China Daily Gathers Digital Entertainment Leaders to Discuss IP Strategies of Virtual Idols


For Immediate Release

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China Daily Gathers Digital Entertainment Leaders to Discuss IP Strategies of Virtual Idols


HONG KONG, Dec. 4, 2020 – Co-organized by China Daily and Business of IP Asia Forum, a panel discussion session, themed “IP Strategies in the Age of Digital Ambassador” was held virtually on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. It attracted more than 200 entrepreneurs, IP creators and corporate decision makers to join online.

Jointly organized by the HKSAR Government, Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Hong Kong Design Centre, the BIP Asia Forum has featured over I70 prominent speakers sharing their insights and attracted more than 2,200 IP professionals and industry leaders to attend online. Business of IP Asia Forum is an annual event and the largest IP forum in Asia. China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable has co-organized a co-branded panel for seven consecutive years.



Four distinguished speakers at the session were: Mr Kevin Lee, founder & CEO, Redspots Creative (HK) Company Limited; Ms Catherine Liu, research director of Entgroup Solution Centre, Beijing EntGroup Century Data Technology Co, Ltd; Mr Sze Yan Ngai, founder and chairman, Gameone Holdings Limited; and Ms Yang Xiaoxuan, vice president, iQIYI. They shared their views on the future development of virtual idols in the IP industry. They also examined how virtual idol can integrate with different medium to maximize IP value.

Kevin Lee said compared with the international market, Chinese market has a more mature technical solution due to the fierce competition in the mainland market. He also highlighted the importance of IP. “Whatever technologies we are using, either AR/VR, 3D, or those technologies for virtual idols and virtual anchors, they are used to create content, and the content is led by IP. Audiences are mainly focused on content, regardless of technologies applied. So, we start to cooperate with many IPs as one of our business strategies,” he said.

According to Catherine Liu, virtual idols industry, generally speaking, is full of potentials in the market. However, the industry remains in a quite initial and primitive stage, with many commercial values untapped. She pointed out that the development of virtual idol industry has revolved around the commercial values and properties of virtual idols. There are some risks and problems. For example, there may be operational risk in the market during the incubation of products and there is problem about how to maintain the sustainable development of the virtual idols and its values while building up the virtual brands.

She also pointed out that China is changing from the nation of importing IP to creating IP. It is now focusing on quality instead of quantities. Virtual idol industry is now emerging rapidly and there are lots of commercial opportunities. IP is getting more and more attention.

Sze Yan Ngai said it is the pandemic that made people realize that the opportunities on the internet are abundant. There’re companies such as those creating content for web drama are approaching him for IP collaboration. He said he is confident that the recovery of the industry will be speedy as the Chinese mainland has fared very well. He is hopeful about more exchanges and collaborations between the industry leaders from the two sides.

Yang Xiaoxuan said for content creators, the challenge is how to realize content innovation under the premise of technological innovation. We must be familiar with both technology and operation, and then incubate products in the shortest possible time, and change some old incubation pace and patterns. This is something we as content creators must be learning in the long term to reach international level in terms of virtual idols. Regarding some popular IPs in the world, they are all closely related to the fashion industry, or film and television sector, or street fashion and art. Therefore, it’s a must to master both cutting-edge technologies and pioneering art, and to have a very good sense of the latest development in the market, to assure a spot on the global stage, she said.


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About China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable
The China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable is a by-invitation network of movers and shakers in Asia, providing platforms for focused dialogue, issue investigation and possible collective action on strategic issues relating to Asia’s economic, business and social development. Our aim is to enhance communication and increase mutual understanding between China, Asian and Western countries. Roundtable events are held in major cities across Asia.