Is it a gimmick or a trend for color TV manufacturers to engage in online education?

On Internet TV, following videos, games, and shopping, online education is beginning to be seen by more and more people as the next profit growth point for the Internet TV business.

Since 2014, the online education market has attracted widespread attention and has been wildly pursued by capital. After two years of development, it has now become the target of competition among Internet TV manufacturers. Can the model of TV + Internet + education really be successful on the TV side?

TV manufacturers flock to online education

At present, Internet TV education is still in its infancy in China, but in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, the combination of online education and Internet TV is already a very common thing. Take Apple TV as an example. iTunes contains a large number of university courses, and many HD versions of educational videos from major video providers are also authorized to be broadcast on Apple TV. Paying to watch educational programs on TV is considered to be the sharing of educational resources.

In China, LeTV, Coocaa, TCL, Hisense and other manufacturers have also recently begun to actively deploy online education industry. On April 20, Hisense officially launched another core business: "Juhaoxue" education platform. Official data shows that as of March 2016, Hisense education users have reached 2.43 million, and it is expected that by the end of this year, this number will exceed 8 million. Compared with other Internet TV value-added services, the audience of online education is growing faster.

At the end of last year, LeTV also promoted its education platform, but because the audience is mostly young users, it focuses on the children's online education market. "Unlike other Internet TV education platforms on the market, Juhaoxue not only serves children, but can meet all family education needs." Yu Zhitao, general manager of Hisense HiTV Cloud, introduced that Juhaoxue now has more than 5,000 famous teachers and more than 300,000 hours of authoritative high-quality courses, covering the needs of seven major roles: preschool, elementary school, junior high school, high school, English, hobbies, and careers. It is a multi-screen learning service platform suitable for the whole family and all school-age children.

Regarding the question of "what kind of courses are suitable for broadcasting on TV", industry insiders believe that among all the content categories on TV, the courses related to the young and old groups have the greatest demand, because they have more spare time. In addition, there is also a market for vocational and examination content.

A set of data from Hisense Internet TV Data Research Center shows that the audience group for large-screen education has been formed. As of March 2016, Juhaoxue has 2.43 million users, and nearly half of them spend 40 minutes to 2 hours studying online per day.

Judging from the data, there is huge room for imagination after the combination of online education and Internet TV. "In the industrial upgrading and transformation, there is no distinction between traditional enterprises and Internet enterprises. We must meet the current competitive situation - the integration of hardware and services." Yu Zhitao believes that the audience group for large-screen education has been formed.

Previously, Coocaa Chairman Wang Zhiguo also said, "Online education + Internet TV has already begun to explode this year."

Is it a gimmick or a trend?

Online education on TV is not something that has only appeared in the past two years. In the past, TV users could also obtain relevant knowledge by watching educational channels on cable TV. On the PC and mobile terminals, online schools, distance learning, online learning, and answering apps are emerging in an endless stream. According to the data of the "2015 China Online Education Industry Blue Book", as of the end of 2015, there were about 9,500 companies in the domestic Internet education field, of which about 2,200-2,400 were in the K12 Internet education field, with nearly 300,000 related practitioners. But can users really accept this form of education?

Yu Zhitao believes that the living room is the most ideal environment for family education because the immersive experience brought by watching on the large screen is like face-to-face lectures by famous teachers. The learning effect is the best among all online teaching methods.

At the same time, compared with traditional education, large-screen TVs have the same advantages and characteristics as other online education devices: breaking through the limitations of time and space, and more flexible ways of acquiring knowledge; fragmented learning, users can choose the progress and duration according to their own circumstances; diversified content, in addition to K12 education and higher education, also includes various preschool education, vocational education, interest education and other sub-fields.

Analysts predict that the compound annual growth rate of my country's online education industry will reach 31.7% in the next five years. According to iMedia Research, the scale of China's online education market is expected to reach 92.4 billion yuan in 2013 and exceed 160 billion yuan in 2015. China's online education market will usher in a round of explosive growth in the next few years.

For online education content providers, the addition of Internet TV platforms has also found a better content outlet. According to Yu Zhitao, although online education is popular with investors, 30% of companies face bankruptcy every year. The pursuit of legal, high-definition and diversified educational content by TV manufacturers can stimulate the healthy and orderly development of the online education industry.

"Juhaoxue is committed to becoming a leader in education industry solutions, solving bottleneck problems such as product function piling up, rough core experience, and uneven platform construction levels in the construction and application of educational informatization, and creating an education cloud platform, smart campus, and smart classroom." Perhaps in the future, the problem of uneven distribution of educational resources in China will be changed due to the participation of TV manufacturers.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.