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We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
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Ant Group Launches New Blockchain Solution 🐜
Ant Group, the company that runs the online payments platform for e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced the creation of a new blockchain solution this week. The product and brand is called AntChain, which is the overarching name for their blockchain software, programs, and a new workstation. The company says that over 100 million digital assets such as transaction records, copyright certificates, and property certificates are uploaded onto AntChain every day. Ant’s blockchain is an innovative decentralised, distributed database that should be able to “support digital transactions” and “reduce costs,” as per the words of Li Jieli, general manager of blockchain solutions at Ant.
I got pretty deep into blockchain startups in 2018, perhaps too deep. While it’s fair to think that the blockchain industry has been overhyped in the last two years, the technology and benefits are real. China has the third biggest number of blockchain patents of any country in the world, behind only the U.S. and South Korea. Alipay, which is owned by Alibaba, has the most blockchain patents out of any Chinese company and the second most out of any country. So this latest AntChain initiative helps confirm that China’s blockchain industry is still making progress and still very bullish on the technology.
The New Report on China’s Movie Market 🎬
Maoyan and iQiyi, two of China’s biggest entertainment companies in ticketing, streaming, film and more, have worked together with social media app Weibo to release a report on the state of China’s Movie Market in 2020. Their findings shed light on what has probably been the toughest six months in the history of China’s movie industry. I wrote about this struggle in an update last month, as 13,000 Chinese film and TV companies have gone out of business this year.
This Maoyan-iQiyi-Weibo report reflects the new Chinese consumer behaviour. The percentage of people who said they are eager to return to physical cinemas has increased from 54% in February to 88% in May. More than 60% of respondents said they are willing to pay to watch movies online. Something interesting I haven’t seen before — the monthly active users (MAUs) of every online streaming service increased during Covid, but then went down in May as people in China resumed more normal working lives.
These trends will likely be the new realities for any entertainment company, whether in the East or West. People will eventually return to cinemas and likely decrease streaming consumption from Covid-level heights, but not at the same levels pre-Covid. And this research data is specific to China, which has gone back to more ‘normal’ working life faster than most other countries in the world.
Alibaba’s New Influencer Strategy = Europe 🇪🇺
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has a specific unit called Ali Express that is targeted for international buyers and sellers. The Financial Times reports that Ali Express’s latest goal is to recruit 100,000 new content creators for e-commerce livestreaming by April of next year. The company is specifically looking to recruit people outside of China as they plan to expand their international business, especially in Europe. Right now, international sales make up only 7% of Alibaba’s total revenue and founder Jack Ma has set a goal to have international sales make up half of Alibaba’s total revenue by 2025.
While e-commerce livestreaming has seen an unprecedented explosion of growth in China over the last year and especially during Covid, the Western world has not really embraced this new sales & marketing channel at the same level. Amazon has tried some live shopping and Instagram has created new live shopping features, so there is at least burgeoning enthusiasm from US tech companies.
In China’s super competitive e-commerce market, Alibaba faces off against rivals like JD, Pinduoduo, Kuaishou, and Douyin for e-commerce livestreaming. If Alibaba can successfully recruit that critical mass of 100,000 foreign livestreamers, the company would be more geographically diversified than their competitors. And maybe they would bring more livestreaming to the West.
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