(Chinese Version)

Editor’s Note:

In China, no online radio platform has successfully adapted itself to the Internet era yet. However, with the rise of smart phones and increasing interactivity they can provide, tremendous change is expected in online radio industry.

After a decade of pointless efforts and pains but no gains, I decided to leave the radio industry and jump to computer hardware industry. I quite enjoyed my new job since I got a bunch of free time so that I got to unplug myself from work and began to really enjoy my life. That’s when I came up with the idea and gathered a group of young radio-lovers and created a radio program of our own. These guys were more eager and creative than me and oftentimes came up with interesting and even bold ideas. Gradually, I develop my own thought on the Internet radio industry.

In this article, I attempt to answer the question: who will stand out in China’s Internet radio industry. My answer can possibly help investors decide which app to invest in, podcasters on which app to release their radio programs, and also advertising and public relations companies when and how to step in and make profits. Radio audience, however, don’t really seem to care about which app exactly will stand out, as long as there is one.

The Internet radio industry is patterned like the Warring States period in China’s history

Ximalaya.FM: The dominant Qin

In terms of user base, Ximalaya. FM is the most dominant Internet radio platform in China, with 150 million registered users in total and 35 million daily active users, though there remains some doubts on whether these figures are accurate enough. Moreover, Ximalaya includes social networking function in its platform and further boosts user interactivity on its platform. A large number of users, combined with active social networking, help my own radio program and other we media and podcasters win a large crowd of audience on Ximalaya. It is fair to say that Ximalaya has become a highly-effective production line and is able to help podcasters promote their high-quality programs to the audience and become famous overnight. By the way, Ximalaya has decided to give up user generated content (UGC) model, strongly advocated by SoundCloud, since its developers came to the agreement that not everyone can “generate” some great “content”.

Phoenix FM: The resourceful Qi

Phoenix FM is strongly based on Phoenix TV, a popular TV station providing latest news on society, international affairs, politics and economies to high-end audiences. In this sense, Phoenix is similar to Qi of China’s ancient Warring States period, which is based on the salt industry since it was near the sea. With nothing but popular programs, Phoenix FM is likely to remain one of the most popular radio app in China. Another case in point is the new competitor in online video industry, Hunan. TV, which is backed by Hunan TV station, another popular TV station in China, featuring entertainment and music.

Kaola. FM: The experienced Chu

Kaola. FM is a subsidiary of AutoRadio, the most prominent in-car radio advertising agency in China. AutoRadio owns traffic radio stations of mega-provinces such as Jiangsu, Guangdong, Sichuan and Shannxi. Imagine the great number of audiences and huge advertising opportunities during the rush hour. AutoRadio is keen on running Kaola and runs it well. Despite the advantages listed above, competition remains fierce in this market. Kaola. FM, with rich experience in pre-program advertising, is familiar with commercial advertising and is surely to stand out.

Qingting. FM: The well-founded Zhao

Impressed by the importance of copyrights in the competition of online video industry, Qingting. FM attaches great importance to copyrights and purchases almost all the copyrights from traditional radio stations to turn their programs online, which helps Qingting. FM gain a lot of audiences of traditional radio programs. However, audiences of traditional radio programs are not enough to support an Internet radio station at all and Qingting. FM begins to shift its focus to purchasing copyrights of online podcasts and provides audiences also with Internet radio programs. The inconvenient truth in Internet radio industry is that dirty jokes spread wider than high-quality programs from traditional radio stations. Qingting. FM’s ultimate advantage lies in its copyrights of traditional local radio stations’ programs, since local radio stations can still draw a large crowd of audiences.

Lazy Online: The steadfast Yan

Due to the lack of protection of copyright laws, only a few audiobook apps survive in China’s online radio industry. Lazy Online is one of the remaining few. However, it no longer solely provides audiobooks today. Catering to the user preference of radio audiences, that is, listen to read, Lazy Online also starts to provide podcasts and makes quite a hit among audiences. Furthermore, Lazy Online has accumulated a vast sea of radio programs, so that audiences can find whatever they want on its platform.

