蘑菇AV

The news: Instagram added new limitations to its livestream feature, now requiring creators to have a public account with over 1,000 followers to go live, per TechCrunch. Our take: While it could benefit Meta鈥檚 competitive position in the livestream space, Instagram鈥檚 latest restrictions will harm creators looking to break into the influencer space鈥攏ecessitating rapid adaptation. Smaller creators could shift attention to other platforms with less restrictive livestream requirements鈥攖hink YouTube, which only requires 50 subscribers to go live, and Twitch, which has no livestream minimum.

The news: TikTok renewed its Lionel Messi-focused live broadcast deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) after a successful 2024 livestream, per a blog post. TikTok will partner with Apple TV to broadcast four select matches in the current MLS season, with a dedicated camera angle focused on Messi during each match. Our take: TikTok and Apple TV鈥檚 newest move is another bid to capitalize on a well-known athlete in a profitable genre, where advertising opportunities are plentiful and success is essentially guaranteed. Sports are one of the most reliable ad environments, offering scale, loyalty, and global reach.

China is a global leader in online shopping, with high digital buyer and retail ecommerce penetration. Shoppers are comfortable buying luxury goods online and embracing livestreaming commerce.

YouTube brings side-by-side ads to livestreams: The move could help convince creators and advertisers that YouTube is the go-to livestream choice.

TikTok brings DMs directly to livestreams: The update is part of TikTok鈥檚 broader livestream push, designed to keep brands and creators around.

TikTok makes a bid to encourage creators, agencies to livestream: The push is part of the platform鈥檚 strategic effort to avoid a US ban.

While many users sell products via Twitch livestreams, Amazon has yet to position the platform as a rival to other social video commerce sites like TikTok Shop.

Video's near-future trends are taking shape鈥攁s digital pay TV loses its momentum, livestreaming ecommerce is gaining traction.

Over 20% of U.S. digital buyers (21.7%) will make a purchase off a livestream in 2025, according to an October 2024 蘑菇AV forecast.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why households with no pay-TV (traditional or digital) will be the majority and if livestream shopping in America can become habitual. Tune in to the conversation with Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Principal Forecasting Writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, and Senior Director of Forecasting Oscar Orozco. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Whatnot raises $265M amid TikTok ban fears: ByteDance pushes Lemon8, but the US-based livestream shipping platform gains investor confidence and market traction.

High-flying growth in livestreaming ecommerce in China will calm down. Sales from livestreaming will reach $912.38 billion in 2025, accounting for 28.4% of ecommerce sales. Growth will plunge, however, from 26.8% in 2024 to 8.4% in 2025鈥攎ore in line with total ecommerce sales. In a further sign that the livestream shopping market is maturing, buyer growth is projected to inch up by only 2.1% in 2025.

But as streamers ramp up live programming, it鈥檚 unclear whether ad breaks in live streaming will earn the same leniency as traditional live TV. Only 35% of users say they pay more attention to streaming ads鈥攂arely up from 33% in 2024.

TikTok Shop is ramping up adoption of livestream shopping. Livestream shopping will see an uptick in consumer adoption. Growth will come from a small user base, even though social networks, video platforms, and retailers have spent half a decade pushing consumers toward livestream shopping. Despite these efforts, livestream shopping hasn鈥檛 become big business in the US like it has in China.

Men have a greater interest in livestream shopping than women do, according to ESW. Almost 25% of men made a purchase from a livestream on a social media platform in 2024 compared with 14.3% of women. Men are also more likely than women to have watched a livestream (27.4% versus 21.9%), and men are more interested in viewing livestream shopping/videos from brands (20.5% versus 15.1%).

YouTube trails Twitch for livestreaming content. In Q4 2024, Twitch saw 3.81 billion hours of livestreamed viewing versus 2.27 billion hours for YouTube Gaming, per Streamcharts. Viewership of 鈥渙ther鈥� gaming content is YouTube鈥檚 strength. In June 2024, gameplay content on YouTube reached 6 billion views.

TikTok has promoted its livestream potential for creators, highlighting that creators collectively generate $10 million in daily revenues through livestreaming. Top-performing creator networks can earn $3 million monthly. The platform enabled direct messages during livestreams to simplify lead generation, allowing viewers to connect directly with the host during streams.