A lady surnamed Huang who works at a company in Beijing has been developing a habit of listening to an audio program about Zhuangzi, a leading Daoist philosopher who lived around the 4th century BC in China.

A lady listens to audio content in a library. (Photo/Xinhua)

"The author showed a profound understanding of the philosopher, which helped reassure me during the epidemic prevention period," Huang said. She paid over 80 yuan for the program, saying that it's worth paying for excellent audio content.

To attract more paid users like Huang, a slew of Chinese online audio platforms have been engaging in long-form audio services.

Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), a leading online music platform in China, recently announced its long-form audio strategy with the launch of a new app, Kuwo Changting, marking the company's strategic expansion in long-form audio services.

The app offers a variety of long-form audio content, including radio programs and audio books, to meet users' demand for diverse audio content.

The TME will boost the development of long-audio services by leveraging its online music-streaming and entertainment services, providing rich content and a better experience for its users, said the company's CEO Peng Jiaxin.

Other platforms such as Ximalaya FM and Qingting FM have also launched similar services through audio and video live streaming and audio books.

For example, Ximalaya FM invested to launch the radio play of The Three-Body Problem, winner of Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, while Qingting FM invited celebrities to join livestream shows.

Industry insiders said Chinese internet giants getting into the long-form audio market would significantly increase the popularity of online audio content and make the pie of the market bigger.

China expects to see 542 million users of online audio services this year, according to a survey conducted by iiMedia Research, a third-party data mining and analysis organization for new economic industries, adding that more than 70 percent of respondents are willing to pay for audio content.

There is broad space for the development of paid audio content, said Li Songlin, an analyst with iiMedia, noting that many platforms now emphasize more on paid content.

Expects suggest that these platforms should continue to provide better audio resources and support audio content creators.