A girl with dyed blonde hair sips a bottle of boba tea, rambling about her boring school life. A hulky man with a gold chain on his neck gobbles up a huge wedge of watermelon, the juice flowing down to his elbows. A fitness instructor sits on a massage couch, showing his audience some easy exercises to decompress their spines. Meanwhile, pop-up texts and stickers like roses and diamonds nearly fill the smart phone screens. 

This is just a glimpse of China’s flourishing live-streaming industry, where thousands of ordinary people use smart phones to broadcast their whims and whimsies, and even daily routines.

Data from iResearch, a Chinese consulting group, shows that China’s online live-streaming platforms were estimated to total around 200 in 2015, including mobile apps and websites. These online streaming platforms have drawn over 200 million users. During peak times, there are about 3,000 live-streaming “studios” running simultaneously, attracting 4 million online users to watch. The online live-streaming market is now worth 9 billion yuan.

Who drives the online content business in China? Individual online celebrities, advertising companies, and industry investors.

When watching live-streaming videos, viewers can buy virtual gifts such as stickers, flowers or red envelopes for their favorite performers. On Ingkee, one of the biggest live-streaming mobile apps, a virtual flower costs 0.1 yuan and a virtual blown kiss 3.3 yuan, while a “Ferrari” costs 120 yuan and a “yacht” costs a whopping 1,314 yuan. The live-streaming performers do receive a portion of the cash, but the site gets a hefty cut. Viewers can also send comments that pop up on screen to interact with the online hosts.

With 17 million followers on Weibo, Papi Jiang, a popular streaming celebrity, won her overnight fame by posting original sarcastic videos on social media. At 9 p.m. on July 11, this Chinese Internet comedian made her live-streaming debut on eight major platforms. Comments, “diamonds” and “Ferraris” filled the whole screen. By 10:30 pm, the total amount of online users had reached 2 million and the cash value of gifts Papi Jiang had received was estimated to be 900,000 yuan.

These platforms also get a portion of their revenue through advertising. Once they have a large fan base, live-streaming performers can increase their income by advertising products through endorsements, which they post on social media. Take Papi Jiang’s live-streaming debut for example: the snack that she ate and the movie trailer that viewers saw 20 times at the beginning of the webcast were both considered advertisements by investment and financial commentators.

Many investors believe in the saying, “In a strong wind, even pigs can fly.” Now they are viewing original content creation as the next strong wind. Chinese venture capitalists are reportedly lining up to invest in Papi Jiang’s brand. She had secured 12 million yuan ($1.85 million) in funding as of March.

Such a nationwide phenomenon also develops the related industrial chain. From the Internet celebrity trainers and agencies at the “production” phase, to the smart phone companies and app developers at the “collecting” phase, to the Content Distribution Network (CDN) suppliers at the “flow” phase, a new systematic “Internet celebrity/live-streaming economy” is burgeoning.