The Brazen Strategy Behind China Tech’s Growth

on the supply side, alibaba realized that talent was in short supply and quickly began working with over 200 multi-channel networks (MCNs) to recruit and train streamers.

alibaba also worked to make live commerce a key highlight of singles' day. sellers were incentivized to participate: livestreaming merchants reaped traffic. alibaba also invested in a spate of promo events, like livestreaming the annual gala and eight-hour fashion show.

bytedance then made livestreaming a core function in the app. the speed and commitment to livestreaming is noteworthy. while most companies were aware of the potential of short video/livestreaming, the most ambitious brands put those features in the most trafficked places.

china's tech playbook: flood the zone

called douyin in china, the app followed a similar playbook to alibaba - signing hundreds of MCNs, building new tools for brands, launching a wave of campaign partnerships with celebs, artists, comedians, influencers and famous shows.

alibaba made livestreaming a central part of its core apps early on and relentlessly invested.

behind china's live ecommerce dominance

bytedance's first hit was an algorithmic news product called toutiao. then in may 2015, toutiao began experimenting with video on its front page. in just over a year, video clicks began exceeding article clicks. bytedance had multiple teams work on different video ideas. the winning concept eventually became tiktok.