Ximalaya FM Product Experience Analysis Report (Part 1)

As the largest audio platform in China, Himalaya FM has over 470 million users. What changes has Himalaya , which has been leading the audio industry, undergone since its development? The author will take you to analyze it in depth from several angles including market, users, product structure, functions and operations .

This product analysis report is based on the Himalaya iOS version, version number: 6.5.23. 1. Himalaya market analysis

1.1 Mobile Audio Macro Market

1.1.1 Overall Development of the Audio Market

Mobile audio refers to the use of mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets, etc.), wearable devices and smart terminals (home products, car products) as carriers to provide audio content online or offline through the Internet . The audio content covers a wide range, including novels, radio, crosstalk, variety entertainment, training, news information, etc.

In 2009, as China Mobile began to explore audio books, mobile audio content and carriers began to take shape. In the early days, mobile applications such as蜻蜓FM and凤凰FM opened up the mobile audio market with radio station and TV program audio as content.

Since 2012, the dividends brought by fragmented scenarios have spawned more mobile audio products, including: Himalaya FM, Lazy People Listening to Books and Koala FM. In 2015, the market entered a period of rapid development.

According to the 2018 annual comprehensive analysis of China's mobile audio market released by iResearch, the rapid development period began with a large influx of capital and then rose to the in-depth layout of product content and differentiated strategic battles.

At present, the entire audio market is in the mature application stage, the business model is becoming more mature, and the revenue methods are becoming more diversified.

1.1.2 Knowledge payment promotes industry development

When mobile audio entered a period of rapid development, knowledge payment began to emerge.

In 2015, Zaixing launched: online paid appointments and offline meetings and sharing. This payment model marked the beginning of the era of paid knowledge. In 2016, knowledge payment began to grow explosively: this year, the Duode APP was launched, the 60-second voice question and answer service Fenda was released, and Himalaya planned the 123 Knowledge Festival.

Subsequently, the topic of knowledge payment continued to be hotly discussed, and mobile audio manufacturers increased their investment in knowledge payment.

For example:

1. Lizhi FM begins to build a paid voice live broadcast system; Phoenix FM 7.1 version is launched, adding a new premium content area and supporting bulk purchases
2. Ximalaya FM launches "paid membership" with prices similar to those of video website memberships
3. Qingting FM launched "Aidajin Guide" to seize the IP content market

The establishment of a multi-industry knowledge payment infrastructure and the increase in users' willingness to pay have brought benefits to the knowledge profit in the mobile audio segment. Users pay for mobile audio to buy valuable knowledge, while also alleviating their growth anxiety.

1.2 Development Status of Himalaya

Himalaya was founded in August 2012, and its website was launched in November of the same year. The following year, Himalaya's iOS and Android clients were launched.

In 2016, with the help of the popularity of knowledge payment, Himalaya launched the country’s first content consumption festival, the “ 123 Knowledge Carnival ”.

According to the data from the Analysys International report: In the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of active users of Himalaya APP reached nearly 60 million, leading the entire mobile audio market; its number of active users was about twice that of the second-ranked蜻蜓FM.

From the activity performance (see the figure below), it is not difficult to see that the entire market structure seems to be dominated by Himalaya, with the rest running behind.

Himalaya's leadership lies in its continuous deepening of content resources, while expanding more consumption scenarios and strengthening its brand value by establishing a full audio ecosystem.

1.2.1 Deepening and expanding content

Himalaya focuses on three aspects in polishing its content: anchors, IP resources and basic content.

Host :

Himalaya has carefully created an audio platform that encourages anyone to create audio on the platform and accumulate popularity. The platform provides a detailed introduction to the anchor growth system, as well as recording guidance and operational promotion strategies.

This platform has helped a large number of grassroots anchors and self-media people to establish a complete incubation service that integrates discovery, cultivation and commercialization. It has greatly stimulated the public's enthusiasm for creating content, favorably promoted the entry and growth of audio anchors, and also brought guarantees for high-quality content output.

In addition, in January 2018, Himalaya FM announced that it would invest three billion in the next year to fully support audio content entrepreneurs from three levels: capital, traffic and entrepreneurship incubation. This strategy is enough to show that anchor training has become the key to the accumulation of high-quality content and the key to serving more content consumers in the future.

IP resources :

In 2016, Himalaya launched "Speak Well" by Ma Dong's team, and the sales on the first day exceeded 5 million. This is enough to show that the revenue generated by big IP resources cannot be underestimated. Subsequently, more and more big-name resources were launched, such as Guo Degang's "Guo Lun" and Cai Kangyong's "201 Emotional Intelligence Lessons". Himalaya used IP resources to lay a solid foundation in the field of high-quality paid content .

Not long ago, Himalaya and Tencent Video joined forces to launch a joint IP incubation plan.

According to the official introduction: the two platforms will collaborate on some shared IPs: "Screen out high-quality IPs with potential, and the two platforms will set up special teams to help complete commercial packaging, connect the traffic of the two platforms, and provide S+ level resources for publicity and promotion ."