Lebo.com: The go-between Han

Although BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) have huge brand impact on users, they failed in online video and radio industry. However, I still compare Lebo.com to Han, the gateway to Eastern China in China’s Warring States period, since Baidu.com is the most frequently visited portal in China and has a huge advantage in promoting its products to users through advertising on its front page. Hopefully, Lebo.com will become an ideal advertising platform for podcasts and online programs.

Duoting.com: The elite Wei

Among all the online radio apps, I prefer Duoting, since it is well-organized and convenient to search contents and download programs, and can be compared to the well-equipped and elite Wei military forces during the Warring States period. However, Duoting is too ambitious to take place of Internet of Vehicles and develop its own in-car radio devices. In my opinion, Duoting’s ultimate goal is to become a platform of different podcasts and come up with plans to make profits out of its services, not in-car devices.

Other platforms

A few more apps are worth mentioning: Lizhi. FM, featuring podcasts on literature and arts, is not user-friendly and convenient when searching for podcasts. Kugou, Kuwo and even QQ Music have all included podcasts on their platforms but haven’t paid enough attention to this sector yet. Rumor has it that Tencent is going to release NEXTRADIO in May 2015, and TTPOD will be restructured by Alibaba, but no official news has come out yet.

Another kind of app worth mentioning is online radio platforms established by traditional radio stations themselves, a case in point is Shanghai Media Group (SMG)’s Ajmide. FM. However, I don’t think any of these stations can repeat Hunan TV station’s success for the fact that these traditional radio stations don’t have as much popularity as Hunan TV and are confronted with fierce competition from other online radio service providers, just like Feixin.

It’s too early to draw a conclusion.

In today’s online radio industry, no startups can stand out any more, since this industry has already entered a new development period and only those potent service providers can survive.

When asked why no copyrights war is seen in online radio industry, I suggested that a copyrights war is still too early for China’s online radio industry to come.

How come? For one thing, there is no such blockbuster program in online radio industry and the benefits of copyrights are not that significant. For another, most smart phone manufactures haven’t included online radio services on their phones and this market is still in the premature stage. So it’s still too early to put away so much money in purchasing copyrights. As is put by Chen Xiaoyu, co-founder of Ximalaya. FM:

“Yesterday’s more than 100 million car owners and today’s over 800 million smart phone users are both target users of Ximalaya. FM.”

As a matter of fact, the program that can adapt to the online radio era doesn’t exist so far, since:

1. Simply putting traditional radio programs online won’t attract users. They are just too traditional and formal for online radio; (Bad news for Qingting. FM)

2. Guo Degang’s cross talk is after all more popular than dirty jokes;

3. No online radio program has been broadcasted live yet;

4. Large amount of new programs are still yet to come up;

5. Interactivity remains to be improved.

In China, no online radio platform has successfully adapted itself to the Internet era yet. However, with the rise of smart phones and increasing interactivity they can provide, tremendous change is expected in online radio industry. At present, however, most platforms remain a storehouse of different programs and no platform has provided enough interactivity to audiences yet. We might expect the period of constant trial and failure, and most importantly, innovation in online radio industry.

To wrap up, I come up with the following three predictions:

Prediction 1: An online radio app that involves more interactivity will stand out

The mobile Internet will bring new possibilities to in-car radio programs. I predict that in an ideal online radio program, car owners get to interact with the podcasters through an easy shake of the phone or click of buttons. In this process, car owners are encouraged to get involved in the program and even choose channels based on his/her own preferences and decide the content of the program. Everyone enjoys interactivity.

Prediction 2: An online radio app that pay podcasters according to the ratings of their programs will stand out

In the future, DJs from traditional radio stations will be facing free competition from online radio podcasters. The more fans, the larger the influence, and consequently, the more opportunities to make profits, as can be seen in the trend to create WeChat public account these years, where more and more editors and journalists of the press began to create their own WeChat public accounts, and where the number of followers also matters most. Eventually, only those well-received programs will stand out.

Prediction 3: Those that achieve both will prevail

An online radio app that both involves enough interactivity between audiences and podcasters and pay podcasters based on the ratings of their programs will best strike a balance between audiences and podcasters and finally stand out.

So here’s the question: who will actually win this war? It seems like we just have to wait and see what will happen next

（The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Laopeng, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.)