Huajiao sees viewers paying US$757m for online broadcast content

Online broadcasting platform Huajiao Live expects viewers to pay 5 billion yuan (US$757 million) for content and broadcasts this year, a jump of 60 percent year on year.

Huajiao, founded by China’s biggest cyber security firm 360, plans to cooperate with TV stations to improve brand awareness and help widen the influence of Internet celebrities on the platform. The platform shares income with broadcasters in the ratio of 30 to 70 on average.

Viewers are set to pay 5 billion yuan to Huajiao’s broadcasters, who offer online stream performance from talk show, dance, music playing, use of cosmetics to sports. In 2016, viewers paid about 3 billion yuan to Huajiao, which raised about 1 billion yuan in the latest round of financing in May.

Barely a presence three years ago, the fastest-emerging Internet broadcasting sector produced revenue of more than 30 billion yuan in 2016. The income will triple in 2020, according to an estimate of investment bank China Renaissance Securities.

Top dot-com firms, including Tencent, Baidu and 360, have also invested heavily in the sector, which brings them both traffic and income.