An online host in Wuhan, Hubei Province, interacts with her fans during a live stream. (Photo : IC)
Online host Ding Yao asked as she sat down to speak to The Paper, "Can I live-stream your interview?"
Ding took an hour to get her makeup ready for the next live-stream. Everything she needed for the show was on the opposite side of her dressing table, including a microphone, computer and a high-powered lamp.
Ding is an affluent member of the world of online hosts with a fan base of about 480,000 viewers, according to the Global Times. She lives in an apartment worth 15 million yuan ($2.28 million) in the CBD of Shanghai. While the apartment is just rental, Ding is much better than most other female online hosts who live in small crowded apartments and can lay hands on less expensive props and clothing.
However, all women in the industry have one goal: to get rich and famous. Such women have come from different backgrounds, from students to less-educated women from the country's poor rural areas, but they have embraced the low-cost industry to earn their way to true stardom.
The 23-year-old Ding has come a long way to stardom after studying law in college. She took small roles in online dramas and modeled for magazines with the hope of becoming a star.
Ding is the envy of many other women in the industry because she is attractive. However, at the beginning of her career, Ding was very restrained and shy to the extent that she could not answer her viewers' comment posts. It took scolding from her agent for Ding to become more attractive.
Ding took control by observing how other hosts interacted with their fans. As a result, she garnered a fan base of 480,000 within two months. At some point, she attracted 600,000 viewers to her show when she streamed a "fashion show" in which she displayed all the clothes she bought from South Korea.
Fans constantly sent her "rocket" emojis as presents to show that they enjoy the show. Ding can exchange the rockets for 500 yuan in cash.
Describing her fans, Ding said, "They are very young and are very vain. Sometimes they hope the host will become their girlfriend."
On the other hand, one of her fans described Ding as the ideal girl that most men fantasize about and that she had a far superior taste for clothing as compared to other rural hosts.
