The Oxford University Press picked up 400,000 paying subscribers for an audio series offered on Ximalaya FM, and has now partnered with the mobile app Dragonfly FM to offer, in English, audio lessons for 3-4 year olds covering science and English-language.
At the 2020 Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair earlier this month fielded over 60,000 titles from book publishers from 21 countries, despite pandemic restrictions.
The numbers reflect the continuing growth of, and interest in, the Chinese market for children’s books. China has seen double-digit growth in the number of children’s books published for two decades, with sales worth $3 billion per year and rising.
But perhaps most importantly for foreign players is the interest in books in English.
April Guo, general manager of Cricket Media China, which has participated in the Shanghai event for seven consecutive years, introduced a series of popular science magazines to China, which became sought-after due to their easy-to-understand language and lively illustrations.
Parents are driving the sales of the original English books and magazines as they consider the readings not only effective science education but a way to learn English.
Guo predicts that, with the growing trend for English education for preschool children, the number of subscribers to their English-language magazines will rise significantly in the coming three years.
As elsewhere, the smartphone revolution has also created new demand for audiobooks, and in China the children’s audiobook sector is booming, and foreign publishers are rushing to get a share of the action.
The Oxford University Press picked up 400,000 paying subscribers for an audio series offered on Ximalaya FM, and has now partnered with the mobile app Dragonfly FM to offer, in English, audio lessons for 3-4 year olds covering science and English-language.
Ding Rui, for OUP China, said:
People these days are becoming more willing to pay for digital content with greater awareness of copyright protection (adding) China is now one of our fastest-growing and most strategically important markets,
Via Xinhua.
The wider China audiobook market is estimated to have 560 million consumers and to be worth $1.1 billion.
