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<ul class="summary-list"><li>More than 1,000 live streamers have stepped forward to pay back <keyword id="11898253" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="taxes" source="Orion">taxes</keyword> before a year-end deadline.</li><li>Chinese authorities said in September they were intensifying tax regulation for the entertainment sector.</li></ul><keyword id="11894122" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="influencers" source="Orion">Influencers</keyword> in <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> are rushing to pay back taxes amid a government crackdown that has taken down the country's top live streamer.<a href="https://www.insider.com/huang-wei-viya-chinese-alibaba-streamer-taobao-tax-evasion-2021-12">Viya,</a> who is known for hosting a popular shopping stream on the e-commerce platform Taobao, was slapped with a record 1.341 billion Chinese yuan ($210 million) fine for tax evasion.The 36-year-old once had over 120 million followers on various platforms, according to <a href="https://technode.com/2021/12/21/livestream-star-viyas-social-media-accounts-suspended-after-tax-evasion-scandal/">TechNode</a>, and is known for her ability to sell almost anything, including a 40 million Chinese yuan ($6 million) <a href="https://kr-asia.com/your-next-taobao-shopping-cart-item-a-usd-5-6-million-rocket-launch-service">rocket launch service</a>, in 2020.At the beginning of the pandemic, <keyword id="12778965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="viya" source="Orion">Viya</keyword> hosted a live stream to raise funds for businesses and individuals struggling in COVID-wracked Wuhan and managed to raise around <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUvPb-yQJtY">$32 million</a> within a matter of hours. According to the state-owned <a href="http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n810219/c102025/c5171510/content.html">China News Service (CNS),</a> more than 1,000 live streamers have stepped forward to pay back taxes following the <a href="http://english.www.gov.cn/statecouncil/ministries/202109/20/content_WS6147c05fc6d0df57f98e0939.html">government's September announcement</a> that it would strengthen its regulation of state revenue collection from the entertainment sector. Taxpayers have until the end of 2021 to rectify their taxes arrears to avoid heavy penalties, according to CNS.Two other high-profile Chinese live streamers — <a href="https://wwd.com/business-news/business-features/top-chinese-livestreamers-tax-fined-cherie-xueli-linshanshan-sunny14-8-million-for-tax-evasion-1235002106/">Cherie and Sunny</a> — were fined $15 million collectively in September for tax evasion, but Viya is the most significant star to have fallen so far. Viya apologized for the breach on her Weibo microblog account, which had around 18 million followers, on Monday after <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> broke, saying she felt "deeply guilty" and would "totally accept" the punishment meted by the tax authority, according to a copy of the notice Insider saw. She also pledged to pay the fine on time.Despite the apology, Weibo (China's version of Twitter), Douyin (China's version of TikTok), and Taobao took her accounts offline. Beijing is intensifying oversight of the entertainment industry and regulating what celebrities can do. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-bans-celebs-from-showing-off-wealth-on-social-media-2021-11">China's internet regulator</a> said in November that celebrities in China must avoid flaunting their wealth and adhere to "core socialist values." In November, China also revealed a <a href="https://www.insider.com/china-has-blacklisted-88-celebrities-for-violating-its-moral-standards-2021-11">blacklist</a> which included the names of 88 celebrities it had cited for "illegal and unethical" behavior.

Thousands of Chinese influencers are rushing to settle their back taxes as the country's top live streamer was forced to pay $210 million in tax fines

