Guide to Livestreaming in China: How It Works for International Brands
Why has livestreaming become so important for brands in China?
Because it combines discovery, product education and purchasing in one experience. China had 833 million livestream users by the end of 2024, making it a mainstream consumer behaviour rather than a niche channel.
What makes a strong first livestreaming campaign in China?
Start with a clear objective, then align the platform, host, content and promotion around it. Successful campaigns are planned as coordinated marketing programmes rather than simply switching on a camera and going live.
Why does platform fit matter more than simply choosing the largest platform?
China's major livestreaming platforms serve different audiences and stages of the customer journey. A platform with fewer relevant viewers can therefore be more valuable than one with enormous reach but poor audience or brand fit.
What is one of the biggest mistakes foreign brands make with livestreaming in China?
Treating it as a one-off event or copying a Western social strategy directly into the Chinese market. Livestreaming performs better when brands localise the format and build it into a longer-term channel strategy.
Livestreaming in China is real-time video shopping and entertainment, broadcast through platforms such as Douyin, Taobao Live, Xiaohongshu, WeChat Channels, Bilibili and Kuaishou. By the end of 2024, China had 833 million livestream users, and the livestreaming e-commerce market was worth roughly US$807 billion (More about our Livestreaming Marketing Services in China).
If you work in marketing for a global or UK brand, you have probably heard that livestreaming is big in China, and that it goes far beyond an occasional Instagram Live or TikTok Live session. This guide to livestreaming in China breaks down how the platforms differ, what a campaign costs, and how to plan one that protects your brand.
Livestreaming in China, known locally as zhibo (直播), is a live video broadcast in which a host talks to viewers in real time, often described simply as China live shopping. The format took hold around 2016, grew fast during the pandemic, and now sits at the centre of how many Chinese consumers discover, research and buy.
A single livestream can work as:
- Entertainment, built around a host's personality and banter with viewers
- A product demonstration, showing texture, fit or function up close
- A destination or hotel tour, for travel and hospitality brands
- A fashion show or product reveal
- A checkout page, letting viewers buy without ever leaving the app
That last point is what makes livestreaming distinct: the back and forth with viewers. A host can turn a handbag around on request, or show a hotel room from a different angle, and that interaction builds trust faster than a photo or a written review ever could.
China's appetite for livestreaming is not a passing trend. By the end of 2024, the number of livestream users in China reached 833 million, equivalent to 75.2% of everyone online in the country, more people than the entire population of Europe.
The commercial side is just as striking. The US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service put the total value of China's livestreaming e-commerce market at around US$807 billion in 2024, with Douyin alone reaching approximately US$487 billion in e-commerce sales.
Here is why it should matter to your brand:
- It shortens the gap between discovery and purchase, since viewers can buy without leaving the livestream.
- It lets you demonstrate a product properly, rather than relying on a static photo.
- It builds trust through real-time questions and answers, which matters more in China than in most markets.
- It works for far more than direct sales, including launches, hotel previews and behind-the-scenes storytelling.
If your only experience of livestreaming is an Instagram Live session or the odd TikTok Live, China will feel unfamiliar at first. The gap is not about video quality, but how deeply commerce and habit are built into the platform itself.
Here is what sets China apart:
- Closed-loop checkout. On Douyin or Taobao Live, a viewer can watch, ask a question, tap a product card, and pay without leaving the app. Western tools usually send shoppers elsewhere, losing many along the way.
- A daily habit, not an occasional format. Livestreaming is routine for hundreds of millions of people in China, not just an extension of a creator's usual content.
- Different scripts, not just different subtitles. A strategy built for Instagram or TikTok cannot simply be copied across, sine direct translation rarely lands the way true localisation does.
Livestreaming in China is not one single market. Each platform attracts a different type of viewer and suits a different brand goal, so picking the right one matters more than picking the biggest one, and this section works as a compact China social commerce guide in its own right.
Here is a quick comparison of the China livestreaming platforms most international brands should know:
Below is a closer look at how each platform works in practice:
Douyin
Douyin livestreaming is usually the first format international brands look at, mainly for its algorithm-driven reach. You do not need an existing following before you go live.
Use Douyin livestreaming to:
- Build attention around a launch, reaching viewers who have never heard of your brand
- Sell directly, with a host demonstrating products and taking live questions
Keep production polished if you are a premium brand, so a session does not turn into a discount shouting match. More on this in our Douyin beginner’s guide (What is Douyin?) and our more advanced tutorial Mastering Douyin Marketing.
Taobao Live
Taobao Live sits inside Alibaba's shopping ecosystem, so viewers arrive already in a buying mindset, which makes it especially effective at converting demand that already exists rather than creating it from scratch.
