For Marco Lai, the founder of the Chinese podcast network Lizhi, radio has always been social.
Twenty years ago, the businessman was a radio station host in southern China. He ran a late-night program where listeners could call and chat about whatever they wanted, often reflecting on feelings, relationships, or other intimate topics. Those who couldn't get through the phone line sent text messages that Lai would then read on the air. At the time, it was a popular and promising model for radio stations, sharing the revenue earned from messaging fees with network operators.
Now, Lai runs one of China's largest podcast companies. Lizhi means "lychee" in Chinese, the aromatic tropical fruit from his hometown in southern Guangdong province. She picked up one of the red nuts from a tea table in her office as she began to tell me Lizhi's story.
"I learned from my days on the radio that interaction is the best monetization model in the audio industry. For years in China, the main source of revenue for radio stations has been these text messages," Lai recalled. speaking at a slow, relaxed pace that is unusual in the Chinese business world.
The venue itself looked more like a giant, inviting coffee shop than a high-sounding workplace of a Nasdaq-listed company. Taken away to a low-rise warehouse-turned-office in Guangzhou, the place is dotted with well-tended bonsai and staff sitting on bean bags behind glass meeting rooms.
Lai created the app for podcast production and consumption, capturing both the supply and demand sides. As of June, 56 million people used Lizhi monthly. Over 6 million of them were creators, and the cumulative number of podcasts uploaded to the platform hit a new record of 215 million.
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