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Huang Wei, known online as <keyword id="12778965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="viya" source="Orion">Viya</keyword>, is a Chinese influencer known for selling items on <keyword id="12357123" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="taobao" source="Orion">Taobao</keyword>.</li><li>Huang faces a $210 million fine for evading or underpaying millions in <keyword id="11898253" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="taxes" source="Orion">taxes</keyword>, Bloomberg reported.</li></ul>A top Chinese live streamer has been hit with a $210 million fine for tax evasion by the country's State Taxation Administration, <a href="http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n810219/c102025/c5171510/content.html">according to a Chinese press release</a> translated to English. Huang Wei, known online as Viya, is one of the biggest stars on <keyword id="11893877" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alibaba" source="Orion">Alibaba</keyword>'s <a href="https://www.insider.com/chinas-shoppers-crashed-shopping-app-taobao-preorders-1111-sale-2021-10">digital clothing marketplace Taobao</a>, where influencers try to sell items to viewers on live streams, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-20/china-hits-top-influencer-with-210-million-fine-over-taxes">according to Bloomberg</a>. She had over 80 million followers on Taobao and 18 million on <keyword id="12012028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="weibo" source="Orion">Weibo</keyword>, the microblogging platform, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10329283/Chinas-queen-livestreaming-influencer-Viya-fined-160-MILLION-tax-evasion.html">the Daily Mail</a>.The influencer is accused by the Chinese government of evading taxes from 2019 to 2020 by concealing her personal income and falsely declaring some income sources, the press release said.Huang faces a fine of 1.341 billion yuan (slightly over $210 million) after she evaded or underpaid 703 million yuan in taxes, according to the State Taxation Administration press release, which equates to around $110 million. She wrote an apology on her Weibo account soon after the Chinese governmental agency's announcement, writing that she was "deeply guilty," accepted "the decision of the regulator," and would pay the fine, Bloomberg reported. Huang's accounts on Taobao Live, Weibo, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, were no longer available as of Monday, when she was scheduled to do a cosmetics-themed live stream on Taobao, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-influencer-viya-fined-13-billion-yuan-tax-evasion-2021-12-20/">Reuters reported</a>.Huang is known as an exceptional sales personality who sold a rocket launching service in 2020 for 40 million yuan, or over $6 million, Reuters reported. During one stream in 2020, Huang had over 37 million users tuned in to her broadcast at once, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-viya-china-livestream-shopping/">according to Bloomberg</a>.Insider was unable to reach Huang at press time.The live streaming e-commerce market has seen explosive growth in China, with the consulting firm KPMG estimating that the market could be valued at approximately 1 trillion yuan last year, or $156 billion, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3131447/alibabas-taobao-live-reports-over-us60-billion-gmv-2020-china?module=perpetual_scroll_0&amp;pgtype=article&amp;campaign=3131447">according to the South China Morning Post</a>.China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Services said in May that streamers who specialized in selling products would fall under a new occupation category called "Online Marketers" and that the number of people in the profession was growing by almost 9% every month, <a href="https://www.protocol.com/china/china-livestream-queen-beijing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to Protocol</a>.

A top Chinese live-streaming influencer known as Viya was fined roughly $210 million for tax evasion, agency says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China's top influencer Li Jiaqi's livestream was cut short after he showed off a tank-shaped cake.</li><li>The incident took place on June 3, a day before the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.</li></ul>Three months after his <a href="https://www.insider.com/li-jiaqi-lipstick-king-tank-ice-cream-tiananmen-square-massacre-2022-6">show was abruptly cut short</a> one day before the 33rd anniversary of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-2015-6#the-protests-began-in-april-1989-after-the-death-of-ousted-communist-party-leader-hu-yaobang-1">Tiananmen massacre</a>, China's top livestreamer has resurfaced online.On June 3, Austin Li Jiaqi — also known as the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-li-jiaqi-chinas-lipstick-king-online-shopping-taobao-2021-3">Lipstick King</a> — was showing off a plate of ice cream decorated with Oreo cookies and a chocolate stick, which looked like a military tank when assembled. This sparked speculation that Li was taken offline for displaying taboo content at a sensitive time.Li attributed the sudden stop to a <a href="https://weibo.com/1968758563/Lw4240zLa">technical error,</a> but he didn't show up at a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3180503/top-shopping-influencer-li-jiaqi-no-show-scheduled-live-stream-after">scheduled live stream on June 5</a> and remained offline until the evening of September 20. The influencer has more than 64 million followers on Alibaba's livetreaming platform.The tank is a sensitive symbol because one of the most iconic photos of defiance from the 1989 crackdown depicts a lone man, dubbed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-tiananmen-square-tank-man-photo-still-irks-beijing-2019-5">"Tank Man,"</a> standing in front of a tank to block its path. Even today, <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/china/freedom-net/2021">China routinely censors</a> references to the incident.Li's return to Alibaba's Taobao Live platform on Tuesday evening was met with enthusiasm, with 50 million viewers tuning in to watch by its second hour, according to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3193195/alibabas-top-influencer-austin-li-jiaqi-returns-live-streaming-boost">SCMP.</a> He hawked products from skincare to underwear, most of which sold out immediately, per the media outlet. Li even had to call for calm, asking his viewers to "shop rationally," the SCMP reported.Li's return to livestreaming will be a boost for ecommerce giant Alibaba leading up to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/singles-day-worlds-biggest-shopping-festival-starts-thursday-china-2021-11">Singles' Day</a> — China's annual shopping extravaganza — on November 11, said Jacob Cooke, the cofounder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, an e-commerce consultancy. "His popular livestreams and associated discounts will be a major draw for Tmall as it fends of a challenge from Douyin," Cooke told Insider. He was referring to Alibaba's ecommerce platform and the Chinese version of TikTok, respectively.The ecommerce giant has already lost another top livestreamer, Viya, whose accounts went offline after a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-livestreamers-rush-to-pay-back-taxes-amid-crackdown-2021-12">tax evasion scandal</a> last year. Viya, who was known for hosting a popular shopping stream on the e-commerce platform Taobao, is still missing in action. Li did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for comment sent via his agency, Meione.