If your brand is not yet well known in China, Taobao Live on its own is unlikely to do much. Build awareness first through Douyin, Xiaohongshu or KOL content, then use Taobao Live to convert that interest into sales.
Xiaohongshu
Xiaohongshu livestreaming, sometimes still called RED livestreaming, has built a reputation for a calmer, more conversational style. Sessions often feel like a knowledgeable friend talking through a small, carefully chosen selection of products.
Why it suits premium brands:
- Hosts use a quieter tone than the high-energy sellers common elsewhere
- The format favours curation over volume, which protects positioning
See our Xiaohongshu marketing services page for how we plan and run these campaigns.
WeChat Channels
WeChat, known as Weixin in mainland China, remains the country's most-used app. Tencent has confirmed that the combined monthly user base of Weixin and WeChat passed 1.4 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Use WeChat Channels livestreaming for:
- VIP previews, aimed at your existing Official Account followers
- Loyalty rewards, connected directly to your Mini Programme store
This works best for brands that already have a following in China, rather than for cold discovery.
Bilibili
Bilibili is often compared to YouTube, but its community culture goes further. Viewers post live comments, known as danmu, that scroll across the screen as the video plays, making watching feel shared rather than solitary. In the third quarter of 2025, Bilibili reported 117 million daily active users and 376 million monthly active users, with average daily viewing time reaching a record 112 minutes.
That level of attention suits brands with something genuinely interesting to explain, such as craftsmanship or a longer brand story. It is a poor fit for a livestream that amounts to little more than holding products up to the camera. To get help with Bilibili check out our Bilibili Marketing Services.
Kuaishou
Kuaishou has built its reputation on close relationships between hosts and their audience, particularly in smaller cities and towns. In the third quarter of 2025, the platform reached a record 416 million daily active users, with e-commerce sales reaching RMB385 billion for the quarter.
Kuaishou is not the natural home for every premium brand, but it should not be dismissed. Louis Vuitton livestreamed a menswear show partly through Kuaishou as part of a broadcast across eight platforms that attracted more than 278 million viewers, proof that even premium brands can use the platform when the audience fit makes sense.
Not every livestream should try to sell something. Treating every broadcast as a sales pitch is one of the fastest ways to undersell a premium brand.
There are three broad types worth knowing:
- Awareness livestreams focus on reach and cultural relevance, such as a fashion show or product reveal. The livestream itself is really a piece of media.
- Consideration livestreams give you space to explain something a short video cannot, such as a skincare formulation or a hotel's layout.
- Commerce livestreams are built for conversion, with a clear product lineup and a host trained to move viewers towards a purchase. This is livestream commerce in China at its most direct, and the goal is a sale, not just a comment.
The safest approach for luxury brands is usually a mix, using KOL livestreaming in China to build reach and your own trained hosts for the more considered sessions. The difference between the two matters more than it sounds, covered in our guide to KOLs versus KOCs in China.
If you are wondering how to livestream in China for the first time, follow this guide to livestreaming in China step by step to avoid the most common early mistakes:
- Set your objective first. Decide whether the livestream needs to build awareness, answer questions, or drive sales, since this shapes everything else.
- Choose the right platform. Match the platform to your product and audience, rather than picking the biggest one by user numbers.
- Verify your official account. Most platforms require brand verification before you can livestream commercially, so start this early.
- Pick your host. Decide between a KOL, a KOC or an in-house presenter, and check their audience is genuine, using our guide to spotting fake followers, before you brief them.
- Plan the content and script. Prepare a running order and key talking points, whilst leaving room for real audience questions.
- Promote before you go live. Use short-form video, existing followers and paid media, since a livestream nobody knows about will not perform.
- Run the broadcast. Make sure you have a producer and a moderator watching viewer comments, not just a presenter in front of a camera.
- Review and repurpose. Look at what worked, then cut highlights into short clips for future content.
Finding the right creator for each step is usually the hardest part. Our Kurator™ influencer platform was built to help brands match with the right hosts and KOLs across China's main livestreaming platforms.
Costs vary enormously depending on your platform, host and production quality, so treat the figures below as planning ranges rather than fixed prices.
Here is a rough guide to budgeting your first campaign:
- A focused pilot on Douyin or Xiaohongshu, covering strategy, a mid-tier creator and light promotion, typically starts from the low tens of thousands of US dollars.
- A repeatable programme involving several creators and ongoing paid amplification usually moves into the tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands over three to six months.
- A major launch involving a celebrity host and international production can comfortably exceed US$200,000.
A cheap livestream that nobody watches is not actually cheap. A well-planned campaign that builds reusable content and a base of genuine customers is often better value, even at a higher headline cost.
China has tightened its rules around livestream commerce, and this matters for any brand planning to sell through the format. New measures from the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Cyberspace Administration of China took effect on 1 February 2026, setting clearer duties for platforms, livestream hosts and the brands behind them.
