This article comes from WeChat public account: Zhixiang (ID: passagegroup) , author: Fu Rao, Word problems from: vision China
On April 10, 2020, Coten Radio’s podcast show “History of Fun” won the first “Podcast of the Year Award” in Japan. Because of the new crown epidemic situation, the awards will be broadcasted online.
Coten Radio is a company registered in Fukuoka. Its main product is the historical database “Coten”. To be a podcaster, the beginning is just for public relations. The three anchors spend a whole day each month in the recording studio, telling historical stories according to the written script, and then spend a few hours editing, and two weekly episodes. Launched in November 2018, now Coten has done 106 episodes and 24 episodes, has 22,000 listeners, and has won the Japan Podcast Award.
Coten CEO Ryuosuke Fukui told Zhixiang.com, they did n’t even think about relying on podcasts to earn income when they first did it, but now they have won awards and fans are increasing. Let him start thinking about whether to imitate the United States. Podcasting, do paid members and derivatives?
In November 2018, three anchors of Coten Radio sat together to record the first episode (Image source: Coten)
CotenRadio is far from successful. The most popular podcast program in the United States, This American Life, has an average weekly audience of over 2.2 million, and the history program of the Chinese Himalayas platform has the highest broadcast volume of hundreds of millions. Compared with the audio industries in China and the United States, the Japanese plate is still very small, and “out of the circle” works have not yet appeared. There was the old radio station TBS before, the birth of the new company Radiotalk, and the investment of the international “big player” Spotify, Himalayan can do it while “waiting for the wind”.
Invading Japan, a wasteland of online audio
From 2011 to 2013, Dragonfly FM, Himalayan and Litchi were established one after another, and within less than a decade, they have become China’s online audio giants. Now litchi is listed, the leading Himalayan valuation is as high as 3.5 billion US dollars, and the valuation of Dragonfly FM is also close to the unicorn level. Coupled with the upsurge of knowledge payment brought by platforms such as lazy listening and getting books, the “ear economy” has become a gold mine. According to data from iMedia Consulting, in 2019, China’s online audio market will reach 489 million users.
A watershed in the development of the online audio market in Europe and America was brought by podcasters. “Podcast” in English is Podcast, generally refers to audio programs. In November 2014, the non-fiction audio program Serial was born, with 5 million downloads in the first month, and the popularity of podcasts increased rapidly. Later, advertisers saw the business opportunities of podcast traffic, and podcasters began to make money from the show. In 2015, the voice assistant Alexa came out. In 2016, Google Home and AirPods were launched and sold, which invisibly boosted podcast consumption. By 2019, there will be as many as 900,000 podcasts in Apple Podcasts, with genres covering politics, current affairs, news, games, documentary, science fiction, etc. In the same year, the online music giant Spotify blessed podcasts through the acquisition of Anchor and Gimlet. Recently, it signed a well-known podcaster to host Joe Rogan for $ 100 million. It is considered or will become a symbolic event to disrupt the global online audio market.
In contrast, the Japanese audio market still hasn’t ushered in it.
According to the MAGNA 2018 Global Network Index report, Japan is one of the countries with the lowest number of podcasts in the world. The number of people who listen to podcasts at least once a month accounts for only 8% of the Internet coverage. It is 26% and 29%.
Image source: Anyang
From this data, podcasting is not a good business in Japan.
Despite this, the big brother of the Chinese audio giant, Himalaya, still decided to try to expand the Japanese audio market. In September 2017, Himalaya released the application “Himalaya” and officially landed on the Japanese market. (Note: “Himalaya” in the following text refers to Himalayan Japanese company)
Anyang, who has graduated from the Japanese Department and has resided in Japan for many years, joined the Himalaya Japan Company as CEO in October 2018. Previously, Anyang was in charge of animation product operations at Sina Japan. When Anyang took over, the Himalayan office in Shibuya, Tokyo, had only 10 employees, half of China and Japan, and was about to expand.
Considering that the audio content in the Japanese market is still a wasteland, the existing podcast stock is completely insufficient to support the platform’s traffic revenue, Anyang decided to broaden the route, on the one hand, strengthen the introduction of the most popular commercial and self-incentive content on the platform; On the other hand, establish a paid community for the anchor and increase user stickiness through community operation.
“Our initial positioning was a Podcast Player (podcasting platform) , like the United States, to make money through traffic advertising.” Himalaya CEO Anyang Japan Tell Zhixiang.com, “It was later found that the Japanese market rules are not like this. Podcast alone can’t generate such a large amount of traffic, so naturally there won’t be so much income.”
On May 20, 2019, Himalaya launched paid content, all of which are children ’s reading audio. “I got better feedback than expected” Anyang told Zhixiang.com. One year after launching paid content, hundreds of thousands of users in Himalaya JapanAmong them, paying users accounted for 6%. Although the absolute number is not large, it is enough to verify that it is relatively easy to push audio content payment in Japan.
