Blued Turns To Live-Streaming After Hitting $15m In Revenue Last Year

Chinese gay dating app Blued has joined Momo and The Meet Group by launching a live-streaming feature.

The app was recently the subject of a Bloomberg feature into the Chinese live-streaming space that focused on the recently-released Blued video tool.

As with Momo’s video function, those broadcasting on the mobile platform receive money via virtual gifts sent by viewers.

The piece tells the story of Jin, a Blued live-streamer with over 15,000 fans who makes over $274 a week, after the app takes a cut of 70%.

This is Blued’s second revenue stream alongside in-app advertising, which helped owner Blue City hit revenues of $15m last year.

The live-streaming space is estimated to have reached 200m of China’s 730m internet users, according to PwC.

Revenue generated by the segment is also expected to reach $5bn this year, up from $750m in 2014.

In an accompanying video piece to the article, the first episode of Bloomberg’s new Love Disrupted series, the news organisation interviews Blued’s 40-year-old founder Geng Le, who was one of four grand marshals to lead this year’s Pride march in New York.

Check out the article here, and watch the video below.