Chinese podcast app Ximalaya to go public

Ximalaya, the Shanghai-based online audio platform backed by Tencent Holdings, filed for an initial public offering in the United States on April 30, 2021.

Xǐmǎlāyǎ, or Xima FM (喜马拉雅 — literally, Himalaya), is the largest audio and podcasting app in China, boasting 250 million monthly users during the first quarter of 2021, with a 70% increase of mobile listeners from the previous year from the same time span.

• In 2020, Xima hosted over 161,000 content creators in 2020 (according to its SEC filing).
• The audio giant earned $4 billion in revenue last year, a 51.3% increase from 2019, but has not turned a profit since 2018 — a common issue facing podcast companies around the world.

Launched in 2012, Xima is a top runner in China’s burgeoning audio market, with listeners tuning into podcasts, audio books, and livestreams.

• Other notable Chinese-grown podcast companies include LizhiFM and QingTingFM — these two companies along with Xima are regarded as the “Big Three” of China’s audio scene, according to a China Daily report released last April.
• LizhiFM was the first Chinese podcasting platform to go public in January 2020.

Podcasting is a relatively new medium in China, but urban lifestyles among the middle class — long commutes, gym, etc. — have contributed to audio’s rise in recent years.

• The market value of China’s audio industry in 2019 reached 17.58 billion yuan ($2.72 billion), according to a report by iResearch.
• Based on research by Deloitte, China and the U.S. make up 75% of total global audiobook listeners.
• According to a 2020 survey at Podfest, China’s first podcast-themed event founded in 2019, half of podcast respondents said they listen to audio content every day (notably, 88.5% of survey respondents were under the age of 35).
• China’s tech giants are taking notice, too. Last year, the New York-listed Tencent Entertainment Music Group rolled out its own long-form podcasts and audiobook series, earning 100 million users by the end of 2020.

Differences from American podcasting

• Many popular Chinese podcasts are explicitly educational, including apps to learn foreign languages — with current events, media, and entertainment taking up a smaller share of listenership than in the U.S. and Europe.
• Paid subscription packages, much like Substack and Patreon driving the American newsletter boom, are very common in China.
• Censorship: In July 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) ordered the termination of 26 Chinese podcasting apps. In 2020, the CAC pulled two podcasts from China’s Apple store. Such reports have made China’s podcast hosts wary, even those who do not cover political topics.