China's top livestreamer resurfaces 3 months after his show was cut short as he was showing off a military tank-shaped cake on the eve of the Tiananmen massacre

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Live streamer and e-commerce host Ping Rong had 24 million followers on video platform Kuaishou.</li><li>The 29-year-old is the latest live streamer to be slapped with a fine for tax-related issues.</li></ul>Chinese influencer Ping Rong has been fined 62 million yuan ($9.8 million) for tax evasion — becoming the latest celebrity to be targeted as <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> continues its <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3161931/chinas-live-streaming-hub-celebrity-tax-crackdown-has-put-entire">crackdown on the booming live-streaming industry</a>.The 29-year-old, who has 24 million followers on the short-form video platform Kuaishou, <a href="http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/chinatax/n810219/c102025/c5172913/content.html">has been accused by China's tax authorities</a> of concealing her 2019 and 2020 live-streaming income. Ping's account is no longer searchable on the app, per a search by Insider.Last year, the e-commerce host was embroiled in a scandal after being caught hawking counterfeit mobile phones on her stream, <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3167996/china-tech-crackdown-authorities-slap-us10-million-fine-live">South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported</a>.Ping is the latest live streamer to be slapped with a heavy fine for tax-related issues in recent months.In November, two Hangzhou-based live streamers were fined $15 million for illegally booking employment income as business income, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-22/china-fines-another-live-streamer-after-tax-evasion-probe-widens">Bloomberg</a>. In December, one of China's most famous live streamers, <a href="https://www.insider.com/huang-wei-viya-chinese-alibaba-streamer-taobao-tax-evasion-2021-12">Viya, was given a record $210 million penalty</a> for evading or underpaying millions in taxes. That same month, more than 1,000 live streamers rushed to settle their back taxes before a year-end deadline in 2021, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-livestreamers-rush-to-pay-back-taxes-amid-crackdown-2021-12?IR=C">Insider reported</a>.According to estimates by consulting firm KPMG, China's lucrative live streaming market was valued at approximately 1 trillion yuan in 2020, <a href="https://www.insider.com/huang-wei-viya-chinese-alibaba-streamer-taobao-tax-evasion-2021-12">or $156 billion</a>. However, China has been ramping up its scrutiny of the rich and famous as part of a <a href="https://www.insider.com/china-regulate-excessive-wealth-common-prosperity-2021-8">"common prosperity" drive</a> to narrow the wealth gap.

Chinese influencer Ping Rong was fined roughly $10 million for tax evasion as China continues its crackdown on the booming live-streaming industry

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Chinese <keyword id="11985408" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="influencer" source="Orion">influencer</keyword> may have unwittingly introduced his fans to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-2015-6">1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.</a></li><li>Li Jiaqi touted a tank-shaped ice cream online, a day before the event's 33rd anniversary.</li></ul>One of <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s biggest influencers may have unintentionally introduced his legion of fans to the heavily censored <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-2015-6">1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre</a> — thanks to an ice cream sales pitch.Last Friday, a day before the event's 33rd anniversary, live-streaming e-commerce star Li Jiaqi and his co-host touted an ice cream product sculpted to look like a tank, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fchinese-influencers-ice-cream-pitch-inadvertently-introduces-fans-to-tiananmen-square-massacre-11654442707">per The Wall Street Journal.</a> Almost immediately, his live show was taken off-air, much to the confusion of his 170 million followers, the outlet reported.However, some viewers surmised that it had to do with how the ice cream's tank shape reminded people of the 1989 event — when the Chinese Communist Party sent tanks and armed troops into Beijing to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-2015-6">crack down on pro-democracy protestors</a>, per The Journal. One of the most iconic images to emerge from the massacre has been the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/world/tiananmen-square-tank-man-cnnphotos/">"Tank Man" photo,</a> in which an unknown man was photographed standing in front of a column of tanks near Beijing's central <keyword id="12634831" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tiananmen-square" source="Orion">Tiananmen Square</keyword>. The student-led protests for democracy and liberalization led to hundreds of deaths, which China has since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiananmen-square-2015-6#china-has-completely-written-tiananmen-square-out-of-its-history-books-and-bans-searches-and-keywords-related-to-the-incident-on-its-social-media-in-the-run-up-to-its-anniversary-every-year-30">written out of its history books</a>. Discussion of the massacre has also been blocked on the country's social media sites.Pictures of tanks also often get censored online around June 4 every year, according to The Journal."He has gone too far," a user on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform said of Li, adding that the influencer would likely be summoned by the authorities for interrogation, per The Journal. On Weibo, Li said in <a href="https://weibo.com/1968758563/Lw4240zLa?pagetype=profilefeed">two separate</a> posts on Friday that the show was cut due to technical difficulties. However, the Journal reported that his next live-streaming session, scheduled for Sunday, did not air.Fans of the 29-year-old also appeared to think that there was something more to it than a technical glitch.On <a href="https://weibo.com/u/1968758563">Li's Weibo page</a>, many fans left comments demanding the truth over his show suddenly going offline. "What's going on? Is it a tax thing again?" one person wrote, referring to how another top live-streaming influencer, <a href="https://www.insider.com/huang-wei-viya-chinese-alibaba-streamer-taobao-tax-evasion-2021-12">Viya, was fined $210 million for tax evasion last December</a>.In between the questions, however, some Weibo users left comments alluding to the Tiananmen Massacre. "This is so outrageous, they're even scared of the shape of ice cream. Now, even more people will know about it. Hehehe," one user wrote.Li did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

