Build Smarter Social Apps with RTC and AI

Amid accelerating digital transformation, the global social and entertainment industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace. The convergence of real-time audio and video (RTC) and artificial intelligence (AI) has become a critical driver—bridging users and content while enabling smarter, more immersive, and highly interactive experiences.

As globalization deepens, diverse entertainment formats are no longer limited by geography. With deep expertise in RTC, ZEGOCLOUD delivers all-in-one real-time communication solutions that have proven highly competitive worldwide. From the bustling cities of Southeast Asia to the deserts of the Middle East, ZEGOCLOUD connects cultures and communities through seamless, high-quality real-time experiences.

In this article, we explore ZEGOCLOUD’s technological insights across global markets and showcase its innovative RTC and AI solutions that help developers build smarter apps and drive business growth.

Regional Trends and Use Cases in the Global Social and Entertainment Market

This section explores how different real-time interaction models—such as 1-on-1 video calls, live audio rooms, and live streaming—perform across global markets, revealing distinct user behaviors and monetization patterns.

1-on-1 Video Call

1-on-1 video calling remains highly popular across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Latin America. While this model boasts high average revenue per user (ARPU), it also comes with significant technical and operational challenges—including long launch cycles, low video connection rates, frequent billing disputes, and call stuttering. If left unresolved, these issues can directly impact monetization and user retention.

Live Audio Rooms

Live audio rooms thrive in both Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In Southeast Asia, a large and highly engaged user base drives frequent interactions, though monetization remains limited due to widespread use of low-cost Android devices—resulting in high DAU but low ARPU.

Middle Eastern users, by contrast, demonstrate stronger spending behavior. They prefer platforms offering professionally generated content (PGC), rich gameplay, and innovative features, which support a higher ARPU despite lower DAU.

Live Streaming

Live streaming patterns vary significantly across regions. In the Middle East, male hosts lead the scene and frequently engage in PK-style (Player vs. Player) battles, building strong audience followings. A small but highly active user segment—just 5%—generates over 90% of total revenue, creating a highly concentrated monetization model.
In Southeast Asia, audiences tend to follow charismatic hosts, including those who focus on mini-games and casual entertainment. This content diversity drives substantial revenue, making creator personality and gameplay style key success factors in the region.

ZEGOCLOUD RTC and AI Solutions

Building on the trends observed across different global regions, this section highlights how ZEGOCLOUD addresses real-time communication challenges through scenario-specific solutions—empowering developers to launch high-performance, scalable social experiences.

We will now explore ZEGOCLOUD’s advancements in 1v1 video calls, live audio rooms, live streaming, and AI-powered companion interactions. Each solution is designed to improve performance, reduce development complexity, and create a more immersive experience for end users.

1-on-1 Video Calls: Drive Growth with Higher Conversion and Lower Latency

The 1-on-1 video call model follows four steps: matching, accepting, transacting, and settling. It’s especially suitable for high-density markets due to its simplicity and lighter infrastructure requirements.

However, high user acquisition costs demand maximum efficiency at every stage. ZEGOCLOUD helps solve four common challenges:

• Prolonged Launch Cycles: The prolonged launch cycles result from strict application marketplace reviews influenced by regional policies. To overcome this challenge, leading clients have shifted to the H5 platform. Additionally, the technical simplicity of 1-on-1 video calls and the maturity of the WebRTC ecosystem has allowed us to offer the Audio and Video Call UIKit solution, accelerating clients’ go-to-market process.
• Low Video Connection Rate: Immediate video connections are highly desired by users, impacting the number of potential prospects. Insights from Indian vendors revealed that users disconnect if the call isn’t connected within 2 seconds. Through close collaboration with clients, we developed an exceptional solution that increased the connection rate significantly. We achieved an impressive 95% connection rate, surpassing the industry average of 70% within 2 seconds.
• High Call Stuttering Rate: To optimize real-time audio and video communication, addressing call stuttering is crucial. For 1-on-1 video calls, we implement targeted measures such as weak network flow control and video encoding optimization. We also deploy access routes based on user distribution. By integrating ZEGOCLOUD’s RTC SDK, our customers achieve 720P-equivalent performance with only 540P, reducing the network load on users effectively. This optimization effectively alleviates the network burden placed on users.
• High Complaint Rate for Billing: Accurate billing is crucial in business operations. As a technology service provider, we prioritize resolving exceptional scenarios and boundary conditions. We ensure seamless coordination between clients, servers, and third-party NTP services for precise time calculation. Our dedicated high-precision billing solution effectively tackles these challenges.

