by the viewer to the host. “People can buy gifts and trinkets on our platform to give to others,” He says. “It’s like a subscription service, but I didn’t like the concept of paying for access to content. It felt cold and transactional, so our team made a personalized form of payment through various types of gifts, which adds an emotional connection between the viewer and the presenter.”
LiveMe’s business model is based on this concept of digital gift giving, as a portion of each gift purchase becomes part of LiveMe’s income. “It’s actually a very popular concept in China, but people had a lot of doubts when I said I wanted to introduce this idea to the US,” He says. “Our business is booming and it proves that giving and receiving gifts is a positive experience for everyone.”
This unique concept of providing digital cash gifts to broadcasters has been successful for LiveMe and its hosts so far. “I’ve gotten to the point in broadcasting where I’ve got a lot of fans willing to support me with gifts,” says Andrade. “Those who are my biggest fans – top givers and most frequent viewers – also become my admins, who get access to monitor my LiveMe account.” Administrators are roles assigned by the host to their most dedicated LiveMe viewers, and they act as a collective community to support and monitor online behavior. “You want to appoint someone as an administrator who will always be on your stream when you’re live,” Andrade says. “I have five admins who are always there because sometimes the flow can go too fast and you can get spammers and misbehaving on the platform. That’s when the admins come in. Half the time I don’t even pay attention to ridiculous messages that play in real time during the broadcast, and then I see that the administrator has blocked the person who behaved inappropriately on the stream.”
Regarding inappropriate behavior on the platform, LiveMe maintains a strict community policy that addresses common online issues such as bullying, sexual misconduct, hate speech, violence, criminal activity, parody, and other serious social issues. We have a dedicated team that spends the whole day checking red flags and monitoring content,” says Paulina Bednarchik, who manages content and talent at LiveMe. “We have a zero-tolerance policy and any violation of our policy may result in a suspension or terminate your account.”
Andrade is not afraid. “You’re bound to have people behaving inappropriately, and sometimes if they send me ridiculous messages, I’ll share them with my audience in real time,” she says. “Whether they are sycophants or haters, I will definitely turn them into a joke.”
This ecosystem of checks and balances, with admins looking out for presenters, in addition to being carefully monitored by LiveMe staff, helps the app remain a place where users and viewers can interact. “We’re building LiveMe as a platform for the community,” He says. “We want it to be a safe place for people to socialize.”
When asked about LiveMe’s future projects, He believes the next step would be to pair the platform with a local non-profit or charity program. “Because our concept of digital gift-giving has been so successful,” she says, “I think it would be great if we could set up a charity fundraiser so that presenters can raise money in real time in the form of gifts for something.” which suits our purpose.”