One of China's biggest influencers may have unintentionally introduced fans to the heavily censored Tiananmen Square Massacre while promoting ice cream

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China's <keyword id="11956754" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="livestreaming" source="Orion">livestreaming</keyword> star Austin Li Jiaqi - also known as the "Lipstick King" sold about $1.7 billion worth of goods in 12 hours.</li><li>He was livestreaming for on <keyword id="11893877" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alibaba" source="Orion">Alibaba</keyword>'s <keyword id="12357123" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="taobao" source="Orion">Taobao</keyword> <keyword id="11896038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopping" source="Orion">shopping</keyword> platform to usher in China's shopping season.</li></ul>There are still three more weeks to go China's annual mega shopping event on November 11, but one of China's top livestreamers has already sold some $1.7 billion worth of goods in a promotion to usher in the event.In a 12-hour-livestream on Wednesday kicking off Alibaba's Singles Day Shopping Festival on its Taobao app, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-li-jiaqi-chinas-lipstick-king-online-shopping-taobao-2021-3">Austin Li Jiaqi - widely known as "Lipstick King"</a> - moved 10.7 billion Chinese yuan ($1.7 billion) worth of products reported <a href="http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202110/22/t20211022_37017240.shtml">China's Economic Daily</a> newspaper. Alibaba does not typically release sales numbers, but CED cited data from third-party data analysis company Hongren Dianji.Products sold range from Shiseido skincare to Apple's AirPods, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-21/china-s-lipstick-brother-livestream-has-record-2-billion-day">Bloomberg.</a>Li said on his <a href="https://weibo.com/1968758563/KDFKShTQr">Weibo</a> microblog account that he clocked 250 million views for the event.Another top livestreamer, Viya, moved about 8.3 billion Chinese yuan ($1.25 billion) worth of goods in her 14-hour marathon.Participation sitewide was so enthusiastic that Alibaba's <a href="https://www.insider.com/chinas-shoppers-crashed-shopping-app-taobao-preorders-1111-sale-2021-10">Taobao shopping app crashed</a> temporarily during the nationwide pre-order event.Despite the pandemic, China's shopping platforms <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/12/singles-day-2020-alibaba-and-jd-rack-up-record-115-billion-of-sales.html#:~:text=Singles%20Day%202020%3A%20Alibaba%20and,record%20%24115%20billion%20of%20sales">racked up record-breaking sales of $115 billion on Singles Day last year,</a> far exceeding Amazon's <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/01/amazon-announces-black-friday-cyber-monday-2020-results.html">$4.8 billion</a> in sales from 2020's <keyword id="12123388" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-friday" source="Orion">Black Friday</keyword> through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cyber-monday-deals">Cyber Monday.</a>

China's Lipstick King sold an astonishing $1.7 billion in goods in 12 hours - and that was just in a promotion for the country's biggest shopping day

