Sound Group Inc. engages in the operation of providing audio entertainment, and podcast, advertising and others in the People's Republic of China (the PRC or China).
The company has created a comprehensive audio-based social ecosystem with a global presence. Through its product portfolio and with the support of its in-house technology, the company intends to cater to users' interests in audio entertainment and social networking.
The company has built a highly-engaged user base with its product...
Sound Group Inc. engages in the operation of providing audio entertainment, and podcast, advertising and others in the People's Republic of China (the PRC or China).
The company has created a comprehensive audio-based social ecosystem with a global presence. Through its product portfolio and with the support of its in-house technology, the company intends to cater to users' interests in audio entertainment and social networking.
The company has built a highly-engaged user base with its product portfolio. The company generates net revenues through virtual gift sales in relation to audio entertainment, as well as podcast, advertising and others.
Audio Entertainment
The company's audio entertainment service includes a variety of audio-centric, interactive products and features that are intended to drive user engagement and create attractive monetization opportunities. The average mobile monthly active users for audio entertainment increased to 9.33 million in 2022.
The company launched audio live streaming as its first audio entertainment product feature on LIZHI App in 2016, making it possible for its users to enjoy a multi-dimensional interactive audio experience. The company offers a number of categories of audio entertainment content, such as social, talk shows, music, animation, comics and games (ACG), etc. The company's content creators or hosts can easily start an audio live streaming on its platforms, personalize and manage their channels. The company's users are encouraged to interact with voices via its interactive audio features with hosts and with each other.
With user interactions built into every audio content, live streaming and interactive audio entertainment features and products, the company's users not only listen to audio contents on its platforms, but also create, store, discover, and share audio contents and interact with each other through different audio entertainment channels. Through the company's audio entertainment services, such as audio livestreaming and multi-user on-air dialogue, users can follow their favorite content creators and channels and interact with others through various interactive features, and even become a content creator or a host themselves and create their own audio content and perform in audio live streaming programs. This audio-centric interaction is a natural extension of the power of voices that connects and inspires.
Social Networking
In October 2020, the company launched TIYA App, a real-time social networking product, in the United States, aiming to expand its overseas presence. TIYA App provides dynamic and interactive experience to connect friends and users with similar interests globally. Featuring a live social networking experience, TIYA App encourages real-time conversations in a relaxing atmosphere inspired by the emotion delivered by human voices.
The company has introduced various innovative functions and features on TIYA App since its launch, such as mini games and screen sharing. These features are designed to enable users to participate in various online social activities, including teaming up to play mobile games, sharing screens as they watch a movie or video, discussing a topic, learning a subject together or chatting online. These features are intended to reinforce users' friendship in a virtual community and enhance the online social experience. In early 2023, TIYA App launched a chatbot module which enables online AI dialogue and automated responses to users' questions on the app. The chatbot module is designed to provide users with innovative, online social companionship experiences and will be continuously upgraded from time to time.
Podcast and in-car Audio
The company provides podcast contents mainly via two of its platforms, LIZHI App and LIZHI Podcast. Users can access the company's LIZHI App and LIZHI Podcast on their mobile devices and its in-car audio product to listen to an abundance of audio content.
LIZHI App is dedicated to building an audio community that allows users to create, share, discover, and listen to audio content, and enjoy an immersive and interactive audio entertainment experience. LIZHI App is a one-stop mobile platform for users to discover and enjoy a wide range of content. The company launched the LIZHI Podcast in January 2021. LIZHI Podcast features curated content drawn from the company's extensive library built over the years, as well as new podcasts from selected content creators. While most of the company's podcasts are free, a very small portion of its content is available upon purchase. The company shares a portion of such revenue with content creators.
Apart from the mobile apps, the company is also exploring the in-car audios as another usage scenario to leverage its large content library. Since December 2020, the company started to collaborate with a number of automobile manufacturers and Internet of Vehicles platforms in China. The company's in-car audio product is available on certain automobile models through in-car intelligent systems or Internet of Vehicles platforms.
Content Creation
The company strives to provide a diverse range of pre-recorded audio content and real-time audio content on its platforms. The company's content offerings cover a wide array of categories. A significant portion of the company's audio content is generated by its users. By providing innovative audio technologies and enriching audio entertainment features on its platforms, the company encourages users to make audio content and engage in audio entertainment activities, such as audio live streaming and interactive audio features, to connect with each other. The company hopes to inspire everyone to be a content creator, and promote the popularity of its content creators through online and offline activities.
