(Yicai) Aug. 27 -- Shanghai retained its spot as the leading Chinese city in livestream e-commerce last year, ranking first for the fourth year in a row.

Shanghai’s livestream e-commerce retail sales rose 16 percent to around CNY573.4 billion (USD85.3 billion) in 2025 from the previous year, according to data released by Fudan University’s Big Data Laboratory of Consumer Market yesterday.

Shanghai has formed four livestream economic clusters with distinct industrial characteristics in Changning, Yangpu, and Songjiang districts, as well as the Hongqiao International Central Business District, an official from the Municipal Commission of Commerce told media at an event yesterday. The city has also set up 20 livestream e-commerce bases, including Oriental CJ, Rongmomo, the Shanghai International Short Video Center, and 5808, the person added.

Under a three-year action plan for the livestream economy released by the commission in 2024, Yangpu focuses on aggregating multi-channel network agencies to build an industry ecosystem that covers content creation and talent cultivation, Changning specializes in fashion and consumer brands livestreams, and Songjiang aims to deeply integrate local factories with livestream e-commerce. Hongqiao International CBD’s livestream operations center around cross-border trade, exhibitions, and various products made in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The livestream economy in Yangpu topped CNY78 billion (USD11.6 billion) last year. The district brought in 140 new companies along the relevant supply chain, formed over 100 livestream locations, and hosted more than 10,000 sessions throughout the year, while starting to take shape as a comprehensive ecosystem integrating the digital and real economies by attracting many high-quality content creators.

In addition, the livestream incubation base at the CSSC Science and Technology Park in Yangpu spans an operating area of 15,000 square meters. It is equipped with shared studios and professional livestream rooms, with rental costs at just one-third the market rate.

The base houses over 40 livestream companies and 25 upstream and downstream supporting firms, forging a complete ecosystem chain spanning from talent training and commercial monetization to cross-border e-commerce, an executive at the base pointed out.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev