Live streaming commerce—a form of online shopping that is interactive and takes place in real time—is creating new and innovative ways for brands and retailers to connect with consumers. The format has gained wide popularity in China particularly.

China’s Singles’ Day is no longer just a discount shopping event, as participating digital giants are now leveraging livestreams, new product launches, and novel technologies to enhance customer engagement and the buying experience.

The rest of the world is waking up to the potential of shoppable livestreams, but it’s old news to China’s short-form video players and ecommerce platforms. Short-video leaders Douyin (TikTok’s sister app) and Kuaishou (known outside of China as Kwai) have been expanding their social commerce operations, not just to sell products, but to provide services and other forms of content as well.

As shelter-at-home and quarantine measures keep consumers in China at home, brands ramped up their efforts to meet consumers' high expectations for digital services by offering free online tools and courses, streaming live events and adopting new ecommerce strategies.

Streaming live sports CPMs are over $40, per Glewed TV. Different services can also charge different rates. HBO Max CPMs ran between $45 to $55, according to ad buyers who spoke with Business Insider. Discovery+ CPMs were $20 to $25. Hulu CPMs were $23 to $30. Most advertisers expect CTV and linear TV CPMs to change at similar rates, according to IAB.

It is worth noting that many Asia-Pacific countries have alternative—and in some cases very popular—non-music digital audio offerings, including different types of livestreaming, educational content, and audiobooks. However, these offerings are mainly in formats that we would not consider to be podcasts. In Latin America, the situation is entirely different.

Faze Clan's public offering will be a proving ground for public creator economy companies: The organization started in 2010—before influencers and creators were the norm—and its market performance could foreshadow similar moves from newer companies.

The ecommerce giant has also leaned into Amazon Live, a livestreaming commerce feed that functions as its own version of QVC or HSN. Along with livestreaming feature rollouts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok over the past year, it’s clear there’s strong impetus to drive this emerging medium forward.

Facebook, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube are also exploring new ecommerce media that can be accessed via mobile—such as livestream video, clickable images, and influencer stores—many of which can produce direct revenue streams. We expect US social commerce sales to increase 24.9% in 2022 to nearly $46 billion. Financial companies will attempt to build super apps.

An agreement with the NBA to livestream the second half of up to 20 regular season games, the All-Star Game, and 16 playoff games. The deal also includes an isolated camera focused on a player chosen by users and exclusive commentary by former NBA star Channing Frye. A deal with the WNBA that includes livestreams of 12 regular season matches, along with fan tweets and alternative commentators.