Viral Learning: Covid-19 has reshaped the educational landscape of China
China has been in the news constantly in recent weeks due to Covid-19. At Singing Grass, we have been in daily contact with our families, friends, colleagues and clients in China, witnessing at first hand their resilience in adapting to a different way of living as a result of the virus. Many aspects of daily life have been affected by the quarantine, with people rapidly adjusting their habits to a changing social and commercial landscape.
A closer look at the sheer scale of China’s market shows us that:
There are 855 million ‘digital consumers’, who will spend over 6 hours with media daily.
China’s middle class is predicted to grow to 550 million people by 2022. This is comparable to the total population of the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Half of China’s 1.4 billion population is expected to live in cities of over 3 million by 2050. To put this in context, many major European cities have a population of around 2 million.
The world’s largest student market - 283 million people - is currently studying in China; that’s three times the student population of the UK, US and Australia combined.
Why is this important? These figures matter as the current Coronavirus outbreak is pushing China’s tech-savvy population even further online, not only for shopping, but also for entertainment and learning.
The growing aspirational middle class and the value they place on education has led to the highest per capita private spending on education for children in the world. Many educational resources have transitioned online to meet the demands of digitally connected, aspirational and affluent consumers, and as a result, seven of the world’s top ten edtech unicorns - start ups with value over $1bn - are located in China.
Covid-19 has accelerated learning online since the closure of schools in January, with a swift and comprehensive transition to online classes and live streaming. On the first day back to classes (learning at home), Alibaba's DingTalk - a communication and collaboration platform - saw an additional 50 million students and 600,000 teachers using the service to hold their classes online.
In another success story, Uncle Kai Storytelling, a leading Chinese children's audio app, raised an additional USD $66 million in a series C+ funding in the middle of the outbreak in February, and is providing a free subscription access at the time of writing. It perhaps makes little sense to focus on profit for a lot of national businesses in China at this survival time. What matters is how Covid-19 has driven China's already tech-savvy population further online for their learning and entertainment.
While it’s difficult to judge the long term effects of the virus on digital use, we can predict there will be a further shift to online consumption; specifically to short video, social media and virtual cultural experiences, remote working and online learning, and accessibility to services with no direct human contact. It is comparable to the mass adoption of online e-commerce by chains like Alibaba after the SARS 2002 epidemic.
Covid-19 is continuing to reshape the ‘new normal’ for consumers, accelerating existing digital trends and changing social behaviour in the process. Digital technologies are now being used for contactless food delivery, online doctor appointments, tube travel scans, and virtual reality house buying, as being confined at home has pushed people to find new ways to meet their everyday needs. Short video is used everywhere, with short video apps adding nearly 150 million new daily active users in recent weeks. Alibaba’s live streaming unit has seen rapid growth as offline businesses look for new online marketing and sales channels during the outbreak.
China is, and will remain, a dynamic market despite the seismic shocks caused by Covid-19. Those who understand the nuances of the market and the needs of China’s aspirational middle class will reap the rewards.
If you would like to know more, please get in touch with us at info@singinggrass.com.
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Singing Grass is a business consultancy advising on access and development strategies for the Chinese market. We develop bespoke programs for clients in the cultural and lifestyle sectors to connect them to new markets and maximize their potential in China.
www.singinggrass.com