Before you go live, make sure the following are covered:
- Product claims and pricing comply with China's Advertising Law, which bans superlatives such as "the best" or "number one".
- Regulated categories, including medicine, finance and education, may require specific certification.
- Any AI-generated hosts or avatars are clearly labelled as such, now a legal requirement.
- Your moderator knows how to handle sensitive comments or questions in real time.
Getting this wrong is not a small risk. Non-compliant content can lead to fines, account suspension, or damage to a brand built over years.
Livestreaming's most common techniques, such as countdown clocks, steep discounts and hosts talking at speed, work well for mass-market products. They can also damage a premium brand's positioning if used without thinking it through.
A better reference point for luxury brands is the private appointment, rather than the bargain broadcast. Consider the following instead:
- Choose a host with genuine authority on your category, not just a large following.
- Keep the product selection small and curated, rather than racing through dozens of items.
- Offer exclusivity through early access, rather than steep discounts.
- Protect your visual identity, from lighting to set design, so the livestream still feels like your brand.
Getting this balance right matters, which is why brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Creed and Moncler trust us with their China campaigns. Our guide to social media strategy for luxury brands covers it in more depth.
The right metric depends on why you ran the livestream, so decide this before the broadcast rather than after it.
For different goals, focus on different numbers:
- Awareness livestreams: track reach, peak viewers and new followers.
- Consideration livestreams: track repeat viewers, questions asked and product page visits.
- Commerce livestreams: track sales, conversion rate and average order value.
Premium brands should also ask what kind of customer the livestream actually brought in, not just how many sales it made, which is where measuring KOL ROI properly becomes useful.
Even experienced marketing teams get livestreaming wrong the first time, usually in one of the same handful of ways.
Watch out for these common mistakes:
- Copying a Western social media strategy directly, instead of building for how Chinese platforms work.
- Choosing a platform based on its size rather than whether it fits your product.
- Under-investing in promotion before the livestream, so almost nobody turns up.
- Ignoring compliance requirements until after a problem occurs.
- Treating livestreaming as a single event, rather than a channel you build over time.
This guide to livestreaming in China has covered how the major platforms differ, what a realistic budget looks like, and how to plan a campaign that protects your brand whilst still driving results. The opportunity is genuinely large, but it rewards brands that plan properly, not those that copy what worked for someone else.
As a livestreaming agency in China, at Red Ant Asia we help international luxury, beauty, fashion and travel brands plan and run livestreaming campaigns across Douyin, Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Bilibili, combining local strategy and creator selection with the cultural judgement that keeps a premium brand feeling premium.
If you are ready to talk through what livestreaming could look like for your brand, get in touch with our team.
What is livestreaming in China?
Livestreaming in China is real-time video broadcasting through platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, WeChat Channels, Taobao Live, Bilibili and Kuaishou. These broadcasts are usually connected directly to e-commerce, so viewers can buy without leaving the app.
How is livestreaming in China different from Instagram Live or TikTok Live?
The biggest difference is how closely livestreaming is tied to online shopping. Viewers can move from watching to buying within the same app, which is far less common on Western livestreaming tools.
Which platform is best for livestreaming in China?
It depends on your goal. Douyin suits discovery and reach, Xiaohongshu suits premium and curated selling, WeChat Channels suits existing customers, and Bilibili suits deeper, educational content.
How much does a livestreaming campaign in China cost?
A focused pilot typically starts from the low tens of thousands of US dollars once strategy, host fees and light promotion are included. Larger, celebrity-led launches with international production can cost several hundred thousand dollars.
Do foreign brands need a licence to livestream in China?
Most brands can livestream without special permission, though regulated categories such as medicine and finance need specific certification. You will still usually need a verified brand account before you can sell during a livestream.
What is the difference between a KOL and a KOC in livestreaming?
A KOL is a professional influencer with a large following, useful for building awareness quickly. A KOC is an everyday consumer with a smaller but highly engaged following, and their recommendations often feel more trustworthy.
Can luxury brands use livestreaming without discounting their products?
Yes, and many do it well. Luxury livestreams can focus on craftsmanship, styling and storytelling, using exclusivity such as early access instead of price cuts to drive interest.
How long should a livestream in China last?
There is no fixed rule, since it depends on your goal and how much useful content you have. A tightly produced 45 to 60 minute broadcast is often more effective than a longer session padded out with repetition.
How should we promote a livestream before it goes live?
Start well before the broadcast, using short-form video, existing followers and paid media to build anticipation. A genuine reason to watch live, such as a launch or limited access, works far better than simply announcing you will be online.
Are China's livestreaming rules strict?
Yes, and they have become stricter recently. New national measures covering platforms, hosts and marketing personnel took effect in February 2026, and product claims must still comply with China's Advertising Law.
