Radio dramas have gradually become the "outlet" of the audio market
If short videos are the most conspicuous social media of this era, then listening to radio dramas through audio apps is a more secret personal interest of young people today.
According to iiMedia Consulting's data, the compound annual growth rate of the audio market in the past three years has exceeded 50%. Last year, the number of online audio users in China was 570 million, and it is expected to reach 640 million this year, and it will increase to 690 million in 2022.
In terms of market size, the online audio market is expected to exceed 22 billion in 2021.
This tens of billions market must attract capital attention.
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Radio dramas have a history of nearly a hundred years. After the booming Internet development, radio dramas that were once left out have gradually become the main force in the audio market.
As a new force in the "ear economy", it has ushered in new development opportunities...
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"Encourage money" over tens of billions
"Now I have to listen to radio dramas every night to fall asleep. These sounds make me calm down..." Before going to bed every night, Xiao Ke would put on headphones and accompany her to sleep. Style" novels like this.
Audiobooks for radio dramas account for over 80% of 640 million users
In fact, there are not a few young people like Xiao Ke who fall asleep listening to radio dramas and comic dialogues.
According to iiMedia Consulting's data, the compound annual growth rate of the audio market in the past three years has exceeded 50%. Last year, the number of online audio users in China was 570 million, and it is expected to reach 640 million this year, and it will increase to 690 million in 2022.
Among the many audio categories, audiobooks and radio dramas accounted for more than 80%.
According to iiMedia Consulting's 2021 China Online Audio Industry Development and User Behavior Research Report, among the audio content categories listened to by online audio users, audio books accounted for 47%, and radio dramas accounted for 37.4%.
"At first I listened to cross talk, and then I fell into the pit of radio dramas. There are works updates every week, so that we can continue to hear new content." Xiao Ke told reporters that in recent years, he found that many young people began to listen to radio dramas, commuting to work, during lunch breaks. , When eating or doing housework, compared to playing drama and vibrato, the listening process is not subject to too much external interference, no need to stare at the screen, and listening to the story will not affect other people on the same occasion.
"Hundred-year-old" radio drama reborn on the Internet
Radio drama is called Radio Drama in English, and it is recognized that it was born in the Anglo-American region in the 1920s and played on public radio.
In China, the first radio drama was the anti-Japanese drama "Terrorist Memories" produced by Shanghai Asian American Broadcasting Corporation in January 1933.
The first radio drama after the founding of New China was "Ten Thousand Pieces of Splints" which premiered on China National Radio in February 1950.
In the history of Chinese radio dramas, I have to mention "Harbin under the Night Curtain" broadcast by Wang Gang in the early 1980s.
According to incomplete statistics, in 1982, more than 100 radio stations across the country broadcasted "Harbin under the Night Curtain" broadcast by Wang Gang, with an audience of over 300 million.
In the mid to late 1990s, as fewer and fewer people used radios, young people gradually abandoned radios and turned to VCD, CD, MP3 and other media.
In recent years, with the popularization of 5G, smart speakers, and Bluetooth headsets, audio scenes have expanded from mobile to in-vehicle, smart hardware, home and other scenarios. There are more and more young people listening to stories. The difference in the 1990s was that the carrier of listening changed from a radio to a mobile phone.
Why choose radio drama?
Many radio drama enthusiasts said that compared to the adaptation of film and television dramas, radio dramas can restore the story more authentically, while retaining more imagination. "Radio dramas are like novels. The characters are the most perfect in imagination."
The market is over tens of billions of capital rushing to enter
Wang Guanhua entered the audio industry from the Internet industry in 2019. Chengdu Wanwu Acoustics, which he founded, is already a well-known sound product incubator in the industry. He has produced famous radio dramas such as "Westward Journey", "Douluo Continent", and "Legend of the Son of Heaven". "Science Fiction World" has launched a number of sci-fi radio dramas.
Wang Guanhua introduced that in 2019, he keenly discovered that online audio has attracted more and more attention from young users.
"User growth probably started in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 20% to 30%."
In fact, the audio market is already a veritable tens of billions market.
Data shows that China's online audio market has doubled since 2019. The market size in 2019 will be 7.5 billion, and it will reach 13.1 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach 22 billion in 2021 and 31.2 billion in 2022.
Since 2011, with the help of capital, various audio apps have sprung up to compete for user ears. Dragonfly, Himalayan, Lychee, Kuwo Listening, Lazy Listening, Cat Ear... occupy the first echelon of the market, with an average total Himalaya has completed 12 rounds of financing with a monthly active user of 260 million, with a valuation of 24 billion.
Litchi FM was listed on the Nasdaq on January 17, 2020, behind it is Jingwei China, Morningside Capital, Xiaomi, etc.
In September this year, Himalaya submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The prospectus indicated that Tencent, China Reading, Baidu, and Xiaomi were strategic investors.
On November 22, Dragonfly FM announced the completion of a new round of financing. This round of financing was led by Chinese Online, with strategic shareholders Xiaomi, Ruiyi Investment and Puwei Capital following the investment.
In January this year, Tencent Music Group acquired a 100% stake in Lazy Tingshu with a transaction amount of 2.7 billion yuan.
Only three months later, "Lazy Man Ting Shu" and "Kuo Wo Chang Ting" announced the merger into the new brand "Lazy Man Chang Ting", competing with Himalaya and Dragonfly to compete for the radio drama market.
Exclusive copyright fees for head works amounted to one million
The entry of capital has made the cost of the entire industry higher and higher.
Wang Guanhua recalled that in the earliest days, the audio copyright of an online novel did not require copyright fees at all, but nowadays, the copyright fee for online novels on the head is between 100,000 and 200,000. Some online novels have audio copyrights signed once a year. The copyright fee must be divided, and the exclusive copyright fee of some head works is as high as more than one million.
Statistics from Jinjiang Literature City show that from September to November this year, 30 works were adapted into audio novels and radio dramas, accounting for 30% of the total number of adaptations.
In fact, most of the most popular radio dramas and sound novels come from the head web articles, such as "The Fight in the Snow", "Slaying the Wolf", "The Son-in-Law", "Celebrating the Years" and "The Three Body"... These works mostly come from the Internet. Literature has been adapted into film and television dramas, comics, and radio dramas to develop the entire industry chain.
In Wang Guanhua's view, compared with the investment in film and television dramas, the production cost of radio dramas is lower, and the ordinary production is about 150,000 to 300,000.
Of course, if it is the head IP, and then invite top voice actors and well-known singers to sing the theme song, the production cost may be as high as one million.
The reporter learned that one of the radio dramas with the highest investment at present is the radio drama of the same name adapted from Liu Cixin’s "Three-Body" series. The total volume of 80 episodes in 6 seasons is as high as 10 million yuan, and the preparation and creation took more than a year. The top-level dubbing team "729 Voice Workshop" recorded the broadcast, and the voice actors participated in the dubbing of film and television dramas such as "Gu Jian Qi Tan", "The Legend of the Demon Cat", and "The Wandering Earth".
Wang Guanhua introduced that in addition to the voice actors, a good radio drama also requires the participation of the voice director, screenwriter, and post-production special effects.
In addition to content production, including posters, promotion, and distribution, there are also dedicated personnel responsible.
Some head productions will invite well-known musicians to produce episodes, opening and ending songs, and also spend a lot of money to invite head singers to sing. For example, Mao Buyi, Zhou Shen, and Zhou Bichang have sang theme songs for radio dramas.
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Who are "insiders"
Radio dramas are inseparable from the emotional interpretation of voice actors.
Currently, domestic radio dramas are divided into "online dramas" and "commercial dramas".