Himalaya Japan (Himalaya) CEO Anyang (Photo source: media-innovation.jp)
Relatively unified culture, geographical proximity to China, high consumption levels, and good payment habits are the reasons why Himalayan decided to enter the Japanese market. When looking at the sea, the Himalayas also visited India, a country with a large population, but found that the language and culture are so diverse. As a Chinese company, it is too difficult to understand the local market and the cost of entry is also high.
Compared with tool products and cultural content products, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the countries going abroad. Anyang is frank, even though Himalayan has been in Japan for three years, he has not fully understood Japan’s demand for cultural content, and has taken some detours in the process of localization.
Since 2017, the Japanese audio market has not seen any “ear-economy” outlets similar to China and the United States. The explosion of content, the popularization of voice interactive smart devices, the entry of large capital, and the craze for knowledge payment … None of these events spurred the audio market in China and the United States.
The radio station has become the yellow flower of tomorrow. In the NHK survey, the average age of listeners is 44 and a half years old. , Unable to accumulate user size. Even the streaming music market is somewhat restricted by traditional music CDs-in 2018, Japan ’s music market is the second largest in the world, but streaming music ( Streaming music) has a market size of only 14.3%, which is far less than the 50% share of China and the United States.
Frustration of Audiobooks: Online content is not to be seen by publishers
The main reason for the failure of audio books is the conservatism of the Japanese publishing industry.
First of all, the price of audio books should not be lower than that of physical books. The reason behind this rule is that the publishing house regards the sales of paper books as the top priority. Under such recognition, audiobooks are only regarded as a PR approach, and absolutely cannot impact the sales of paper books. As a result, the price of audio books has been pushed up, and the simultaneous sale of audio books and paper books is not allowed. In the end, those who are willing to buy audiobooks are left to business people with high spending power.
Second, audio books, by default, do not allow any form of modification, interpretation and story expansion. “In simple terms, you need to discuss every change of cover,” Anyang said. The actual discussion and communication involves contacting multiple companies and departments, and the subsequent production cycle will be longer and more costly.
Another problem is that the definition of online audio copyright is not clear. Himalayan has also tried to buy anime IP and recreate the audio book based on the animation. Anyang told Zhixiang.com that there is no standard for online copyright licensing in Japan. He said, “If there was a CD for this animation, we have to ask if the CD company can authorize the online, if If you ca n’t, find a publishing house and see if you can remake it. But once it ’s reworked, it will involve whether you want to use the original voice actors, whether to use the publisher ’s supervision, and whether to change the script … The recognition of audio products is not high and relatively conservative, which leads to the lack of standard procedures for licensing. But when a company understands this, it will be a great market opportunity. “
“This is a vicious circle. Because the market is small, the publishing industry is conservative and cautious, but the more cautious, the smaller the market, so that it will stay in place forever.” Anyang said.
The largest Audible in the Japanese market is also backed by Amazon, mainly commercial audio books, with a monthly subscription price of 1500 yen. 100 yuan) , and can only listen to one and a half books, to listen to the second book, it will cost extra.
After breaking the halberd, Himalayan gave up the effort of going to the publishing house to obtain the authorization, found a Japanese audiobook company with 15 years of experience to cooperate, and spent money to obtain the online distribution right of audiobooks. Paid subscription to the “free listening package”, 750 yen per monthn class = “text-remarks” label = “Remarks”> (about RMB 50) .
Podcast: Markets that need to be “incubated”
Podcasting is not new in Japan. As early as 2006, when Apple ’s iPod was sold to Japan, Podcast provided podcast content to the Japanese market, but due to the lack of local operations, Japanese content was scarce. The prototypes of local podcasts that have appeared in Japan are roughly divided into two types. One from traditional radio stations, such as NHK will put some radio content on the website, which is equivalent to on-demand. The other is an Animation CD based on anime IP derivatives. Its form is close to a radio drama, but because of its high price, consumers are often core fans of anime.
There is no traffic on the podcast platform, so look for content with traffic and let the anchor host bring traffic to the platform.
At present, the Himalayan Japan team is divided between China and Japan, and is divided into two main departments: operation and market development (BD) . The BD department is led by Japanese people and is responsible for contacting copyrights, talking about anchors, and talking about new access and cooperation. The operation department is divided into production and platform operation. After signing a new anchor, the production department will communicate with the BD department’s contacts to communicate with the new anchor. Some programs, from pre-planning, on-site recording, post-editing and hosting, are all part of Himalaya.
The reason for this is that the anchors with their own traffic can produce an audio program in a lightweight way, so that the content can grow rapidly.
“In 2019, we set up a recording studio ourselves to record for the anchor. In this way, we can fight for the big coffee to the greatest extent. He just needs to come.”
Japanese Himalayan company recording studio (Source: Anyang)
Shimi Takahashi, a Japanese journalist, was discovered by the Himalayas and became a “newcomer anchor”.
In early 2020, Takahashi Shimi went to interview the Himalayan Japanese company and made a report on the “ear economy”. During the chat, Vice President Saito asked him, “Do you want to be your own podcast show?”
Three months later, Takahashi’s program “China’s Economic Frontline” was launched in Himalaya, with three episodes each week, each set of 5 minutes, to introduce the current news and events in China, do not understand China People can understand.
