HowCBN Friday Special丨A crave for knowledge: How China’s online platforms put price tag on content
S: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie Li.
R: And I’m ZHANG Ran.
S: Hey, Ran, what do you usually do in your commuting time?
R: Well, I like to spend time listening to podcasts on my way to work. In fact, recently I've been considering trying out an app called Spiritual Wealth Club, which broadcasts the abstract of a book in 45 minutes every week, including content about career development, family relationship, and self-help, which sounds very practical at the current stage of my life and work.
S: Sounds great. Our fast-paced world leaves most of us with little time to sit and read books. But that's where podcasts and China's explosive paying-for-knowledge economy save the day. Many of my friends are keen to pay for knowledge online, which they say is a kind of "spiritual food" to take after work. According to an analysis report, in 2020, post-80s and post-90s are the majority of online learning users in China, mainly in first-tier and second-tier cities. And 86.1 percent of users have a monthly income of 5,000 to 25,000 yuan, making them potential consumers of paid knowledge.
R: Well, relieving the anxiety loaded on people is behind the business logic of the paid knowledge economy. When there’re some fragmented time slots, like the time during a long commuting route, we often like to fill them with entertainment or light learning, especially when we’re increasingly prone to “knowledge-anxiety” due to higher pressure in the workplace. And that's where the paying-for-knowledge platforms come in. High-quality content can fill our fragmented time, turning the commuting hours into meaningful ones, when we can learn new knowledge, and relieve ourselves from workplace anxieties.
S: I agree. But the pay-for-knowledge industry is not a phenomenon unique to China, but the reason why it became a multi-million dollar industry has a lot to do with the rapid development of mobile payments in the country and the increased protection of intellectual property. A built-in payment platform is installed in all major pay-for-knowledge platforms. With a click on the phone, all payments are routed through Alipay or WeChat Pay - the two dominant forms of mobile payment in China - all within seconds.
R: And the pandemic also gives a major push for the development of paying-for-knowledge platforms, as our work and life switched online. Platforms attract users by providing knowledge and knowhow of the disease and prevention. For instance, Ximalaya, one of China's major podcasting apps, has put dozens of free Covid-featuring programs on the shelf including stay-at-home disease prevention, first-aid measures, and updates. Industry research data show that 63 percent of user have paid for knowledge during the pandemic, with over 90 percent of them being satisfied with what they have purchased.
S: But more importantly, the growing awareness of intellectual property (IP) among Chinese people has greatly contributed to the rise of these platforms. In a country once plagued by rampant piracy, the thriving industry has much to thank the government for its efforts to protect intellectual property. China has become a veritable powerhouse of IP since 2013, ranking first in the world in patent applications for inventions for three consecutive years, and first in trademark applications for 12 consecutive years. As we become more aware of the importance of protecting IP, we also become more willing to pay for knowledge, which is also a kind of intellectual property.
R: All these factors we talked about have led to the booming of the knowledge-based economy. For example, China's biggest online question-and-answer website, Zhihu, posted its total revenue reached nearly 3000 million yuan in 2021, a growth of 119 percent from 2020. Its growth came from increased monthly active users and business diversification. Average monthly active users reached 103 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, a growth of 36% over the fourth quarter of 2020.
S: Another popular platform Ximalaya enables users to share voices and personal radio stations. The majority of paying customers on Ximalaya belong to the younger generation. It’s estimated that in 2018, more than 80% of Ximalaya users were aged 35 or under. Though a huge chunk of content on Ximalaya is actually free, there seems to be no lack of people who are willing to pay for the educational content on it. For example, Ximalaya produced a paid series that helps deal with personalities and feelings.The top-selling paid podcast on Ximalaya raked in millions of listens. The platform posted a 5.86 billion yuan revenue in 2021, among which nearly 3 billion were from paid subions, up 49 percent year-on-year.