The integration of entertainment and knowledge can meet the diverse needs of users at all levels, provide a feast of "sight" and "auditory" in multiple categories, and ultimately create more in-depth hits.

Basic content :

In addition to IP resources, as a comprehensive audio sharing platform, Himalaya has basic content with more complete categories and more diverse forms, which are mainly derived in breadth.

According to Analysys data, Himalaya currently has more than 2,000 audio courses and 17+ content publisher partnerships. Here, audiobooks have become another territory that Himalaya has built on the basis of basic content.

The 2018 China Knowledge Service Industry Trend Report analysis pointed out: "Himalaya FM cooperates with publishing houses, publishing companies and individuals with copyrights to produce paid audio book products; as of now, Himalaya FM has the audio copyright of about 70% of the best-selling books on the market."

In addition, new businesses such as LIVE voice live broadcast and audio live broadcast have expanded the content format and can attract more user consumption.

1.2.2 Multi- channel layout

In addition to focusing on the content itself, Himalaya combines online and offline to build a complete audio ecosystem through multiple channels.

As early as 2015, Himalaya FM launched the "Himalaya Inside" open platform, with Himalaya providing software and program output, and cooperating with downstream hardware manufacturers to provide audio content solutions for smart hardware products.

At present, Himalaya FM's audio content has been connected to multiple fields such as smart home, automobile, and audio.

For example: Haier , Midea and other home furnishing products have been implanted with audio applications such as Himalaya; the Xiaoya AI smart speaker launched by Himalaya is also a bold attempt based on software content; Himalaya FM has teamed up with 60 vehicle manufacturers and TSP solution providers such as BMW, Audi , Ford, and Volkswagen to distribute content in batches to cars of various brands.

In addition, Rokid recently teamed up with Himalaya to develop the "Xiaoya Car Edition" intelligent voice assistant .

1.2.3 Market Boundaries

Himalaya initially entered the market with audio, and later continued to add new content formats, including live broadcasts, radio stations, LIVE audio streams, etc., expanding the content format. In addition, we cooperate with offline manufacturers in multiple fields to embed content into more hardware, including speakers, smart homes and cars.

Himalaya FM continues to expand its market boundaries through in-depth content development and multi-scenario access.

Today, it is no longer just a mobile audio service provider, but a full-scenario entertainment platform with audio as the main form .

In the future, if more resources come into play, Himalaya may turn into a comprehensive platform with multiple content formats, and the content will include text, video, audio, etc. Comprehensiveness means cross-industry cooperation, covering publishing, media, entertainment, smart hardware and more fields.

Under such a market definition, it is not difficult to see that the market space of Himalaya FM is larger than that of mobile audio alone. According to the 21st Century Business Herald: As of May this year, the total number of mobile phone users in China reached 1.404 billion, of which the total number of 4G users reached 746 million.

At present, the number of activated users on Himalaya's platform has reached 470 million, and there is at least 300 million more users to be tapped . As the number of smartphone users increases, Himalaya's user base will continue to grow.

In addition, the development of intelligent scenarios and vehicle networks will also bring a tail effect to the market space. Himalaya can deepen its presence in downstream intelligent scenarios, cultivate potential intelligent markets, and increase the market size through multiple channels and scenarios.

1.3 Challenges in the Himalayas

Through UGC and PGC , Himalaya has captured half of the mobile audio market by relying on content. At present, while maintaining its content advantage, it has comprehensively rolled out multiple channels and moved towards the development of rich scenarios.

However, as similar products are developed in all scenarios, Himalaya will inevitably face new challenges.

The author selected the top three products in mobile audio market share: Himalaya FM, Lanyirentingshu and Qingting FM for comparison, and obtained user data for March 2018 from iResearch Qianfan (see the figure below).

If we ignore the daily active data, which are not much different, Himalaya FM performs poorly in terms of average daily launch times, average daily usage time and retention rate .

On the contrary, Lazy Listening Book has higher average daily launch times, average daily usage time and next-month retention rate than the other two products, and its user stickiness is very strong. The data of Lazy People Listening to Books is impressive. The author believes that the main reason is that there are differences in consumption behavior between audiobook audio and general content audio.

Audiobooks are divided into chapters, so users can feel a strong sense of continuity and coherence when listening. For general content audio, such as "Speak Well", the individual audios are independent of each other, and the closeness between the audios is not as strong as that of audiobooks. The continuity and time of users' listening will not be too long. This may also be one of the reasons why Himalaya FM has poor user stickiness.

Judging from the data,蜻蜓FM has the highest next-month retention rate, and its average number of launches and usage time per person are better than Himalaya FM.

The reason behind this data: On the one hand, it may be due to the driving force of the top IP resources of蜻蜓FM: "Aidianjing's Guide", "Jiang Xun's Detailed Explanation of A Dream of Red Mansions", "Lao Liang's Emotional Intelligence Class of the Four Great Classics", etc. On the other hand, independent male users have strong user stickiness.

