Gushcloud sees 50% revenue jump amidst pandemic, dives into live-stream commerce

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Digital talent and marketing group Gushcloud International has posted a 50% revenue growth during the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020) compared to the same period last year. According to CFO Andrew Lim, Q1 2020 revenue was close to eight figures but he declined to reveal the exact amount.

He added that while digital marketing budgets have decreased, Gushcloud's business is growing as brands and clients believe in its strategy and execution capabilities, as well as its financial stability. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift to eCommerce and live-streaming and Gushcloud jumped at the opportunity to launch live commerce projects with its talents Nurul Aini and Eunice Annabel Lim. According to Gushcloud, over SG$3,500 worth of transactions was generated from the pilot episodes of "Life with Nurul Aini" and "Good Vibes with Eunice Annabel" in total, with each session lasting under an hour.

"Live-stream is a very new initiative for us and we are focused on educating the market as opposed to immediately driving sales. We are getting 10,000 to 30,000 views per live-stream," Lim told Marketing.

It is also working on live-stream show productions after a highly successful show with Cedric the Entertainer this year, Lim added. Titled "Def Comedy Jam: Healing Through Laughter", the fundraising effort hosted by Cedric the Entertainer has raised a total of US$88,000 after its live-streamed show held on 5 April.

Lim explained that live-stream commerce has been booming in China for the past five years and Gushcloud expects Southeast Asia to follow suit. That was the main reason for the team investing in live-stream commerce infrastructure to unlock this opportunity with its group of talents.

Meanwhile, Gushcloud also signed multiple new talents exclusively during Q1 2020, including The Prince Family (United States), Lily Maymac (Australia), Kmoore the Goat (United States), Reomit (South Korea), Jane Chuck (Malaysia), Binko (Thailand) and Ying Tze (Malaysia).

"The new talents signed in Q1 2020 has definitely helped our growth. We added over 100 talents into our roster during Q1 2020 in verticals we are very keen on including family, comedy, wellness, and gaming. We are traditionally strong in beauty, lifestyle, and fashion," Lim explained. Currently, Gushcloud has a roster of 300 exclusive and a network of over 30,000 digital talents. Lim said that it is core to Gushcloud's values that the influencers it works with are positively influencing viewers.

According to him, clients are keen to work with influencers because their value lies in user conversion and content. "Building quality content that lasts in peoples’ minds is key, and we are seeing more clients approach us who want to opportunistically tap into customers who are at home due to COVID-19," Lim explained.

Gushcloud also has 15 offices across 11 countries, including the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. When asked about its plans for Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, Lim said Indonesia and Thailand are its biggest offices with collectively over 100 employees. "We will continue to provide premium influencer marketing services to clients; meanwhile also to continue to build digital talents that align to our mission and values," he said.

“When the virus first broke out in January, there was initial fear. Brands and clients sat back and digested the situation before committing their advertising dollars. Towards late February, we saw brand confidence recover as they looked to capitalise on this opportunity to reach consumers who are spending more time on digital content platforms,” CEO Althea Lim said.

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