In-depth: Which city tops the Internet celebrity economy in China?

2020-05-08 03:38:55 source: Ming Wenbiao, Lv Miao, Yan Wenlv


Hangzhou is the birthplace of e-commerce in China and the most developed city in the digital economy. With the popularity of the mobile Internet, Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy has enjoyed explosive growth. The following is a series of research reports on Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy completed by Zhejiang Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute New Economic Development Research Center in collaboration with Youzheng Think Tank and Enterprise Research Data Technology.


微信图片_20200508105817.png


1. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy was born during the Taobao period and is progressing from the 3.0 stage featuring barbaric growth to the 4.0 stage featuring standardized development.

 

Stage 1: The exploration period (2008-2013). In 2008, the first group of Taobao Girls appeared. Since 2012, e-commerce has become more and more popular, and there has been an explosive growth in the number of Taobao Girls.

 

Stage 2: The prosperity period (2014-2015). Since 2014, a new development trend appeared in China: the Content Internet Celebrity came into the stage. In the same year, MCN was established in Hangzhou.

 

Stage 3: The barbaric growth period (2015-2019). During this period, due to inadequate legal regulation, problems such as vulgarity, false publicity, short life cycle, and industrial frivolity and the influx of large amounts of capital became prominent in the Internet celebrity economy.

 

Stage 4: The standardized development period (2020-). In 2020, the Zhejiang provincial government joined hands with Alibaba to launch the Spring Thunder Initiative. Hangzhou's business departments and their key officials began to focus on the market capacity and standardized management of Hangzhou’s economy.

 

2. Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry chain covers live streaming platforms, MCN institutions, Internet celebrity entrepreneurial bases, and supply chain systems. The Internet celebrity ecosystem has become relatively complete.

 

The Internet celebrity economy plays an important role in linking the supply chain of the industry. Internet celebrities are the main body of the Internet celebrity economy. The Internet celebrities in Hangzhou are mainly active on the two social media platforms of Weibo and WeChat, and the live streaming platforms of Taobao Live, Kuaishou, TikTok, and Xiaohongshu. MCN institutions mainly engage in finding and training Internet celebrity IPs, packaging and promoting them, and making profits out of them.

 

3. Hangzhou's Internet celebrities with more than 10 million fans account for 12% of those across China. GMV created by head Internet celebrities such as Li Ziqi, Tang Tang, and Weiya exceeds RMB 100 million.

 

Analysis of big data shows that most well-known Internet celebrities in Hangzhou are active on Weibo, TikTok, and Taobao Live. MCN is highly dependent on head Internet celebrities, so the competition for well-known Internet celebrities is extremely fierce.

 

4. More than 1/4 of Hangzhou's MCN institutions have been financed, and Ruhan became the first and only listed MCN in China.

 

There are 40 well-known MCN institutions registered in Hangzhou. By the end of April 2020, 10 companies have been financed.

 

Investment institutions include comprehensive giants like Alibaba and Ant Financial, as well as Enlight Media, Hakim, and other companies that are deeply involved in the cultural and entertainment industry.

 

5. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy shows a strong agglomeration effect with most Internet celebrities active in Jianggan and Binjiang Districts.

 

Hangzhou’s MCN institutions are registered mainly in Future Technology City and Qianjiang New Town, but most Internet celebrities are active in Jianggan and Binjiang Districts, showing a typical industrial agglomeration effect.

 

6. Alibaba has been fully involved in many sectors of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry with its focus shifting from online platforms to offline markets.

 

Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy cannot develop without support from Alibaba. At present, Alibaba has been fully involved in many sectors of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry including traffic platforms, Internet celebrity anchors, commodity supply, and financing.

 

7. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy is rooted in the highly developed professional market in Zhejiang province, which drives the development of online consumption and the transformation and upgrading of Zhejiang's block economy.

 

Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy has prominent attributes of commodity consumption. Its main source of goods is the block economy industrial clusters in the urban areas of the counties under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang province.

 

Hangzhou has gradually evolved from the earliest "Road Market" to the springboard for the transformation of Zhejiang's block economy and the new growth pole for the upgrading of consumer industries in the Yangtze River Delta region.

 

8. Internet celebrities make profits by selling products through live streaming, reward from fans, advertising, marketing, and contract payment. Two thirds of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrities have sold or are selling goods through live streaming.

 

Most Internet celebrities in Hangzhou make profits by selling products through live streaming.

 

9. Most of Hangzhou's business districts promoted by Internet celebrities are Hubin and Wulin business districts with the Internet celebrity effect driving the consumption growth by more than 30%.

 

Most of Hangzhou's business districts promoted by Internet celebrities are traditional business districts such as Hubin and Wulin where the per capita consumption is more than 30% higher than that in other business districts in Hangzhou.

 

10. The Hangzhou government's multiple favorable policies promote Hangzhou’s upgrading from the capital of e-commerce to the capital of Internet celebrities.

 

During the COVID-19 epidemic, Hangzhou's new consumption represented by the Internet celebrity economy has shown great vitality, and the Hangzhou government has instituted favorable policies to support it. But overall, industry regulation is still in its infancy, and market competition is not fair enough. The Hangzhou government and enterprises should work together to build Hangzhou into the real capital of Internet celebrities.


