Austin Li

Austin Li (李佳琦) is a Chinese livestream e-commerce host who rose to prominence as one of the most recognizable faces of China's livestreaming boom in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Per FreeS Fund research from 2019-2021, he and fellow host Viya became the defining examples of the shift from "internet celebrity selling their own brands" to a new model where influencers act as "advertisers or livestream e-commerce" channels helping users discover new products . His signature "buy it" pitch drew comparisons to American TV shopping, with one FreeS piece noting the essential similarity between his style and the "only 998" infomercial format .

The bundle shows him operating as a commercial partner to consumer brands rather than merely a media figure. In 2019, aromatherapy skincare brand Zhuben collaborated with him for 34 livestream sessions, including one that moved 50,000 bottles of makeup remover in a single minute . Perfect Diary invited him to do an in-store livestream to drive foot traffic to a new offline location that same year . More recently, a 2026 interview with consumer founder Koji referenced a painful experience of preparing 2 million RMB in seasonal inventory for an Austin Li livestream that sold only 600,000 RMB worth—leaving the brand stuck with unsold stock .

As early as late 2019, Li was also signaling ambitions to build beyond the host role, with reports that he planned to launch his own personal brand .