Panda TV’s demise makes way for gaming giant Tencent to dominate livestreaming

Last August, Wang Sicong showed up on his livestreaming network Panda TV to play a game of League of Legends for his esports team. The flamboyant son of Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men, did not do great, but his team won. The professional match ended up getting a peak of 50 million concurrent viewers, according to Panda TV, setting a record for the platform.

Showgirls promote Panda TV at China’s biggest gaming show. / Photo: Zheping Huang

To give some context, the record for an individual’s livestream on US-based Twitch was 628,000 concurrent viewers, when Fortnite pro Ninja played alongside rap star Drake in March last year.

It took less than a year for Panda TV to go from peak to bottom. Last month, the company officially shut down its server after failing to raise fresh funds to keep operations going in a cash-burning industry. The decision, first announced on March 8, came amid reports that Wang’s company would file for bankruptcy and dismiss its 500-strong workforce, mostly based in Beijing’s Wangjing tech hub.

By the end of last year, Panda TV still ranked as China’s No. 3 game streaming network in terms of daily active users, trailing Tencent Holdings-backed Huya and Douyu, according to data firm Jiguang. Back in October, Panda TV chief operating officer Zhang Juyuan floated the idea of an initial public offering, after the company raised about US$150 million in its last funding round in 2017.

After Panda TV’s fall, game-streaming in China is now dominated by Tencent, which also controls many other aspects of the country’s video games industry. In addition to backing Douyu and Huya, the Shenzhen-based internet giant made another bet in 2016 with its own streaming platform eGame, which ranked just behind Panda TV in terms of daily active users in December, according to research firm Jiguang.

“Content and streamers are keys for livestreaming platforms, and that’s why Tencent could quickly step in and take the lead,” said Turian Tan, a Beijing-based market analyst with research firm IDC.

The rapid fall of Panda TV serves as a cautionary tale for entrepreneurs and investors in China’s once red-hot livestreaming industry, which in recent years has seen a growth slowdown, market consolidation, and challenges from the rising popularity of short-video apps.

China is home to the world’s biggest livestreaming user base, with industry revenue expected to grow to US$16.5 billion by 2022 from 2017’s US$5.5 billion, according to figures cited by Huya’s filing with the New York Stock Exchange.

Panda TV did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email listed on its website.

Founded in late 2015, Panda TV came about during what was known locally as the “1,000 Streaming War.” Huya and Douyu had already gained attention among Chinese gamers after operating for more than a year, but Panda stood out thanks to its celebrity founder.

Dubbed “China’s national husband,” Wang, 31, is known for his flamboyant lifestyle and lavish display of wealth, including one photo showing his pet husky wearing two gold Apple Watches. In 2009, Wang founded venture capital firm Prometheus with an initial 500 million yuan (US$74 million) from his father, founder of the property titan Dalian Wanda Group.

An avid esports fan, the younger Wang bought a top Chinese esports club in 2011 and rebranded it Invictus Gaming (IG). In December, IG claimed the first League of Legends World Championship for China and won hearts on the country’s internet. A photo of Wang stuffing his face with a hotdog at the final was turned into online memes – and most recently was the inspiration for a dwarf-like creature in the LoL game itself.

At its peak, Panda TV attracted a long list of top streamers in games like LoL and Hearthstone, all taking home generous paychecks. Wang’s connection, meanwhile, helped Panda TV book streaming sessions with pop stars, including Taiwanese singer Jay Chou and Singapore’s JJ Lin. As part of its move to expand beyond gaming, Panda TV also went on to produce variety shows attended by celebrity guests including Wang himself.