Live streaming sites have turned giant pandas into online celebrities and promoted panda-related industries. However, experts point out the industrialization might disturb giant pandas.

The live round-the-clock broadcasts of giant pandas have gained great popularity among netizens in recent years. Online videos featuring pandas grabbing onto feeders’ legs or attempting a “prison break” make people feel closer to the national treasure.

Ipanda.com, the panda channel of China Central Television, has over 10 million followers around the world, enjoying over 200,000 visits a day.

“I spend most of my spare time watching giant pandas online and sometimes I watch them for a couple of hours. It is a therapeutic and joyful thing even to watch them sleep,” said a panda lover, adding that the videos can spread more knowledge about the pandas.

Panda products and cultural and creative products have become a hit. Giant pandas have also become a super intellectual property, meaning a bright future for panda-themed animations and films.

However, panda sensation has aroused anxiety among experts. A professor of rare plants and animals in Sichuan said due to the low fertility rate of giant pandas, it’s early to be too optimistic about their future, though they’ve been downgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable.”

Some unprofessional camera teams with little knowledge about the pandas might severely disturb the pandas and scare them. Some people even mistreat them by staging a show or using them for commercial performances to garner hits and money.

Developing high-tech products and tightening protection and supervision of panda-related intellectual properties are two ways to promote and protect the giant pandas, experts pointed out.