CBN Friday Special丨Taobao wages war on Douyin ahead of shopp

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Hello! Welcome to this edition of CBN Friday Special. I’m Stephanie Li.

The fight for the attention span of short video viewers is heating up in China, and it is turning into a slugfest between Alibaba’s Taobao, and Douyin, the domestic version of TikTok owned by ByteDance in the fight for e-commerce.

On Thursday, two celebrity live sales hosts on Douyin are jumping ship to the livestreaming channel run by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding’s digital marketplace Taobao during the Double 11 online shopping bonanza next month.

Luo Yonghao, best known as the founder of Chinese technology company Smartisan, is reportedly set to start an e-commerce livestream channel on Taobao ahead of this year’s Single Day festival, with his first appearance on Oct.24, the beginning of Taobao’s Single Day presales. 

Meanwhile, Yu Minhong, chairman of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, will also appear on Taobao via New Oriental’s live room on Oct. 31.  

This would mark the end of Luo’s exclusive partnership with Douyin which he has had since May 2020. On April 1 this year the flamboyant businessman smashed records with a turnover of 110 million yuan (USD15.2 million) on his livestreaming debut, attracting more than 48 million viewers. 

But Luo announced he was quitting all social media in order to focus on a new startup company this June. He runs the studio “Make a Friend”, which is considering doing livestreaming business on multiple platforms, including Beijing-based Douyin, a person close to the team said.

Yu Minhong turned to livestreamed e-commerce earlier this year following a government crackdown on after-school lessons. His studio, Oriental Selection, which provides a mix of English lessons with live sales, was one of Douyin’s top performers in June, shifting 15 million yuan (USD2.2 million) worth of commodities on June 10.

The news is widely viewed as part of an aggressive campaign by Alibaba’s flagship e-commerce platform to poach Douyin’s most popular livestream talents. 

Douyin, conceived as a short video app and which now has over 600 million daily active users according to the company's data, is taking the fight into gaming, social media and e-commerce, squaring up to Alibaba in its own backyards. As a response, Alibaba has boosted its live-streaming and video content on marketplaces Taobao and Tmall to woo consumers. 

These days, watching short-videos, recommended by algorithms, has become a hugely-popular online activity for China's netizens, leading to increased investment in the space by almost every big Chinese tech firm. According to a report published by Taobao Livestream and iResearch, more than 464 million users are used to buying products through livestreams, which accounts for 45% of Chinese netizens, as livestream e-commerce has become the “new norm” in China. 

China’s livestream industry has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, especially during the pandemic, which promoted people to shop online and gain interactive and immersive experiences amid lockdowns. This medium offers brands a unique opportunity to connect with Chinese consumers in an engaging and interactive manner. 

In 2022, the total revenue of China’s e-commerce livestream sector is projected to reach 1.2 trillion yuan (US$180 billion) with total of 660 million viewers. This figure is expected to further grow to 4.9 trillion yuan (US$720 billion) in 2023, according to a 2021 iResearch report. This will account for 11.7 percent of total e-commerce sales in the country, injecting new impetus into the economy.

Currently, the e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Taobao Live has taken the lion’s share of livestream, taking up 68.5% of consumers, followed by Douyin and Kuaishou. 

However, since last year’s Double 11 shopping festival, the e-commerce landscape in China has changed drastically. Taobao is gearing up to tame the rapid growth of Douyin’s e-commerce business. For example, New Oriental has launched its livestream shopping business on Douyin, and received phenomenal success with a uniquely informative style.

Now Taobao is on the hunt for big names to front its live sales during the upcoming Double 11, after three of its top livestreamers were fined for tax evasion last year and forced to shut down their studios. Li Jiaqi, China’s “lipstick king”, quit Taobao briefly and made a quiet comeback recently.

Besides poaching top influencers from other platforms, Taobao is putting all-out effort to incubate in-house livestream hosts this year. From May to September, the monthly transaction volume (GMV) of Taobao Live’s anchors with 1 million followers maintained a year-on-year growth of more than 50%. Between October 1 and 9, their turnover achieved a three-digit increase.

As the largest e-commerce platform in China with an influx of viewers that are ready to buy, Taobao is still in absolute advantage to develop its livestream business.

This year's Double 11 may turn a new page for live e-commerce. It is not easy for platforms, anchors or brands to go from one platform to anther. Also, the ranking of top studios may as well usher in another major reshuffle as top hosts manage their business across multiple platforms.

And that’s so much for today. See you next time! 

