vivo S60 launch draws record audience on PCOnline livestream

Smartphone maker vivo captured the largest livestream audience in recent Chinese tech media history when it staged the S60 series launch through Pacific Online’s dedicated broadcast channel, pulling more than 1.6 million concurrent viewers on May 29. The figure dwarfs competing product reveals hosted on the same platform and underscores how Chinese consumer electronics brands are increasingly treating livestream channels as their primary launch stage.

The vivo S60 event, scheduled for 7:30 pm Beijing time, ran unopposed as the most-watched broadcast on PCOnline’s live hub, attracting 1,628,985 viewers according to platform data. A day earlier, BYD’s “Dare To Be” intelligent strategy announcement drew 1,048,750 viewers to the same channel, while Huawei-backed AITO’s M9 series launch on May 27 pulled 91,587. The three back-to-back events illustrate how tightly packed China’s spring launch calendar has become, with brands jostling for attention through streaming-first reveals that bypass traditional press conferences entirely.

For vivo, the audience scale signals momentum for the S60 line at a time when the mid-range smartphone segment has become the most contested battleground in China’s handset market. Competitors including Xiaomi, OPPO, and Honor have all escalated promotional spending around their own upper-mid devices, pushing brands to seek more direct relationships with consumers. Hosting the launch on a mainstream technology portal rather than a closed media event gives vivo unfiltered access to purchase-intent audiences already browsing for product news.

BYD’s second-place showing on the platform is notable in its own right. The automaker’s intelligent strategy event, themed around its push into advanced driver assistance and cabin electronics, attracted an audience nearly 60 percent the size of vivo’s phone launch — an unusually strong result for an automotive reveal on a general technology livestream channel. The turnout suggests that BYD’s software pivot is generating genuine interest among the same consumer tech audience that typically tunes in for phone and gadget launches.

Industry observers note that the PCOnline broadcast channel has become a reliable gauge of launch-day buzz in China, with viewership counts now treated as a soft metric for media impact. The platform aggregates livestreams from multiple manufacturers across categories, giving trade watchers a single venue to track the competitive cadence of Chinese new product releases.

AITO’s smaller turnout for the M9 event reflects a narrower audience pool for premium electric SUVs, though the brand’s visibility on the channel keeps it within the broader tech conversation. Huawei’s distribution muscle and its tight integration with the HarmonyOS ecosystem continue to anchor AITO’s launches, even when viewership trails that of mass-market smartphone events.

The clustering of three major launches within a 72-hour window highlights the pressure on Chinese brands to differentiate beyond specifications alone. Livestream interactivity — including real-time polls, prize draws, and integrated e-commerce links — has become the battlefield where brands now compete for share of voice, and the raw viewer numbers emerging from platforms like PCOnline offer the clearest window yet into which narratives are resonating with Chinese consumers.

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