(Compiled by Xu Yuhong)

read more

11945021 In-depth: Which city tops the Internet celebrity economy in China? public html

Hangzhou is the birthplace of e-commerce in China and the most developed city in the digital economy. With the popularity of the mobile Internet, Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy has enjoyed explosive growth. The following is a series of research reports on Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy completed by Zhejiang Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute New Economic Development Research Center in collaboration with Youzheng Think Tank and Enterprise Research Data Technology.


微信图片_20200508105817.png


1. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy was born during the Taobao period and is progressing from the 3.0 stage featuring barbaric growth to the 4.0 stage featuring standardized development.

 

Stage 1: The exploration period (2008-2013). In 2008, the first group of Taobao Girls appeared. Since 2012, e-commerce has become more and more popular, and there has been an explosive growth in the number of Taobao Girls.

 

Stage 2: The prosperity period (2014-2015). Since 2014, a new development trend appeared in China: the Content Internet Celebrity came into the stage. In the same year, MCN was established in Hangzhou.

 

Stage 3: The barbaric growth period (2015-2019). During this period, due to inadequate legal regulation, problems such as vulgarity, false publicity, short life cycle, and industrial frivolity and the influx of large amounts of capital became prominent in the Internet celebrity economy.

 

Stage 4: The standardized development period (2020-). In 2020, the Zhejiang provincial government joined hands with Alibaba to launch the Spring Thunder Initiative. Hangzhou's business departments and their key officials began to focus on the market capacity and standardized management of Hangzhou’s economy.

 

2. Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry chain covers live streaming platforms, MCN institutions, Internet celebrity entrepreneurial bases, and supply chain systems. The Internet celebrity ecosystem has become relatively complete.

 

The Internet celebrity economy plays an important role in linking the supply chain of the industry. Internet celebrities are the main body of the Internet celebrity economy. The Internet celebrities in Hangzhou are mainly active on the two social media platforms of Weibo and WeChat, and the live streaming platforms of Taobao Live, Kuaishou, TikTok, and Xiaohongshu. MCN institutions mainly engage in finding and training Internet celebrity IPs, packaging and promoting them, and making profits out of them.

 

3. Hangzhou's Internet celebrities with more than 10 million fans account for 12% of those across China. GMV created by head Internet celebrities such as Li Ziqi, Tang Tang, and Weiya exceeds RMB 100 million.

 

Analysis of big data shows that most well-known Internet celebrities in Hangzhou are active on Weibo, TikTok, and Taobao Live. MCN is highly dependent on head Internet celebrities, so the competition for well-known Internet celebrities is extremely fierce.

 

4. More than 1/4 of Hangzhou's MCN institutions have been financed, and Ruhan became the first and only listed MCN in China.

 

There are 40 well-known MCN institutions registered in Hangzhou. By the end of April 2020, 10 companies have been financed.

 

Investment institutions include comprehensive giants like Alibaba and Ant Financial, as well as Enlight Media, Hakim, and other companies that are deeply involved in the cultural and entertainment industry.

 

5. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy shows a strong agglomeration effect with most Internet celebrities active in Jianggan and Binjiang Districts.

 

Hangzhou’s MCN institutions are registered mainly in Future Technology City and Qianjiang New Town, but most Internet celebrities are active in Jianggan and Binjiang Districts, showing a typical industrial agglomeration effect.

 

6. Alibaba has been fully involved in many sectors of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry with its focus shifting from online platforms to offline markets.

 

Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy cannot develop without support from Alibaba. At present, Alibaba has been fully involved in many sectors of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrity industry including traffic platforms, Internet celebrity anchors, commodity supply, and financing.

 

7. Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy is rooted in the highly developed professional market in Zhejiang province, which drives the development of online consumption and the transformation and upgrading of Zhejiang's block economy.

 

Hangzhou's Internet celebrity economy has prominent attributes of commodity consumption. Its main source of goods is the block economy industrial clusters in the urban areas of the counties under the jurisdiction of Zhejiang province.

 

Hangzhou has gradually evolved from the earliest "Road Market" to the springboard for the transformation of Zhejiang's block economy and the new growth pole for the upgrading of consumer industries in the Yangtze River Delta region.

 

8. Internet celebrities make profits by selling products through live streaming, reward from fans, advertising, marketing, and contract payment. Two thirds of Hangzhou’s Internet celebrities have sold or are selling goods through live streaming.

 

Most Internet celebrities in Hangzhou make profits by selling products through live streaming.

 

9. Most of Hangzhou's business districts promoted by Internet celebrities are Hubin and Wulin business districts with the Internet celebrity effect driving the consumption growth by more than 30%.

 

Most of Hangzhou's business districts promoted by Internet celebrities are traditional business districts such as Hubin and Wulin where the per capita consumption is more than 30% higher than that in other business districts in Hangzhou.

 

10. The Hangzhou government's multiple favorable policies promote Hangzhou’s upgrading from the capital of e-commerce to the capital of Internet celebrities.

 

During the COVID-19 epidemic, Hangzhou's new consumption represented by the Internet celebrity economy has shown great vitality, and the Hangzhou government has instituted favorable policies to support it. But overall, industry regulation is still in its infancy, and market competition is not fair enough. The Hangzhou government and enterprises should work together to build Hangzhou into the real capital of Internet celebrities.


(Compiled by Xu Yuhong)

]]>
Internet;celebrity;Hangzhou;economy;Zhejiang;e-commerce