HEFEI, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- When night
falls, Ling Yu turns on his computer, checks the microphone, then starts
to share his latest stories with his online listeners. Ling,
25, a part-time anchorman, delights in aperiodically uploading his
audio files to Ximalaya FM, an online audio-sharing platform in China. Meanwhile,
every Friday, he also uploads a music radio program to NetEase Cloud
Music, a popular online music platform under the control of the Chinese
internet giant NetEase Inc. "I
started to get into the platforms in 2013, and I began to share stories
and swap tips about music with my listeners," Ling said. "Sometimes, I
record and upload paid courses and audiobooks." Thanks
to his melodious voice and fascinating stories, Ling now has nearly
200,000 followers on the platforms, which bring him a comfortable
income. In fact, the emergence of
online audio sharing has spread rapidly across the country. More than 10
million anchors have registered on Ximalaya FM, according to a
statement released by the company on Jan. 16. In
2019, anchors on the platform received a total of 1.63 billion yuan
(about 246 million U.S. dollars) in cash from an incentive plan, the
statement said. Data from iiMedia
Research, a third-party data mining and analysis organization for new
economic industries, showed that the number of users in China's online
audio market had reached 489 million in 2019, and it is expected to
increase to 542 million this year. More
than 70 percent of the users have paid for online audio, which means
the online audio industry, also called the "ear-economy," has great
potential for further development, according to iiMedia Research. In
Ling's view, the reason for its popularity is that people can listen to
their chosen program while doing other things, a convenient choice as
the pace of modern life becomes ever faster. "Online
audio platforms include content from various fields. It's attractive
for audiences of all ages and industries," he added. He
Hui, a 63-year-old citizen of Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui
Province, has grown accustomed to listening to audiobooks on her mobile
phone rather than reading. "Young people use audio for learning and entertainment, but the elderly like me also need it to enrich our lives," she said. According
to a survey on reading from the Chinese Academy of Press and
Publication, in 2019, 31.2 percent of Chinese citizens regularly
listened to audiobooks, while the rate for adults was 30.3 percent, up
4.3 percent year on year. Technologies
that bring audio to automobiles, smart home devices and smart wearables
further fueled the development of the "ear-economy." A
report published by Ximalaya FM in September showed that intelligent
loudspeakers and vehicle devices are becoming increasingly popular among
users who listen to audio at night, up 31.3 percent and 23.08 percent
year on year, respectively. In order
to adapt to new market trends, Ximalaya FM has been cooperating with a
number of automobile manufacturers, home appliance makers and internet
companies to lay out their market plan in hardware terminals. iFLYTEK,
a well-known intelligent speech and artificial intelligence company in
China, has also launched a variety of intelligent audio products,
including vehicle voice assistants, speakers and robots. Liu
Qingfeng, chairman of the board of iFLYTEK, said with the surges of
intelligent home systems and terminals, like wearable devices such as
watches, glasses and belts, the demand for "voice," a more natural
method for human-computer interaction, will increase. "It
is foreseeable that the 'Internet of Everything' will deepen the
integration of voice and artificial intelligence, and bring prosperity
to the entire industrial chain," Liu added. Enditem
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