Redmond, June 16 (IANS) Tech giant Microsoft and business analytics software and services firm SAS have announced a strategic partnership, making Azure the preferred Cloud platform for SAS's analytics portfolio. The two companies will enable customers to easily run their SAS workloads in the cloud, expanding their business solutions and unlocking critical value from their digital transformation initiatives. As part of the partnership, the companies will migrate SAS' analytical products and industry solutions onto Microsoft Azure as the preferred cloud provider for the SAS Cloud. "Microsoft and SAS will help our customers accelerate growth and find new ways to drive innovation with a broad set of SAS Analytics offerings on Microsoft Azure," said Scott Guthrie, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Cloud and AI. The partnership builds on SAS integrations across Microsoft cloud solutions for Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform and supports the companies' shared vision to further democratize AI and analytics. SAS and Microsoft said they are working together to ensure that SAS products and solutions can be successfully deployed and run effectively on Azure. "SAS and Microsoft have a shared vision of helping customers accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. We both understand that it is about enrichment of data and improving lives through better decisions," said Oliver Schabenberger, SAS Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer. This will include optimizing SAS Viya, the latest release of the company's cloud-native offering, for Azure as well as integrating SAS' deep portfolio of industry solutions, from fraud to risk to retail, into the Azure Marketplace, the companies said in a statement on Monday. --IANS na/

Microsoft Azure becomes preferred Cloud platform for SAS analytics

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I have always been a fan of the discounts I get on <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s Singles' Day shopping festival, the equivalent of America's Black Friday.</li><li>But this year, I'm swearing off <keyword id="11893877" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alibaba" source="Orion">Alibaba</keyword>'s livestreams on its Taobao Live platform.</li></ul>For years, I've been delaying purchases from makeup to stationery and waiting to get them during China's Singles' Day sales.<a href="https://fortune.com/2021/11/02/singles-day-china-black-friday-alibaba-tmall-holiday-creep-sales-deals-biggest-shopping-day/">Singles' Day, also known as "Double 11,"</a> is on November 11, and it's the country's biggest shopping season. It's even become <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/11/11/20959700/china-singles-day-2019-prime-day-black-friday">an unofficial holiday.</a> Last year, shoppers on Taobao spent <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/12/singles-day-2020-alibaba-and-jd-rack-up-record-115-billion-of-sales.html#:~:text=Singles%20Day%202020%3A%20Alibaba%20and,record%20%24115%20billion%20of%20sales">$115 billion in sales on Singles Day</a>. This dwarfs the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/01/amazon-announces-black-friday-cyber-monday-2020-results.html#:~:text=Independent%20businesses%20selling%20on%20Amazon,%24100%2C000%20in%20this%20holiday%20season.">$4.8 billion in sales that Amazon clocked</a> from Black Friday through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cyber-monday-deals">Cyber Monday</a> last year.Singles' Day sales this year are also expected to be a landmark event. So many shoppers flocked to the app during its pre-sale period on October 20 <a href="https://www.insider.com/chinas-shoppers-crashed-shopping-app-taobao-preorders-1111-sale-2021-10">that the app crashed for around an hour</a>. While I'll still be checking off items on my shopping list on Singles' Day, there's one thing I won't be doing: watching livestreams on <a href="https://youtu.be/Q8smhplSu7Y">Alibaba's Taobao Live</a>, an online e-commerce platform that is part of the company's Taobao app. Alibaba did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for this story.<div type="image" title="live streaming taobao ecommerce" height="2664" width="3553" msid="87619223" hostid="261"></div><h2>How Singles' Day deals and livestreams work</h2>Unlike Amazon, Alibaba has integrated a video streaming platform into its selling process. Livestreamers turn on broadcasts and hawk their wares in shifts throughout the Singles' Day sales. During the streams, models interact with their viewers, demonstrating how makeup and skincare products work, trying on outfits, and answering questions posed to them via the live chat. To keep viewers hooked throughout the 24-hour livestreams, Taobao Live has deals with crazy-low prices on limited quantities. Viewers can "grab" cash vouchers that drop at unannounced times, and they get the chance to win prizes ranging from free items to an online store footing your entire shopping bill.And then there are the fan rankings. The more hours of the livestream you watch, the higher your fan rankings. The higher your fan ranking, the better the deals. So if you're looking to get the best price on an item, the Taobao livestreams are the place to be, particularly if you're willing to put in the hours to get your fan ranking up.Some livestreamers have moved billions of dollars in goods just from their Singles' Day broadcasts. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-li-jiaqi-chinas-lipstick-king-online-shopping-taobao-2021-3">China's Lipstick King Austin Li</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-lipstick-king-sold-17-billion-stuff-in-12-hours-2021-10">sold $1.7 billion in goods in just 12 hours</a> during pre-sales for this year's Singles' Day. Another top livestreamer, Viya, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-21/china-s-lipstick-brother-livestream-has-record-2-billion-day">sold about $1.25 billion worth of goods during a 14-hour streaming marathon</a>.<h2>Why I'm opting out of Singles' Day livestreams this year</h2>This year, I won't be watching Li's livestreams - or any other livestreams. The streams are loud, exciting, and colorful. They also provide an informative preview if you can't make up your mind on what shade of lipstick to get or which handbag to pick up. But I've found that keeping up with livestreams on Taobao Live is an anxiety-inducing and exhausting experience that takes the joy out of shopping. It's frustrating to see products being snapped up in a second after waiting for them for an entire hour, particularly when only 10 to 20 pieces are available for the tens of thousands of viewers tuning in.Lipstick King Austin Li has famously used a gong to "wake shoppers up" to signal a good deal. It's gimmicky and entertaining - but other streamers have since co-opted similar selling techniques, and it's jarring when done too often. In short, it just makes the shopping experience annoying.<h2>Designed for excess</h2>Due to the nature of some streams, shoppers may also find themselves buying way more than they expected. Consider makeup as one example.While the average price on cosmetics packages can be slashed below their usual retail prices, those prices often do not apply until you hit a minimum spend at each online store. Last year, I ended up buying items like makeup brushes, anime fan goods, and scrapbooking kits that I had not initially planned on purchasing. Despite having a shopping list I swore I would stick to, I spent a few hundred dollars more than I had budgeted after makeup livestreams advertised "bundle deals," where you'd get exclusive, "11.11-only" products if you chocked up enough to meet the store's various spending thresholds. That's a mistake I don't plan on repeating.What I might watch in 2021 is Alibaba's <a href="https://weibo.com/u/6758252606">TMall gala concert on November 10,</a> which is slated to feature a glittering cast of Chinese celebrities and <a href="https://radiichina.com/benedict-cumberbatch-speaks-chinese-in-singles-day-promo/">a guest appearance from British actor Benedict Cumberbatch</a>. But for now, I'll pass on the Singles' Day livestreams.

