In less than two years, Newegg Commerce Inc. went from no livestreamed content to livestreaming 150 hours per week.

Newegg, which sells electronics and ranks No. 58 in the 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, started livestreaming in October 2021.  The live videos, which it shot on a smartphone, featured one of three hosts demonstrating products. Viewers could watch the shows on social media and Newegg.com, and tap to buy the products the hosts featured.

“It was pretty rudimentary,” says Drew Roder, director of Newegg Media.

Today, Newegg has a team of 25 that handles its livestreams, 30 hosts and five professionally built livestreaming stages with professional lighting and recording equipment. The sixth stage is currently in construction for a total of 10,000 square feet in its Los Angeles studio. In fact, Newegg spun off Newegg Media in January 2023 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Newegg.

Newegg’s livestreams are from six active social media handles, or usernames, that each have their own audience, focus of products and personality tied to them.

“We want to take the HSN, QVC tried-and-true business model and refresh it, give it a shot of energy and give it the Red Bull, and push it out to a new generation and see what we can do with it,” says Ben Tibbels, studio producer.

The hosts are influencers in their own right, Roder says.

“We really try to look for the host to bring the energy and to find the voice for that community,” he says.

Newegg touts engagement and revenue from livestreams

The reason Newegg is doubling down on livestream videos is because of the program’s success. From October 2021 through mid-May 2023, 26 million consumers have viewed a livestream on Newegg.com, and its livestreams received on average 260,000 monthly viewers on TikTok.

And the real litmus test for business success: “Millions in revenue” is attributed to livestreaming in just 2023 alone, Roder says. Plus, the venture is profitable, he says without disclosing more. Products featured in a livestream received increased traffic to those product detail pages, Newegg says without sharing specific traffic or sales data.

Consumers can watch Newegg livestreams on Newegg.com/Live, the Newegg mobile app, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook.

Newegg is pleased with these results, especially because not many other retailers have recently started a livestreaming program and had it grow so quickly.

“The growing pains are real. There is no a road map. No one has been doing this,” Roder says. “At this scale, it’s trial and error.”

Livestreaming is still gaining traction with consumers, and it varies by category, according to three separate Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights consumer surveys of online shoppers. For a survey of 1,038 online home shoppers in April 2023, 5% of shoppers said livestreaming was an important website feature when shopping for home products. And only 6% of online apparel shoppers said it was an important feature for apparel shopping, according to a June 2023 survey of 1,003 online apparel shoppers. But in a March 2023 survey of 1,053 online cosmetic shoppers, 15% of shoppers say they’ve watched a livestreaming beauty event to help find the right product.

TikTok receives the most livestream engagement at Newegg

Social media platform TikTok is where Newegg’s livestreams receive the most traction, Tibbels says. From January to mid-May 2023, the livestreams have generated 4.5 million product impressions, 6 million likes and 300,000 unique commenters on TikTok.

“Most of our action comes from TikTok. That’s where we see the most engagement. YouTube falls shortly behind,” Tibbels says.

This traction could be because of Newegg’s encouragement. Often, Newegg simulcasts the livestreams on TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter and Facebook, but the hosts will encourage viewers verbally to watch the streams on TikTok or YouTube. For example, a host may say, “If you’re watching us on TikTok, your shopping cart will be right down there.” Those platforms have the best native buying experience, Roder says. Meaning, if a viewer wants to buy a product that is featured in the livestream, she can typically buy it off of Newegg.com within three taps from YouTube or TikTok, compared with the seven steps it may take from other social media platforms, he says.

“From TikTok, if you click buy, it brings you straight to your shopping cart. It cuts out the pain points of the customer journey,” Roder says.

During a livestream, if a viewer asks a question to a host on Facebook, Newegg will make sure to add that question to the TikTok cue so more viewers can comment on it. This helps keep the TikTok engagement active, which helps feed TikTok’s algorithm to boost the post’s visibility, Roder says.

New revenue streams with livestreaming

Because Newegg Media is its own entity, it can look for new revenue streams. Part of how the merchant does this is by having one of the brands it sells sponsor a livestream.

For example, a consumer brand manufacturer like Intel Corp. may pay Newegg an undisclosed sum for a “brand takeover,” in which the host will only talk about Intel products during an entire livestream or for a specific block of time. Newegg may brand its background to Intel colors or show its logo as well.

A livestream will be sponsored at least weekly, if not daily, Roder says. When Newegg was only livestreaming eight hours a day, Tibbels estimates that about 20% of its livestreams were sponsored. This percentage has fluctuated and decreased as Newegg has increased its livestreaming hours.

Another avenue for Newegg Media revenue is white labeling its livestream service, or allowing other retailers and brands to use its livestream studio, equipment and share its expertise with them. Or, Newegg Media will help other brands set up a room or build a stage for livestreaming. Newegg charges an undisclosed fee for this service, which brings in revenue and helps create awareness that Newegg is an expert in this area, Roder says.

Newegg plans to continue to double down on livestreaming content, with more handles and spotlighted categories in the works.