On Aug. 10, Chinese Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui made a live broadcast using the app Yingke. According to statistics provided by Yingke, a total of 10,540,000 viewers tuned in to hear what the Olympian had to say, and over 300,000 viewers replayed the video afterward.
During the broadcast, which lasted for one hour, Fu received 3,185,000 virtual diamonds, which viewers purchased for 318,000 yuan. Of that amount, Yingke receives 216,000 yuan; the rest belongs to Fu.
Fu Yuanhui in a live broadcast
From the start, Fu made it clear that she wasn't doing the broadcast to collect money or gifts. Addressing her fans, she explained, "I am chatting with you not for the gifts. If I were not a web celebrity, the broadcast would be more joyful, because I could see your replies on the screen but not the gifts." Fu claims she will not accept any money from the virtual offerings, and that to do so would make her feel guilty.
Fu has gained near-overnight celebrity due to her refreshing frankness and exaggerated facial expressions during the Rio Olympic Games. In the past four days alone, 4 million netizens added her on Weibo. There are thousands of comments and likes under a recent post about the Games.
Several hours before her broadcast, Fu posted her first commercial on her Weibo. Already it has received 31,000 comments and over 470,000 likes. For this Fu explained that she preferred not to advertise, but her team had requested that she do so.
Recently, a musician even registered the name "prehistoric power," in an homage to one of Fu's most beloved interviews. In that interview, Fu jokingly claimed that she had used all her prehistoric powers to do so well in the competition she had just completed.
Fu's exaggerated facial expression
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