今年“双十一”，两大抖音主播罗永浩、俞敏洪都将现身淘宝直播间，直播行业“双十一”将掀新变局？

10月19日，前抖音直播带货“一哥”罗永浩将在双十一期间开启淘宝直播，首场直播将定在10月24日晚上8时，在“罗永浩直播间”内进行。据“交个朋友”内部人士在社交媒体上发布的信息显示，目前罗永浩淘宝的双十一首秀正在招商中。

作为曾经的抖音直播一哥，转战淘宝直播的不仅有罗永浩，还有另一位企业家新东方创始人俞敏洪。他所建立的东方甄选直播间，也在罗永浩退网的6月迎来爆火。

10月19日，阿里巴巴方面表示，俞敏洪正积极为双11备课，10月31日晚将现身“新东方迅程教育专营店”淘宝直播间。新东方还表示，在淘宝做教育直播是一项有清晰目标的长期规划。

但无论是老罗、交个朋友还是东方甄选，都强调在抖音的直播运营不会变化，并继续保持和抖音的良好关系。

抖音两大网红罗永浩、俞敏洪均开启淘宝直播的消息，引发了外界诸多猜测。有人认为，这或许是淘宝在大力“挖角”抖音主播。淘宝、抖音对此均未回应，据媒体了解，目前包括东方甄选、交个朋友等头部直播间均未和抖音签订独家协议，这意味着直播团队可以自由选择不同平台开启直播。

此前2020年3月26日，罗永浩曾宣布，抖音已成为独家直播带货平台，在4月1日晚11时完成直播首秀。整场直播持续3小时，支付交易总额超1.1亿元，累计观看人数超4800万人，创下平台当时最高带货纪录。

在分析人士看来，抖音顶流主播进军淘宝直播，从侧面体现了抖音和淘宝直播对主播不同的吸引力。淘宝量大，且用户目标明确，淘宝直播观众就是消费者，而抖音很多观众是奔着内容来的，所以纯带货的直播，淘宝更合适。当前抖音电商还在发展初期，从供应链到客户群体都还在培育阶段。

俞敏洪和罗永浩，能带来哪些改变？

对于淘宝而言，罗永浩、交个朋友的加盟将带来新流量并提升多样性。淘宝主流客群偏女性、偏年轻，罗永浩的到来从客群上是一种补充。相对应的是，“罗永浩直播间”的定位是全品类直播间。据悉，在今年的天猫双11期间，交个朋友和罗永浩的直播带货，将以手机、3C数码、家电、酒水以及运动服饰等“硬核”商品为主，并称，“双11男人们的需求该有人管管了。”故而，双方的合作无疑是优势资源的互补。

今年以来，淘宝直播似乎一直处在“求贤若渴”的状态。四处挖角的背后是，淘宝直播面临的流量困境。在今年“618”大促期间，全网销售额Top5主播全部来自抖音和快手，无一人出自淘宝。

今年以来，淘宝直播在试图培养更多的中腰部主播。淘宝直播新生态事业线负责人虚罗9月接受媒体访问时表示：“你们能想到的（全网所有的短视频或直播达人），我们基本上都聊过。” 虚罗称，今年淘宝直播的目标是新增100个粉丝过百万的账号。

淘宝直播对中腰部主播的扶持初见成效。2022年5月-9月期间，淘宝腰部主播每个月的成交额（GMV）都保持同比50%以上增长。在10月1日-9日之间，腰部主播的成交额甚至实现了3位数的增长。

此外，有行业分析人士指出，一方面，抖音的头部网红的迁移成本很低，在带货方面抖音给主播提供的平台独特价值不足；另一方面，淘宝虽然头部主播的孵化能力目前看似乎不足，但是凭借第一大电商平台的地位，在品类覆盖、商家规模、信用体系、支付联动上有绝对优势。

同时，在这双11的关键节点，罗永浩也将带来巨大的广告效应，引起其他主播效仿。抖音的流量固然可贵，但变现才是终极目的。相比抖音、快手等泛娱乐平台，淘宝直播的本质就是电商，观众涌入大多是有直接的消费需求，这也意味着更高的转化成交率。

今年的双11，或将翻开直播电商的新一页，无论是对于平台、主播以及品牌方来说，从抖音走向淘宝，并非易事，平台的适配、商品选品、受众偏好等都将是一个个新的挑战。而在跨平台经营的主旋律下，直播平台间或将迎来又一次大洗牌。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI 

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

编委:  于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞 

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮

音频制作：李莹亮

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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