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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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Chinese Fitness Post-Covid 🏋️♀️
One of the biggest shifts in fitness due to the coronavirus is the shift online - virtual classes, digital personal training sessions, recorded workouts, and more. In China, health and fitness influencers have adjusted their content to target the at-home audience of people trying to stay fit. On video platform Bilibili, workout videos accumulated 660 Million views during the lockdown, which was a 200% year-on-year increase in number of views and a 164% year-on-year increase in total viewing time. On average, fitness creators have also experienced a 240% year-on-year increase in new followers.
Many people appreciate the fact that virtual fitness gives them more flexibility and convenience, often at a lower cost. These growth trends have been consistent across many Chinese fitness apps, virtual gyms, and health training programs. Not every company can easily switch to digital models, especially if they have a traditional approach to business. Whether you like it or not, digital fitness is a new worldwide reality and the post-Coronavirus era is a land grab for the platforms who can quickly take advantage of this trend.
China’s E-Sports Industry: Best Year Ever 👾
The China Game Industry Research Institute released a report on the performance of China’s game industry over the first half of 2020. There were 484 Million Chinese E-sports players (roughly 35% of the population), which was a 10% year-on-year increase. The esports industry generated $10 Billion in revenue, which was a 55% year-on-year increase. Out of revenue from the overall gaming industry, 75% came from mobile games.
These numbers are very impressive. While many industries are struggling to survive as the world is on fire, the gaming industry is clearly thriving. China’s overall adoption of gaming is generally at higher levels than most of Asia and the West, but the data from other countries on the growth of gaming is pretty similar.
Amazon Hits New Milestone in India 📊
Last week, Amazon hosted their annual sales holiday in India called Prime Day. Over two days, Amazon India processed a record $600 Million in sales. The biggest selling products were smartphones (including Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi and OnePlus), consumer electronics, and appliances. Amazon launched their Prime service in India two years ago, and over one million Indian Prime subscribers participated in this recent sales event.
91,000 small business sellers participated in Prime Day 2020, which was another record for the company. Overall, Prime Day was a major success for Amazon and signals broader consumer confidence amidst the coronavirus. Or at the very least, people are moving their purchases online out of necessity. We have already seen Chinese online sales holidays set new records, like JD’s 618 Festival in June. We are now seeing new records in Indian online sales holidays. Will we see similar recoveries once we get to Cyber Monday in the US? We will have to wait and see.
Update #49 - Chinese Fitness, E-Sports, and Amazon India