Livestreams offer web celebs life dreams

I hurled skulls and axes at towers.

They exploded.

Boom! Bang! Blam!

Within three minutes, 20,000 people were watching.

Viewers sent me several missiles. One even gave me a plane.

Only later did I learn the rockets are worth 100 yuan ($14.50), and a plane is 500 yuan.

They also fielded questions and shot live comments, called danmu, or "bullet-words", in Chinese.

"Do you like Wuhan's food?" (I do.)

"Do you speak Wuhan dialect?" (I don't.)

"The foreign guy's Chinese is perfect!" (It isn't.)

"Very exciting!" (It was.)

It was my first experience livestreaming.

I was hosting a documentary in Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan, and was visiting the headquarters of Douyu, one of the country's largest livestreaming sites.

I joined a show hosted by a young woman who plays video games all day, while viewers send her money in the form of virtual gifts.

That's her job. Seriously.

(It's my childhood dream come true.)

Douyu is a giant in livestreamed gaming but has also branched out to feature shows in which people, for instance, cook, apply makeup and go shopping.

The company, like the industry, is young in every sense.

Employees average age is 24. So, the sector they lead was in its infancy when they were in high school.

Even the headquarters' layout reflects youthful vitality.

Meetings are held while rocking in swings wrapped with fake vines that dangle from the ceiling, or over foosball or pool tables.

There's a virtual-reality console for staffers who want to take a break from gaming for fans on PCs for profit to instead game in VR with colleagues for fun.

This approach to work may be unconventional - but it's working.

Tencent purchased a 20 percent stake in the company last summer for $226 million.

Indeed, the emergent sector is roaring forward.

Livestreaming celebrities - that is, figures whose sudden fame comes entirely from their shows - earned 58 billion yuan last year. That's 14 billion yuan more than the box office in 2015, China Business Network reports.

As of June, the China Internet Network Information Center estimates that the country's livestreaming app users surpassed 325 million.

Last year, a platform was founded every three days on average, internet research company iResearch reports.

But such brisk development has sired growing pains.

Authorities shut down thousands of accounts for inappropriate content last year.

The Beijing Cyberspace Administration investigated three livestreaming sites - toutiao.com, huoshanzhibo.com and huajiao.com - this month. Some publishers had streamed illegal content, including pornography, and may face criminal charges.

Internet regulators have said Apple is next in their sights. Law enforcement recently met with the company. And the cyberspace administration, the Beijing Public Security Bureau and the Beijing Cultural Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team announced plans to jointly summon Apple representatives soon.

Of course, any disruptive technology with soaring growth will experience turbulence between birth and maturity. The ungainliness of adolescence will pass.

And while there are bad apples, most streams simply show people doing mundane things such as homework, makeup and shopping.

And, sometimes, throwing exploding skulls and axes at towers.

Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/08/2017 page2)