The former is connected by enthusiasts through clubs, forums or WeChat groups to complete the recording of a radio drama in the form of division of labor; the latter is led by the professional studio of senior voice actors in the circle, and the investment in the production of radio dramas is even greater. Larger and more sophisticated, the quality is relatively guaranteed.
"Online drama" group "voiced" for love
In the dead of night, Xiao Luo turned on the computer and microphone after finishing the day's work, opened the script and started to study, trying to figure out the characters, immersed in it from time to time, and muttered to himself.
Since being exposed to dubbing after the epidemic, Xiao Luo has become a part-time voice actor and has participated in the recording of many radio dramas and audiobooks.
In the industry, fans like Xiaoluo are called "online drama" groups.
“It’s all for love. It’s a hobby. There is no income.” Xiao Luo recalled that he was listening to a dubbing class in the Himalayas during the epidemic, and later joined some forums and dubbing enthusiast groups to play with everyone.
Related forums and WeChat groups often receive dubbing of radio dramas and audiobooks. You need to audition first and cooperate if appropriate.
The fee is generally divided into hourly or divided. For novices, it is about 60 yuan an hour, and there are one or two hundred one hour. "I have also seen more than one thousand yuan per hour, and the requirements are relatively high."
The division is based on the completion rate, likes, and playback volume. "After the studio and the platform are divided, they are distributed to the dubbing player, and sometimes it is just tens of dollars."
The "commercial drama" group holds the head IP
In the circle, professional studios such as "729 Sound Factory" are called "commercial distribution circles". The "photosynthetic building blocks" studio founded by well-known voice actor Jiang Guangtao, the Bianjiang studio, Beidou Penguin, etc. belong to "Commercial Distribution Circle".
In the early stage of establishment, most of the businesses handled by these studios were traditional film and television dramas, animation dubbing and dubbing directing work. In recent years, they have entered the dubbing work of radio dramas.
Most of the "commercial dramas" are top-level IPs, operated by well-known voice actors, well-made, and of relatively stable quality.
The reporter learned from relevant channels that the cost of recording an episode of radio dramas for the leading voice actors in China now ranges from RMB 5,000 to RMB 10,000.
More often, they have their own studios, and major audio platforms will invite to participate in the production and pay a certain production fee; the second mode is that the head dubbing studio buys the copyright by itself, produces and distributes it by itself, and divides it with the platform; The three models are to cooperate with the platform in the way of "guarantee + share".
Nowadays, top actors in the circle such as Jiang Guangtao, Ajie, Bian Jiang, and Shanxin have already had their own fan groups.
The "729 Sound Workshop" and the photosynthetic building blocks have also held many meetings, and tickets worth a few hundred yuan have been fired up to thousands of yuan by the scalpers.
Hot drama revenue exceeds 10 million yuan, and there are many ways to play
In addition to practitioners, some head IPs are also making a lot of money.
According to public data from the Jinjiang Literature City station, the revenue of the radio drama "The Master of the Demon Dao" exceeded 10 million, and the revenue of the radio drama "Poyun" and "Silent Reading" exceeded 1 million.
In the exploration of profit models, several mainstream audio platforms mainly adopt membership fees, single-episode fees or single-part fees.
In addition to quarterly fees, some platforms also have a reward function. For example, more than 15,000 people rewarded in "Jing Jinjiu". In the first season, the highest netizens gave 465,000 rewards, according to 100 rewards. Calculated at 10 yuan, the netizen’s tipping fee alone amounts to 46,000 yuan.
In addition, there are many ways to play derivative peripheral products.
The price of novels, medals, ornaments, pendants, bookmarks, headphones and other peripheral products ranges from more than ten yuan to thousands of yuan.
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How to break the "loss circle"?
The industry is booming. However, Red Star News reporters found in their investigation that, judging from the current situation, most platforms are still burning money.
Himalaya has a total loss of nearly 2.4 billion yuan in three and a half years, and Litchi, the first stock of online audio in China, is not better...
