The documentary has long been deemed a high-brow cultural product mainly catering to the tastes of established, middle-aged Chinese elites, who are well-educated, fluent in at least one foreign language, high-earning, and pay much attention to the quality of life.

However, more and more younger Chinese, aged between 18-25, are showing a strong interest in documentaries and thus becoming a major component of the fan base for online streaming programs. Apart from reading books and listening to audio programs, watching online documentaries on mobile devices is a major means to satisfy their curiosity, Zhu said.

And epic documentaries, tailor-made for netizens–shorter in length, compact in structure and quick in pace, have reportedly been gaining inroads in the online streaming sector over the past three years.