"Bloomberg Media in May introduced a text-to-audio function in its app and online with the hunch that commuters would prefer to multitask while getting their news."...The Financial Times was quicker on the uptake, having started their experiments in 2017 and reported by Digiday a year-ago, tomorrow:
Why the Financial Times is converting text articles to audio
FT Labs — the publisher’s four-person experimental unit — has been converting its text articles into audio to figure out its readers’ appetite for listening to articles.Well, it turns out there is a lot more to the business than might first appear to the untrained eye (mine). Like podcasts in China.
The publisher has been using Amazon Polly to convert the text articles into audio, read by artificial voice named Amy....
From MarketPlace, September 13:
FOMO in China is a $7 billion industry
Chen Jun, 34, rents a small apartment in Shanghai. He, his wife and his kid share one bedroom, his brother’s family shares another and his parents sleep on a bed in the corner of the living room next to the entrance.The living arrangement is a bit of a squeeze, but according to official statistics, Chen’s living situation is common for migrant workers, like his family, who come from the countryside.Shanghai is much more expensive than his native Hubei Province in central China.With a 2-year-old daughter and family responsibilities, Chen said he must work hard and dream big.For several years, he worked as a database engineer. Chen was making $2,300 a month, which is almost double the average salary for white-collar workers in Shanghai. However, Chen said he was always on the lookout to upgrade his skills and improve his financial prospects."I was working at a state-owned insurance firm, so it was a bit stressful. I frequently worked overtime, sometimes throughout the weekend without a break," he said.
Eventually, he came across a podcast from bitcoin tycoon Li Xiaolai.“The podcast is called ‘The Path to Financial Freedom.’ Who wouldn’t be attracted by that?” Chen said.He said the podcast played a big role in his decision to quit his stable job to invest in cryptocurrency.
Chen pays an annual subscription fee of 199 renminbi ($29), which he said is affordable.There are podcasts in China that are ad driven and free for listeners, just like in the United States. Chen said though that he believes the quality of the free content is more entertainment driven and not as useful for his self-improvement.“Mobile payment has made it so convenient and these professional audio platforms offer good quality podcasts for a small fee,” Chen said.He has paid for more than a dozen podcasts, mostly educational lectures on Chinese history, health, the economy, finance and learning methods. Altogether he has spent $160 on podcasts.
Podcasts with subscription fees, interactive Q&A’s online with experts or celebrities and live-streaming lecture-sessions where the audience can participate and pay as they wish are what people in China refer to as the "pay-for-knowledge" economy.It was estimated to be worth $7.3 billion last year, with the bulk of the revenues from paid podcasts, according to a research institute run by China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. The figure is focused only on consumers paying directly for content online and does not include ad-driven podcasts.By comparison, the U.S. podcast industry mainly makes money through advertising. It reported ad revenues amounting to $314 million last year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau....
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So apologies to the FT and the L.P. for jumping the gun on the reaction.
As it will probably happen again, I'll keep the apology template handy.