Takahashi studied at Fudan University and was fluent in Chinese. After returning to China, he worked as a reporter at NHK and later took charge of the Chinese column of Huffington Post. For Takahashi, using podcasts to talk about China’s current economy and business does not require much extra cost, and later editing and online production are done by Himalayan. If the show can make an impact, it will become part of its own brand.
Anchors like Takahashi, Himalaya classifies him as PGC (professional production content) . Himalaya as a platform starts a work similar to MCN (Internet celebrity broker) provides planning, recording, Edit, go online and other services.
Takahashi Shimi’s program “China’s Economic Frontline”
Looking for the anchor, Himalayan generally finds it from writers, blog writers, private school teachers and Youtuber from the media. andWhen screening anchors, in addition to watching fame, it also depends on whether the other party is suitable for audio content.
“Audio is not like video, there is no visual stimulation, and if the content is not deep enough, it is difficult to attract users”, Anyang said. He told Zhixiang.com that before Himalayan had found a group of high school students to record the program, “recorded a summer vacation, the results are terrible. In the end, these children have nothing to say.”
After stepping on the pit this time, Anyang will no longer look for the anchor from the students, but to those who can output high-quality content. “They have experience, experience, and can tell their own things.”
In this way, these signed anchors will also promote their podcast programs on other media platforms to attract fans to the Himalayan platform.
When a program has a certain amount of traffic on the platform, Himalayan will open the “community” function for the host . This community provides additional anchor content, which needs to be paid to become an anchor member to unlock, similar to the domestic knowledge planet. Anyang explained, “The anchor will provide something that is not external, such as his personal dynamics, new book information, and user interaction. We will help the anchor to run his community so that the anchor can accumulate hardcore fans through the online community. , And go online to monetize the activity. “
Anchor members have become an important source of income for Himalayan. According to the influence and popularity of the anchor, the subscription fee will be divided according to different proportions. Anyang said that most of the anchors are divided into five or five, and the well-known big anchors are divided into two or seven or three.
For the anchor, there is another way to monetize: after accumulating fans, launch paid programs.
Himalaya’s number one program in Japan, “The World’s No. 1 Happiness Study” is a typical example. This program has been self-incubated by the Himalayan platform and has been live since June 2018. At present, the cumulative number of broadcasts has exceeded 2 million. In June 2019, the two anchors launched the paid program “The important things about money, the school did not teach you”, priced at 3060 yen 200 RMB) , with 120,000 views.
The display page of the anchor program of “The World’s First Happiness Study” anchor
The giant is here, what’s next?
2019 is an important year. The established TV station TBS launched its own podcast App Radiocloud and Radioko, the local company Radiotalk was established, the audiobook platform Audiobook.jp opened up a podcast section, the Himalayan began to launch paid programs in May 2019, and Spotify also began operating podcasts in Japan … .In April 2020, Spotify also sponsored the first “Podcast of the Year” award in Japan.
Himalayas have more competitors, but this also means that the power to leverage the online audio market has also increased . “More opponents come into the game, which brings opportunities to educate users and expand the market, which will eventually make everyone make money.” In Anyang’s view, the development of the Japanese audio market is still in the early stages. There are more users than us, and user accuracy is better than us, so if they really bring the audio market, it may only be beneficial for us in a short time. If there are no Himalayan, dragonfly, and litchi in China One company has made the market bigger, and no one company can achieve the current market size of 500 million. ”
Anyang said that if Japan ’s online audio market can really be opened, the Japanese Himalayas were deployed three years ago, and profitability is not a problem.
Spotify ’s increase in podcasting has brought more excitement to Anyang than nervousness. Himalaya is also observing the global audio market and learning from its competitors.
2019 Japan Annual Podcast Award Poster (Source: JapanPodcast)
In late May 2020, the Himalaya App was revised. One of the big changes is to use tools to encourage users to mark the core content of audio, textualize, or audio. Anyang explained, “We call this‘ key information location ’called audio, so that later users can know the main content of the audio in a short time and then decide whether to buy it.”
During the epidemic, Himalaya also launched “natural music” suitable for work or sleep aid for users to listen to the changes in podcast hours, and limited some of the paid content. In this way, although the audio consumption during commuting hours is reduced, the total listening time of the user has not decreased.
After operating for more than three years, Himalaya Japan has accumulated a stock of nearly 30,000 programs, bringing content growth and user growth to a balance.
Reflecting on the trial and error of this path, Anyang feels that the Himalayas are currently not very successful in Japan, but the road has become clearer and clearer. “ Because the ecology does not rise, we must spawn it. Only the anchors we support and the people who enter the industry first, they will enjoy the dividends, earn money or reputation, will only radiate to the people who come later. > “
“This is why we not only have to do traffic, but also make and go out of the plan.” Anyang said.
Reference source:
https://himalaya.com/jp
https://coten.co.jp/
https://www.japanpodcastawards.com/
This article comes from the WeChat public account: Zhixiang (ID: passagegroup) , author: Fu Rao