17Live is a leading live streaming platform in Japan and Taiwan, and has a presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, the Philippines, India and Malaysia – via the 17LIVE app.
Interactive online content is seeing unprecedented growth, propelled by technological advancements and evolving consumer preferences towards online content. As a leader in the industry, 17LIVE has an opportunity to expand its user base and revenue streams.
17LIVE makes money by selling virtual points for users to purchase virtual gifts to support the live streamers and virtual live streamers they follow. They also offer a subscription model to live streamers, as well as in-app game equipment and tool purchases. This also helps live streamers to monetise.
In early October 2023, 17Live (SGX:LVR) became the first and only company to-date to list on the SGX via a de-SPAC process.
In its latest financial statement, 17LIVE reported a profitable 1H2024 with net income of US$1.9 million. This was a reversal from a loss of US$118.2 million in 1H2023, and comes on the back of a revenue of US$101.1 million in 1H2024.
In Singapore, 17LIVE signed an MOU to work with leading media entertainment and content company mm2 Asia to enhance entertainment offerings and production capabilities. In Taiwan, they have also signed an MOU to collaborate with VC firm AppWorks Venture to increase investment opportunities to Southeast Asia.
Here are 5 things you should know about 17LIVE’s aim to spark real-time human connections through its virtual realities platform.
#1 What Is 17LIVE’s Business Model?
17Live is a leading livestreaming platform that facilitate real-time interactions between content creators and its users. The 17LIVE platform enables users to broadcast live video content across a wide range of categories – from gaming to music, entertainment, lifestyle and more.
Viewers can engage with content creators through live chat, virtual gifting and other interactive features – to foster a sense of community and connection on its platform.
We are committed to empowering human connections while providing monetisation opportunities for creators through virtual gifting, subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising revenue, enabling live streamers to turn their passion into a career.
Our 17LIVE vision is to create a dynamic and engaging space for content creators to share their talents and connect with audiences worldwide. We believe in the power of unscripted, unpredictable content, and our business is about building a safe and close environment where users can be their most authentic selves. We are dedicated to supporting our users to help turn their dreams into reality, both online and offline.
#2 How Do You See 17LIVE’s Revenue Streams Evolve Over The Next Few Years?
17LIVE has grown beyond being a live streaming platform. We have built a solid foundation of live streaming operations which forms the base for new growth initiatives. Our user database and analytical capabilities through AI allow us to generate insights and introduce new initiatives for our audience. 17LIVE has achieved positive EBITDA since 2020 and boasts a scalable business model that enables sustainable growth and profitability.
In the coming years, our sources of growth will continue to be live streaming and our content creators, while expanding our live commerce business. Our Group’s live commerce offering OrderPally, saw strong performance in 2023, doubling in annualised gross merchandise value (GMV), and turned in a solid segmental profit for the Group. With its successful growth, we have made plans to further roll out the platform across Southeast Asia to diversify our revenue streams.
Southeast Asia is one of our pivotal new markets due to the region’s growth potential in live streaming. We will export Japanese and Taiwanese content and merchandise into the region through a combination of live streaming, live commerce channels and 17Shop. We expect to see a slight shift in geographical revenue distribution with higher contributions from Southeast Asia.
#3 How Do You Attract Livestreamers To Contract With 17LIVE?
Three key pillars drive success on the platform – a strong user base, deep engagement, and a cohesive ecosystem. Gifting drives healthy competition among users, while our in-stream interactive games and user interface enhance engagement. This creates a vibrant community connecting users and fostering a dynamic platform. On 17LIVE, live streamers can gain access to a large and engaged audience, as our users watch live streaming for 90 minutes daily on average. This can lead to higher earnings through virtual gifts.
Additionally, talent management is how we stand out. Our talent management team scouts streamers and offers support to help them grow. Our team provides comprehensive onboarding support including hands-on training, guides new streamers through the process, expands fan bases across social media, and rewards winners. This supports content creators in various aspects of their brand and audience, ensuring they can still thrive without the burden of having to manage this alone.
We have also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with mm2 Asia Limited, to strengthen and amplify our entertainment offerings and production capabilities across Southeast Asia. This enables our live streamers to gain exposure, reach a broader audience, and amplify their presence.
Our livestreamers are already enriching the overall experiences of their audiences via innovative functions such as in-app interactive and gifting functions for better user engagement and retention. Furthermore, our platform users are also empowered by a wide variety of AI-enabled features including avatar creations and virtual representations that can further enhance the experiences they are creating on our platform.
The advent and increasing acceptance of AI have also bolstered our service offerings in the form of AI virtual streamers, which is quickly picking up pace among our platform users. Our first AI virtual streamer, Qiqi, an astrological fortune teller with humane personality traits embedded within her responses, was unveiled in August 2023 and is gaining popularity among the 17LIVE community.
#4 How Does 17LIVE Engage Users On The Platform?
We focus on content creation and human connections, leveraging both online and offline events to bring together streamers to compete in live streaming contests, fostering excitement and a sense of community. 17LIVE hosted the inaugural Singapore offline event at Ritz Carlton Hotel in December 2023 which saw streamers compete for S$100,000 in prizes. The event was attended by 50 streamers from Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Asia, and attendees were shortlisted from a qualifying round which saw over 4,000 entries.
This sets us apart, as we integrate online interactions with real-world experiences, amplifying user experience. We also host a variety of other offline events, including fashion shows and live concerts. In Japan, we regularly host V-Liver concerts. We had streamers participate in the Tokyo Game Show 2023, which is one of the world’s largest gaming events. One of our streamers participated in the Street Fighter 6 battle segment (a licensing partnership with Capcom) and drew immense support from his fans and the audience. V-Liver girls’ group “BUSHILIVE,” that debuted in July 2023 also performed at the event while GanGun Girls debuted in early 2024.
#5 What Is The Group’s Biggest Risk Or Challenge In The Next 1-3 Years That Shareholders Should Be Most Concerned About, And How Is The Group Preparing Itself For It?
17LIVE is one of the first few major players in the field of pure-play live-streaming platforms, which has given us a first-mover advantage in terms of community building. Since then, the growth prospects of live-streaming contents leapfrogged, particularly propelled by the increasing live-stream contents consumers during the pandemic. This behavioural shift did not go unnoticed by the other digital players and has spurred other platforms to also provide a live-streaming option as part of their service offerings, which indirectly resulted in intensified competition in talent attraction and user retention for our platform.
Nevertheless, we believe that our foundation in emotional connections and engaging experiences powered by technologies will be our key differentiator to stand out amongst our peers. Having a cohesive ecosystem and talent management will continue to be our strong pillars of support as they will attract more livestreamers to join our vibrant community as well as scouting for exclusive 17LIVE livestreamers to deliver compelling contents for our users. We also continue to harness the growing popularity of our V-Livers, which will be able to diversify talent risks.
Further, the Group has already established several partnership agreements to accelerate growth including the MOU with Singapore-based mm2 Asia to co-produce and co-market long form entertainment contents across Asia, which is a momentous step for 17LIVE to diversify its business offerings beyond the live-streaming app and amplifying the reach and exposure of our livestreamers and V-Livers.
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Editor’s Note: Some answers for this article were extracted from the SGX 10 in 10 series published on 18 June 2024 and have been republished with permission. You can read more on 17Live (SGX: LVR) on the SGX website.
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