Picture source @Visual China
text | Mouyu
As the matter of Zhu Xudan’s resignation from Yu Zheng’s new drama has become more and more intense, Jiaxing Media has once again stood at the forefront of public opinion.
The cause of the incident is that Yu Zheng's new drama has started filming. The cast is different from what was previously revealed. He claimed that he had already negotiated a good cooperation with Jiaxing Media artist Zhu Xudan, but the other party let him go for the female lead in another drama. He pigeons. There was also a debate on this matter online at
. One party believed that Zhu Xudan broke his promise when he resigned after negotiating a good cooperation, while the other party believed that Zhu Xudan could have chosen a better opportunity without signing the contract.
From the perspective of different interests, it is difficult to say whether Zhu Xudan's resignation is right or wrong, but the attitude of Jiaxing Media in the whole matter has become the biggest point of controversy. In the process of communicating with Yu Zheng, Jiaxing's attitude has always been very low .
The point of public controversy is that Zhao Ruoyao is the second-in-command of Jiaxing Media, but he is so "low-key" to Zhengshi. Jiaxing is also the leading film and television agency in the industry and has been listed on the New OTC Market, but his own artists are asking to go. Playing a supporting role in a small production.
Perhaps, it is not difficult to see from Jiaxing's attitude that , a film and television agency that once flourished in the industry, has long lost its former high-profile .
Jiaxing's ten-year capital journey has been a good one.
Before the dispute with Zhu Xudan, Jiaxing Media had always maintained a high profile in the industry. Its ten-year capital journey can only be described as "good luck".
Jiaxing is a typical film and television agency that started from artists. In 2014, Yang Mi, who was still a popular little girl, and her agents Zeng Jia and Zhao Ruoyao jointly invested 3 million yuan to establish Haining Jiaxing Tianxia Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd.
Yang Mi, Zeng Jia, and Zhao Ruoyao are known to the outside world as the "three beauties" of Jiaxing, but there was actually another trader who really promoted Jiaxing from its establishment to its listing. The person in charge of capital operations was Li Juan, who was still at PricewaterhouseCoopers at the time.
Under the operation of Li Juan, Jiaxing successfully borrowed Xi'an Tongda and listed it on the New Third Board. At that time, Jiaxing was only one year old. Although its strength and foundation were relatively weak, it was still very prosperous. Therefore, favored by capital.
At the end of 2015, Shangshi Pictures invested 300 million yuan to subscribe for 20% of the shares of Jiaxing Media, and the two parties signed a gambling agreement. The
agreement requires that Jiaxing Media's after-tax net profit cumulatively reach 310 million yuan in the three years from 2015 to 2017. If it fails to be completed, Jiaxing will need to repurchase 300 million yuan of Shangshi Pictures shares. Add 15% interest.
There are many gambling agreements in the film and television industry, but very few can be completed. Jiaxing is one of them.
Jiaxing was able to complete the bet because of Yang Mi's 13 dramas in three years, TV series, movies, and variety shows. She was a "newcomer" who didn't even take a break during pregnancy. Yang Mi's hard work made Jiaxing successful.
After Jiaxing completed the gambling agreement, Perfect World invested 500 million yuan through its subsidiary to acquire 10% of Jiaxing's shares. So far, Jiaxing's valuation has soared to 5 billion. The valuation of
was only 25 million when it was first listed. The acquisition of Shangshi Pictures helped the valuation rise to 1.5 billion, and then Perfect World helped the valuation rise to 5 billion. In just a few years, has been completed. Triple jump .
However, Jiaxing’s listing journey only lasted three years. In May 2018, Jiaxing Media was delisted from the New Third Board. The delisting of
does not mean that there are problems with Jiaxing's operations. According to Jiaxing, 's application to terminate listing is to reduce operating costs and speed up the pace of financing .
In fact, Jiaxing is in a stage of rapid development in 2018, attracting countless artists and capital.
The most important thing for artists is resources. At that time, Yang Mi was still the "85 flower", and newcomers were also "favored". Dilireba took over and became a top artist. Wang Xiao, Gao Weiguang, Zhang Binbin and other artists were well-known If you are rising, you don’t have to worry about the resources of “Jiaxing Gift Pack”.
What capital values is income. In the first half of 2018 alone, Jiaxing's revenue reached 522 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 295%.
However, the decline after the peak seems to be the curse of the film and television industry. It is also since 2018 that Jiaxing's business situation has begun to take a sharp turn. Yang Mi's departure in 2023 is undoubtedly the straw that breaks the camel's back, and Yu The dispute between Zheng and Jiaxing also made the market see the reality clearly.
is highly dependent on top artists, and 's business system is full of problems.
Jiaxing's uphill journey is going too fast and too smoothly, and long-dormant problems in the entire business system are gradually emerging.
In fact, Jiaxing's business model is very clear, which is "artist management + film and television production", and the one person who cannot be avoided in these two business sectors is Yang Mi.
Jiaxing started its business with Yang Mi. From its establishment to its listing to the completion of the bet, she was behind all the glory. However, in the eyes of Mouyu, "breaking up" with Yang Mi was just the last snowflake on the snowy mountain. Management The long-term backlog of models is the real reason for the decline of .
