They live in a cyber world, broadcasting their every move for hours on end, live online. They are the "wanghong", or live streamers, and they are the focal point of a multi-billion-dollar industry. 

They are typically young women, broadcasting content that ranges from singing and dancing to lecturing and simply chatting. They make their money from online “gifts” – promises of money – pledged by viewers who want to reward the streamer for an enjoyable performance. 

The appeal of exposing oneself in this way is obvious. Credit Suisse estimates that in 2017, China’s live streaming market was worth five billion US dollars. The leading earner on one streaming app claims to pocket a staggering 80,000 US dollars a month. However, this is very much the top end of the market. Countless other young hopefuls are struggling to make ends meet, working into the early hours of the morning in return for slim pickings. 

Jinri Wanghong, a website focusing on the industry, has revealed that for around half of streamers, their annual income is between 8,000 US dollars and 15,000 US dollars, hardly the wealth that dreams are made of. The fact is, only around one-fifth of the money spent by viewers makes it into the pocket of the "wanghong". Typically, the streaming platform retains about half of the monetary value of each gift, while the streamer’s agency takes another cut, of between 20 percent and 30 percent. 

Even so, there’s a seemingly limitless supply of young hopefuls, desperate to break onto the scene. This means that even the most established live streaming stars face a constant struggle to remain popular. The challenge is to be constantly coming up with new ideas designed to keep their content fresh. However, only a handful manage it. In this cut-throat business, it’s estimated that fewer than two out of ten streamers last longer than two years in the industry.