Summary: <p>In this episode Anthony and I discuss whether or not live streaming can be considered a real job. A couple months back we posted about this topic on social media and we got so much feedback we thought we’d record an episode all about it. </p> <p>The original idea came from a study that was released in China on January 8th. In the 2018 Live Streaming Profession Report, 73% of the 10,000 people surveyed responded that live streaming is a profession. Nearly 30% of users said that one of their friends or family members is a live streamer. The report also shared demographics, salaries, upsides and downsides of this new career path.</p> <p>In this episode, Anthony and I break down the findings of the report and compare them with the live streaming industry here in the US and the habits or our broadcasters on The Meet Group platforms. </p> <p>Thank you to liwavybby, autumnshantel, madisontmt, exotic_kiki, missmuffintv, fetticonfetti, and everyone else who left us comments about this topic on the MeetMe, Tagged, and Skout Instagram accounts! </p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Key findings we discuss from the report: </strong></p> <ul> <li>Out of the 5,000 broadcasters surveyed, 79% of them were female and 21% male. 68% were 29 years old or younger and out of that, 16% were under the age of 24.</li> <li>Among full-time streamers the male to female ratio was even more skewed at around 1:5 and 73% of them were 29 years old or younger.</li> <li>The survey found that 21% of full-time broadcasters and 10% of part-time broadcasters earn over 10,000 RMB ($1,478) per month from streaming (which is more than the average salary in Beijing). </li> <li>The report also found that even when it comes to live streaming, education level has a dramatic impact on earnings. 37% of streamers with a master’s degree or higher earned over 10,000 RMB per month, while only 27% of streamers with a bachelor’s degree and 16% of streamers with an associate degree were able to reach that earnings threshold.</li> <li>About one-fifth of full-time hosts stream more than eight hours a day</li> <li>Because viewership peaks in the evening, livestreamers often work late at night. The survey found that 44% of hosts stream between 7pm and midnight, and as many as 12% of them frequently stream between midnight and 8am.</li> <li>80% of all streamers surveyed reported that they stream on holidays, and for full-time streamers that percentage is even higher at 94%.</li> <li>In order to hone their skills and further their careers, many streamers were found to re-invest a large portion of their earnings each month into developing their talents (for example taking singing or dancing classes), upgrading their equipment (microphones, lighting, props), or improving their appearance. 44% of full-time broadcasters spend over 1,000 RMB ($148) per month on self-improvement and a 9% of them spend more than 5,000 RMB ($740) per month.</li> </ul> <p>Check out our <a href="https://medium.com/themeetgroup/73-4-of-chinese-netizens-consider-live-streaming-to-be-a-legitimate-profession-feba8b4baf5">blog post</a> to get the full run down of the report. </p>
