The Digital Publishing Industry Undergoes Robust Growth

By Lily Wang

The purchasing of audio books through apps， or the buying of digital materials online， has become a new way for people to consume literature and read.

According to the 2020-2021 China Digital Publishing Industry Annual Report， in 2020 the total revenue of China’s digital publishing industry amounted to RMB 1.178167 trillion， up 11 times compared to 10 years ago. Digital reading quality has been improving over the years.

Industry scale nears RMB 1 trillion

In recent years， domestic publishing houses have steadily promoted the value creation of digital content. Each year about 200，000 new books and 10，000 periodicals are published and all these have been processed digitally. In 2020， the total revenue of China’s internet journals， e-books and digital newspapers amounted to RMB 9.403 billion， an increase of 5.56% over the previous year. The revenue of mobile reading reached RMB 244.836 billion.

The report pointed out that the overall revenue of the domestic digital publishing industry in 2018 reached RMB 833.078 billion， an increase of 17.8% over the previous year. Among them， the income has reached RMB 2.138 billion for digital journals， RMB 5.6 billion for e-books， RMB 830 million for digital newspapers（excluding mobile newspapers）， and RMB 11.5 billion for blog applications， RMB 10.35 billion for online music， RMB 18.08 billion for online animations， RMB 200.74 billion for mobile publishing （mobile reading， mobile music， mobile games， etc.）， RMB 79.11 billion for online games， RMB 133 billion for online education， and RMB 371.7 billion for internet advertising.

As a hot spot of the cultural industry， in 2020 the total revenue of digital literature amounted to RMB 26.81 billion， and total number of works reached about 280 million. By the end of 2020， China exported more than 10，000 online literature works. Online animation， online games， online education， online advertising and digital music stimulated the growth of China’s digital publishing industry.

Wang Biao， Director of the Digital Publishing Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Press and Publication， said，“China has more than 500 million readers of digital content， and it ranks top in the world in terms of user scale and product content or quality.”

Integration keeps deepening

According to 18th China’s National Reading Survey Report released by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication， in 2020 about 31.6% of Chinese people had developed the habit of listening to audio books.

Wei Yushan， Director of the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication， said that since 2020， the Covid-19 pandemic forced the publishing industry to enhance integration. The network literature， digital education， knowledge service， audio books and other digital publishing fields have shown robust growth.

Publishing industry integration grows rapidly. The regulation department has took many measures to promote the industrial integration. The top-level design and frameworks have been further promoted. Largescale publishing groups have made innovations in concept， content， technology， model and mechanism， and the publishing entities have focused on business innovation and integration.

Online literature gradually constructs a new ecological pattern. There are about 2 million signed works of online literature each year， and the total number of works is about 28 million. The quality of online literary works has significantly improved， the structure has been further optimized， and trends of mainstream and boutique works have been further highlighted. The IP ecological pattern of online literature is becoming more and more perfect， and the online literature is increasingly empowering the copyright field.

Digital education publishing under adjustment. Generally speaking， the digital education market is growing rapidly. The survival of the fittest in the digital education market has accelerated， market concentration has further improved， and the Matthew effect has become increasingly prominent. The transformation and integration of the educational publishing industry have been accelerated， and traditional publishing units have accelerated the innovation of digital publishing products and models.

Audio books are becoming exquisite， intelligent and scenerelated， and this has become a new hot spot of competition in the industry. Remarkable breakthroughs have been made in the refined， intelligent and scene-related transformation of audio books. All types of audio reading institutions have been promoting audio reading into a stage of highquality development， and all types of reading scenes have constructed a new ecology of knowledge and culture.

This digital content marketing system has been gradually constructed. Publishing units have expanded new media marketing channels to launch short video marketing and livestreaming e-commerce. Publishing units have realized all-round distribution of digital marketing channels， and multidimensional promotion and display of brand content.

Media integration has entered a more difficult phase， as it has become obvious that the traditional and new media fields are integrating further. All-round innovation has been made in process， content， technology， channel， product， operation model and management mechanisms. The construction of media centers in counties and towns is under way， which has basically covered the whole country.

Great achievements for the export of digital content. Traditional publishing units have been using new technology and channels to develop their business globally. Online literature is exported to foreign countries through publishing books， IP revision， online translation， localized promotion in overseas countries and investment in cooperation platforms.

Industry security systems are further improved. The research and formulation of standards have been more closely combined with market demand， and a series of legislation， judicial interpretation and industrial policies have been issued. With the joint efforts of various parties， the good order of industry copyright has been shaped.

Seven trends to lead industry development

Wei Yushan said that when it comes to the overall policy design of building a cultural power and the change of digital content demands under the normalization of pandemic prevention and control， the digital publishing industry will feature seven development trends.

The complete top-level design system provides guidance for industrial development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period， digital industrialization and industrial digitization will be further promoted and digital publishing will be an important vehicle for implementing the strategy of digitization. The key tasks during the 14th Five-Year Plan period will include enhancing content construction and improving the digital publishing works. Various measures will be made to promote the integrated development of the publishing industry.

The production and distribution modes of digital content keep reforming. The distribution mode of digital content has moved from a single machine algorithm to a new stage of “algorithm + identity”. The multiindustry integration with original content as the base will become the norm of digital content production and creation. Digital content creators， platforms and users will have deeper interactions.

Digital education will embrace new reforms. To G or to B will become the main mode of K12 education development， and quality education will become a new blue ocean for K12 education. On top of that， vocational education will become a new outlet of digital education， and artificial intelligence will become the key technical engine for educational publishing units to create educational products. With the implementation of the “double reduction” policy， traditional educational publishing units will usher in new development opportunities.

Knowledge management and services are moving towards the middle platform. New technologies such as artificial intelligence， blockchain and 5G will be more deeply integrated with knowledge management， and knowledge atlas technology will also be further applied in knowledge management. Publishing units will create bigger value through integrating knowledge management with the publishing business.

The market pattern of digital content industry tends to feature both competition and cooperation， and the boundary of the digital content industry continues to expand. Digital content enterprises will integrate resources， technology and platforms through strategies. They may also find new market opportunities through establishing new connections， to create larger and more lasting value.

The all-round digital content marketing pattern has been gradually constructed. Building an all-channel， all-media and whole-chain marketing system has become an important focus for publishing units to strengthen marketing capacity in the next stage. The consumption behaviors of readers and users will be more accurately and clearly classified.

Blockchain technology will grow rapidly to build a new eco-system of digital copyrights. Regulation departments， local governments， publishing enterprises， IT enterprises， universities and scientific research institutions all regard the application of blockchain technology in the field of copyright as an important topic for future research and practice. It is important to quickly form an allecological and whole life cycle industrial chain to regulate， share and construct the digital copyright， to enable more efficient and healthy operation of the digital copyright industry.