There is an ancient Chinese saying that goes, "You are never too old to learn." Learning has become a lifelong pursuit for more and more people.
Behind the current aging population in China, the elderly not only have a pursuit of physical health, but also have high aspirations for spiritual and cultural values; They aspire to enrich their spiritual world, enhance their self-worth, and expand their social circle by participating in interest based learning.
Helping middle-aged and elderly people enrich their inner world is a socialized issue, but there is also a huge market space behind it.
Quantum Song (QSG. US), as a leading adult personal interest online learning service provider in China, is helping the silver haired population practice the concept of lifelong learning, and the enterprise is also achieving rapid development.
The elderly interest learning market is accelerating its development
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2022, China had a population of 280 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 19.8% of the national population; It is expected that by around 2035, the elderly population aged 60 and above in China will reach 420 million, accounting for more than 30% of the total population.
But unlike the traditional concept of "old age" in public perception, "old age" does not necessarily mean "old age" nowadays.
The baby boomer generation born between 1962 and 1975, who entered or were close to retirement, have distinct characteristics of the new era. They have undergone fundamental changes in cultural level, information channels, income assets, family structure, and other aspects.
Meanwhile, according to the "2024 Marketing Guide for Interest Education Courses for Middle and Elderly People" jointly launched by Blackboard Insight, a significant feature of "new middle and elderly people" is that they have free time and energy to pursue abundant material and spiritual life.
This guide also points out that in daily consumption, in addition to essential living expenses, 55.7% of middle-aged and elderly people have monthly expenditures on products or services related to mental needs, of which 24% choose elderly universities, interest training, and other methods to increase their life thickness.
In fact, elderly education has become one of the important entrances to the silver economy, and many enterprises have already laid out precise learning services for this group of middle-aged and elderly people.
Looking at the current interest education courses for the middle-aged and elderly in the market, there are not only traditional calligraphy and appreciation of ancient poetry and literature, but also computer programming and video editing that keep up with the trend of the times; There are fashion shows, clothing styles, and skincare makeup that can enhance one's external image; There are also African drums and gourd silk that can express inner emotions, which can be said to be a dazzling array, with everything in sight.
According to the 2024 Marketing Guidelines for Interest Education Courses for the Middle and Elderly, 77.2% of the middle-aged and elderly population have had or are currently engaged in interest learning. From the perspective of the core driving force of interest learning, 64.8% of middle-aged and elderly interest learning population is to satisfy their own interest in seeking knowledge, 55.1% choose to improve their quality of life through interest learning, and 54.3% expand new social circles through interest learning.
Overall, times are changing, and today's middle-aged and elderly population is no longer the stereotypical "vulnerable group", but has become an undeniable "new force" in the education track.
According to the "Report on the Development of China's Aging Industry", by 2050, the consumption scale of the elderly population in China will increase from 4 trillion yuan to about 106 trillion yuan.
Quantum Song has obvious advantages
In the middle-aged and elderly interest learning section, Quantum Song has launched the Qianchi School brand to focus on its layout.
It is understood that Qianchi School provides refined, professional, and diversified teaching services to middle-aged and elderly people through live streaming, community, and online and offline integration (OMO) teaching methods, helping them enrich their spiritual life.
At the same time, Qianchi School's self-developed aging friendly intelligent learning tool effectively enhances the flexibility and convenience of learning, allowing elderly people to learn at home or in their chosen environment, while promoting their exposure and use of new technologies.
In terms of segmentation, Qianchi School's layout focuses on interest learning for middle-aged and elderly people, and the advantages of the enterprise mainly focus on multiple aspects such as technology, content, and services.
At the technical level, Quantum Song has always been committed to cutting-edge digital technology research and application. Enterprises are the first to update and upgrade their internal infrastructure such as AI and big data, build user learning models, and provide professional content to users in an aging friendly teaching method.
This technological advantage enables Quantum Song to better understand user needs and provide a more personalized learning experience for the middle-aged and elderly population. The efficient market response and execution capabilities also keep Quantum Song in a good competitive position in the market.
At the content level, Quantum Song has established a scientific research and development process, cutting-edge curriculum system, and professional lecturer team by gathering its own research and development forces and external experts and teachers. While ensuring high-quality content, it also takes into account the simplicity of the content. Through the analysis of specific cases, students can efficiently understand the application scenarios and significance of knowledge.
At the service level, Qianchi School continuously innovates and holds multiple student exchange activities targeting middle-aged and elderly users in calligraphy, piano, standing posts, and other areas. Through the integration of online learning and offline communication, it enhances users' sense of gain. By creating a closed-loop curriculum learning system of learning, communication, and application, students can not only learn professional knowledge and skills, but also fully showcase their learning outcomes, truly applying what they have learned and giving them a greater sense of gain and value.
Driven by technology, content, and services, Qianchi School has become a choice for more and more middle-aged and elderly groups. Nowadays, the industry is in a period of rapid development. With the strengthening of the Matthew effect in the industry, the advantages of Qianchi School will become more obvious and continue to strengthen.
Drive rapid development of performance
By doing the right thing on the right path, Quantum Song's performance has also achieved rapid development.
On December 13th, Beijing time, Quantum Song released its unaudited financial performance for the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (covering the period from July 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2023).
The financial report shows that Quantum Song's operating revenue in the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year reached 869 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.8%. The adjusted net profit was 93.966 million yuan, and both the quarterly revenue and adjusted net profit reached historical highs.
From a business perspective, in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, Quantum Song's personal online learning service revenue increased by 29.2% year-on-year to 756 million yuan.
User level data shows that Quantum Song has always been committed to the high-speed growth of adult learning, continuously meeting the diverse learning needs of users, and the cumulative registered users of its entire brand have exceeded 100 million.
According to financial report data, as of September 30, 2023, the cumulative number of registered users of Quantum Song reached 103 million, a year-on-year increase of 51.9%.
It can be seen that whether it is financial data or business data, Quantum Song has given the market a satisfactory answer this time.
Regarding this, the founder and chairman of Quantum Song Group CEO Li Peng stated: Thanks to the significant growth in personal interest courses, our revenue and adjusted net profit reached a historic high this quarter. We focus on further improving course quality and service experience, and organizing influential offline activities to effectively enhance user engagement, increase registered and paid users. We will continue to improve operational efficiency through artificial intelligence technology and remain committed to lifelong learning The mission of improving quality of life is to create value for shareholders and users
Overall, although the aging population has brought certain challenges to China's economy and society, it contains enormous opportunities. For Quantum Song, the early layout and continuous provision of high-quality course content and aging friendly service experience for the middle-aged and elderly population not only conform to policy guidance, but also promote industry development, providing value to users and finding new growth points for their own development, forming a win-win situation for multiple parties.