While Douyin e‑commerce has seen a clear trend of “de‑influencing” (reducing reliance on a few top creators) in 2026, several super‑top hosts still lead the pack thanks to their unique personal IP +++strategic positioning.
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Based on industry rankings and single‑live sales data, the current top three are split among a transformed celebrity, a native internet influencer, and a content entrepreneur.
Top 3 Livestreaming Celebrities / KOLs on Douyin in 2026
TOP 1: Li Yapeng (李亚鹏)
A phenomenal livestreaming sensation in early 2026, Li dominates the charts with his unique “cultural IP + livestream selling” model.
- Key data (January 23, 2026): His live stream quickly reached #1 on Douyin’s overall livestream ranking, with peak viewers exceeding 100,000 and sales reaching RMB 16.838 million – far surpassing other top hosts.
- Subsequent streams hit new highs, with tea sales alone exceeding RMB 160 million in a single session.
- His followers surged from 6 million to approximately 10.482 million during this period.
- Core categories: Tea, tea ware, calligraphy tools, and other culture‑adjacent products.
TOP 2: Yuhui Tongxing (与辉同行) – Dong Yuhui
Led by Dong Yuhui, a former New Oriental teacher, the team has continued to expand its influence after splitting from East Buy (Dongfang Zhenxuan) and operating independently.
- Performance (January 2026 Spring Festival campaign): Multiple live streams consistently generated sales of several million RMB per session.
- Positioned as a key destination for high‑loyalty user traffic on the platform.
TOP 3: Crazy Xiaoyang Ge (疯狂小杨哥)
With 97.989 million followers the highest among individual influencers on Douyin – he is an iconic figure in China’s short‑video and livestreaming e‑commerce space.
- His agency, Three Sheep Network, has built a mature MCN matrix.
- Known for his exaggerated, manic selling style, he set countless sales records in the past.
- He has now partially stepped back from daily hosting, shifting focus to behind‑the‑scenes operations and collaborating with external creators for distribution. Nevertheless, his commercial legacy remains formidable.
DEEP INSIDE (for Pro)
📈 Ecom Trends for Douyin KOLs in 2026
- The shift: Vertical/narrow‑niche is king – “broad reach” no longer works
The algorithm now uses a “professional user verification” mechanism, requiring content to gain industry recognition before reaching larger traffic pools. The commercial value of 5,000 highly targeted niche followers far exceeds that of 100,000 generic followers. - Power shift: Top hosts cool down; mid‑tier & brand self‑broadcasting rise
Traffic distribution has become decentralized. 2025 data show that 89.34% of GMV came from small‑to‑medium creators and brand self‑broadcast stores, while top hosts accounted for only 10.66%. Over‑reliance on a few super‑top hosts is becoming riskier and more expensive. - Commercial focus: From chasing GMV to capturing high‑value “search‑after‑viewing”
User behavior has matured – over 50% of transaction value now comes from “search‑after‑viewing” and proactive search. Douyin’s daily search volume reached 4.1 billion in 2026, with 47% being “clear decision‑driven searches” with strong purchase intent. - AI empowerment: From human‑driven to human‑AI collaboration
AI improves production efficiency by 4–5 times, but cannot yet replace authentic personal branding. The barrier to AIGC has dropped significantly – the number of older (50+) creators grew by 85% year‑on‑year. “AI + creativity” is a key platform priority, and authentic ordinary‑person content, with 40% higher engagement rates, has become a lucrative track. - Payment change: Douyin raises minimum commission to 5%
New rules in March 2026: except for certain special categories, the minimum affiliate commission on Douyin’s Selection Alliance will rise from 1% to 5%. This sharply squeezes margins for low‑price, high‑volume unbranded sellers, pushing brands to focus on high‑efficiency creators. - Role evolution: From KOL to COL (Cultural Opinion Leader)
The old model of relying on follower count alone is weakening. COLs – who offer deep cultural insights and strong personal stories – have become the new favorites of brands, with conversion rates far exceeding those of broad‑reach KOLs.
What is Douyin?
