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BEIJING, CHINA / JANE WALSH / DECEMBER 12, 2018 / The live-streaming craze has taken Asia by storm, creating a new form of online interaction that has become an essential element of people’s social lives. AIG leads this generation of Chinese live-streaming companies with Uplive, its flagship live-streaming app that has over 100 million users worldwide and is active in more than 100 countries. Continuing its mission to embrace new cultures and share the magic of live broadcasting, Uplive is placing its bets on Nigeria as the “next big thing” in live-streaming.
This fervour has taken a particular hold in China, the only market to see live-streaming revenue hit over $4.4 billion in 2017, creating an elite class of Chinese companies that have mastered the magic of live interaction and virtual gifting. AIG leads this generation of Chinese live-streaming companies with Uplive.
Ask nearly any young person in Taiwan, Vietnam, Morocco, India or Saudi Arabia and they can talk to you about Uplive, because they are using it daily, not only to engage with others online, but as well, to build their own brands and monetise on their content. These countries represent only a handful of Uplive’s 16 regional markets where the app has adapted to local cultures, languages, and styles to provide the best online experience available.
Nigeria is Africa’s most prosperous economy and most populous nation, boasting 100 million internet-savvy users. In addition, 80% of Nigeria’s mobile networks are global market leaders, making Nigeria the next battleground for the future development of social products throughout Africa. The simultaneous development of mobile payment platforms through Safaricom in East Africa and VISA in Nigeria, has left the market thirsty for a new wave of online entertainment platforms to socialise and connect on.
The Key to Success: “Know Your Audience – What works in China won’t work in Marrakech”
There are three key ingredients needed for a live-streaming platform to succeed:
1. a developed market that has easy access to your platform,
2. an audience that constantly uses that platform, and
3. an ecosystem that can be monetised and developed on a long-term basis.
With a GDP per capita higher than that of India, and as the world’s 8th largest population of internet users, Nigeria possesses all the elements needed for Uplive to succeed.
Nonetheless, AIG cannot afford a “one-size-fits-all” mentality when expanding Uplive to the African market. Every region is its own world of politics, culture, religion, language, consumption habits and more. If a company is unable to adapt to the local customs of African nations, they will find it impossible to integrate their businesses into that market and profit from it.
Uplive is uniquely suited to meet these challenges as it has been extremely successful in adapting to markets with strong cultural identities such as the Middle East and South Asia. Uplive has achieved this success by holding its regional operators to a high professional standard that ensures that all content broadcasted on the platform is wholesome and appropriate for the market. Few, if any, other companies are able to navigate the nuances that come with an international audience as well as AIG.
Over 520 languages are spoken in Nigeria, with over 250 distinct ethnic groups. The common denominator that bridges such diversity is the smartphone, thanks to its ubiquitous presence. Uplive takes this ubiquity and turns it into a portal of personalised and entertaining online interactions giving a voice to the younger generation of Nigerians, eager to share their experiences online.
Africa is fast becoming Uplive’s new haven. Bolstered by the momentum of friendly Chinese foreign policy towards Africa, Uplive is generating long-term and sustainable value on the continent, with Nigeria being the cornerstone for Uplive’s adoption in all the English-speaking regions of Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia. This is framed by a larger Chinese government initiative to have more local and Chinese-backed enterprises collaborate to jointly develop markets, share customer resources and service capabilities, to ultimately create a more comprehensive online ecosystem that enriches live interactions and breathes new life into the live-streaming industry in Africa.
About Uplive (Up Live)
Uplive was founded in May 2016, As part of Asia Innovations Group. UpLive is a live-streaming platform that allows viewers to broadcast and view real-time videos via their smartphones.
Currently Uplive has over 100,000 broadcasters and over 60M downloads worldwide and is available in over 100 countries, the app currently supports sixteen languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai.
With over 500,000 live anchors airing content in all languages and tastes, Uplive is becoming one the of the most successful Chinese applications growing world-wide.
About Asia Innovation Group
AIG (Asia Innovations Group), a global mobile applications company, was co-founded in 2013 by the most experienced leader’s in Asia’s mobile entertainment industry, with founders from both eastern and western tech giants including Google, Tencent and Zynga, AIG now have over 100 million users for globally, and made 300 million dollars in revenue this year.
Based on the concept of innovative connectivity, the Group is committed to building a new generation of mobile internet group companies for global users based on social and online entertainment. The com[any has branches established in 14 regions including the Middle East, North Africa, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United States, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia
At present, the group has a number of star products including UpLive, Superfans, Pengpeng, FunPepper, and GIFTO, with more than 100 million users. The Group also built a global entertainment mobile platform through the acquisition of Taiwan’s MimiCam live broadcast platform and other high-quality assets of Southeast Asia’s largest video production company BIGCAT, and expanded in the international market.
Release ID: 459078