From Himalaya’s “123 Carnival”: How can content payment continue to explode?

As of 6 a.m. on December 1: Himalaya's "123 Carnival" sales exceeded 50.88 million, breaking the total sales of the first carnival in 2016. At 8:41 on December 2, sales exceeded 196 million, also breaking the sales for the whole year of 2017.

It has been three years since knowledge payment became popular in 2016. Many people believe that the industry is moving from the initial impulsive consumption to rational consumption, and in terms of growth capacity, it should at least enter a slowdown phase. However, the sales data of Himalaya's "123 Carnival" shows that this industry has not cooled down, but has continued to explode.

Through observation, it is found that this year's carnival has subtle changes. Himalaya has removed the "knowledge" from the previous " 123 Knowledge Carnival " and changed it to "123 Carnival". Behind the "de-knowledgeization", it also means that Himalaya must have a stronger ability to control content resources, which in turn shows that under the long-term drive of audio technology, content payment has entered a new trend.

Relying on the advantages of content, Himalaya also launched many activities in this year's "123 Carnival" such as "check in to get a free bill" limited-time purchase of memberships and albums, "VIP membership buy 1 get 2" (buy Himalaya membership and give away Tencent Video membership), "50% off audiobooks", special theme pavilions, etc., which are more attractive to users than the past two sessions.

Therefore, "de-knowledge" is becoming a new trend in content payment. The industry has undergone many changes in some aspects, which we can explore.

1. The 2018 "123 Carnival" saw diversified and professional content becoming the current trend

Behind Himalaya's strategic adjustment, there are essentially changes in both user demand and the attacking market. Users no longer use solving anxiety as the only criterion for selection. At the same time, creators with the ability to produce vertical professional content are pouring into this industry on a large scale. Diversified and vertical professional content is becoming the current trend.

1. Users' demand for paid content has shifted from solving anxiety to choosing interests

The content scope has expanded from knowledge to multiple categories, developing towards diversification. The initial criticism of paid knowledge stemmed from the middle class’s knowledge anxiety, with most courses focusing on topics such as investment and success. Most people buy courses just for psychological comfort, and they cannot really solve actual social problems.

When users realize that knowledge cannot solve anxiety, they will stop spending on impulse and instead pay for cultivating interests in enjoying life. Interest-related courses have become a new direction.

With the expansion of user interest consumption, Himalaya has expanded from 16 categories and 310,000 paid content pieces in 2017 to 328 subcategories and 1.38 million paid content pieces, covering business, humanities, foreign languages, music, parent-child, emotion, audiobooks, etc. The amount of paid content has increased four times compared to 2017.

Among them are interest-oriented content such as Wu Xuanyi's "Future Girlfriend Laboratory", Onion Video's " Internet Celebrity Training Camp", and Liu Cixin's "Liu Cixin's Thought Laboratory".

1. Content sources expand from knowledge influencers to universities and even institutions

The demand for vertical specialized content continues to heat up. In the early days of the rise of knowledge payment, it relied on knowledge influencers, such as Ma Dong's "Speak Well" and Fan Deng's " Fan Deng Reading Club ", etc., but the current content supply is no longer limited to knowledge influencers, and vertical content from universities and institutions is on the rise.

In terms of the number of big names, Himalaya had more than 3,000 knowledge influencers in 2017, and the current number of audio influencers has exceeded 8,000, which is 2.5 times that of the past. A large number of vertical knowledge experts have emerged, such as Mr. China Chicken's "Egg Chicken Breeding Technology", "Lai Shengchuan's Drama Studies", and "DJ Guopeng: Guqin Art Class for Everyone".

A large number of knowledge influencers have emerged in each subdivided vertical field, and a large number of experts from 985 universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University have taught "master classes". In addition, even well-known institutions such as New Oriental and Xueersi have entered Himalaya to offer related courses. It can be seen that users have a desire for professional needs and no longer use knowledge influencers as the only selection criterion.

From the initial celebrity lectures to the development of massive PGC in various segments, the change in the source of professional content has enriched the professionalism of Himalaya, the first audio platform in China, on multiple levels.