Douyin (Chinese Tiktok) is obeviously one of the most popular social networks in China. It was launched in September 2016 by the Chinese giant tech behemoth. It is positioned as a short music video UGC for Chinese young people. Since its launch, it gets viral in China as if he would never stop. As of March 2020, Douyin, TikTok’s China native app, saw its monthly active users increased to 518 million, at an increase of 14.7% YoY.
With Douyin’s powerful editing capabilities, users can add music and effects to their videos in order to make them more interesting. Viral videos on Douyin could get 30-200 million views within one day. The most popular videos are often between 10 to 30 seconds long.
This music-video social platform is very attractive and addictive to users by proposing the same type of short videos through their AI algorithm. The immersive full-screen interface offers users a very comfortable user experience. Who can not be appealed?
Douyin Marketing Agency in China Top international Douyin partner for KOL and ecommerce strategies. Backlink: https://ecommercechinaagency.com/douyin-agency-in-china/
Douyin E-Commerce for Foreign Brands Guide Expert KOL selection and product-market fit for Douyin success. Backlink: https://ecommercechinaagency.com/douyin-ecommerce-foreign-brands-guide/
Influencer Marketing For Ecommerce in China Shanghai-based KOL campaigns driving effective ecommerce promotions. Backlink: https://ecommercechinaagency.com/influencer-marketing-for-ecommerce-in-china/
Douyin: A great marketing tool in China
Since Douyin has a giant user base and now is the most popular short video platform, it is now also a great marketing tool for any business in China or business who want to enter the market.
There are more and more people who are addicted to using Douyin. Brands are also aware of this and increase their investment on Douyin. Even the cold Chanel ran 12 advertisements of vertical-screen on Douyin.
As a newly emerging traffic pool, Douyin has become a new battlefield sought after by many companies. There are two principal Douyin marketing strategies, either TVC model, making blockbuster videos, or looking for Internet celebrities (KOL) to do something that follows the trend.
Previous stars Douyin 2020…
Who are the top three of the most popular celebrities on Douyin?
— Data from Statista
According to date from Statista, as of June 2020, the Chinese male actor Chen He was the most followed celebrity on Douyin, followed by Dilireba and Show Lo. The account of Chen He amassed almost 69 million fans in China. Dilraba Dilmurat is a model, actress, and singer, and Show Lo is a singer and actor.
Chen He: the “King” of Douyin
According to data, Chen He is the most popular one on Douyin. He became very popular through the variety show “Running Men” and the role of an actor. He has a very high EQ and is very funny. As of the moment of writing, he has 73 million followers on TikTok. This is not only from the accumulation of popularity of his celebrity role. but also from Chen He’s own operation in Douyin.
His Douyin homepage covers all aspects of daily life, from himself in fashion style to photos of baby and food. Recently, Chen He has announced officially that he will open a channel for selling products on Douyin.
Douyin has already developed into a social e-commerce like many other Chinese social networks, for example, WeChat and Xiaohongshu.
Dilireba and Show Lo: leading celebrities on Douying for different reasons
Dilireba is a Chinese actress, singer, and model of Uighur ethnicity. Her appearance is very attractive to Chinese people. She has played a lot of Chinese costume dramas. The big quantity of her works has gained great popularity in China. Even she published only 27 short videos on Douyin, she is still number 2 in terms of Douyin followers numbers.
Dilireba is one of the most in-demand brand ambassadors in China, and she had numerous endorsements ranging from food and beverage, daily commodities, beauty products, to mobile applications and technological products. Several international brands like L’Oréal and Mikimoto have cooperated with her to have an increase in sales after engaging Dilraba as their spokesperson.
Show Lo is a Taiwanese singer, actor, and host. He is commonly known by his nickname Xiao Zhu (Little Pig). He is recognized for his trademark dance music and comedic talent.
How Show Lo became popular on Douyin?
If you look at Show Luo’s Tik Tok homepage, the funny videos will make you laugh. In fact, in recent years, he doesn’t have a lot of film and television works, and not very popular in China. Moreover, he has been engaged in many scandals. But why he could manage to be the NO.3 on Douyin? This is a very good question. Let me explain why.
