China's paid podcast model

China's podcast model is very different from the one we're used to:

Podcasts with subscription fees, interactive Q&A’s online with experts or celebrities and live-streaming lecture-sessions where the audience can participate and pay as they wish are what people in China refer to as the "pay-for-knowledge" economy.
It was estimated to be worth $7.3 billion last year, with the bulk of the revenues from paid podcasts, according to a research institute run by China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. The figure is focused only on consumers paying directly for content online and does not include ad-driven podcasts.

This feels like a B2B business model that just hasn't been explored in many countries yet. Would it work? I don't know, but it feels like someone should try it.

[via the Dense Discovery newsletter]