What is an MCN (multi-channel network)?
An MCN (multi-channel network) is a company that works with many creators or channels, providing content, operations and monetization services for a share of revenue. The term began on YouTube; in China, MCNs usually sign creators to management contracts.
Also known as: Multi-channel network, MCN agency, MCN 机构, 多渠道分发服务机构
MCN is one of the few creator-industry terms that China imported from the West and then reshaped. In Chinese it is simply MCN, or MCN 机构 (MCN jīgòu, “MCN agency”). This entry covers the creator-industry sense only; in English search, MCN also has unrelated medical, nursing and construction meanings.
What is an MCN on YouTube?
On YouTube, an MCN is a third-party service provider that affiliates with multiple YouTube channels. YouTube lists the services an MCN may offer as audience development, content programming, creator collaborations, digital rights management, monetization and sales, and states that MCNs are not endorsed by YouTube or Google (YouTube Help).
What does MCN mean in China?
In China, an MCN is an agency that signs short-video creators and livestream hosts, runs their content and accounts across platforms, and handles their commercial work. Chinese rules have described these agencies under several formal names:
| Rule (issuer) | In force | Name used | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code of Conduct for Online Livestream Marketing (China Advertising Association), Art. 381 | 2020-07-01 | Livestream host service agency (主播服务机构), “such as MCN agencies” | Industry self-regulation: an agency that develops hosts and serves their livestream marketing |
| Measures for the Administration of Online Livestream Marketing (Trial) (CAC and six other departments), Art. 22 | 2021-05-25 | Livestream marketer service agency (直播营销人员服务机构) | An agency providing planning, operations, talent management (经纪) and training to livestream marketers |
| Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Livestream E-commerce (SAMR and CAC, Order No. 117), Art. 2 and 403 | 2026-02-01 | Livestream marketer service agency | Must sign agreements with the hosts it serves that set out each side’s obligations, and may not use them to reduce or waive its own legal liability |
| Provisions on the Administration of Multi-Channel Distribution Services for Internet Information Content (CAC, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, SAMR, NRTA; Order No. 23)4 | 2026-09-01 | Multi-channel distribution service agency (互联网信息内容多渠道分发服务机构) | Defines the service as planning, production, distribution, marketing, promotion, talent management (经纪) and similar services for the content that internet users’ public accounts produce and publish (Art. 30); the agency’s registered business scope must name the service (Art. 6); when signing a service agreement, the agency must verify the account operator’s identity, and where it helps produce, copy, publish or spread their content, the agreement must also set out content-management responsibilities (Art. 13) |
Order No. 23, published on May 29, 2026, is a departmental rule written for this kind of service. Its text does not use the letters “MCN”; the regulator’s own Q&A on the order ties it to the call to guide “online platforms, self-media and multi-channel network agencies” (网络平台、自媒体和多频道网络机构), and 多频道网络 is the Chinese rendering of “multi-channel network”.5 Contract types are explained under Talent management agreement.
Signing with an MCN in China also shows on the account, because the rules require platforms to show it. A July 2023 notice of China’s cyberspace regulator on self-media (item 11) requires platforms to manage MCNs and the accounts they sign together, and to show prominently, on a self-media account’s page, the name of the MCN the account belongs to.6 Article 11 of Order No. 23 requires platforms to show the agency’s name prominently on the information page of each signed account and to prompt an account that does not show it; if it still does not, the platform may restrict the account’s functions or suspend its earning permissions.4
How do MCNs make money?
MCNs mainly earn a share of their creators’ income: brand-deal fees, livestream-selling commissions, platform incentives and the platform’s settlement of viewer gifts, and in some cases their own e-commerce.
Revenue sharing means the agency earns more only when the creator does. An agency whose main income is upfront training, packaging or signing fees paid by creators has interests separate from the creator’s growth, which is worth checking before signing; see the FAQ on fees.
Chinese livestream guilds (公会, gōnghuì) are related but narrower: a guild usually works with a single livestream platform and earns mainly from that platform’s settlement of viewer gifts, while an MCN usually spans several platforms and adds short video, brand deals and e-commerce. Many agencies are both, and each platform sets its own rules for guilds.
Further reading
- How MVP (Mega Volume Production, 十方众声) differs from a traditional MCN and a talent agency: the comparison table on Talent management
- Whether a creator needs an agency, and what to check first: Creators & influencers
Notes
- 《网络直播营销行为规范》 (Code of Conduct for Online Live-Streaming Marketing)
- 《网络直播营销管理办法（试行）》 (Measures for the Administration of Online Live-Streaming Marketing (Trial))
- 《直播电商监督管理办法》 (Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Live-Streaming E-Commerce)
- 《互联网信息内容多渠道分发服务管理规定》 (Provisions on the Administration of Multi-Channel Distribution Services for Internet Information Content)
- 《互联网信息内容多渠道分发服务管理规定》答记者问 (Q&A on the Provisions on the Administration of Multi-Channel Distribution Services for Internet Information Content)
- 《关于加强“自媒体”管理的通知》 (Notice on Strengthening the Administration of “Self-Media” Accounts)