China’s Digital Content Publishing Industry: The 2019 Annual Report on Investment Insights and Market Trends

Abstract

This paper uses the core contents of the recently published book titled Market Patterns and Investment Insights of China’s Digital Content Industry in 2020, which is authored by a team at the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication (CAPP) and is one of the most authoritative report about China’s digital content industry. Analyzing the latest development of this industry, this paper re-defines it and focuses on ten segments—online game, animation, online video, short video, streaming, online music, digital reading, news APP, online education and knowledge payment. This paper estimates their investment value on two dimensions (internal and external), including seven level-1 indicators and eleven level-2 ones, and obtains the investment value ranking list of the segments. It systematically expounds the status quo and characteristics of Chinese digital content industry in such aspects as market development, conversion rate, competition, investment and financing tendency, relevant policies and traditional mainstream media reports, and predicts ten market trends. The paper comes to the following conclusion: ① In terms of investment value: short video and online video have the highest score in ten segments; ② Regarding investment prospects: video content, original content, vertical IP incubation are worth the most attention; ③ Regarding prospects, Chinese digital content industry is in the stage of expansion, with short video performing the best and entering the stage of “intensive cultivation”, while content payment may lead a new round of growth.