Live-streaming and self-broadcasting are becoming a rage in Asia.
China’s answer to Twitter and Facebook is witnessing a live-streaming boom in the Asian giant. During April-June this year, Weibo users created about 10 million live broadcasts, a Weibo representative told Tech in Asia.
Big Live, a new smartphone application, that also allows its users to capture videos of themselves and broadcast it instantly is becoming widely popular in Southeast Asia. While they are creating a host of new Web celebrities, they are also making some of them super-rich.
Users are submitting self-shot videos on Weibo Live and becoming instant celebrities. For the video posts created, fellow users can respond with virtual gifts–which cost real money–and the live stream host can then cash out the gifts to make money from his or her live streaming antics.
Several such applications have popped up in China this year catering to a nascent but growing demand to watch fellow netizens.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has announced a public crackdown on live-streaming sites that have become a sensation in the country, saying the platforms pose a serious threat to “public morals” and the “Internet environment.”
Live-streaming apps such as Ingkee, which is similar to Twitter’s Periscope, have claimed millions of downloads and users. Douyu, which broadcasts mainly live e-sports events, said they have more than 120 million users, with 600,000 people using it to livestream a video at least once, TechWireAsia reported.