2. Behind the rise of Himalaya is the audio technology that revolutionizes the content industry

The rise of "123 Carnival" appears to be the rise of paid content, but behind it is the fact that audio technology is making a more profound transformation of reality. Zhang Yongchang, vice president of Himalaya, said at the 2018 Learning Power Conference that content has broken the four major barriers of time and space, price, class, and fun with the help of audio technology as a carrier, and there is also behind this.

1. Audio technology breaks the constraints of space on meaning

On the surface, humans have free will and seem to have unlimited possibilities, but when we return to reality, we will find that we commute to and from get off work at fixed times every day, cook and do housework at fixed times, etc., plus 8 hours of sleep a day, and the free time we actually have is very limited.

Fundamentally speaking: This is also because physical space limits the activities of the spiritual world. People waste a lot of useless time every day, but audio technology helps us break through the limitations of physical space. Users can choose any audio content including programs, knowledge courses, novels, etc., breaking the original physical limitations and making the wasted time more valuable. The limitations of time and space are also broken.

1. Audio technology creates economies of scale, with marginal costs approaching zero

For paid books and paid offline courses, each additional unit will increase the cost, so the prices remain high, but audio content entrepreneurship is changing this situation.

Take the column course "Xie Tao's Audio Historical Dramas: From the Three Kingdoms to the Ming and Qing Dynasties" as an example: within the first 6 hours on December 1, the sales reached 1 million. Assuming a 5:50 split, the author may have earned 500,000 yuan. But if the same situation is applied to the traditional publishing field, based on 30 yuan per book and 10% royalties, the author needs to publish at least 160,000 copies to get the same income, which is tantamount to climbing to the sky for an unknown small author.

It can be seen that audio content entrepreneurship is bringing greater profits to content entrepreneurs , far exceeding traditional publishing houses in terms of monetization efficiency and repayment ability. The content payment industry has not slowed down and is entering a new stage.

For audio content creators, what they produce are digital audio works, and the cost is always fixed. However, as audio content can be sold without restrictions through technology, it can obtain a steady stream of income, and the marginal cost is close to 0.

The QM report shows that Himalaya is the number one audio platform in China, with nearly 70 million monthly active users, more than six times that of the second-ranked蜻蜓FM. As a leading platform, Himalaya naturally has an absolute advantage in user scale.

Faced with such a huge user base of Himalaya, authors are naturally willing to expand sales by lowering prices to obtain more profits. For listeners, lower prices can also allow more listeners to enjoy relatively low-priced high-quality products.

Therefore, high-quality paid content also breaks the price issue with the help of audio technology.

1. Equal access to technology, the public has equal access to top courses

Technology has always had the characteristic of equal rights. Even if a billionaire is worth tens of billions, the only smartphones he can choose from for daily use are iPhones and Android phones, and these are also products that ordinary people can afford to buy and enjoy.

In the eyes of technology, everyone needs to be empowered, and everyone is treated equally, regardless of their status, and no one is treated specially because of their class or wealth.

Knowledge courses themselves rely on sound transmission. With the help of audio and payment, as well as the Himalaya platform, the educational resources of the top domestic 985 teachers have been shared to the greatest extent ever. Ordinary people can also obtain top domestic courses, which is no different from the elites of 985 universities. The restrictions on education for different classes have also been broken.

1. Classic content is reborn

The classic content itself will not change, what changes is the way of explaining the content. Crosstalk, one of the traditional forms of folk art, repeatedly reorganizes historical and folk stories and spreads classics in a form that is popular with the public, thus turning the originally boring knowledge into vivid and interesting content.

One of its interesting values ​​is that it allows users to absorb knowledge in a relatively relaxed state. Obviously, audio is the best form, and users only need to passively receive without actively thinking.

In response to this demand, Himalaya has cooperated with a large number of institutions and individuals. Among them, the "History of Youthful China" created in collaboration with Hunziyue transforms the originally boring historical knowledge into humorous and interesting audio content, thereby breaking the barrier of boring knowledge. The classic content has also been re-interpreted and accepted by the public.

Conclusion

As a natural carrier of content, audio has long been helping humans to transmit knowledge and classic content. In today's technological era, audio technology has further promoted the explosion of the content industry.

The 2018 Himalaya "123 Carnival", behind its de-intellectualization, made us see that high-quality content is no longer limited to knowledge. With the help of audio technology, high-quality audio content is emerging in an endless stream, and this industry is ushering in new vitality.

Source: Chief Speaker ( shouxifayanzhe)