What Are the Prospects for Digital Human E-Commerce Livestreaming in China?

Digital human e-commerce live streaming is a next-generation solution for brands to achieve 24/7, automated, and scalable live streaming e-commerce, centered on virtual digital assets. In China, digital human e-commerce live streaming is far more than just a simple "virtual anchor" tool; it represents a "productivity revolution" driven by AI technology and deeply integrated into the core of e-commerce. Its essence lies in completely reconstructing the cost structure, operational paradigm, and asset form of Chinese live streaming e-commerce by replacing the core production factor with the unreplicable "real person" with the standard-replicable "AI digital human." This, in particular, allows small and medium-sized businesses to freely launch live streams and enjoy the traffic dividends of the live streaming era.

Development History of China's Digital Human E-commerce Live Streaming Industry

The development of the digital human e-commerce live streaming industry is a process of technological iteration and commercial demand resonance. From early exploration to large-scale application, it can be roughly divided into four stages: the technology incubation period, the initial exploration period, the rapid growth period, and the large-scale commercial application period.

The Early Stages of Technology (Before 2020)

① Digital human technology has completed initial technological accumulation and experience accumulation in the fields of film, television and games.

② In the e-commerce sector, the application of digital humans is still in its early stages.

③ At that time, the applications mainly manifested as static virtual model displays and simple information broadcasts.

④ Due to the limitations of the technology at the time, the application cost was high and the degree of popularization was very low.

⑤ There is still a significant gap between the commercialization and large-scale application of digital human technology in live-streaming e-commerce.

Initial Exploration Phase (2020-2022)

① The development of technologies such as real-time rendering and motion capture has driven the application of digital humans in live-streaming e-commerce.

② Some international brands have taken the lead in trying out 3D virtual human anchors.

③ Digital human live streams are mostly "technology shows," with relatively stiff appearances and interactions.

④ Primarily used for brand promotion rather than actual sales.

Rapid Growth Period (2023-2024)

① The explosion of AIGC technology is the core driving force at this stage.

② The production cost of digital humans has been significantly reduced, from millions of yuan to several thousand yuan.

③ A large number of digital human tool platforms have emerged, and the market has experienced explosive growth.

④ Rapid development has led to a proliferation of low-quality digital human content, which in turn has resulted in a decline in user experience.

⑤ The platform began to formulate relevant rules, the market underwent a reshuffle, and many service providers with immature technology were eliminated.

Large-Scale Commercialization Period (2025 to present)

① Digital human live streaming has entered the stage of large-scale application, and at the same time, regulators have begun to intervene, and the industry is developing towards standardization.

② Shedding the label of "niche pilot projects," it has begun to fully penetrate all segments of e-commerce, achieving inclusive coverage from leading brands to small and medium-sized merchants.

③ The regulatory system is gradually improving, industry standards are being implemented at an accelerated pace, and the synergistic effect of the ecosystem is becoming increasingly prominent.

④ Entering a new stage of development characterized by "compliance and order, scale growth, and value upgrading".

Market Size of China's Digital Human E-commerce Live Streaming Industry

China's digital human e-commerce live streaming industry is at a critical juncture, undergoing a profound transformation towards "efficiency-driven" development. Leveraging the 85.3% market growth rate of AI digital humans in China in 2024, the large-scale deployment by over 1.14 million companies , and the vast market expectation of nearly $76.8 billion globally by 2026, digital human e-commerce live streaming has evolved from a technological concept into a core infrastructure for improving the operational efficiency of "people, goods, and place." In this new industry cycle where efficiency is paramount, its growth certainty and commercial prospects are already very clear.

Digital Human Live Streaming Technology Capabilities and Deployment of Major Chinese E-commerce Platforms

JD.com and Taobao/Tmall have completed the full-chain layout of technology, ecosystem, and rules, forming differentiated core barriers: JD.com has rapidly leveraged the large-scale access of merchants with its inclusive and free open strategy, while Taobao/Tmall focuses on technology standardization and full-chain compliance governance.

Current Pain Points and Challenges of China's Digital Human E-commerce Live Streaming Industry

The digital human e-commerce live streaming industry is currently at a critical bottleneck between rapid technological development and large-scale mature application. Its core contradiction lies in the significant gap between the potential for cost reduction and efficiency improvement brought about by technological advancements and the real-world shortcomings in user experience, operational efficiency, industry collaboration, and compliance and security.

Technical challenges

Realistic digital humans are still expensive to produce, while lightweight digital humans are of lower quality and lower cost, resulting in a significant difference in user experience.

Stiff and unnatural body movements, monotonous facial expressions, lack of "human warmth," reliance on pre-set dialogue for interaction, weak ability to answer complex questions, and insufficient millisecond-level multimodal synchronization.

Live streaming is susceptible to network fluctuations (such as interruptions or blurry images), and AI-generated content may contain logical errors and violate regulations.

Operational bottlenecks

There are few people who possess technical, operational, and content creation capabilities; most operations staff lack professional knowledge and experience in digital human live streaming, and have insufficient mastery of platform rules, script optimization, and interactive design.

Most companies are operating in isolation, lacking standardized operating procedures and systematic support.

Some users are resistant to digital human live streaming, believing it lacks human touch and authenticity; users have overly high expectations for digital human live streaming, and a poor experience can easily lead to negative reviews.

Platform barriers

The traffic support for digital human live streaming varies greatly across platforms. Most platforms offer no special support or even explicitly suppress it, making it difficult for merchants to obtain stable public traffic.

Platform openness varies from enthusiastic embrace to cautious restriction, with frequent changes in entry thresholds and rules, resulting in high trial-and-error costs for merchants operating across platforms.

The APIs, coding, and review standards of different platforms are inconsistent, making it difficult for a single solution to be adapted to multiple platforms, resulting in duplicate content production or content removal due to violations.

Compliance risks

Different platforms have different rules; compliance requirements for storage and other aspects are becoming increasingly stringent, leading to increased costs for data collection, use, and corporate compliance.

AI-generated content is prone to issues such as false advertising, absolute terms, and copyright infringement; existing platform review systems are struggling to handle the massive amounts of AI-generated content.

The division of responsibilities among digital humans, operators, and platforms is not clear enough, making it easy for them to shirk responsibility when problems arise. Consumers are becoming more aware of their rights in digital human live streaming, but it is difficult to protect their rights and the cost of obtaining evidence is high .