I have always been a Singles' Day shopper, but this year I'm swearing off the livestream sales events because they're anxiety-inducing, overwhelming, and annoying

<ul><li>As we enter a brand new year, we want to crystal gaze into what the year holds for us.</li><li>The global pandemic has spawned strong growth in influencer marketing and creators have cemented their position boosting consumer trust in 2022.</li><li>In our first year-ender, we take a closer look at the year gone by, speak to influencer marketing experts to understand what does the future hold and how is the ecosystem shaping up.</li><li>They also shared with us a few key trends and opportunities that the industry will bring forth as we move forward in 2022.</li></ul>After brands and advertisers slashed their marketing budgets for traditional mediums in 2020, digital marketing took the center stage. Within the hemisphere of digital marketing, social media became a leading channel that drove brand discovery and purchase decisions last year. Influencer marketing also got its due recognition as brands looked for affordable and niche options to reach out to GenZ and Millennials. Marketers also realised that the influencer marketing model is well-suited in a time in which the audience is looking for some inspiration to keep going on, searching DIY videos as they turned home chefs, learning new recipes or focusing on self-care. Creators played an integral role in building a sense of community -- something people searched for when living in isolation. Bolstered by prolonged stay-at-home periods, consumers also steered away from pictures and text and started consuming more videos than ever before. According to Bain and Company, the online video user base in India has increased to more than 350 million people, growing 24% in the last three years. Today, Indian smartphone users spend about 4.8 hours on their devices daily, of which a staggering one hour on average is spent consuming videos, said the report. So, as video consumption scales and attention span reduces every day, influencer marketing offers quick turnaround time and personalisation. Another key factor that attracted brands to this medium is the bond of trust and authenticity that creators share with their fans, giving brands an opportunity to reach out to a niche audience. As a result, the influencer marketing industry has gone through a severe transformation in a short time, becoming a mainstream marketing vehicle. Brands have started looking for agencies that can provide them with interesting campaign ideas rather than just a list of influencers and expected reach. They are more involved in their marketing campaigns and have started exploring creative ideas collectively with the influencers to create engaging content. So, in 2021, we saw brands moving away from ‘one-time associations’ for single posts to actually collaborating with influencers for long-time deals. GroupM and INCA’s study conducted earlier this year also proves how significant influencer marketing is to a marketer today. It said that influencer marketing has become a top priority for marketers this year, as every other leader indicated a budget growth of more than 25% in 2021. INCA’s report further went on to predict that the Influencer Marketing industry is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25% for the next decade, reaching a size of Rs 2200 crore in 2025. As per the report, celebrities corner only 27% of the marketing dollars while a bulk of 73% are taken by digital influencers. Keeping in mind how 2020 and its aftermath in 2021 revolutionised the digital industry, we reached out to a few influencer marketing agencies to understand what does the future hold and how is the ecosystem shaping up. Here is what they said: Neel Gogia, Co-founder of IPLIX Media: The upcoming year is bringing a plethora of opportunities for existing as well as aspiring influencers and creators. The first and foremost are long-term partnerships. With each passing day, more and more brands are realizing that ROI delivered by influencer marketing is unparalleled. Therefore, they are increasingly investing in influencer marketing, and especially in long-term partnerships. Long-term partnerships help them build advocates and ultimately, increase trust amongst the audience. Apart from that, the regionalization of content will increasingly be gaining momentum in the upcoming years. In fact, global brands and platforms are already experimenting with it. Recently, LinkedIn launched its regional version after almost every major global networking app available in the country across Facebook, Twitter and Clubhouse have already introduced it to support the multiple Indian languages. In this wave of regionalization, the local languages that are gaining popularity are Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, etc. Dharika Merchant, COO, WORD and Alchemy Group: The influencer marketing industry in 2022 will see a huge rise in the demand for micro influencers. Micro influencers' share in the total industry increased drastically last year due to brands favouring them owing to their higher engagement rates &amp; affordability. The industry is expected to shift to a more data-driven approach which will become the primary reason for the rise in demand for micro-influencers. Brands are now willing to work on branded content with