Companies are ripping off aspiring livestreamers with expensive sessions that provide few practical benefits, industry insiders say.
Livestream training courses are rapidly emerging as a lucrative new industry in China. Many have a compelling offer: for a few hundred dollars, students can learn how to become the next star of China’s live commerce market, where the top streamers rake in millions each year.
There’s just one problem: Many of these training sessions are a complete waste of time.
State media outlet Worker’s Daily published a major investigation into the livestream training industry on Monday, which found that many companies are ripping off aspiring livestreamers with expensive classes that provide little or no practical benefit.
In some cases, the training courses are outright scams that con people into handing over their money and personal information, industry insiders told the outlet.
Demand for livestream training has boomed in China due to the extraordinary success of the country’s live commerce market, which generated sales worth 4.9 trillion yuan ($690 billion) in 2023.
More than 15 million people were working as professional livestreamers in China as of December last year, and the rewards for making it big in the industry can be huge. Top streamers like Li “the Lipstick King” Jiaqi have become bona fide celebrities, with shows attracting millions of viewers and a string of high-profile endorsement deals.
Many aspiring livestreamers are willing to invest significant funds in training schemes, hoping to gain the skills they need to replicate Li’s success. Training companies often charge thousands of yuan for their courses, which they advertise as “masterclasses” with established internet celebrities.
In reality, most of these classes offer no such thing, according to Worker’s Daily. One livestreamer, Xiao Ai Xin, told the outlet that she had attended numerous training sessions since she joined the industry last year — and had come away disappointed again and again.
“Training isn’t entirely ineffective, but few programs truly deliver impactful results,” she said.
Ren Chunli, another industry insider, said that many courses do not teach any practical livestreaming skills at all, instead focusing on theoretical knowledge.
“The so-called training masters do not actually have teaching skills, and some training enrollment information may even be a scam,” Ren said.
According to Worker’s Daily, one livestream training company in the northeastern city of Shenyang charges 399 yuan for a seven-session course that covers basic knowledge about the industry.
During the program, the company pushes students to sign up for a far more expensive “advanced class” — costing 2,999 yuan — and an even pricier one-on-one “masterclass” with a professional livestreamer, which costs 6,999 yuan.
But students who had completed the courses told Worker’s Daily that they had barely seen any change in their follower counts since finishing the classes.
Gao Wei, a training expert, told the outlet that internet celebrities were often reluctant to share their techniques due to the cutthroat competition in the live commerce industry. As a result, training companies are often forced to hire instructors with little practical experience, who focus on teaching theoretical knowledge.
Experts told Worker’s Daily that aspiring livestreamers should exercise caution when selecting training programs, and called for better regulation of the training industry, with companies bound by professional standards and instructors required to obtain recognized qualifications.
Li Bingyi, another industry insider, said that there should be clear industry standards regarding the definition of a professional livestreamer – different training plans should be offered to them based on their follower count and sales performance.
Others advocated replicating the success of government-led initiatives like Xiliu E-commerce Industrial Park, a giant facility for cultivating live commerce businesses based in the northeastern city of Anshan. The park is reportedly home to more than 2,300 internet celebrities with over 100,000 followers.
Some experts said that vocational colleges are another promising source of livestream training. Nationwide, there are now nearly 300 colleges offering majors in online marketing and live commerce, and more than 60 of them provide programs in livestreaming, according to Worker’s Daily.
Additional reporting: Wen Ming.
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