E-sports gamecasters in China make big bucks

E-sports streaming is emerging as a high-paid job in China, with leading professional streamers able to earn an annual income of over 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) as a result of strong commercial support from their own fans, Shanghai's China Business News reports.

Quite a few professional e-sports gamers have successfully taken up a career as gamecasters or streamers. A typical example is Wei Handong, who goes under the gaming moniker Caomei (strawberry), best known within the gaming industry as one of the members of China's World Elite team, the first Chinese team to win the IPL5 tournament of the League of Legends (LOL) in 2012.

Soon after his team won the tournament in late August 2012, Caomei announced his retirement from the popular multiplayer battle arena game and started his new career streaming online matches just one week after the announcement. "I had to appear again as soon as possible, so as not to be forgotten by my fans," he told the paper.

Caomei, still only 23, rakes in 10 million yuan annually, ranking 9th among the top 10 streamers in China. The No.1 earner in this regard is Yu Jingxi, who streams under the nickname Ruo Feng, who earns 20 million yuan (US$3.2 million) a year.

Both of them have to work 12 hours a day, commentating on games live, selling products to viewing fans on Taobao stores and doing endorsements.

Caomei said that streamers of online games are different from TV or movie stars in terms of income, work mode and looks requirements. "We rely highly on support from fans."

The paper reports that star streamers rely on streaming income for only 10% of their revenues and selling clothes, snacks and e-sports products to fans via Taobao stores usually comprises upwards of 70%-80% of their revenue.

Like TV or movie stars, most streamers sign contracts with e-sports clubs and can share in a portion of the profits. Some have managed to establish their own teams, however. Popular e-sport host Zhang Xiangling, extolled as the "Athena of e-sports gaming," quit her job with Tencent Gaming in 2012 and set up her own team.

According to 2014 reports issued by SuperData Research and Newzoo, the number of global viewers of e-sports digital games has shot up eight-fold over the past four years and the large audience base in China and the outstanding performance of Chinese teams in international gaming competitions have prompted business groups to invest in the field.

For instance, Wang Sicong, son of Wanda Group chair Wang Jianlin, set up the IG e-Sports Club in 2011 and then initiated the establishment of the Association of China e-Sports (ACE) to map out regulations governing the operation of e-sports clubs. Investors are also eyeing the establishment of streaming platforms, production of e-sports programs, in addition to setting up new clubs.