The success of "Hua Shao 5" has brought a unique vitality to the variety show market in 2023, announcing the return of the "Hua Shao" IP, demonstrating the unique value and innovative breakthroughs of the "variety n generation".
Author | Zhao Ming (Shanghai)
Producer | Zhang Yitong (Shanghai)
For the entire variety show industry, 2023 is an extremely difficult year. On the one hand, whether it is the market pressure brought about by the tightening of brand launches or the innovation problems faced by the variety show genre itself, practitioners and ordinary viewers have repeatedly lamented that "there is nothing new in the variety show market" in the past year; on the other hand, The divergence of audience interests has resulted in fewer and fewer hits that can mobilize the public’s emotions.
If you can only choose one popular variety show in 2023, it must be "Flowers and Boys Silk Road Season". The cumulative hot searches on the entire network exceed 10,000+, and "Hua Shao 5" has been on the top 8 lists of Weibo, Maoyan, Guduo, and Yunhe Data for more than 87 days. The popularity of the content has brought about a strong ability to bring goods. After the program was broadcast, the search volume for Saudi Arabia’s travel increased by 772%, and the same product in the Icelandic hat shop was sold out.
In addition to occupying the top traffic position on all platforms on the Internet, "Hua Shao 5" is also one of the best-regarded variety shows in 2023. Not only did it receive a high score of 8.7 on Douban, the content of the program was also used by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin and many Chinese ambassadors abroad The official matrix of embassies and consulates took turns to recommend it. In addition to hundreds of overseas media reports, there were also a large number of foreign fans leaving messages in the comment areas of YouTube and other overseas video websites, setting a new record for the overseas spread of Mango Variety Show.
Our emphasis on "Hua Shao 5" does not only come from its outstanding data performance.
Frankly speaking, in 2023, participants in the entire variety show market will inevitably have some unspeakable ambivalence when facing the "variety n generation". On the one hand, the "comprehensive n-generation" provides a guarantee of stability and has become a pillar supporting the industry in a tight market environment; on the other hand, the difficulties of the integrated n-generation in innovation and breaking out of the circle still plague most practitioners and have become a pillar of support for the industry. One of the important reasons that constrains the development of the industry. The uniqueness of
"Hua Shao 5" is that it shows the innovative possibilities and value breakthroughs of the n-generation variety show. It truly completes the restart of a 10-year variety show IP from theme, content to form. In announcing the "Hua Shao" IP While returning, it has become the top IP that occupies the absolute top position in the entire market.
In the Chinese variety show industry, where the variety show generation accounts for more than half of the market, the experience of "Hua Shao 5" has universal reference value. Therefore, we dismantled the 5 key words behind the hit effect of "Hua Shao 5", trying to restore what made this program successful and how to complete the renewal of a variety show IP. We hope this "Hua Xue" guide It can inspire more practitioners.
1. Casting: Shaping people is better than everything else
"People" are the core source of charm of reality shows, and "people" are increasingly becoming the ultimate carrier of the emotional and commercial value of variety shows.
In a sense, good casting and character creation are the source of all the success of "Hua Shao 5". By exploring the true charm of artists and showing warm interactions, "Hua Shao 5" broke some viewers' expectations and stereotypes about conflict narratives, and reset the tone of the entire IP.
This is also in line with some new habits and trends in content consumption among variety show audiences. For example, the favor of "Acquaintance Game" essentially stems from the fact that the new generation of variety show viewers are more willing to see the daily and relaxed side of stars in the show than the sparkling contradictions and conflicts. A change in the core logic of
is that creating a real and charming side of the characters has been given the highest priority instead of creating a clear plot.
Based on this underlying logic, "Hua Shao 5" has formed some basic methods in character creation.
First, it accurately captures and amplifies the charm of the artist. For example, when Huofen was hit by a hurricane, the other six siblings were allowed to catch up on their sleep in the car. The eldest sister Qin Hailu took the initiative to take on the role of liaison officer. She held a walkie-talkie and sat in the co-pilot to maintain communication with the director team, and kept talking to the driver. Keep it awake.
The second is to explore the different aspects of each person's personality, allowing the audience to constantly break the inherent impression of each person in their minds in the process, and the character arcs are continuously released as the travel story progresses.
Wang Anyu played the role of a tour guide when he first appeared. Out of the pursuit of a sense of responsibility and order, the highly sensitive side of his character gradually emerged; and after relinquishing the heavy responsibility of a tour guide, he immediately appeared as an innocent and funny big boy, with a flash of anger from time to time. Stupid and middle-aged. The first impression of Xin Zhilei is domineering and cold, and furthermore, she is sassy and straightforward. As the journey unfolds, the "confused and silly elder sister" who often loses her mobile phone and can fall asleep anytime and anywhere is gradually discovered, and is eventually Beidou Qixing is evaluated as the "big flower" in the team.
Third, in addition to the main line in the form of compulsory courses, artists are given full space to make arrangements freely. There is no need to deliberately set up special situations. The reactions of artists caused by spontaneous behaviors are not only real enough, but can also often produce unexpected program effects.
