Gradually, original contents, such as Douban-published books, Douban Bite Me, Douban Interview, etc., started to appear on APP open screen, front page, search result page and even Douban Broadcast. No matter where you are in Douban’s “universe”, you shall notice these original contents from Douban.

Indeed, Douban has gone away from a simple book, film & TV series and music reviewing platform and embarked on the path of paid content and content e-commerce.

In the past, Douban was more like a customer guide platform for book e-commerce and video websites and could only earn meager “commission fee” in the process. As a startup, Douban wasn’t capable to become a book e-commerce platform, video website and music website at the same time. Similarly, although Douban used to have several different APPs, none of them were dominant in their respective areas.

However, with the rise of paid contents, Douban seems to see its future destiny. Through paid content, Douban not only avoids the direct competition with book e-commerce platforms and video websites, but also can directly turn users into its own paid users.

Today, Douban is transforming itself from a book, film & TV series and music reviewing platform into an e-commerce platform of cultural products with 150 million users.Besides, synergistic effect has been achieved as Douban sees to it that different products are linked with each other, either way.

However, to complete transformation, Douban has to not only give up sideline products and businesses relentlessly, but also give up early and loyal users who have no value.

As many observers have noticed, this group of Douban’s early and loyal users have almost “kidnapped” Douban.Every time Douban adjust itself, they would come up and repel any change. When Douban tried to cater to new users, they would feel offended; when Douban invited celebrated scholars and musicians to open podcasts, they would doubt if they are competent enough.

Just like any other paid knowledge-sharing and content platforms, including Dedao, Ximalaya and Fenda, Douban needs fanatic fans and unfastidious consumers to succeed. However, this group of Douban’s old users just won’t buy it.

In fact, as Douban turns to paid contents, KOLs that once emerged from Douban have been leaving Douban one after another.

Five years ago, Douban used to be a great platform for KOLs to demonstrate their value. Around 2011 and 2012, Douban’s users increased substantially and average number of fans also rose from a couple thousand to half a million. As Douban reached a larger user base, some of quality users, however, began to leave Douban and turn to other platforms, such as Sina Weibo.

Douban’s betting on content e-commerce

As time goes by, the majority of Douban users today have become young people born after the 1990s.

What’s special about this generation? Well, they seem to be more open to paid contents and won’t bother to look through all the reviews before deciding to buy or not.

However, it remains to see if more “intangible” paid contents (savoring poetry and music, understanding classic novels, etc.) can compete with more practical paid contents.Although Abei believed that Douban had entered the stage of pragmatism, Douban’s positioning determined that Douban was heading for the opposite of pragmatism.

If users can get “knowledge” though buying more pragmatic paid contents (perhaps only illusionary), what can they get through buying more intangible paid contents? Spiritual satisfaction?

Is Douban Time Podcast enough to support its overseas IPO? To answer this question, we will have to first take a look at the sustainability of paid content producers and consumers

As to paid content producers, Douban Time Podcast mainly provide paid contents from celebrated writers and musicians by teaming up with well-known publishers and publishing houses.

For publishing houses and cultural organizations, there’s no other platform more appropriate than Douban to further explore the potential of their writers. As long as these paid contents are properly packaged and promoted, they would win a wide audience.

As to paid content consumers, Douban Time Podcast could satisfy the needs of unfastidious users who are more willing to by paid contents and don’t care much about reviews. Users who do care about reviews, however, can still take advantage of Douban as always.