"In terms of sheer numbers, the eLearning user base in China is massive. As of October 2014, there were over 100 million eLearning users in China," comments Chief Research Officer, Sam S. Adkins. "As impressive as this looks at first glance, there were 1,367 billion people in China as of October 2014, which means that only eight percent of the Chinese population have access to eLearning. This is changing fast, and the demand is quite high in all the buying segments; this points to breathtaking revenue opportunities for eLearning suppliers."

The major catalysts driving the sales of self-paced eLearning products in China are the large-scale learning technology deployments in the schools; content digitization efforts in the various federal, provincial, and municipal school systems; the high demand for English-language learning; consumer demand for online test-prep products; the booming enrollment in online education; and the rapid adoption of eLearning in early childhood learning.

There are two sections in this report: a demand-side analysis and a supply-side analysis. Additionally, there is an index of suppliers competing in the region. The demand-side analysis for China is broken out by six buying segments: consumers, federal government agencies, PreK-12 school systems, municipal/provincial government agencies, higher-education institutions, and corporations and businesses.

The supply-side analysis provides five-year revenue forecasts for three categories of self-paced eLearning: packaged content, custom content development services, and authoring tools and learning platforms..

"Packaged content accounts for the vast amount of revenues throughout the forecast period, and a breakout of packaged eLearning expenditures by the six buyer segments is also included in the demand-side section," reports Adkins. "Breakouts are also provided for both custom content development services and tools/platforms by the six buyer segments."

One trend unique to China is the high demand for early-childhood eLearning products. While there is a demand for similar products in some developed countries (particularly in Japan, South Korea, and the US), the scale of the demand in China is found nowhere else in the world.

The strong demand for self-paced eLearning products in China has attracted suppliers and investors from across the globe. The domestic suppliers are generating the most revenue and attracting the highest investments. Disruptive start-ups continue to come on the market at a steady pace, and Internet giants like Tencent, NetEase, YY, and Baidu entered the market in 2014.

"One significant leading indicator is the massive amount of private investment going to learning-technology companies operating in China. Investors are particularly attracted to English-language learning suppliers in China," adds Adkins. "More than half of the global investments made to digital English-language-learning suppliers in 2013 and 2014 went to Chinese companies. A detailed analysis of the investment patterns in China is included in this report."

Over 160 suppliers in China are cited in this report. This will help suppliers identify local partners, distributors, resellers, and potential merger and acquisition (M&A) targets.