Live Audio Room

Live audio rooms show varying characteristics across regions. Southeast Asia presents a unique mix of large user populations and high engagement levels, combined with diverse network environments and widespread use of low-cost Android devices. Meanwhile, in the Gulf states of the Middle East, cultural and religious norms strongly favor voice chat, leading to high ARPU and platforms driven by professionally generated content (PGC). In other regions such as Egypt and Turkey, user-generated content (UGC) ecosystems are more prevalent and drive local engagement.

Regardless of the market model, the content ecosystem is a key success factor. Hosts are expected to build interactive and engaging environments.

ZEGOCLOUD focuses on two critical areas:

• Enhancing Audio Quality and Smoothness: In noisy environments—common in Southeast Asia—AI-powered noise reduction and echo cancellation improve clarity far beyond traditional steady-state filtering. Even under 70% packet loss, ZEGOCLOUD ensures smooth communication. With over 30% audio bitrate savings versus the industry average, high quality is preserved without network strain.
• Expanding Gameplay Possibilities:
  • Live Audio + Karaoke: Singing and mini-games are often integrated into voice chat sessions. ZEGOCLOUD offers relevant SDK features to support these preferences.
  • Live Audio + AI Voice Changer: Enhancing broadcaster voices and enabling voice-based gifts and monetization, AI-powered modulation adds fun and business value. With just a few lines of code, developers can integrate voice changers from ZEGOCLOUD’s voice library—or upload custom voice styles.

Live Streaming

The live streaming industry in Southeast Asia and the Middle East has reached maturity. Alongside player-versus-player interactions, localized content ecosystems are crucial. Various elements like karaoke, mini-games, and voice changers have been integrated into live streaming. Streamers are essential to the business and highly valued by users. Demand for better viewing experiences and improved streaming quality is increasing.

Our primary objectives revolve around tackling two key issues in this scenario as below:

1. Latency Concern

To ensure the quality of critical live streaming events, we optimize and monitor network performance, latency, synchronization, and stuttering. Leveraging the advantages and scale of RTC technology, we offer an independent live-streaming solution tailored to the demands of high-quality broadcasts. This solution excels in offering outstanding resilience to weak network conditions, ultra-low latency, high synchronization, and minimal buffering interruptions.

2. Video Quality Concern

A common demand in most live streaming apps revolves around emphasizing video quality. The key to addressing this issue lies in enhancing video quality without imposing additional burdens on users’ devices, especially in Southeast Asia. Moreover, cost control is crucial. To meet these requirements, we provide an optimized solution that covers all device models and network conditions, offering low-code, high-definition coverage to enhance video quality.

RTC+AI Companion

As traditional social formats mature, AI companions are quickly gaining popularity. By March 2024, they ranked just behind AI assistants, search, and design tools in usage. These AI-driven characters offer text, audio, video, and image interaction—meeting growing demand for personalized, persistent digital companions.

With the rise of models like GPT-4o, real-time AI interactions feel increasingly human. ZEGOCLOUD enables customers to build immersive, responsive experiences through:

• Instant Messaging: Supports multimodal content, including AI-generated text, images, and moderation features.
• Voice Chat: Enables natural, interruptible AI conversations with voice activity detection (VAD), ultra-low latency, and multi-voice rendering.
• Video Interaction: ZEGOCLOUD synchronizes lip movements with speech, supports memory-based multi-turn dialog, and allows full customization of the AI digital human’s appearance.

Regulatory compliance with content

Compliance is the lifeline in the social and entertainment industry. Regions have unique regulations and enforcement standards. Understanding professional terms and making improvements is essential for smooth business operations. In content moderation, we collaborate with partners to establish a comprehensive access system that covers audio-video interactions, instant messaging, and information flow. This system is designed to adapt to the requirements of business audits.

Conclusion

ZEGOCLOUD pioneers agile innovation, constantly seeking new scenarios and benefits. As the AI era unfolds, we lead the way in exploring the untapped potential and advantages of integrating RTC and AI technologies. We actively engage with the industry, sharing achievements and delivering superior real-time interactive experiences to empower our customers’ business growth with unparalleled quality.