Artist management is Jiaxing’s main business. Zeng Jiazeng shared with Entertainment Capital a set of logic systems Jiaxing built to promote artists: evaluation - training - market introduction - advanced .
In fact, this model of selecting artists is reasonable. It is strictly controlled from the stage of selecting new talents, and they are introduced to the market after a series of customized training. However, the problem is that it relies too much on leading artists in the process of introducing them to the market. "Bringing in the new with the old".
Take Yang Mi as an example. She has been a "newcomer" since the beginning of Jiaxing. Whether she is filming TV series, movies or variety shows, she always brings the "Jiaxing gift package" and has single-handedly made Dilireba, Artists such as Zhang Binbin and Zhang Yunlong.
On the surface, "introducing the old to the new" is indeed the fastest way to increase the popularity of newcomers, but in essence it is consuming Yang Mi's own popularity and value, and is not a sustainable development link. This also involves the company film and television production business.
Jiaxing’s film and television production business basically serves its own artists, and can even be said to be a series specially customized for contracted artists. However, the problem is that Jiaxing’s film and television content production is not mature, and is not a favorite of dramas, but It's people who lead the drama .
Yang Mi has frequently appeared in Jiaxing's self-produced dramas since 2014. Essentially, she relies on her popularity to bring in newcomers and lead dramas. However, due to the uneven content quality of these self-produced dramas, although Yang Mi has brought popularity, her reputation has not Ratings are often unsatisfactory.
From the perspective of Jiaxing Media, relying on the popularity of the leading actress to drive artist management and film and television production is a sure-profit operation, but for Yang Mi, this business model is essentially consuming her Personal value, she also once became the "Queen of Bad Movies".
In fact, it is not difficult to find that Jiaxing’s entire business system and income structure are highly dependent on the leading artist . Neither artist management nor film and television production has formed a mature and sustainable development link. Even if Yang Mi did not leave, in In the film and television industry that has never been popular, Jiaxing Media's business model will fail sooner or later.
Jiaxing is not without exploring other businesses. When the talent show became a hot business in 2018, the domestic idol market was booming. For this reason, Jiaxing Media established Jiaxing Xinyue and launched the "a+ plan " for idol selection.
But the problem is that Jiaxing does not have much experience in idol creation and operation. Although it has sent nearly 20 contestants to the talent show on the market, the only artists who debuted are Zhou Keyu and Wang Yijin, and the hit rate is not high. .
Until 2021, Jiaxing Media invested eight figures in the idol brokerage business three years after its establishment. In the end, not only did it receive nothing, but the rate of return in the accounts was almost negligible. Now that the idol market is cold, The development of Jiaxing Xinyue is even more difficult.
Can Jiaxing still be successful in the future?
A very real question is that starting from 2023, leading artists will leave one after another, which will undoubtedly have a big impact on Jiaxing. It will be difficult for existing artists to support Jiaxing. Jiaxing's original business system, even Di Lieba's influence and contribution to Jiaxing cannot be compared with Yang Mi.
For the market and investors, whether Jiaxing Media can still be successful in the future has become the most concerned issue, and currently Mouyu can see the changes Jiaxing has already made.
On the basis that the main business remains unchanged, Jiaxing has made adjustments to the artist management and film and television production sectors. The biggest change in is the reduction of the "Jiaxing Gift Package" .
On the one hand, Jiaxing artists are becoming less and less "packaged and sold". Mid-waist artists and newcomers have more opportunities to perform alone. Take the newcomer Zhuang Dafei, whom Jiaxing strongly supports, as an example. From participating in the Lunar New Year From the hit movie "The Annual Party Can't Stop" to becoming the heroine of Tsui Hark's new movie, her Jiaxing label is getting weaker and weaker.
On the other hand, the dramas produced by Jiaxing are gradually breaking away from the category of customized dramas. The creative teams and production teams of many dramas currently produced by Jiaxing are no longer built around the artists signed by Jiaxing, and are gradually being driven by actors. The transformation from the effect of drama series to the content-driven effect of drama series, and the transformation towards a mature film and television content production company.
Jiaxing Media’s adjustments to its business system are actually mainly to reduce its dependence on top artists. This adjustment may not have a positive impact on Jiaxing’s revenue in the short term.
Once Jiaxing loses the "old to bring the new" and self-produced dramas, newcomers and mid-level artists who lack popularity will face the situation of difficulty in getting out of the industry and no drama to film. Dilireba has not been in the group for half a year, but This adjustment is actually beneficial to Jiaxing's development in the long run.
Jiaxing’s original business model was relatively simple, with its revenue completely relying on the leading artist , and its ability to resist risks was insufficient. If a situation like Yang Mi’s departure occurs, Jiaxing’s commercial value and revenue will inevitably decline, and the new adjustment In order to reduce the deep binding with leading artists, artist management and film and television production are gradually separated, making the income structure more abundant.
After being delisted from the New Third Board in 2018, there was news that Jiaxing would be listed on Hong Kong stocks or A-shares. Six years later, there has been no new progress in Jiaxing's listing, and it even experienced a crisis because of Yang Mi's departure.
In 2024, Jiaxing may usher in a new turn after making new adjustments to its business system.
