New players enter the game, new scenes have emerged, and the online audio industry is rising

Edit | Yu Bin

Produced | Chaoqi.com "Yu See Column"

The rhythm of work and life in modern society is fast. Many people use fragmented time to relax and relieve stress. In this regard, in addition to short videos, online audio is also a leisure method that people use more.

Compared with the former, online audio can make us use it in one thing, and do other things while listening, such as closing your eyes, exercise and fitness, doing housework, driving by car, relaxing before going to bed, etc., it can be seen that online audio is suitable for scenes. It is relatively more, with strong companion attributes.

After the survival of the fittest, the traditional online audio industry formed a three -footed pattern

In general, the domestic online audio industry is still in a rising period of rapid development. Some data show that 51.2%of online audio users listen to an average of more than two hours a day. The average age of users is declining year by year. More and more.

According to data from the China Business Institute, from 2017 to 2021, the revenue of the domestic online audio market increased from 2.5 billion yuan to 20.6 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 69%. It is expected that this year will exceed 30 billion yuan. In the fierce competition, the online audio market has formed the three traditional platforms of Himalayan, lychee, and Dragonfly FM.

Whether it is the number of user groups or the richness of the content, Himalayan is currently the largest comprehensive online audio platform, and the professional and professional creators on Himalayan is also larger, and the source of Himalayan revenue is more diversified.

It is mainly composed of subscriptions (payment, on -demand, etc.), advertising, live broadcast and other services. The first two are its main revenue channels. The prospectus of the enterprise shows that in 2020, Himalayan's total revenue is 4.076 billion yuan, of which The proportion of subscription income is close to half, the proportion of advertising revenue is strong, and the proportion of live broadcast and other product service revenue accounts for nearly a quarter.

It is because the content of the platform is very rich that the distribution of the Himalayan user group is also more balanced. The proportion of user groups in the post -80s, 90s, and post -00s are around a quarter of them. Essence Himalayan has been trying to try the excavation of high -quality original audio IP.

According to the radio drama adapted from Liu Cixin's sci -fi novel "Three Body", there are millions of subscriptions, and the number of playbacks has reached hundreds of millions of times. The Chinese audio book "Harry Potter" has been launched for less than ten days, and the playback volume has exceeded it. Ten million, the subscription volume exceeded 380,000, becoming the first overseas audio IP on the Himalayan for ten million yuan.

At present, Himalayan is moving towards the development of entertainment all IP and the development of the entire industry chain, forming a cultural and creative IP matrix of literature, film, audio, books, and derivatives.

Litchi is an audio and entertainment social platform. It focuses on creating programs and content by ordinary users. This model reduces the threshold for audio creation and saves a lot of operating costs, especially for copyright expenditure. Interchange and interaction between between.

The main revenue of lychee comes from the audio of the audience when listening to audio. The audience's virtual gifts are rewarded. The user groups of litchi are mainly composed of post -90s and generations, accounting for nearly 60 %, and most of the female audiences.

The biggest feature and advantage of lychee is that the creative threshold is low and everyone can participate. It relies on audiences to encourage users to create more high -quality content and rely on massive high -quality content to attract more users to join. The content of the content of the mutual promotion of users is a bit similar to the live broadcast, which is based on the fan economy to achieve the realization of traffic.

Dragonfly FM pays more attention to the quality of the platform, so its development focuses on creating a professional group of creators, such as DARS V, professionals, celebrities, etc. in the subdivided field. Because the creators and content are more professional, Therefore, the platform's revenue is also based on paid subscriptions.

The second is advertising revenue. The data of iResearch consultation shows that among the user groups of Dragonfly FM, the proportion of under 24 years of age is one -fifth and the proportion of 25 to 45 years old accounts for nearly 60 %. This shows that the Dragonfly FM output The content of the content is generally more professional, and the composition of the user group is mainly for young and young people who want to obtain professional knowledge. Users are more concerned and interested in the content of vertical segmentation.

Increasing the income, high -quality content is the key to breaking the situation

Last year, the number of users in the online audio market had reached 640 million. However, although users are crowded, the major platforms are facing the dilemma of low traffic and transformation rates and difficulty in profitability. At present, the revenue of each platform is mainly subscribing, rewards and rewards and rewards advertise.

"Yu See Column" believes that the willingness to pay for users is closely related to the number of high -quality content of the platform. The reason why Himalayan can become the industry is mainly because the platform has a lot of high -quality content. Signing cooperation and copyright purchase.

Especially for the latter, it is necessary to pay the real gold and silver to get high -quality content. Himalayan has signed a cooperation agreement with more than 140 publishers. Tongde Yunshe, Wu Xiaobo, Yu Qiuyu and other well -known cultural and creative brands or authors have conducted in -depth thoroughs. Land content cooperation, the company's expenses of the company's purchase of copyright alone reached 255 million yuan in 2020, accounting for 6.3%of the total revenue.

At present, the user payment rate on Himalayan has been rising. In the first half of 2021, the platform payment rate has reached 12.8%, which is more than twice that of 2019. Users retain old users. The reward depends not only on the quality of the work and content, but also related to the personal wishes of the audience. Especially the latter still has many uncertain factors. After all, most users are accustomed to enjoying free resources. In the third quarter, the number of active users of litchi was nearly 59 million.

Among them, only 0.82%of paid users, the revenue commission that the platform can obtain is relatively limited. Compared with the live broadcast platform, due to the stronger visual impact and interaction of the live broadcast platform, the audience not only has a high overall paid willingness, but also rewarded the reward. There are more gifts and higher amounts.

The advertisements of the online audio platform mainly include page display, audio playback, and brand promotion activities. In general, the advertising effects of the platform are relatively average, the advertising bargaining power is not high, and the advertisements are more likely to cause the audience dissatisfaction. Therefore Traffic realization of advertising methods is generally not high in revenue on each platform.

The biggest difficulties faced by major platforms are still increasing income. Even a comprehensive platform like Himalayan has not achieved a profit. The company's average monthly active user reached 280 million last year. The growth of 43.7%, the growth momentum is still obvious, but the growth rate has slowed down.

The main reason is that the company's operating costs continue to increase. Last year, the marketing cost of marketing was 2.63 billion yuan, and the proportion of revenue was 44.9%. It is the income division of the platform author.

The other is the purchase cost of copyright content. Last year, the company's expenditure in income division was nearly 1.6 billion yuan, accounting for 27.3%. The user group will inevitably maintain a higher payment ratio in the acquisition of high -quality content in the future.

A group of new giants influx, new scenes bring new opportunities for development

In recent years, Internet giants are pouring into the track of online audio. Tencent, byte beating, fast -handed, Netease and other companies have appeared. The Internet giants have strong funds and traffic support. Determine.

In 2020, Tencent Music released Cool I listening, and its product positioning is very similar to Himalayan. Tencent Music also acquired lazy people listening to books and made it as lazy people who focus on long audio segments. Users and traffic advantages, Tencent WeChat also launched the WeChat listening function. In the same year, the byte beating was launched and listened to the tomato. The kayak was released. Netease Cloud Music launched the theater of Sound.

Faced with powerful competitors, the three major online audio platforms also rely on the power of capital to achieve faster development. In early 2020, litchi was listed in Nasdaq in the United States, and the issue price of the stock was 11 US dollars. At that time, the market value of lychee was about 500 million US dollars, and lychee became the first domestic online audio.

In March of this year, Himalayan updated the prospectus in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This is the third edition of the Himalayan. From May 2014, round A financing was started. Huashan Capital, Xiaomi, JD.com, Good Future, Urban Media, Tencent and other Internet, technology and capital giants strategic investment.

In November, the Dragonfly FM completed another round of financing led by Chinese online. At present, the competition of online audio has moved from the Three Kingdoms to the Warring States Period. Everyone has its own strengths. In the end, who can laugh at the end and still wait to observe.

Car audio scenes are market maps that major platforms have always wanted to expand. Many people are accustomed to listening to audio programs including songs while driving. It can be said that the field of car networking has become a must -have for each platform.

For example, Himalayan plans to strengthen cooperation with automakers and launch new functions such as brand radio services. Litchi has established cooperative relationships with car companies such as BYD, GAC, Xiaopeng Automobile, and this platform will also provide more podcast services.

It is worth noting that a heavyweight player in this area has appeared. Not long ago, the national team of the audio track was officially entered. The licenses issued by the award prove that the frequency of the radio station of the main station and the operating rights of the main station have copyrights or authorized audio programs.

This means that the cloud listening platform can rely on the huge program resources of the main station to carry out various cooperations with third -party enterprises including vehicle audio scenarios. As of May this year, the cumulative number of users on the cloud listening platform is more than 140 million, of which the on -board on the car The end users have more than 46 million, and the market coverage of the Internet of Vehicles is a well -deserved NO1.

In this segment area, major platforms can be said to be stressful, but it is a good thing for the audience, because there is more choice space to get more professional services.

With the advancement of technology, various intelligent, wearable and even virtual reality devices are constantly emerging. Rich terminal equipment will bring people more channels for obtaining audio content, which will also produce many new application scenarios. This is forIn terms of traditional platforms and emerging media, they are new opportunities for equal opportunities.Conclusion

"Yu See Column" believes that from a certain perspective, the online audio platform is more like a content distribution platform. In theory, if many professional authors can continue to create high -quality content, it can greatly reduce the operating cost of the platform.Essence

However, in fact, due to fierce competition, the operating expenses of major platforms are gradually increasing, and the cost of customer acquisition will become higher and higher.More high -quality content to attract and retain users.

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