micro influencers due to favourable data and better insights. It also leads to an effortless long-term relationship between the brand and the influencer thereby ensuring an always-on marketing approach. This always-on influencer marketing approach portrays brand loyalty from an influencer point of view and adds onto credibility of the brand and better brand recall. Without a doubt, focus on micro influencers will be one of the leading trends for the industry in the coming year and we’re excited to see how this changes the face of branded content. Pranav Panpalia, founder, OpraahFx: ‘Live streaming’ is all set to emerge as one of the widely accepted and used influencer marketing tools in the coming year. Live-eCommerce as a concept was started in China last year during the pandemic and got popularized amongst other nations. Live-eCommerce is a great way to connect with the right set of target audiences and turn them into ‘customers’ of the brand the influencers are vouching for. This is one of the best ways for brands who are focusing on ‘ROI’ driven campaigns and not on awareness or brand-building. In India, with many start-ups and MSME brands now focusing on performance-driven influencer marketing campaigns, the concept of live-eCommerce will be practiced and this shall disrupt the influencer marketing industry. Brands promoting highly accessible and affordable products and services are more likely to make use of this new concept. Alongside, live streaming is known for enabling better connections between creators, brands, and consumers as it is a more authentic and real-time content piece. It also provides an opportunity for consumers to interact with their favorite creators, thereby there is a larger scope for personalisation, feedback, and results-driven conversations. Currently, the live-streaming concept is highly dominated by gamers, and this trend will soon see a shift. The live-stream feature provides an equal opportunity and benefits to influencers and content creators of all kinds if used strategically and creatively. For eg: Content creator, Viya from China live-streams about beauty, cosmetics, real estate, cars, and rockets; and is gaining immense out of such brand deals. Likewise, we too are soon to witness such a trend in India. Apaksh Gupta, CEO and Founder, One Impression: While there are going to be plenty of emerging trends that we are expecting to take over the influencer marketing economy in 2022, one particular trend that is going to stand out is the mainstreaming of the metaverse. The way the world of content and social media is evolving, we can easily assume now that the metaverse is here. While the pandemic forced brands to jump on the digital marketing train, newer technological innovation and integration of various platforms to build a virtual ecosystem is bringing the dream of Metaverse closer every day. 2022 is going to witness a lot of investments from brands into mainstreaming the metaverse. We have already seen in 2021 that bigger brands like Nike and Verizon are already initiating their strategies to get a head start in this league from their competitors. Gucci has also launched its limited collection for Roblox letting players customise their avatars in Gucci products. In 2022, we will be witnessing an increase in these numbers of brands who will be deploying technologies like AR/VR with influencers and content creators at the centre of them to promote their products and services. Rohan Tyagi, VP Strategy and Operations, India - Triller: The advent of technologies like NFTs, Crypto has opened up new engagement and revenue channels for brands. In fact, there is great affinity toward it among GenZ and millennial buyers. Through NFTs, brands can disrupt their markets with new strategies to raise awareness, develop new consumer journeys and increase customer value and loyalty. However, In the decentralized world of Web3, the power has shifted back to creators, and brands looking to leverage technologies like NFTs know that they cant simply buy into the space. Community interest today is driven by creators as a result there will be an uptick in brands partnering with influencers to leverage the opportunities afforded by NFTs. While influencer marketing is a fairly young industry with Metaverse becoming mainstream there is a huge likelihood of it taking off quickly and becoming a multibillion-dollar economy in the virtual world. In fact, this may happen much quicker than we think. Aayush Tiwari, VP - Talent Management &amp; Music Business, Monk Entertainment: One pretty evident trend is the dominance of short video content. We’ve noticed a wave of crisp crunchable 15-30 seconder bites taking the internet by storm in 2021 already, bound to multiply in the coming years. Factors that act as a catalyst are low entry barrier, easy to make, large-scale consumption. What drives the short video ecosystem is the ability of it getting recreated under the banner of ‘trends.’ Every week, there are hypothetically ten new trends which garner lakhs of videos lifting the consumption and UGC levels to higher levels. Dominant social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube launched their verticals, and new players like MOJ, TakaTak, Chingari entered the game encouraging regional tiers to showcase their talent. Even Netflix launched a short vertical that features the best scenes from their series, which people are binge-ing on the go. Vaibhav Odhekar, Managing director India &amp; Middle East, AnyMind Group: Influencer marketing has seen few major changes from the consumer approach towards the whole marketing and influencer segment and monetization of platforms. With the rising social media consumption and engagement, D2C brands across segments have moved towards influencers marketing. As per 'State of Influencer in Asia 2021' report by Antag, the most popular are Art &amp; Entertainment, Food &amp; Beverage and Fashion &amp; Beauty while Finance, health &amp; wellness are also attractive eyeballs and set to become trendsetting in 2022. One of the trends that stood out this year was Influencers creating and launching their own brands, driven by their expertise in a certain field, passion or life experience. Along with Direct-to-consumer and e-commerce, Consumer behavior shifts driven by the pandemic have accelerated trends. We've also noticed a trend of rising social commerce which will stay. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter have already made such features available in some parts of the world. The report also found out that Youtube is the most used social media platform in India. As we move towards 2022, more trends will see a spike and the ongoing trends will keep growing with the brands' demand. Sagar Pushp, Co-founder and CEO, ClanConnect: Two major trends are emerging in the influencer marketing sector and will likely dominate in 2022. Firstly, the creator economy will move towards a subscription-led model wherein true fans will be able to pay a sum of money to access exclusive influencer content. Such premium content will not be available on public platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Secondly, the use of NFTs is going to skyrocket over the next year. With NFTs, users can assume ownership of content such as images, videos, or sound clips, unlocking more revenue opportunities for creators. Pulkit Agrawal, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Trell: Two words: Social Commerce. While the pandemic has given a massive push to India’s creator economy, the industry will thrive in 2022, with newer shopping and engagement models being adopted across the ecosystem. India’s GenZ and millennial shoppers are now harder to reach through traditional media channels and prefer social media networks to make purchase decisions. Hence, brands now want to integrate social and commerce to drive higher awareness, consideration, and sales. Further, Vertical videos are bound to take the centre stage in the coming year, which means long-form or episodic content will create opportunities for influencers to integrate brands into their content with the help of data-driven insights- brands and influencers will churn more personalized content for their followers’ The rise of social commerce in India will also give a fillip to digital-first brands while opening up newer avenues for influencers to monetize from brand collaborations, making it a full-time profession. With this, the industry is all set to create transforming shopping experiences and become more interactive, immersive, and entertaining. Live commerce is one of such innovations where an influencer demonstrates product usability in a live video setting, driving higher visibility, excitement, and loyalty for consumers. Gautam Madhavan, CEO, Mad Influence: Short Video and Live Stream will dominate in the influencer marketing industry. Consumers are becoming restless in watching long format videos - hence they want to consume on-the-go type of content. Original Content will be one of the key factors driving this. Content Quality and content authenticity is something consumers will be wanting.

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Thousands of Chinese influencers are rushing to settle their back taxes as the country's top live streamer was forced to pay $210 million in tax fines

Huileng Tan

A top Chinese live-streaming influencer known as Viya was fined roughly $210 million for tax evasion, agency says

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China's top livestreamer resurfaces 3 months after his show was cut short as he was showing off a military tank-shaped cake on the eve of the Tiananmen massacre

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Chinese influencer Ping Rong was fined roughly $10 million for tax evasion as China continues its crackdown on the booming live-streaming industry

Waiyee Yip

One of China's biggest influencers may have unintentionally introduced fans to the heavily censored Tiananmen Square Massacre while promoting ice cream

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China's Lipstick King sold an astonishing $1.7 billion in goods in 12 hours - and that was just in a promotion for the country's biggest shopping day

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Microsoft Azure becomes preferred Cloud platform for SAS analytics

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I have always been a Singles' Day shopper, but this year I'm swearing off the livestream sales events because they're anxiety-inducing, overwhelming, and annoying

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Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2022

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