In May last year, the "house incident" caused the talk show that had been making great progress to press the pause button. After the storm, the talk show became "invisible".
Talk show actors who frequently appear in variety shows on major platforms, except for previous backlog projects, have seen a significant decline in activity. The impact online quickly spread to offline. After the epidemic, facing the fiercely competitive entertainment market, the living space of talk shows is already narrow, and the influence of public opinion has made many clubs and actors even more vulnerable.
For this industry, the only good thing is that today’s talk show environment is no longer the “barbaric era” ten years ago.
The audience's understanding of talk shows is constantly expanding, and actors continue to burst out new expressions as the environment changes. Most importantly, the market for stale comedy content needs new inspiration. The New Year's Day "The Annual Party Can't Stop" cleverly borrows the comedy energy of talk shows, and the contribution of talk show actors as literary planners is indispensable.
The public’s expectations and love for talk shows have not quietly dissipated with the “invisibility”. However, a racing carriage, even if it does not encounter a sudden cliff, will sooner or later lose its strength due to the wild running.
Talk shows have developed from niche imports to popular culture bestsellers in less than ten years. The problems that arose gradually emerged during this "cooling off period" and became inevitable.
What stage has the talk show market entered? What changes have occurred in the actor ecology? What will the future talk show industry look like? Everyone is working hard to answer these questions that need clarification.
When faced with poisonous eyes 's invitation to talk, most people in the industry showed a kind of caution. Whether they declined or were willing to chat, all the answers pointed to the same sentence, "We cherish talk shows."
Online and offline
For domestic audiences, the 2012 " Tonight Post-80s Talk Show " or the 2017 " Tucao Conference " and " Talk Show Conference " may be the " Talk Show Enlightenment”.
"One person, one microphone, telling jokes" - this kind of program format was still somewhat unfamiliar to the variety show market at that time.
With the popularity of "Tucao Conference" and "Talk Show Conference", talk shows have gradually dispelled the strangeness of the audience, and have even become a new social language for young audiences, so that they have a consumption impulse to watch offline performances.
talk show actor Xiao Meng (pseudonym) told Dumu that a club manager once revealed to her that every year the online program broadcast will drive the popularity of the club's open mic event, and the number of viewers will basically double. The manager of
once said to her, "The two programs of Xiaoguo have taken China's talk show industry a big step forward, and the impact is extremely positive."
's online programs have driven the prosperity of offline performances, forming an industry prosperity trend. , and even spurred the establishment of practitioners and club labels.
According to the "White Paper on Talk Show Marketing", the earliest talk show club in mainland China, the Takeaway Club, was established in 2009. Until 2016, there were less than 100 employees in the national talk show industry. In 2021, the number of talk show actors reached 10,000. The number of clubs jumped to 179 (as of May 2022).
Comedy host U, one of the domestic talk show brands, told Dumu that many of the actors participating in the talk show have performed in offline theaters for a long time. Their long-term content accumulation and stage experience will make them better prepared to participate in online programs. s help.
In addition to online talk shows, Xiaoguo will also arrange offline open mics, training camps and other activities, linking with clubs around the country to provide talents for online programs, thus forming a complementary ecological chain: online Actors are trained to get online opportunities, and online performances form publicity and attract more talents to enter the market.
benefited from this industrial chain and the tacit cooperation of the screenwriting team and the production team, and the program achieved great success.
It seems that the difference between online and offline is the performance space. In fact, a secret dividing line has long existed between the two.
u mentioned that online variety shows need to be combined with topics of current audience concern and set up as theme competitions. Through a five-minute length, everyone can quickly and concisely see a wonderful performance. Offline, actors pay more attention to self-expression and are less restricted by a certain topic. The time will be longer, 15-20 minutes. For special performances, the time will be longer, 60-90 minutes.
"Without any stage aid, I can talk for so long just by myself, with just my personal charm and ability. It can be seen that there are many outstanding talents offline." Many interviewees expressed similar opinions. .
In both online and offline spaces, actors need to choose between variety and expression. At the same time, they also need to adapt to changes in the performance environment.
In order to highlight the variety show feel of the program, the competitive nature of the competition will be emphasized online, but not all actors can adapt to this competitive nature. Liang Haiyuan once said after being eliminated from "Talk Show Contest 5", "I think I can speak a talk show. I can stand in front of the stage and speak a talk show. I am confident and can speak well. I just can't." It’s not that suitable for competitions.”
An actor mentioned to Xiaomeng that offline performances are more casual and friendly, and the audience can only see the actors and a microphone, but in online programs, the gorgeous stage will distract the audience; The above paragraph emphasizes emotional mobilization and picture presentation, while the offline paragraph emphasizes logic.