Most platforms "losing losses"
The market scale is as high as tens of billions and the user scale is as high as 600 million, but most audio platforms are still losing money year after year.
During the investigation, the reporter found that, as far as the current situation is concerned, most platforms are still burning money.
Himalaya’s prospectus shows that in 2018, 2019, 2020, and the first half of 2021, Himalaya’s losses were 755 million yuan, 747 million yuan, 549 million yuan and 324 million yuan, respectively. The total loss in three and a half years was nearly 2.4 billion yuan. Yuan.
Related analysis believes that, in order to increase brand influence and user stickiness, Himalaya continues to “burn money” in channel promotion fees, brand promotion and advertising; at the same time, in order to have continuous high-quality content and increase user’s payment conversion, Himalaya’s operating costs It will also remain high for a long time.
Litchi Group has been listed since the beginning of 2020. Litchi has released 8 quarterly financial reports. Only in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 will it achieve profitability, and the other 6 quarters will be in a state of loss.
The growth of paying users is now a bottleneck
According to data from the China Business Industry Institute, the main monetization method for domestic online audio is paid subscription (member subscription and paid on-demand listening service), accounting for 42% of the total.
Followed by live broadcast (31%) and advertising (27%).
Financial analyst Li Ming believes that from an industry perspective, it is difficult for the growth space, incremental market and penetration rate of user payments to increase significantly.
According to Insight Consulting data, in 2020, the penetration rate of monthly active users of online audio in China is 16.1%, which is much lower than the 46.5% in the United States.
Himalaya’s prospectus shows that as of June 30, 2021, the average monthly active paying users on the mobile terminal reached 14.2 million, an increase of 65.5% over the same period in 2020.
However, compared with its average of 260 million monthly active users, 14.2 million paid users are clearly far from enough.
Litchi’s performance report shows that in the second quarter, the total number of average monthly paying users of litchi was 494,400, an increase of 7% year-on-year, and the total number of average monthly paying users in the third quarter was 485,500, an increase of 8% compared with 448,300 in the same period last year.
However, compared with the second quarter, the number of paying users in the third quarter declined.
Actors need to improve their professional level
The huge business opportunities and the success of many well-known voice actors have attracted many voice lovers to join.
There are also numerous advertisements on the Internet, known as "sound realization", and even a one-hour promotional slogan of 1,000 yuan.
The reporter learned from the survey that the number of professional voice actors in the country cannot be counted, but the top actors, such as Chen Hao, Jiang Guangtao, Bian Jiang, Ajie, and Ji Guanlin, have received long-term professional training. He has accumulated a lot of experience in dubbing for film and television dramas and animation.
According to Chen Hao, the dubbing director of "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", if you want to become a professional dubbing actor, you first need to work hard to improve your professional level. For example, in radio dramas, the audience needs to feel the actors' every move, psychology, etc. through our voices."
Infringement and other restrictions on industry development
"Nowadays, some radio dramas have content such as side-by-side and pornography for the sake of the click rate." An industry insider said.
In October of this year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television reported that there were serious loopholes in the content review mechanism of the "Mao'er FM" platform of Beijing Meowsila Network Technology Co., Ltd., and the illegal dissemination of a large number of unhealthy online audio-visual programs. Administrative penalties were imposed, warnings and fines of RMB 30,000.
Infringement disputes are also an important factor restricting the development of the industry.
The reporter checked in Tianyan that there are a large number of cases of infringement, whether it is Himalayas or Cat Ears.
In October of this year, the 2021 Sound Explorers Conference and Beijing Broadcasting Festival Audio Copyright Forum issued a public proposal on "Protecting the Copyright of Sound Works".
Tong Gang, vice chairman of the China Federation of Radio and Television Social Organizations, said that without audio copyright protection, there would be no respect for audio content creation and a good environment conducive to audio content dissemination.
He called on all walks of life to jointly promote the formation of a joint force to promote the innovation and development of the audio copyright industry.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng