The Hong Kong drama "News Queen" co-produced by TVB and Youku has become very popular since its launch on November 17. It has sparked heated discussions with labels such as "big heroine", "working woman" and "avant-garde view on marriage and love", and many media have praised its mark. It is said that "Hong Kong dramas are back", but after calming down and re-examining the market performance of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland over the years, this statement seems too optimistic. At present, Hong Kong dramas may not be able to achieve breakthroughs in the mainland by relying on one hit drama. There are still many problems to be solved in terms of content creation and supply.
Overview of the introduction of Hong Kong dramas into the mainland and the market performance of new Hong Kong dramas
Since the 1980s, Hong Kong dramas have entered the mainland in large numbers through the introduction of copyrights, and have become the youthful memories of a generation. However, in recent years, due to a large number of talents in the Hong Kong film and television industry migrating to the mainland, resulting in insufficient productivity of Hong Kong dramas, and the rise of the mainland film and television industry reducing the demand for Hong Kong dramas from mainland audiences, the brand appeal and content influence of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland market have gradually declined.
According to statistics, there are currently less than 300 Hong Kong dramas (classic old Hong Kong dramas + new Hong Kong dramas) being broadcast on the three major media platforms of iYouTeng, 204 on Youku, 49 on Tencent Video, and 15 on iQiyi. In terms of the stock of Hong Kong dramas being broadcast, the three platforms of Aiyouteng have formed a situation in which Youku dominates.
Most of these Hong Kong dramas are classic old Hong Kong dramas. The number of new Hong Kong dramas introduced by mainland streaming platforms every year is in the single digits, and most of them are introduced by Youku. This is related to the strategic cooperation reached by its TVB.
In terms of genres, among the Xingang dramas introduced from 2016 to 2023, there are 40 crime/police/suspense dramas, accounting for 62%; followed by 15 love-themed dramas, accounting for 23%; Dramas on career, family, business war and other themes together account for 15% of the total. It can be seen that the mainland's current attitude towards the introduction of new Hong Kong dramas is relatively conservative, with a small number of introductions and a heavy reliance on crime/cop/suspense themes.
Judging from market performance, there are few Xingang dramas that have achieved both word-of-mouth and ratings in recent years. In terms of word-of-mouth, from 2021 to 2023, new Hong Kong dramas with a Douban score of 6 and below will account for nearly half of the total number of introductions. Especially among the 9 Hong Kong dramas in 2022, as many as 6 have Douban scores hovering above or below the passing line, and only "White Strongman 2", "Super Messenger" and "Golden Night Building 2" have good reputations. In terms of broadcast popularity, observing the annual drama list data of Beacon Professional Edition for three consecutive years, there are no Hong Kong dramas in the top 10 of the market share of feature films. Only "News Queen" ranks in the top 10 of the urban drama broadcast list in 2023. sixth.
2021-2023 Douban rating table for the introduction of Hong Kong dramas into the mainland
Reasons for the obstacles to the acceptance of new Hong Kong dramas in the mainland
Why have Hong Kong dramas that were once so popular in the mainland gradually declined in recent years? There may be two reasons behind this. First, some high-quality Hong Kong dramas cannot be introduced to the mainland due to their subject matter and scale. Second, Hong Kong's domestic dramas have weak productivity, lack of funds, and the loss of creative talents, which have led to a decline in the creation level of the dramas and the inability to produce them. To meet the increasing aesthetic needs of mainland audiences.
According to observations, the annual output of local dramas in Hong Kong can reach about 40. However, due to drama review policies and cultural differences between the two places, some new Hong Kong dramas with special themes and large scales have difficulty entering the mainland market. In particular, the supernatural/thriller/horror genre themes that Hong Kong film and television creative talents are good at cannot become a weapon for Hong Kong dramas to enter the mainland. In the past five years, high-quality supernatural/thriller themes have been broadcast on TVB every year and have gained a good reputation. Such as "Jinxiao Mansion" with a Douban score of 8.4 in 2019, "Conquering the Demon 2.0" with a Douban score of 8.1 in 2020, "The House Cleaner" with a Douban score of 7.7 in 2021, "Jinxiao Mansion 2" with a Douban score of 7.3 in 2022, and In 2023, "Spiritual Drama" was rated 7.2 on Douban. Among them, only "Golden Night Tower 2" co-produced by Youku and TVB has been introduced to the mainland.
Under this circumstance, Hong Kong dramas rely more on works that have successfully entered the mainland market to improve their narrative capabilities and production standards to attract mainland audiences.Unfortunately, the production standards of Hong Kong dramas have been declining in recent years. On the one hand, compared with the rising investment in mainland dramas, the investment in Hong Kong dramas pales in comparison. As Guo Yiming, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, said: " Nowadays, the investment in making a TV series in Hong Kong is often several times, or even 10 times, different from the investment in the mainland." On the other hand, Hong Kong dramas are also facing the crisis of brain drain, with TVB, which accounts for the majority of Hong Kong drama content production, as the For example, due to successive years of losses, it had to lay off a large number of employees, repeatedly reduce investment in drama series, create a large exodus of creative talents, and many artists left the nest.
In terms of the superior types of some Hong Kong dramas, mainland dramas have also made great progress in recent years, and their quality even exceeds that of similar Hong Kong dramas. Take suspense/crime themes, which have been the most introduced in recent years in New Hong Kong dramas, as an example. In recent years, a series of excellent works such as "The Hidden Corner" and "The Long Season" have emerged in the mainland. In comparison, "Forensic Pioneer 5" and "Female Girl" Hong Kong dramas such as "Forensic JD" appear to have a relatively old-fashioned narrative model and can no longer arouse the enthusiasm of mainland audiences.
Future strategies for the development of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland
Under such a huge dilemma, is it really impossible for Hong Kong dramas to gain a foothold in the mainland? "News Queen", which will become a hit at the end of 2023, may provide some new ideas for the creation of Hong Kong dramas.
In terms of the creative model, TVB and other Hong Kong drama creators need to strengthen cooperation with mainland streaming media platforms. On the one hand, they can use the latter to share creative funds and reduce investment risks. On the other hand, they can also use the mainland platform’s insights into mainland audiences to guide creation. . The success of "News Queen" is inseparable from the in-depth cooperation between TVB and Youku. The Youku platform relies on a large amount of audience data to provide pre-planning, data analysis and marketing services, while the Hong Kong team develops high-quality content with the advice of the Youku platform. The tacit cooperation between the two parties allowed this work to be presented to the audience with a new look, achieving a double harvest of word-of-mouth and ratings.
In terms of subject matter selection, the creation of Hong Kong dramas should continue to focus on the genre areas that they are good at, and form a differentiated track from the creative fields that the mainland is good at. "News Queen" allowed the showrunners and the audience to see the narrative advantages of Hong Kong dramas in workplace themes. Compared with the female reporter in "Camp with Love" who obtained first-hand news interview materials through "seduction" and the female doctor in "My World's Fireworks" who did not hesitate to break up with her family because of love, "News Queen" has a more solid workplace atmosphere. and rigorous industry presentation. In "News Queen", the character's love line always gives way to the career line, reflecting the fierce competition in the workplace. The series faithfully restores real front-line news scenes. At the same time, the narrative content constantly questions the news ethics of news practitioners, filling the expression gap in mainland workplace dramas, thus gaining recognition from mainland audiences.
The current performance of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland market is still not optimistic. However, "News Queen" has opened up a good momentum for the development of Hong Kong dramas in the mainland. Hong Kong drama creators should continue to explore co-production experience and adjust the supply strategy of mainland dramas, so that they can gain ground in the increasingly integrated Chinese-language drama market. future living space.
