The official recognition of online streamers as a new profession marks a landmark moment in the growth of China's creator economy.

This designation signals that the short-video and livestreaming industry, once characterized by rapid and often unregulated expansion, is now being incorporated into the national occupational classification system, granting it formal social recognition.

This transition brings with it a systematic overhaul of professional standards, income models, rights protection, and industry norms for practitioners. It is undeniably a positive development, indicating that the role of an online streamer is gradually becoming a proper, regulated career path.

However, a profession that is vast in scale, geographically dispersed, and heavily reliant on content creativity and fan interaction cannot easily achieve professionalization through individual effort alone. It requires support at the institutional level, guiding individual streamers from working in isolation to a track with established processes, standards, and a clear division of labor. In this context, MCN (Multi-Channel Network) agencies play a crucial role and are held to high expectations.

In recent years, a number of MCN agencies of significant scale have made tangible contributions to the professionalization of streamers. Field research reveals that some agencies have established training periods of up to three months for new streamers, breaking down skills such as breath control, on-camera presence, and improvisation into detailed training modules, transforming sensationalized selling tactics into more authentic forms of expression. Others have built professional legal and business support platforms, offering end-to-end services from contract review and brand credibility checks to tax compliance filings, allowing streamers to focus on content creation without administrative burdens. Some agencies have implemented dual-level topic review and real-time script warning systems, intercepting problematic trends like the promotion of materialism and wealth flaunting at an early stage, effectively reducing compliance risks. More notably, a few agencies have begun paying monthly social insurance for contracted streamers, setting minimum guaranteed remuneration, and scheduling regular weekly psychological counseling sessions, providing a channel for streamers to voice concerns and seek support. These initiatives may still be in their early stages, but each represents a positive step toward standardizing the industry.

This demonstrates that MCN agencies are not a superfluous addition to the creator economy, but rather vital organizational vehicles driving it toward standardization, professionalization, and sustainable growth.

Nevertheless, the misconduct of some MCN agencies has also generated considerable disorder in the digital space. For instance, some agencies have industrialized the use of fabricated sob stories, while others go so far as to invent fake social incidents, blatantly exploiting public goodwill. There are agencies that collude with platforms for fake engagement, using bot followers, fraudulent comments, and manipulated discussions to create an illusion of popularity, undermining the fair rules of the platform ecosystem. Some set contractual traps from the outset, with vague terms and disproportionately high penalty clauses, severely restricting a streamer's career growth. Others neglect content review altogether, or even actively promote vulgar or unethical content and the glorification of wealth, crossing the line of public decency. Such behaviors not only erode netizens' trust in livestream content but also damage the fledgling social reputation of this new profession.

Why do these problems arise? One underlying cause is that many MCN agencies in China still operate with outdated organizational models and insufficient internal professionalization. Numerous agencies have their roots in early online communities and voice-based "guilds," retaining strong characteristics of traditional fraternal organizations. Mentorship-based hierarchies, family-style workshops, and reliance on personal networks remain the operational foundation for some. Under this model, boundaries of rights and responsibilities are blurred, contractual awareness is weak, and profit distribution often depends on the personal authority of managers rather than modern corporate governance. While this model may have kept management costs low in the early stages, it has laid the groundwork for frequent disputes and governance failures. When practitioners move toward professionalization but the institutional structure lags behind, conflicts become almost inevitable.

Another contributing factor is the short-sightedness and speculative mindset that often accompany rapid expansion. With the successive booms in livestream e-commerce and short-video sales, a surge of capital and entrepreneurs have flooded into the MCN space. Some agencies have never had a long-term plan for operations or talent development from their inception, chasing only short-term gains. When they face penalties for violations, they may dissolve their entity or simply rebrand to continue operating. This "hit-and-run" approach increases speculative opportunities and fuels a culture of impatience. When agencies face no lasting consequences for their credibility, they are unlikely to genuinely prioritize the professional growth of streamers or the social impact of content.

In recent years, regulators have acknowledged these issues and issued a series of compliance documents, such as the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Livestream E-commerce" and the "Notice on Strengthening the Regulation of Livestream Tip- Giving." The intent of regulation is not to restrict the development of MCN agencies, but to promote their stable and sustainable growth. These documents provide clear stipulations on qualification reviews for MCN agencies, their primary responsibility for content, streamer management, and tax compliance. They not only establish regulatory red lines but also send a clear message: the professionalization of online streamers is not just an individual transformation; it also necessitates a standardization upgrade for MCN agencies.

Now that online streamer has become a recognized profession, it marks industry progress. However, the true realization of professionalization requires streamers to enhance their skills on camera, and equally requires the MCN agencies behind them to become more mature, standardized, and accountable off camera.

Only then can the creator economy move beyond a purely traffic-driven model and enter a virtuous cycle guided by institutional frameworks. This will also contribute to a cleaner and more orderly online environment as the industry undergoes this professionalization process.