Under these circumstances, GGV Capital invested in the short video social platform Musical.ly and gif search engine Giphy. Giphy provides gif-form promotion service for TV shows movies, and even news events.

　　It’s apparent that the distribution channel differences influence the development of short-video platforms and the changing forms of live streaming. Western short-video startups generally increase their profits by offering paid membership and through advertisements. This can be attributed to the fact that western users have the habit of paying for content. It’s worth noting that short-video companies are making longer videos and better videos to keep their users.

　　In China, e-commerce is one of the main cash-in method for lives treaming and short video platforms, which also nurtures the Internet celebrity economy. On Tmall, Taobao, and even we-media KOL, it has become quite common to watch Internet celebrities’ live shows and buy the products they recommend.

　　Hans Tung believes that companies can apply the advertisement and e-commerce model in different phases. For short-video and live streaming startups, even when they don’t have enough data flow yet, they can still profit as long as their content attract users. The advertisement model can only bring forth value when startups have accumulated a certain amount of data flow, which is a challenge to new platforms.

　　From this perspective, Chines companies’ e-commerce model is more practical. But Tung also points out that short-video companies overseas are more competitive culturally, especially in terms of cultural output. When startups are going global, companies with better cultural power will have less obstacle. Chinese short video companies would have to spend more time and energy on localizing their content. Earlier this year, TouTiao fully acquired the American short-video community Flipagram, making the first march into overseas short video sector.

　　“In western countries, users generally live stream partying with a bunch of people. In China, users often present a live show, which is quite grass-rooted. The U.S. doesn’t really pay attention to the grass-root market so the live streaming strategies are quite different in China and the U.S.,” Tung explained.

　　However, it doesn’t necessarily mean Chinese short-video companies have no hope in internationalization as there are other developing country markets like India, Brazil, and Thailand etc. Live show and short video can still be appealing features even in the U.S., if the localization and operation are done right. Perhaps they could also take away the market share under the eyes of Instagram and Snapchat who have been neglecting these sectors.

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　　[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Su Jianxun, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

　　Translated by Garrett Lee(Senior Translator at PAGE TO PAGE), working for TMTpost.