"20 Billion Won in Just 2 Hours"... Singles' Day Livestream Featuring Lee Dahae in China Scores Big

Lee Dahae’s China Livestream Sells 20 Billion Won in Two Hours
This Year’s Singles’ Day Promotions to Run for More Than a Month
Last Year’s Singles’ Day Transaction Value Reached About 339 Trillion Won

Products worth 100 million yuan (about 20 billion won) were sold in just two hours during a livestream commerce broadcast featuring actress Lee Dahae ahead of Singles' Day, China's biggest shopping festival, held on November 11.

200 Billion Won in Sales in Two Hours at China’s Singles’ Day Special Broadcast

Actress Lee Dahae appeared on a broadcast celebrating Singles' Day hosted by Chinese influencer Ttanttan. Instagram.

According to Lee Dahae’s social media accounts on October 18, she appeared as a guest that day on a Singles’ Day special broadcast by Chinese influencer Ddan Ddan, held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ddan Ddan is a sales host active on Kuaishou, a short-form video and livestreaming platform. A sales display board at the event showed sales of 100 million yuan. Lee wrote, “This is the event where we set a sales record of 20 billion won in just two hours again.”

It is rare for foreign entertainers in China to take the microphone for sales broadcasts. On a broadcast, Lee said, “You have to speak Chinese, and foreign languages are absolutely not allowed,” adding, “So foreign artists can’t do it, but as far as I know, only Choo Ja-hyun and I do livestream broadcasts.”

The broadcast featuring Lee was part of this year’s Singles’ Day promotional campaign. This year’s Singles’ Day kicked off on October 12, about a month earlier than usual. JD.com, China’s largest e-commerce company, began sales at 8 p.m. on October 12, while Taobao started presales on October 15. WeChat Xiaodian, a shopping platform based on Tencent’s messaging app WeChat, also joined Singles’ Day for the first time this year and will run its campaign for 35 days, through November 15.

According to Syntun, a Chinese data analytics company, transaction value during last year’s Singles’ Day reached 1.695 trillion yuan (about 339 trillion won). However, a substantial portion of the increase is believed to have resulted from the extended promotional period.

Competition Intensifies in the Industry... "Opportunities for Overseas Entertainers Who Speak Chinese"

Sales display board for a Singles' Day live-commerce event shared by actor Lee Dahae. Instagram

Meanwhile, as sales increasingly shift toward livestream broadcasts, competition among influencers has also intensified. On the first day of presales for last year’s Singles’ Day, the number of viewers during the first hour of a broadcast by Li Jiaqi, one of China’s leading influencers, rose 45% from the previous year. Hong Kong-born influencer Zhang Xiaohui generated 180 million yuan (about 36 billion won) in sales from a single broadcast on Xiaohongshu, setting a new platform record.

However, the number of major influencers reaching the top ranks has been declining since 2023. Last year, searches for “Shuangshi” (Singles’ Day) on Chinese portal Baidu also fell 43% from the previous year, prompting efforts to capture public attention. Industry observers say this competitive landscape could create opportunities for overseas entertainers who can navigate the local language and regulations.

Even as overall growth slows, livestream commerce has become central to online retail. According to a white paper released in February by the Development Research Center of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s livestream commerce transaction value exceeded 5 trillion yuan (about 1 quadrillion won) last year. That is close to one-third of total online retail sales. The number of users was estimated at 660 million. The market grew more than twelvefold from 2019 to 2024, and livestream commerce accounted for 80% of the increase in e-commerce sales in 2024.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.