According to the iResearch report, "Qingting FM users are mainly male and high-spending people in first-tier and super-cities." Their listening time is mostly between 20:00 and 22:00 at night, and their age is mostly between 30 and 40 years old. The author speculates that these users are successful in their careers and independent. They have a strong purpose in choosing蜻蜓FM and will spend more time on the product.

Although Himalaya's user base has exceeded 400 million, it still faces competitive pressure from other similar products. The main challenge it faces is how to improve user activity and retention .

First of all , Himalaya is in a period of rapid growth. The introduction of new traffic has brought a high user base, but it has also brought a lot of non-precise users. These early adopters explored the app but did not develop stable usage habits, which reduced the daily active users and usage time. Himalaya needs to consider how to cultivate this part of users into its own precise users, thereby improving the user stickiness of the product.

Secondly , the difference in content layout of Himalaya FM may be another reason for the low user stickiness.

In order to compare the differences in content, the author specifically selected the first screen of the homepage recommendation page of Himalaya FM, Qingting FM and Lazy Listening to Books for comparison. The first screen of the APP homepage must be a high-traffic distribution area, and the importance of this area is self-evident.

The author found that most of the "Guess You Like" columns on the first screen of Himalaya FM are short and fast audio albums, and are non-IP content. The audios are highly independent of each other, and the duration of a single audio is short, with the shortest audio being only 0.1 seconds.

The first screen of Qingting FM gathers big IP resources, such as "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", "Lao Liang Talk Show", "The Complete Crosstalk Works of Guo Degang and Yu Qian", etc.

The first screen of Lazy Listening mainly promotes audiobooks with coherent content.

In high-traffic areas, Himalaya did not choose high-quality premium content, but instead chose content with strong independence, or even UGC content. These "fast food" contents will greatly reduce users' desire to explore and try new things, thereby affecting new users' stickiness to the product. How to improve stickiness through content layout may be a key point that Himalaya needs to consider in the future.

2. Product Framework and Experience Path

2.1 Product Framework

2.2 Experience Path

Himalaya has a complex business that can meet users' various audio needs. The author attempts to analyze the user experience path of the Himalaya APP from the two dimensions of audio consumption and production.

2.2.1 Audio consumption

According to the purpose of users' audio consumption behavior, we can divide users into three categories: users with clear goals, users with vague goals, and users without goals.

• Identify target users : users lock on to an audio album and complete listening
• Fuzzy target users: users are clear about the audio category, but have no specific album target. After searching and selecting, they complete the listening process.
• Untargeted users: Users have no listening goals and are exploring resources

2.2.2 Audio Production

In the audio production dimension, the analysis is divided into three modules according to the recording functions: basic recording, reading aloud and dubbing.

3. User Analysis

As a professional mobile audio comprehensive platform, Himalaya FM brings together hundreds of millions of audios including audio novels, audio books, audiobooks, children's bedtime stories, crosstalk sketches, ghost stories, etc.

The slogan of Himalaya products is: "Listen whenever and wherever you want", which reflects that the product itself can meet the audio consumption needs in a variety of scenarios. It can not only meet the users' needs for learning and growth, but also meet their leisure and entertainment needs.

Through iResearch APP Index and Analysys Qianfan data, we can understand the user profile of Himalaya FM:

3.1 Gender and age

The gender of Himalaya FM users is relatively balanced, with not much difference between men and women, which is related to the comprehensiveness of Himalaya's audio content. Himalaya FM has rich and complete audio content, such as IT technology, history, etc., which can cater to the preferences of male users; while fashion life, entertainment, etc. can meet the needs of female users .

In terms of age distribution, Himalaya FM's user base is mainly concentrated between 25 and 35 years old, with young users as the core.

On the one hand, these users have an urgent need for self-growth and want to use fragmented time to enrich themselves. On the other hand, they also hope to release stress and relieve work fatigue through entertaining content. Or maybe many single young people need the sense of companionship that audio brings.

3.2 Cities and Consumption Capacity

According to Analysys data, Himalaya FM users are mainly from first- and second-tier cities and middle- and high-income groups.

This result shows that young users in economically developed areas are usually busy with work and study. They can only use fragmented time to enrich themselves, learn knowledge in a certain professional field or listen to an audio book. Users in these regions may have a good educational background and are more receptive to paying for knowledge. More importantly, they have sufficient financial resources to pay for the content they want to learn.

3.3 User Usage Scenarios

The above chart shows the number of Himalaya FM users listening to the program in different time periods in December 2017. As can be seen from the figure, 12-13 noon and 20-22 o'clock at night are the peak listening times for users. During these time periods, users are in a period of rest and relaxation and have more time to consume audio content.

But in fact, from 7 am to 10 pm, Himalaya has a higher number of listeners during the entire period.

It can be inferred that Himalaya FM has high activity and usage frequency in all scenarios and at all times.

Based on the demographic characteristics and listening time periods of Himalaya FM users, the author attempts to analyze users' scenario-based needs starting from fragmented scenarios. Based on this, two consumer user Personas are abstracted.

User role 1: Single independent urban female

User role 2: A hard-working urban male

above.

Source: Harmony with the light