From AYAYI to Liu Yang Xi, Meet China’s Virtual Humans and the Future of the Metaverse
In China, virtual humans who look so real that you would mistake them for living, breathing people have recently been drawing attention, and more companies are using them in their promotions. We put the spotlight on the latest movements of the virtual human business in China, their role as talents belonging to MCN, and explore future possibilities.
According to iiMedia Research, China’s virtual idol-related market grew 69.3% YoY to 64.56 billion yuan (US$10.1 billion) in 2020, and 66.5% YoY to 107.49 billion yuan (US$16.9 billion) in 2021. Furthermore, in 2023, it is expected to more than triple to 333.47 billion yuan (US$52.4 billion).
The so-called general (real human) idol market is estimated to be worth 100 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion) in 2020, so looking at the numbers alone, the virtual human market is not only on par with the human idol market, it may even surpass it.
Ambassadors, product development, and the “AYAYI” who joined Alibaba
A recent trend is an emergence of “virtual humans” who are pursuing more realism, the frontrunner of which is AYAYI. The number of followers now exceeds 530,000.
AYAYI is developed by Burnt Wheat Technology, with the cooperation of Aww, a Japanese virtual human company.
In June 2021, AYAYI tied up with GUERLAIN and posted on Weibo a tour of the limited-time event “BEELOVED GARDEN”. In September, AYAYI became the Digital Trend Art Recommendation Officer for Chinese food brand AMX’s sugar-free yogurt. The company has set the product as developed in collaboration with AYAYI.
She also joined Alibaba Group in September and became the digital navigator for the sale event “Tmall Super Brand Day”. AYAYI appeared in the image video for the “Metaverse Art Exhibition” on Tmall’s platform and collaborated with Burberry, Kiehl’s, P&G, and the Chinese brand CHANDO. The video was also published on Weibo and has reached 8.79 million views.
In December, Alibaba established a new company, Yuan Xiao Sheng Sheng (Beijing) Technology. Although the company is a game development platform, Alibaba has applied to register trademarks such as “Ali Metaverse” and “Taobao Metaverse,” indicating its intention to establish a metaverse space for existing e-commerce platforms in the near future. The establishment of the new company is a stepping-stone for expansion in the metaverse world, and of course, virtual humans will play a key role.
The original “Hallijuang” and “翎Ling” worked at Double Eleven.
While AYAYI has raised the profile of virtual humans, the pioneer is actually Halli, who was born in 2019. She is said to be the first virtual human in China and has more than 150,000 followers on Weibo.
Halli was originally a virtual idol presented by Harbin Beer, and now she is an artist belonging to Whet Records, a dance music label under Warner Music. In September 2021, she released “MISS WHO” on Tencent’s music platform QQ Music. In addition, she is also the brand ambassador for the US shoe brand PONY and the image character for the instant pizza GOODROOT.
Meanwhile, “翎Ling,”(LingLing) who was born in May 2020, is a virtual human developed by Xmov, founded in 2017, in collaboration with Next Generation. With long, straight black hair in the image of the traditional beauty of China, she has more than 470,000 followers on Weibo. In January 2021, she appeared on the cover of “Vogue me”, a sub-brand of Vogue that deals with culture, beauty, and fashion information for the younger generation.
For Double Eleven in 2021, she was also the digital recommendation officer for Tmall Luxury and recommendation officer for Chinese cosmetics brand PECHOIN, as well as for collaboration with BVLGARI.
Reddi” in a virtual fashion show
Reddi, born in June 2021, was developed by Star Heir Technology. She is 21 years old, a fashion and art lover, and is set to represent Generation Z. She often collaborates with fashion brands and posts images of herself wearing products from Max Mara, Gucci, Chanel, and others.
Reddi has also gained recognition on RED, with over 160,000 followers, and boasts 880,000 followers on Weibo. In November 2021, the character appeared in a virtual fashion show held by New York fashion designer Todd Hessert with Xiaomi, and the video scored 630,000 views and was well received by users.
“Liu Yang Xi” is a hot topic on Douyin
The virtual human of the moment is “Liu Yang Xi" developed by the original short film production company, Chou Ichiban Technology. She looks like she walked out of a Chinese historical drama set, and posted her first video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, in October 2021. The high quality of the drama-filled video received more than 3.55 million likes and a flood of rave comments, including “the biggest surprise of the year”.
Liu Yang Xi, who already has more than 6.74 million followers on Douyin, differs from other virtual humans in that she mainly posts videos. Although she posts less frequently due to production time, her Chinese historical drama-style makeup has been well received, and there is a possibility that she may collaborate with beauty brands in the future.
Will Virtual Human Be an Alternative to KOLs?
The Xi Jinping administration, with its “common wealth” policy, has been tightening restrictions on celebrities and KOLs. It would be a blow to brands if they were suddenly forced to refrain from using celebrities and KOLs for advertising and promotions due to criticism of their overly flamboyant clothing and freewheeling behavior. In view of this risk, it is conceivable that more and more brands will use virtual humans in the future.
However, at present, the hundreds of thousands of followers of virtual humans are not as influential as popular celebrities or top KOLs. In the field of beauty, especially in promoting the actual efficacy of skincare products, it is difficult to use virtual models.
However, it is expected to have a high impact on the “90s” (born after 1990) and “00s”. According to the iiMedia Research report mentioned above, 92.3% of the fans of virtual idols are between the ages of 19 and 30. The strong support from the younger generation is one of the reasons why Liu Yang Xi became a hot topic on Douyin. Due to the limited processing power of current technology, there is still a slight unnaturalness in the movements of the videos. But as technology progresses, there is a high possibility that the use of virtual humans will expand to events in the metaverse space and customer service in virtual stores in the near future.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Team Roboteer