Whatever you say, he is indeed a star who has already a fan base. Besides, he posts a lot. Others post one in two or three weeks. However, sometimes he can even post two or three in just one single day. What’s more, he responds a lot, he can reply to seven or eight comments or even more under the video. He interacts a lot with his followers and almost whoever picks up him.
Last but very important and the basic one: the content he posted are interesting and funny. He knows his advantages in doing short videos and what Chinese people like to watch.
Douyin marketing can boost business sales with the right strategies
Compared with text or graphic content, short video content allows followers more intuitively to touch the daily life of a popular actor, and also build a connection with fans under the ecology of Douyin.
On this basis, the derived live-streaming e-commerce has a natural transition, and it is also what Douyin is doing – link social media to e-commerce. The user relationship built under the connection of fans constitutes the trust required for live-streaming selling. Even though the goal is not selling products by live-streaming, high exposure gained on Douyin can guide traffic to brands’ online shop and boost brand awareness, thus generate leads.
Douyin Key Data Points (2026)
| # | Metric | Data |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Global MAU | 2 billion (1.001 billion domestic) |
| 2 | 2026 projected GMV | RMB 4.5 trillion (target: RMB 5 trillion) |
| 3 | Growth engine | Deep integration of content & consumption – GMV growth far exceeds traditional e‑commerce |
| 4 | Service provider share | 65% of GMV will come from professional DP (Douyin Partners), deepening brand reliance on refined operations |
| 5 | Ecosystem health | 95.2% of hosts earn less than RMB 5,000/month; 5.36 million new creators earn stable income through niche verticals |
| 6 | Commercial infrastructure | Seamless “content → social → consumption” loop; average monthly local life transactions reach 4.2; shelf e‑commerce entering rapid growth phase |
🤝 How Brands Can Work with Top Livestreamers on Douyin
Brands must clarify their goal: brand awareness or direct sales.
Common Cooperation Models
- Pure Commission Model (纯佣)
- No upfront fee (zero “slot fee”). Only pay a percentage of sales.
- Suitable for budget‑limited brands that want to test volume with mid‑ or low‑tier creators.
- Slot Fee + Commission Model (坑位费+佣金)
- Fixed appearance fee + CPS commission.
- The standard model for top hosts. Earlier slot fees once reached RMB 600,000 – 1,000,000 per host.
- Annual / Exclusive Session (年单/包场)
- Brand pays a high “exclusive session fee” to lock in a host for several hours or a full day.
- A high‑risk gamble: the merchant bears inventory and return risks.
- Official Matching & Xingtu (星图) Tasks
- Brands can post tasks via Douyin’s “Selection Alliance” or find creators through Juliang Xingtu (Douyin’s official influencer platform).
- Xingtu now offers flexible pricing models including fixed price and performance‑based payment, with batch filtering for mid‑tier creators.
⚠️ Pitfall Avoidance Guide
A real‑life cost analysis example shows a top‑tier livestream with total costs of RMB 2.2575 million generated RMB 2.18 million in sales – a net loss of RMB 825,000.
Recommendations:
- Start with pure commission or low slot‑fee models to test the creator’s real performance data.
- Carefully budget cost structures.
- Follow official platforms with high policy transparency.
- Control legal risks for key contract terms.
Three key factors for a successful Douyin video
As you have must seen in the case of Show Lo, strategies are very essential in a successful campaign. The frequency, keywords, content of posts are key factors to promote brand recognition.
There are three important places in copywriting: titles, comments, and subtitles. The title plays a key role in improving video playback and the interaction rate. The video titles that work very well on Douyin mainly are narrative and suspense types.
The narrative title helps users reduce the cost of understanding through a complete description, and the main point of the video can be learned by just looking at the title. Suspense-type headlines usually leave half the words and arouse users’ curiosity. This style of title can help improve the completion of video playback. If the video effect is consistent with the user’s expectations, it will also increase the user’s enthusiasm for interaction.
EcomAgency has been doing the Douyin marketing for big or small business since long time. No matter which sector you are in and no matter you are big or small companies, we can always find a suitable strategy to boost your sales in China.
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