Vloggers hit pay dirt; advertisers perk up

Vlog, or video blog, is gaining popularity among young people in China, as many of them use smartphones or cameras to record and share their daily lives and thoughts, and upload these videos online.

Different from short videos, which usually last from 10 seconds to a few minutes each, vlog is not limited in terms of duration. It could last five minutes to an hour, and has relatively higher standards than those for short videos as creators need to master multiple skills, such as editing, filming and performing.

Vlog as a format of video has proven quite popular on videostreaming site YouTube since 2012, but it started to gain momentum in China in the last two years. A vlog may last just a few minutes, but vloggers put in several hours, or even days, in preparation.