SINGAPORE – Backed by the familiar faces of actress-host Michelle Chia, host Pornsak Prajakwit and celebrity hairstylist Addy Lee, live-streaming company Mdada has been a big success in its first year.
The online social commerce start-up had an unaudited revenue of $15 million – meaning it has not been reviewed and approved by a certified external auditor – for the financial year that ended on Sept 30, according to a report on business news portal CNBC last week,
The trio aired their first live-stream to hawk products on Facebook last September and now make $500,000 in revenue a week.
Their commission is about 20 to 30 per cent of the item’s sale price and the priciest product they ever sold was a Rolex Daytona Green Dial worth $120,000.
In just August and September, the company hit a total revenue of $3.9 million.
Speaking to CNBC’s Inside E-Commerce on the secret to their success, Prajakwit, 39, said: “You need to plan your show, because this is not just selling, this is info-tainment.”
The affable host, who once spent 12 hours live-streaming in front of the camera, added: “Entertainment needs to be high and that can be very challenging because sometimes even I myself run out of ideas.”
Another live-stream success story is Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung, 41, who took to China’s TikTok-like platform Douyin to sell products last week.
More than 27.6 million viewers logged on to watch her flog items such as lip balm and face masks, and she caused such a buying frenzy that the server crashed at one point.
However, she was still able to bring in 61.16 million yuan (S$12.9 million) in sales, making her the top seller of the day.