Photo: cnsphoto

After Chinese live streaming giants TikTok and Kuaishou promoted local products for Hubei Province and other regions seriously affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Guangzhou government, together with social media platforms WeChat and YY.com, is now set to launch a live streaming e-commerce festival to help local businesses and production resume.

The Guangzhou government told a press conference on Wednesday that it will hold a three-day live broadcasting festival from June 6-8, the first of its kind in the country, in a bid to boost production resumption and stimulate market demand. Social media platforms such as Tencent's WeChat and YY.com have been invited to support the online festival.

According to a report that Tencent sent to the Global Times on Thursday, WeChat will support the live streaming festival by combining WeChat advertising, WeChat payment, city services and other product capabilities to bring high-quality live content to more WeChat users.

Although it was a latecomer to the live streaming sector, WeChat has many advantages for its magnitude of loyal users. By the end of 2019, the company's monthly active users numbered 1.164 billion.

Tencent began public beta testing for its online streaming program in February and it has now been trialed by tens of thousands of businesses. The company expects to develop its live broadcasting business by accessing social traffic on WeChat and forming complementary advantages.

Results have been optimistic, with retail department stores, tourism enterprises, clothing brands and other businesses performing well. Ctrip has raked in nearly 100 million yuan ($14.1 million) in sales via the platform.

In addition to WeChat, YY.com will also provide technical support during the festival. In a live broadcast on April 30, the platform invited relevant government officials from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province to feature in its live broadcast room and promote products for local enterprises, which attracted a viewership of more than 8.8 million.

In 2020, Guangzhou has made frequent moves to promote the development of live streaming e-commerce.

Wei Min, deputy director of Guangzhou's bureau of commerce, said at the press conference on Wednesday that Guangzhou issued the country's first three-year action plan on March 23 for the development of live streaming e-commerce and other policies and measures, aiming to build industrial clusters, promote the application of commerce and trade, and build a talent support system.