Online sticker makers eye off-screen opportunities

Online stickers or emojis in China are very popular with billions of downloads everyday. [from IC]

Online stickers are not only a quintessential part of everyday life in China, but also a profitable business.

Lin Dongdong, CEO of Xiamen-based sticker developer Starmoly, often dreams of creating animated characters as famous as those made by Walt Disney. And it might just happen.

Rumi the panda, Moer the raccoon, and an egg named Waang are among the animated stickers created by Lin's company that have become online celebrities across China.

Stickers are groups of moving graphics used to communicate and express emotions by social media users. They generally comprise images, animated gifs, viral quotes, anime scenes, or TV and film stills.

Lin said that users, mainly on China's leading messaging and social media app WeChat, have made over 1.4 billion downloads and sent 40 billion Starmoly stickers to date.

Why online emojis are so popular in China? Take a listen to the discussion between Liu Min and Ryan Price, hosts from Studio+, a daily live show on China Plus.