Would you sit in front of your computer for hours just to see a stranger eating ice? Apparently, millions of people in China would.
A bizarre trend has reportedly emerged in the Far East which sees web users logging onto live-streaming video sites to watch hosts munching on frozen treats.
The viewers take pleasure from hearing the crunching sound as vloggers slowly chew the ice cubes, reported CGTN.
Ice cold: Many Chinese webcam live-streaming hosts have started performing eating ice in a new social media trend that sweeps the Far East. Web users tune in to hear the crunch
The ice itself is also interesting to see. Apparently, vloggers would carefully make their own mini ice sculptures before biting into them.
The creative ice lollies are usually very colourful and are molded into different shapes, such as a fish, a heart or a butterfly.
The live-streaming industry has seen explosive growth in China in the last three years.
With more than 100 websites and apps offering the service, the market revenue is set to reach an estimated £3.1 billion ($4.4 billion) in 2018, a fourfold increase from the number in 2015.
Innovative ice lollies: The frozen treats are colourful and are molded into different shapes
Crunchy: According to reports, a 10-second ice-eating video can gain over one million views
There are even colleges teaching teenagers how to be live-streaming stars.
Thousands of young people have made it their career broadcasting their daily life eight hours a day.
Their performance range from traditional forms of entertainment such as singing and dancing, to quirky habits such as playing claw machines and eating ice.
Satisfying: Eating ice is one of the many bizarre trends that are popular on Chinese video sites
Tai Zi, the live-streaming director of Tunshou Entertainment in China said live-streaming hosts earn money from tips and virtual gifts given by their fans.
In addition, video sites would also give them commissions based on the clicks they draw.
According to CGTN, a 10-second ice-eating video can gain over one million views.
‘A good live-streaming entertainment host could easily earn one million yuan (£114,000) a month,’ Tai Zi told MailOnline.
The booming yet competitive industry has been slammed after some hosts went to extreme measures in order to grab the public’s attention.
Last December, a 26-year-old vlogger died while trying to film himself doing pull-ups on top of a 62-storey skyscraper.
In 2016, a 21-year-old woman was jailed for four years after live-streaming herself participating in an orgy online.
In the same year, the Chinese government had to ban ‘seductive’ consumption of bananas during webcam live-streams in an attempt to clamp down on ‘inappropriate and erotic’ content online.