Live Streamers in the Spotlight

Selling products live online has taken off in Singapore in a big way, generating sales figures in hours that could take days for a physical store to achieve

- Amanda Chai Style Correspondent

At 5.55pm promptly on May 5, Mr Fredy Chia taps the live function on his smartphone. As viewers trickle in, he relishes these opening minutes of silence—his last before six hours of non-stop talking.

For its 15th anniversary, Chinese skincare brand IEM booked the 28-year-old Singaporean months in advance to do a live sale on the coveted double-digit sale date.

Soon, screams of "$1! $1!" reverberate around the unassuming office meeting room, in a fastest-fingers-first game of flash deals and vouchers. There is singing, yelling, clapping and impromptu dancing.

Behind the scenes, a brand executive furiously uploads shopping links and vouchers timed to Mr Chia's spontaneous chatter. "3, 2, 1!" goes the refrain before every new link is dropped. Each deal is snapped up in minutes.

On the other side of the island, in a warehouse in Loyang Drive, another Singaporean live seller, Ms Emily Tan, is waxing lyrical about different types of Zappy wipes.

"Mimi, I've already told you twice. For babies, you should get the antibacterial wipes," the 31-year-old replies in mock exasperation to a hapless comment now on its third offence.

In the past year, the billion-dollar live-streaming industry has taken off in Singapore. No longer just a marketing gimmick, live selling has become an integral part of the rapidly evolving world of e-commerce.

Data platform Statista forecast that revenue from social commerce—which live selling falls under—would surpass US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) by 2028, up from more than US$570 billion in 2023. It estimated social commerce revenue in Singapore at more than US$560 million in 2024.

According to a report from analytics website Streams Charts, TikTok Live generated over eight billion watch hours in the first quarter of 2025, surpassing streaming platform Twitch and representing about 27 per cent of the total watch hours across all platforms.