When a brand moved a beauty streamer from prime time to the late-night slot at the start of this year, it gave her one reason: 'the prime time slot is for AI to test data'. She had earned 20,000 yuan a month on a base salary plus commission.
Three months later she left, according to 36Kr's report on China's livestream industry. She now works at an agency that helps brands train scripts for digital avatars.
JD Says AI Hosts Cut Costs by Up to 90%
JD.com made its AI hosting service free to merchants in December 2025 and says adoption surged within three months. The company puts the reduction in livestream operating costs at 80% to 90%, while popular digital-avatar software on the wider market costs 800 to 4,000 yuan a month.
For merchants, the appeal extends beyond the price. Digital hosts can stream around the clock, allowing brands to cover late-night hours without paying human presenters to stay on camera. Small businesses that cannot afford a professional streaming team can use avatars to fill those gaps.
Pay Is Falling for Mid-Tier Streamers While the Market Keeps Growing
The report on China's livestream industry puts average monthly pay for mid-tier streamers in Hangzhou below 20,000 yuan. In some niche categories, earnings have fallen from 25,000 to 50,000 yuan to between 15,000 and 20,000 yuan. Nearly half of streamers across China leave the industry within a year.
Finding steady work means navigating repeated rounds of demo clips, interviews and trial streams, with no guarantee of a job. One Hangzhou host who left her full-time position in July had gone almost two months without a proper streaming schedule by the time of the report.
Part-time work offers little security either. Hosts earn 100 to 150 yuan an hour for three to four hours a day, with probationary pay at half that rate. A single day of weak performance data can see them replaced the next day.
These pressures sit alongside a growing market. Live e-commerce generated more than 5 trillion yuan in gross merchandise value in 2025, with an audience of 660 million users. Livestreaming accounted for more than 36% of China's online retail sales that year, up from less than 18% in 2021.
Free AI Hosts Arrived as Rules Tightened and Margins Thinned
That growth has not eased the pressure on brands to make livestreaming profitable. China's retail sales rose just 0.4% in August from a year earlier and 1.1% over the first eight months of 2026.
Brands have been building their own livestream channels, while agency Romomo says tighter margins are reducing their dependence on celebrity hosts and making technology and operational capabilities more important.
The push to cut costs has coincided with tighter rules on disclosure. China's requirements for labelling AI-generated content took effect in September 2025.
On 1 February 2026, the Administrative Measures for the Supervision of Live-Streaming E-Commerce came into force, requiring operators to label AI-generated personas and continuously remind viewers that they are watching an artificial host.
Human Trust Limits AI Hosts Without Protecting Every Job
Disclosure is only part of the challenge for digital hosts: shoppers still need a reason to trust their advice. Li Jiaqi, who began livestreaming in 2016 and sells beauty products to more than 100 million followers, argues that AI cannot replace human presenters. 'AI is always yesterday's version of me', he says, while he can offer new ideas and perspectives.
Shanghai host Lu Lin sees that difference in everyday exchanges with customers. Given a shopper's height and weight, she says, an AI might suggest 'size M or size L', while a human offers more nuanced advice.
Some influencers have also faced backlash after revealing that avatars were appearing in their place. Douyin bans fully AI-generated livestreams and requires disclosure when digital hosts are used.
Operators also remain accountable for what appears on screen. Under the Measures, failing to label an AI persona can lead to an order to correct the violation, followed by fines of 10,000 to 100,000 yuan if the operator refuses or the circumstances are serious.
Those safeguards do not protect every presenter's job: consultant Ashley Dudarenok expects less successful hosts to 'use better tools or change occupations'.
Even Li sees a role for an AI version of himself keeping viewers company overnight while he rests. For an established star, that offers a way to extend his presence without extending his working day. For the beauty streamer whose prime-time slot was handed to AI for testing, the change meant late-night work and, three months later, a different job.