The audience's viewing attitude will also greatly affect the performance of the actors. In one episode of "Round Table School", when Zhou Qimo talked about online performances, he bluntly said that it was "very scary". The audience watched with judgment standards rather than with a relaxed attitude.
These seemingly small gaps gradually diversify actors. Actors who can meet online standards based on their strength will gain good audience popularity, have traffic and topics, and more opportunities.
Yang Li has received business deals with Great Wall Motors and Bulgari, He Guangzhi has received business deals with taxi-hailing companies such as Philips and AutoNavi, and Hulan has received business deals with Zhaopin.com. From the quality of these businesses, we can see the importance of capital investors to talk show actors. their trust. "Leopard Change" reported in 2021 that the business price for talk show newcomers at that time, the minimum appearance fee was 200,000.
In addition, Yang Li and Yang Mengen participated in "Seven Occasions of Auspiciousness", Xu Zhisheng participated in "Qing Yu Nian 2", and Wang Mian not only recorded "5 Ha", but also appeared on the 2022 Spring Festival Gala. As artists with non-professional backgrounds, they all have a bigger stage.
Taking advantage of online communication, many talk show actors have gained a lot and their income has increased significantly. At the same time, the performance ticket prices of most offline actors are also slowly rising, with special performances basically remaining between 100 and 200. Under the strong income contrast, more actors choose to squeeze into online shows, but there are limited slots. There's no way to fill the actor's needs.
Then the question arises, should online performances be the only way for talk show actors to succeed?
When the problem was exposed
In a dialogue with Caixin in 2022, when the host said, "Your positioning is to hope that you can become the first choice in the eyes of all those who are willing to do talk shows." Xiaoguo Culture CEO He Xiaoxi said, "It's even the only choice. One advantage of concentration is that you can get the best resources."
Even if the limited resources are fairly distributed, they cannot take into account all actors, not to mention, in the eyes of capital , the most valuable actors are often those actors who are well known to the audience.
An industry insider gave an example to Du Mou, "For example, the leading company signed 500 actors, but the top company may only have sixty or seventy. These people can have business and performance opportunities, and the rest Contracted actors earn relatively little, and they have contracts and cannot freely arrange performances."
also mentioned in a report in People, "Signing an artist contract with Xiaoguo is the first step for the actors to make. The premise of "Talk Show Conference" is that the term of this contract is usually 10 years, and the business share in the first year is only 10%, but it is still very tempting, and only the best can get the opportunity."
can only appear on the show after signing a contract, but no one can guarantee the effect of the show afterward. The only certainty is that everyone's performances will be uniformly managed by the company.
's head resources are limited and the promotion channel is single. Once the online program is output If there is a problem, the entire ecosystem will not be able to operate. After the
"house incident", online programs were completely suspended, and the actors' resources were also significantly reduced. For contracted actors other than the head actors, the situation became more difficult. Industry insiders mentioned that many actors had no choice but to terminate their contracts with the company and choose to "make a living on their own."
At the same time, offline performances that relied on the popularity of programs in previous years were also affected. During the boom period of talk shows, some People who have not established basic industry knowledge are pouring into it, hoping to rely on the popularity or to make money by selling thousands of yuan in training fees.
“I don’t really know much, most of them just want to consume talk shows. "Xiaomeng said.
On the other hand, in the face of the fiercely competitive entertainment market and the sluggish economic environment, passenger traffic has declined, and some label performances have been affected. In order to attract audiences, they chose to sell tickets at a reduced price. So, with great difficulty, Ticket prices, which had steadily risen to normal market levels, have fallen again.
Industry insiders mentioned that since last year, some brands have begun to cut prices, “The most outrageous price I have ever seen is probably 19.9 yuan. "This price has basically returned to the initial stage of talk shows. The fierce price war has had a big impact on other brands.
After the popularization stage in the first few years, the talk show industry has entered the industry reshuffle and diversion stage , “This is the most important stage for the industry. "A host said.
How to break through with one microphone?
Does not rely on appearing on programs, but only relies on the internal circulation of offline performances. There are still people who have broken out of this system.
At the same time that the influence of talk shows is increasing, The period happened to be when short videos were "conquering the city", and some talk show actors chose to put their performance clips on short videos. The compact laughter of talk shows conforms to the short video's short and strong rhythm communication logic. In addition, online During the next performance, the actors and the audience will interact. This type of video shortens the distance with the audience and stimulates the audience's desire to buy tickets.
Fu Hang, Norah and others are the first batch of actors to take advantage of short videos. Among them, Fu Hang has 11.2 million fans on Douyin and 1.432 million fans on Station B. The views of sliced videos have basically remained at 500,000-1 million.
