China News Service Client, Beijing, June 3 (Reporter Wu Tao) Have you ever encountered audio ads while listening to books and music? Recently, it has been reported that QQ music has begun to insert audio ads, and Himalaya has already begun to do so, and more audio apps may be added in the future. Many netizens resented this, "Please, please let go of my ears."
Audio ads inserted by Himalayan. Screenshot
Multi-platform start to insert audio ads
Recently, some netizens said that QQ Music has started to automatically insert advertisements between songs for about 15 seconds, and released screenshots when inserting advertisements.
In response, QQ Music responded to a reporter from ChinaNews.com that it was actually a small batch of voice promotion test announced by the singer's new song. According to the user's listening habits, after the singer that the user often listens to releases a new song, the user may receive a voice recommendation of the new song recorded by the user who often listens to the song between the two songs when the user listens to the song, "and only Referrals among non-green diamond members."
Many netizens left a message saying, "Isn't this still an advertisement?" Some netizens said, "This is at the stage of adaptation. You may have to insert ads in the future."
Recently, the reporter checked Netease Cloud Music, Himalaya, Dragonfly FM, Lychee and other online audio apps, most of which have not opened audio ads. Only the Himalayas started the commercial of in-stream audio advertising early and it continues to this day. They called it "Sound Streaming Advertisement".
At the end of 2019, the Himalayas published the "Sound Streaming Advertising Value Research Report" that said that from January to June 2019, Himalayan advertising traffic accounted for 84% of audio apps. In other words, over 80% of the advertising traffic in the industry comes from the Himalayas.
"Deep experience", some netizens said that when listening to books and crosstalks in the Himalayas, advertisements are inserted, and they are very frequent. "Listening to three or four chapters can be encountered once." The reporter also encountered during the experience that when listening to Guo Degang's stand-up crosstalk, he had to listen to an audio advertisement before it started, ranging from 7 seconds to 12 seconds.
Some netizens commented. Screenshot
Advertisement "bang", thinking completely messed up
For online video placement advertisements, many netizens cannot accept it, and it is even more difficult for audio advertisements.
"Voice ads are really disgusting people, and I plan to listen to the sound to fall asleep. As a result, there is a cheerful ad voice. The voice is still very loud. How do you still sleep?" "Interrupting your thoughts in particular, when you listen to a book quietly, then bang With a clutter, it was totally messed up and I had to buy a member."
Some netizens said that it’s okay to put on-line video advertisements, just put it down, but the audio advertisements really can’t stand it, and the spirit is highly concentrated. “It feels like my ears have been raped.”
The online audio app also understands this. According to the above report of Himalayan, 66.9% of Himalayan audiences said they would be very focused when listening to audio content, which provided diversified scene value for the spread of sound streaming advertisements.
Of course, users still have a way to choose, if you want to avoid advertising, you can buy members. Take the Himalayas as an example. VIP members receive 6 yuan for the first month and 20 yuan for each subsequent month.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
Why insert audio ads?
Such an unacceptable form of advertising, why not give up online audio APP? Behind this is probably the profit pressure of online audio companies.
Taking Tencent Music as an example, as of the first quarter of 2020, the number of paying users reached 42.7 million, and the payment penetration rate reached 6.5%. In contrast, according to foreign media sources, more than 90% of paid users of Spotify, a foreign streaming platform, are. The difference between the two is huge.
In fact, China's online audio market's advertising and paid revenues are not high, and more rely on live streaming to generate revenue. For example, in the first three quarters of 2019, the revenue of social entertainment services with streaming live streaming as the core accounted for 72.4% of the total revenue of Tencent Music Group.
Advertising and payment income is low, but at the same time copyright fees are high, which is the status quo faced by many online audio companies. The Himalayan has repeatedly been caught in a storm of copyright infringement. If you don’t infringe, you have to spend money to buy copyrights. In the first quarter, Tencent’s music copyrights and other aspects cost as much as 4.334 billion yuan. Netease CEO Ding Lei also recently said that copyright fees are currently the largest cost of NetEase cloud music.
Ding Lei also revealed, "The three major record companies in the world have adopted an exclusive sales model in China, which makes music platforms cost more than 2 to 3 times the reasonable price."
On the other hand, this market is huge. According to the latest data from CNNIC, as of the end of March 2020, the number of mobile Internet music users in my country was 633 million, accounting for 70.5% of mobile Internet users. So once the advertising and charging models are formed, the prospect is inestimable.
This model also has references to foreign cases. With regard to the insertion of audio ads, Spotify, a world-renowned streaming music service platform, has already begun to do so. For free users, audio ads will be inserted from time to time after listening to a song.
Data Map: After buying a member, you will be charged for special resources. Drawing: Zhang Jianyuan
More online audio charging routines
After the ad appeared on QQ Music, some netizens said, "This can also be thought of, absolutely!" In fact, there are still many tolls for online audio.
The first is the familiar VIP members of the buying club. QQ music is called Green Diamond, and NetEase Cloud Music is a vinyl member. The key is that buying a so-called VIP may not necessarily be exempt from advertising.
On April 13, Zhejiang Consumer Protection Commission issued a document saying that there are many problems with members of video and audio websites. For example, Himalayan called "open membership-free ads", but it is actually "free of image ads on the playing page and sound ads for the current festival." Not all ads are exempted, and there are still open screen ads in the actual experience.
In addition, many online audio songs need to be purchased by members before they can be listened to. After buying a member, there is an additional charge for the purchase of singles. For example, in some online audiovisual services such as QQ Music, some music downloads, even for Green Diamond members, still require additional charges.
Some netizens reported that even after purchasing a VIP member and downloading the resource, after the member expires, the downloaded audio resource cannot be listened to, and the VIP must be purchased all the time, which is simply "locked". (Finish)