Technology
DOREME, the company's self-developed real-time audio and video streaming technology solution, provides real-time communication (RTC) technology support for its various products, aiming to ensure a stable and smooth audio experience. Such technology is designed to reduce voice delay, enhance the audio quality, and accordingly make real-time multi-user on-air interaction a smoother audio listening experience. In addition, DOREME supports the audio live streaming feature across different usage scenarios and improves compatibility of the company's podcast products with external in-car operating systems and Internet of Vehicles platforms. The company has also created proprietary voice engineering features, such as 3D recording, noise reduction, as well as voice beautification and synthesis.
The company had also introduced VoderX in early 2022, its in-house instant messaging (IM) technology, to provide the technology infrastructure framework that allows tailored technology support to a growing number of interactive and social networking products.
In August 2022, the company unveiled an in-house hybrid cloud computing platform called Voice Cloud that aims to provide the company with an optimized and comprehensive one-stop solution for operations management, agile security, internal audio- and text-based communications, as well as automated data management and analysis.
Voice Cloud's cloud infrastructure is built on LIZHI's iRock hybrid cloud architecture, creating a unified platform through which the company can operate multiple cloud-based tools securely and reliably. DOREME and VoderX have been integrated into the Voice Cloud and power Voice Cloud's platform services. Voice Cloud will further integrate other business related service platforms that accelerate advancement for product R&D, marketing, and operational efficiency.
Monetization
The company generates net revenues through virtual gift sales in relation to audio entertainment, as well as podcast, advertising and others.
Virtual Gift Sales
At current stage, the company strategically offers most of its podcast contents for free to create a loyal and engaged audio ecosystem, which is essential in expanding its user base and may provide monetization potential through audio entertainment, as well as podcast, advertising and others. The company derives most of its net revenues from virtual gift sales in relation to its audio entertainment, which can be purchased by users using its virtual currency, Golden Coins. In 2022, the company had approximately 483.5 thousand average audio entertainment paying users on its apps.
Users can purchase virtual gifts on the company's platforms using its virtual currency and send them to content creators as a gesture of appreciation or support. Users can purchase the virtual currency on the company's site via various online third-party payment platforms.
Podcast, Advertising and Others
The company generates a small portion of its net revenues from offering paid audio content to its users and advertising and marketing solutions to its business customers.
Content Moderation
The company has developed content moderation mechanisms to ensure that the content on its platforms comply with local laws and regulatory requirements in the markets it operates and intends to promote its core value propositions. These content monitoring mechanisms may include user flags and reports, automatic content filtering, real-name registration and user undertakings, etc. The mechanisms the company implements specifically for each product will vary and depend on the local laws and regulations in the markets it operates. The company's moderation team conducts monitoring of user flags and reports, sign-ups and other activities automatically or by manual review to ensure that inappropriate users and activity are removed as quickly as possible. If the company detects minor violations, it will intervene and rectify by deleting relevant content and images, posting warnings, and closing or suspending user accounts. For severe violations, the company will temporarily or permanently close down relevant user or host accounts.
User Data Security and Cyber Security
The company stores its user data in encrypted form, and only allows access from its company's intranet. Access to the company's servers that store its user and internal data is limited to a 'need-to-know' basis and there are strict internal rules and policy in place to govern how it may access and use user data. From time to time the company checks firewalls and operation systems to ensure there is no breach. The company also works with leading data security companies to implement and test data security measures.
Sales, Branding and Marketing
The company relies on organic user growth and other user acquisition activities to grow its user base. Through its superior user experience and high-quality service offerings, the company has built a strong brand awareness among users. The company's sales, branding and marketing activities comprise user acquisition activities through online marketing channels, including mobile advertising platforms and other online advertising networks. The company also conducts branding and promotional activities through various online and offline events.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2022, the company had registered 452 trademarks in China; 416 trademarks in Hong Kong and other jurisdictions; 109 domain names, including lizhi.fm; 61 patents in China; and 120 software copyrights in China, relating to all of its online communities and other products.
As of December 31, 2022, the company had 68 pending trademark applications in China and overseas. In addition, the company is in the process of applying for registration of another 49 patents in China. Most of the company's intellectual property is owned by Guangzhou Lizhi, and certain trademarks, copyrights and domain names are owned by the subsidiaries of the variable interest entities (VIEs), Wuhan Lizhi Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Wuhan Lizhi) and Changsha Limang Interactive Entertainment Co., Ltd. (Changsha Limang), for the purpose of maintaining and renewing their operating licenses as required by relevant PRC government authorities. The company has trademark applications pending, any of which may be the subject of a governmental or third-party objection, which could prevent the registration of the same.
History
Sound Group Inc. was founded in 2010. The company was incorporated in 2010.
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