Shi Shenwei, also known as Brick-moving Brother, prepares to live stream. He became a celebrity after a live stream of him working out at the construction site where he works went viral.
 

 

Today, most live video applications are considered social applications while many social applications also integrate live video, according to the Domestic and Overseas Live Streaming Industry Report recently released by the Cheetah Global Lab, a think tank on mobile Internet studies.

In April this year, US social media giant Facebook upgraded its live streaming service by adding new functions, such as more emoticons, bullet subtitles, and the ability to invite friends to watch live streaming. Its live streaming service has become one of the company’s top priorities.

Social media companies have obvious advantages in live streaming over traditional media, and traditional media agencies are now developing their own live streaming capacity by independently creating platforms for live streaming or through other social media platforms.

One of the first traditional media outlets to get on the streaming bandwagon, network giant ABC launched an improved edition of its mobile application on July 14 this year, which supports live streaming functions, such as video autoplay and simulcast.

In China, the number of social media platforms for live streaming, including Huajiao and INKE, is increasing. Some of them are pure streaming applications, while more of them are social media services with built-in function of live streaming, according to the report.

In addition to these, some applications in China with mature specialized services, such as news service, videos, e-commerce or social services are adding live streaming functions to their well-developed existing applications, according to the report.

However, the live streaming industry is not without its controversies. The report suggests that one of the major problems is copyright enforcement. For example, when a user of a certain live streaming service makes a live broadcast of an ongoing sport game or a concert, most of the users do not get permission from the organizers. Most live streaming platforms are now avoiding such infringement on copyrights through manual supervision, which is really insufficient. It is a significant problem to be settled should the live streaming industry develop in a sustainable and legal way, the report suggests.

Another challenge for the live streaming industry is the potential ethical risks. Chris Mossa from the Columbia Journalism Review said that unpredictability is one of the most attractive features of social live streaming which also presents great challenge for Internet governance. It is difficult to avoid the spread of obscenity and violence while maintaining the attractiveness of the medium, Mossa said.  The timely identification and filtering of improper content during live streaming poses a great challenge for both technology and management.

Security and privacy also present a challenge. Some platforms require geographical information about the users. The report suggests that users of live streaming services place a high premium on security and privacy protection.

The report finds that the live streaming industry is becoming increasingly homogenous in terms of interface design, function, marketing approaches and other aspects. And most live streaming platforms seriously depend on traffic redirected from WeChat or Weibo. If blacklisted by these social apps, existing streaming platforms would have a hard time staying afloat, according to the report. 

 

Hou Li is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.