AI Beauties Earn 50K Monthly on Douyin: The Latest Trend in Digital Influencer Marketing
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Recently, the hashtag #Musician Bao Xiaobo Revives Daughter with AI# trended on Weibo, telling the story of how Taiwanese musician Bao Xiaobo, after losing his daughter, used AI technology to 'revive' her in the digital world. She can now sing and even hold conversations, creating a deeply moving scenario where family members separated by death can interact digitally.
Similarly, the trend of AI digital anchors has swept through the broadcasting industry. Examples include CCTV's 'Xiao C,' Hunan TV's 'Xiao Yang,' Shandong Broadcasting's 'Hai Lan,' and Jinan Broadcasting Television's digital anchors 'Bei Chen' and 'Si Xuan.' These digital anchors present news in a more vivid and lively manner, offering viewers a fresh experience and becoming a new standard in the broadcasting industry. The flourishing of 'digital life' is evident not only in emotional and broadcasting contexts but also in the commercial sector. It has been reported that some 'AI digital influencers' have appeared on Douyin, with AI-generated beauties earning up to 50,000 yuan per month through live streaming!
No wonder Ding Lei, CEO of NetEase, once remarked, 'What AI can achieve today is more significant than the past decade.'
AI Beauties Mining Gold in Douyin Live Streaming What is an 'AI Digital Human'? According to the '2023 China AI Digital Human Industry Research Report' released by iiMedia Research, AI digital humans are digitally generated virtual characters that utilize advanced artificial intelligence and simulation technologies. They not only possess lifelike appearances but also exhibit robust intelligent cognitive abilities.
Digital human hosts are a type of virtual host based on AI technology. They can replicate human appearances, expressions, and voices through technical means, achieving a state nearly indistinguishable from real humans. This enables them to replace real people in mass-producing narrated videos and conducting efficient live commerce.
Speaking of AI digital hosts, the rapid rise of the Russian beauty persona is noteworthy. By crafting a 'love for China' persona and leveraging topics like 'living in China,' 'wanting to marry a Chinese man,' and 'thanking China,' she gained massive popularity—earning 40,000 yuan in 7 days and gaining 146,000 followers. This broke all known performance records for AI digital human commerce accounts at the time! The sudden appearance of a Russian blonde beauty on Chinese social media was actually a deepfake of a Ukrainian YouTuber named Olga Loiek. The unauthorized use of her face and voice infringed upon her rights and sparked significant public controversy at the time.
Another example is an AI digital anchor named "Gentle" on Douyin (TikTok's Chinese counterpart), who has amassed 1.276 million followers. Compared to the Russian beauty, "Gentle"'s videos appear somewhat stiff, mainly consisting of simple combinations of images and slightly accented voiceovers. However, through shopping cart links below the videos, "Gentle" provides fans with convenient purchasing options. It's reported that "Gentle"'s homepage now features 151 products, with both follow-up purchases and sales exceeding 100,000 units. The Douyin account named "Xiao Yi Mei" has 1.106 million followers, with 555 products in its showcase and over 40,000 items sold. According to XinDou statistics, "Xiao Yi Mei" has generated estimated sales of 50,000 to 75,000 yuan in the past 30 days.
Moreover, a million followers is just a small feat for AI digital hosts. The AI beauty host "Chocolate, Little Lemon" on Douyin boasts 10.4841 million followers. She presents herself as a beautiful woman delivering emotional and motivational content targeted at middle-aged men, such as "Deceiving a Man Who Gives His All to You" and "What Kind of Personality Does a Man Who Often Cries Have?" Through daily live streaming, she earns over a million yuan just from gift revenue.
According to XinBang statistics, apart from "Wen Rou," "Xiao Yi Mei," and "Chocolate, Little Lemon," other hosts like "Shi Shi Bai Huo," "Xiao Jiu," and "Li Jie" are also suspected to be AI-generated.
For ordinary people/businesses, What Challenges and Opportunities Will AI Digital Anchors Bring
"AI + digital humans" is an inevitable trend, currently being applied across multiple fields. In the realm of live streaming and short videos, what challenges and opportunities will AI digital anchors bring?
From related reports, there is an example where a food-related live streaming account, after adopting an AI digital anchor, achieved an average daily transaction amount of approximately 163,100 yuan, significantly outperforming the 151,500 yuan daily transaction amount generated by a human anchor. When AI digital hosts can achieve sales targets just like human hosts, or even outperform them, they present a live streaming model with low investment, high output, and long endurance.
