Zhihu’s new membership system is expected to contribute to monetization

Monetization is likely to be the theme tune for the internet industry of the year 2019. Following the business focus transition to cash-back motivated applied by various platforms ranging from e-commerce to short video, Zhihu recently presented its ambitious paid content ecosystem with the launch of a new membership scheme. Different privileges belonging to the various sections of Zhihu will all be integrated into one new system, with which paid up “super members” are allowed to enjoy subscriptions to hundreds of Chinese magazines, 3,500 private classes and live-streaming lectures as well as 10,000 e-books unique to the platform. Exclusive customer service and emojis are also included in the package. Sticking to the company’s credo of always striving for high quality content creation, the new scheme will not affect the existing rating algorithm of Q&A rankings, which means money cannot buy you any titles set for rewarding qualified answers.