BIGO Live to Focus on Gaming

BIGO Live to Focus on Gaming and E-Commerce Empowered by Livestreaming This Year

In an exclusive interview, the BIGO Live team speaks about the growth of live-streaming in the region amid pandemic, how it is turning to be a great revenue generator for brands, and the focus the company has for 2021

How was 2020 for the industry and your company?

At the beginning of 2020, before most parts of the world were compelled to shelter in place, live streaming was on a growth path and projected to account for 82% of all Internet traffic by the end of the year. The lockdown period further contributed to significant growth in usage statistics.

Twitch, a platform used by video gamers to live-stream gaming sessions, reported that hours watched on the platform grew 50% between March and April this year. Here in the MENA region, Bigo Live, a live streaming platform launched in Singapore in 2016 and available regionally since 2017, has reported that it now has around 5 million monthly active users (MAUs) just in the Middle East & North Africa region alone.

Live streaming is now a big revenue generator for brands as well as for established and emerging influencers. Globally, live streaming is predicted to generate USD 70.5 billion of revenue in 2021 and USD 184 billion by 2027.

What sort of opportunities did 2020 bring along?

Although 2020 proved to be quite a challenging year, it did create a number of opportunities for content creators and tech-savvy talent in the MENA region.

With many countries going into lockdown and restrictions placed on social interactions, many people began to spend more time online and in particular their mobile devices. Because of this, these individuals discovered a new way to consume content and also found joy and a new way to express themselves as content creators. People who opted to stay indoors could explore the world around them through the lens of content creators who were abiding by the safety guidelines set forth by their respective countries.

In addition, BIGO Technology continues to invest in its capabilities and talent across the world. During 2020, we continued to invest to recruit individuals from across the MENA region to enhance our local operations by hiring more people in different countries across the MENA region that include: Egypt, Jordan, UAE, and other countries. The purpose of this is to help us understand the local user more by having stronger localized operations.

In Egypt, we are going to hire up to 1,000 (from currently 300 as of July 2020) people by the end of the year. The reason is that we want to enhance our content safety in this country. Jordan is one of our main offices in the MENA region and there is a lot of exceptional talent in the country. This is why we are planning to hire up to 200 people by the end of 2020.

Our objective at Bigo Live is not only to hire people but to provide individuals living in the region with opportunities to further enhance and enrich their lives. This includes content creators such as vloggers, broadcasters, etc. that can leverage our platform to create opportunities for themselves with reputable organizations wherever they may be. Currently, we have created approximately 35,000 job opportunities in the region.

Did you face any challenges in 2020?

In the past year, we all faced exceptional challenges brought forth by the pandemic which impacted global companies and in turn people both personally and professionally. As a global company, BIGO, alongside our counterparts in the market, had to evolve and upgrade our business to serve users better. We believe the world will get back on track soon with closer and tighter collaboration both regionally and internationally.

What were your key achievements in 2020? Our user base has achieved remarkable growth during 2020 as we now have approximately 400 million users globally. We are extremely pleased with this achievement and look forward to continuing to provide our users with more innovative means of communications that bring joy to their lives. In addition, as an inclusive global community, BIGO is proud to have played a part in combating COVID-19 and connect people during this challenging time, which is why we held the “Global BIGOer One World Together” fundraising campaign. This initiative attracted over 3.7 million viewers to support the fight against COVID-19 and approximately US$100,000 was raised through the 24-hour campaign with all funds donated to the World Health Organization.

To celebrate all the great work achieved by our broadcasters, users, and staff, we are going to host our annual BIGO Awards Gala at 8 pm SG time on 21st January 2021 in-app. At that time, the top global broadcasters will be awarded and showcase their creativity through wonderful performances as we will review the past year together and look forward to the opportunities that 2021 will bring.

What promises does 2021 bring along?

As it relates to live-streaming, direct monetization pathways include pay-per-view, paid subscriptions, advertising, and sponsorships. For a business that is considering live streaming as a part of their product marketing mix, greater brand and product visibility can drive traffic to the company’s sales channels, generating inquiries and leading to increased sales.

Live streaming offers an opportunity for businesses whose event marketing activities have been restricted to engage customers through live Q&As with executives, product demonstrations, and involvement in discussion panels. These platforms can also represent a significant opportunity for any budding content creator, as a new frontier to build a personal brand and audience.