Unit Economics For Streaming on Kuaishou

As of Feb 2021,

For independent individuals – 40% of gross value of virtual gifts, when tax withheld is 20%

Streamers = 40%

Streamer’s tax withheld by Kuaishou = 10%

Kuaishou = 50%

For streamers under a “family/union” – varies.

Unions can set the sharing ratio to between 35% and 50%.

For example, if the ratio is set at 40%, and tax withheld is 0 (to simplify)

Streamers = 40% (certain tax should be withheld)

Union = 10%

Kuaishou = 50%

In addition, Kuaishou gives back additional revenue-sharing (“bonus”) as incentive if certain growth/active targets are achieved, up to 12% of gross value (after-tax I assume).

The larger the union, the higher basic bonus (up to 2%) it can get. Active bonus (1%) requirement is a bit higher for larger union. Growth target is lower for large unions. Growth bonus is tiered and every union can potentially get the full 9% growth bonus.

Therefore, if a union get say 5% bonus, following the previous example, then

Streamers = 40%

Union = 15%

Kuaishou = 45%

Unions can set certain bonus internally for streamers, and often provide a base pay + % commission model for streamers.


We could see from Kuaishou’s reported financials that after deducting “revenue sharing to streamers and related taxes”, Kuaishou retains a bit over 40% of its live-streaming revenue.