Live-streaming sessions have become increasingly popular in China in the last few years. Chinese airlines, one of the most impacted sectors by the epidemic, are venturing into the live streaming field as well in a bid to increase sales.
Juneyao Airlines launched its first live streaming show with the help of the lastest 5G technology on Wednesday. They turned the business class cabin of their flagship airliner Boeing 787 Dreamliner into a studio. During the live streaming, Juneyao Airlines gifted round-trip flight tickets, one-year membership, direct cash discount, lounge entry, and free upgrade coupons alongside selling of plane models and other merchandise.
On Tuesday, just one day before Juneyao, Spring Airlines also launched its own streaming promotion. In addition to other possible purchases, businesses can buy an advertisement to be painted on the body of a Spring Airlines aircraft.
The founder of Spring Airlines showed up and said in the live broadcast: ” The whole aircraft body advertisement costs 14 million yuan (USD 1.96 million) a year. Today in this live broadcast room, we are offering a nearly 50% discount – down to 6.66 million yuan.”
Even so, the 6.66 million yuan is not a small amount. Unexpectedly, during the live broadcast, Spring Airlines received consulting calls from several enterprises in the game, FMCG and financial industries, expressing interest and intention of in-depth cooperation.
According to Spring Airlines, the live streaming has gained tremendous popularity, with more than 12 million people watching, and the highest number of people online at the same time reaching 1.01 million. Including product sales and aircraft painting advertisement intention, the transaction volume of the whole live broadcast exceeded 30 million yuan (USD 4.2 million).
Other airlines, including Tianjin Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and more, have also tried live streaming. There are various channels, different special guests invited to the show and all kinds of products sold by airlines. For example, Shenzhen Airlines has launched a business class voucher with a 70% – 80% discount, hoping to increase the sales of business class seats.
Industry insiders believe that live streaming sales are effective mainly for daily use products, in which air tickets are not. What draws more attention is the innovation that the Chinese aviation industry is trying to apply. These innovative sales models by live streaming, whether they are discounted tickets or business class discount vouchers, have helped airlines accumulate popularity and obtain some cash under the epidemic. And once those coupons are used, it will convert into airline revenue in the future.