Traditional human hosts, in addition to daily live streaming, need to prepare content, debug equipment, select products, and conduct post-stream reviews, often working more than 8 hours a day on average. In contrast, AI digital hosts can operate around the clock, not only reducing labor costs but also maintaining high efficiency.
An article published by Tech Planet in April 2023 revealed that the annual salary of a human host is around 240,000 yuan, while the customization cost of an AI host is 8,000 yuan, with an annual system usage fee of over 80,000 yuan. This means an AI host can save more than 100,000 yuan per year.
The introduction of digital hosts brings the following challenges and opportunities for ordinary individuals/businesses: The first is the change in the relationship between demand and being demanded. If Dong Yuhui's approach represents 'meaningful + value-output live commerce,' then AI digital anchors embody a simpler 'shelf-display' style of sales.
Traditional live streaming merchants primarily focus on the 'host'—a charismatic individual whose ability to drive traffic and sales directly determines the success or failure of the entire broadcast. Examples include Dong Yuhui from Oriental Selection and former top streamer Li Jiaqi, both of whom generated buzz and sales centered around their personas as hosts.
However, AI digital anchors are different. Since they lack personal charm, the focus shifts primarily to the 'product.' For instance, a 'gentle' AI digital host provides fans with a convenient way to place orders. In other words, AI digital anchors must cater to user needs around the clock ('007' style) to stand out among the multitude of hosts. Moreover, the appearance and style of digital human hosts can be personalized according to product characteristics and user needs, making them more aligned with brand image and style to attract more consumers.
Second, leveraging off-peak traffic to find growth within existing resources. Currently, as the "nighttime economy" has become a new growth point in the consumer sector, the value of off-peak traffic during late-night hours in live streaming rooms has become evident, providing an important arena for digital humans. For traditional hosts, an 8-hour live stream per day is already mentally taxing.
In many merchants' live streaming rooms, a combination of real and digital human hosts has already been adopted. During the prime evening hours, real hosts appear to promote products, while digital human hosts take over during off-peak periods, filling time gaps, extending live streaming duration, and increasing off-peak traffic to achieve some conversions at minimal cost. Digital avatars can continuously boost brand exposure, significantly increase livestream engagement and monetization, and capture incremental growth from existing resources.
Third, lowered entry barriers reduce costs and improve efficiency. As mentioned earlier, one characteristic of AI digital anchors is their low investment requirement—no need to recruit high-profile streamers or incur substantial operational costs. For ordinary individuals or businesses, this eliminates concerns about appearing on camera or the challenge of "training professional anchors." Through digital avatar livestreaming, they can quickly acquire technical knowledge by configuring knowledge bases and leveraging AI capabilities, enabling them to explain products to consumers directly, significantly lowering the threshold for launching livestreaming operations.
As previously mentioned with the example of the beautiful digital anchor, all that's needed is a Douyin (TikTok) account with over 1,000 followers and an enabled product showcase feature. Using AI tools like Midjourney to create attractive images, then selecting products through channels like Douyin's "Jingxuan Alliance," and finally crafting some promotional copy can generate commission income. Fourth, the possibility of diversified user groups increases. In the early stages of AI digital anchor development, it is relatively easy to create a sense of novelty, making it easier to attract a diverse user base. For example, AI digital anchors like "Russian beauty," "gentle," or "young aunt" target middle-aged men over 40. This means the emergence of AI anchors has brought attention to previously overlooked user groups. The trial-and-error cost of AI is far lower than that of traditional human anchors, making it more feasible to create diverse target audiences, naturally expanding possibilities for live-streaming sales.
Fifth, the trust crisis between virtual and reality. The biggest risk of AI digital anchors is likely the trust crisis. For instance, the "Russian beauty" case involved unauthorized use of a Ukrainian influencer's appearance and voice, infringing on rights and violating ethics. Issues such as copyright disputes, ethical concerns in dissemination, fake news, and deepfakes, if not handled properly, can easily trigger a trust crisis. Additionally, just as online public opinion often becomes unrestrained under the guise of virtual identities, AI digital hosts—like those anonymous usernames on Weibo—raise questions about sincerity when authenticity is concealed. Therefore, addressing the trust issues between AI digital hosts and users is crucial.
The China AI Digital Human Market Status and Opportunity Analysis, 2022 report reveals that China's AI digital human market is experiencing rapid growth, with projections estimating it will reach 10.24 billion yuan by 2026.
Clearly, the development of AI digital hosts will continue to gain momentum. We hope AI's integration can enrich live streaming with more content and provide users with better experiences. Let’s wait and see. *This article contains no commercial soft placements