Fans who have watched Fu Hang’s performances told Dumu that there are more than 600 seats in the theater and the ticket prices are between 220-260, tickets will be sold out within seconds of opening, and almost all seats can be filled for a performance. After
, more actors chose to embrace short video platforms, and the spread of short videos helped a group of actors form their own Characteristic waist actors, such as Tang Xiangyu, who is more popular in Xiaohongshu, and Jia Hu, who has accumulated 161,000 fans on station b.
waist actors have shown a strong growth trend in the past year. An industry insider revealed to Du Mou, " Since July and August last year, many actors have been holding their own special shows. Last year I counted more than 200 and nearly 300 new special shows. In the past few years, there were basically dozens of shows every year. , maybe 100 at most. I think if I put it bluntly, after a large supplier disappears from the market, other suppliers will grow on their own. "After the previous structure of
was shattered, all actors, except for the top actors, re-entered the market and relied on their fame and creations to conquer the audience in the market. Actors found a broader way to make a living.
" Those who are capable have turned out last year. It is possible to make money. Some actors' special tours are scheduled for half a year. However, some actors may not be that good in the industry. Their climbing period requires an industry's rising period, but the industry is in a period of growth. During the turbulent period, on the one hand, based on their own career development considerations, on the other hand, it is also due to practical factors. Some people choose to change tracks. "
New comedies have slowly emerged during this gap period. Manga, improvisational comedy, sketch comedy and other forms have become the next comedy outlet that some talk show actors are looking forward to.
Some clubs had noticed this comedy trend earlier and had developed new comedy performances. u has observed that today’s audience’s comedy aesthetics are gradually improving, and their age groups have also made great breakthroughs. The audience’s needs have increased, and clubs need to produce richer comedy content. New comedy is a new content category, and the club level is also We are actively exploring transformation.
Meanwhile, podcasts are becoming the new hot format. The user attributes of podcasts are consistent with the target audience of talk shows, and many clubs have chosen to launch podcast programs. Programs such as Owl Comedy's "No Joking", Danliren Comedy's "Comedian Chat", Comedy China's "Hee Tan Lu" and other programs are the top podcasts on the platform. In June last year, "Comedian Chat Club" launched a paid "special season", priced at 129, and sold 40,000 copies.
There are also many actors and clubs who have chosen to enter the film and television creation level of comedy content. The writing ability of Dan Liren's team in "Annual Comedy Competition" has gained certain industry recognition, and the New Year's Day movie "The Annual Party Can't Stop!" "There are also the participation of talk show actors.
A staff member of the comedy film project mentioned to Dumu that the current comedy content is a bit outdated, and the audience’s taste is getting higher and they need new stimulation. Talk shows provide many ordinary people’s life perspectives, which are more vivid and their thinking is more active. . Now she has chosen to collaborate with a talk show actor for film and television projects.
Of course, she also mentioned that talk show actors have always "worked alone" and are relatively free. They have not accepted traditional screenwriting creation, have experienced teamwork, and occasionally have some creative conflicts.
It can’t just be popular
When talking about the future of talk shows, u said with emotion, "I am now afraid that others will tell me that talk shows have been 'popular' in the past two years. What does 'popular' mean? It can easily become outdated. We I have been working hard and hope that the language art of talk show can continue to be loved by the audience in local cities."
The outlet can bring traffic, and it can also take away everything. If you want to achieve a real and long-term impact, you need to according to the market and As the industry changes, new models are constantly being explored.
u said, "We are trying to operate the label seriously as a brand. We need to be able to systematically train new actors, constantly create new comedy content, and improve the company's business."
"Talk shows are difficult to be like music Similarly, a song may still be sung twenty or thirty years later, but no matter how exquisite a joke is, it may be difficult to laugh out loud after hearing it many times, which requires actors to constantly create new content."
market Changes are very fast, which is a challenge for actors and also for clubs. The club needs to constantly observe changes in the market and also stimulate the creative enthusiasm of the actors.
According to industry insiders, the development of the entire industry needs more push. "This circle is not just about actors. Actors are part of it, labels are part of it, audiences are part of it, platforms are part of it, and employers are part of it. There are at least five parts in it." Interaction."
If an industry wants to move forward steadily, it needs a systematic business logic. On the one hand, it is based on a mature cognitive level, sorting out a clear and long-term development route, and more importantly, there is a healthy competitive environment. .
"If it is limited to talk shows and only one, it is indeed a big problem. This is very abnormal for an industry. However, this is in the early stage of the industry, and the industry still has a long way to go. We Allow this situation to exist."
Fortunately, talk shows are still new enough, and for an industry with strong vitality, it is not too late.
