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. 

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.

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. 

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! 

Key findings we discuss from the report: 

• 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.
• 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.
• 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). 
• 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.
• About one-fifth of full-time hosts stream more than eight hours a day
• 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.
• 80% of all streamers surveyed reported that they stream on holidays, and for full-time streamers that percentage is even higher at 94%.
• 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.

Check out our blog post to get the full run down of the report.