In Saudi Arabia, Qin Lan made a temporary decision to rescue stray cats they encountered on the roadside; on the way back to Reykjavik, several people had to flee overnight in the face of a sudden hurricane. These unplanned events, with the prompt communication and execution of the artists and the director team, also added an unexpected charm to the entire journey.
Just like the moment when they finally escaped from the hurricane circle, the director team informed the eldest sister Qin Hailu through the intercom that they had escaped from the hurricane circle, "and ushered in the golden morning glow." This moment also moved the audience outside the screen, "There is no script. Dare to write like this."
2. Insight: Responding to the emotional needs of ordinary people
In addition to resetting the tone of the entire IP with character creation, another important exploration of "Hua Shao 5" at the content level is what the current audience wants to see. Such a celebrity travel variety show.
On the user psychology side, whether it is movies, dramas or variety shows, long video users are increasingly concerned about "it's about me". They are no longer satisfied with just watching other people's unique experiences, but pay more attention to their own emotional needs. ; In terms of content form, when travel vlog has become an important form of celebrity content, how can variety shows provide irreplaceable content experience?
"Hua Shao 5" allows most viewers to be involved and willing to discuss, because it is not limited to the conventional forms and topics of celebrity travel programs, but truly returns to the travel experience and feelings of ordinary people, presenting a kind of The ideal travel status for contemporary young people. First of all,
does not take tourist attractions as its first purpose, but presents the real local cultural features. Represented by citywalk, this roaming experience is becoming a mainstream travel experience.
Whether it is visiting local people’s homes in Saudi Arabia, choosing woolen hats handmade by shop owners in a handmade hat shop in Iceland, or visiting the Chinese Culture Museum of Icelandic grandmothers, the seven-person group has the opportunity to truly enter the real daily life of local people. middle. When Wang Anyu explained why he participated in "Hua Shao 5", he mentioned that his time had been occupied by work, and this trip brought him back to "life".
has transcended celebrity status and labels, and Beidou Qixing's personal travel insights have also aroused the widest public resonance. In the final episode, Qin Hailu laments that freedom is difficult for adults. Traveling allows her to not be a wife, daughter, mother, or boss, but to be herself. She expresses the voice of countless middle-aged people who shoulder responsibilities and move forward with a heavy burden.
In addition, "Hua Shao 5" has found an emotional connection that everyone can resonate with - the meaning of travel often does not lie in the play itself, but in the journey to bear more fruits of friendship. This is also an important reason why the journey of Beidou Qixing makes people feel moving and immersive.
Starting from a "semi-familiar" relationship, "Hua Shao 5" shows the process of several people becoming more and more familiar and becoming true friends. The whole process is not without conflicts, but due to sufficient communication and mutual giving of emotional value, the initial conflicts and problems have also become small signposts for the further development of the relationship, and also allow the audience to see what their ideal "travel partner" looks like. .
At dinner at the last stop, under the dim lights of the restaurant, fifth sister Zhao Zhaoyi opened the drawing paper one by one. She spent the whole night drawing a set of simple drawings to record the travel stories of the seven-member group.
This is a record full of private memories. From the moment the program crew knocked on the door of seven people's rooms, a romantic journey belonging to Hua Shao Qizi began. In addition to the representative customs and culture of various places, there are also a lot of homestays in Croatia. There are moments when group members sit around eating hot pot and wish each other a happy New Year, and there are nights where they watch the stars together.
At the same time, in editing and post-production, "Hua Shao 5" gave full play to the advantages of long video content in exquisite expression, while retaining a sense of documentary, through the combination of a series of elements such as music and lenses, it is like a prose poem. The expression allows every romantic moment during the trip to be concretely presented in the program.
In Croatia, facing the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea, the seven people were silent and aphasic, quietly experiencing the sunset; watching the sunrise was originally just the personal wish of the eldest sister Qin Hailu, but the other six people worked together to chase the sunrise. Qin Hailu regarded the planes flying across the sky as "shooting stars", while Zhao Zhaoyi said that the sun was like quicksand and salted egg yolk. When the music of "golden hour" sounds, it presents a distant artistic conception like a literary movie.
3. Theme: Use individual stories to dismantle grand narratives
Taking the Silk Road Season as the theme, the Belt and Road Initiative as the core background runs through the entire season of "Flower Flower 5". The connection of major themes not only increases the cultural depth of the travel itself, but also increases the cultural depth of the trip itself. It provides new ideas for breaking the circle of variety show IP. The stability of
comprehensive n generation comes from the clarity of type and audience, but it is also subject to this. "Hua Shao 5" gives the traditional variety show of celebrity travel a new humanistic core by grafting it with grand topics. While expanding the richness of the topic, it also uses this to reach more users, especially non-star content consumer groups.
For variety shows that continue to be squeezed by short video entertainment content, showing more complex and far-reaching topics is also one of the ways for variety shows to establish their irreplaceable content value.
"Hua Shao 5" does not present the theme of the Belt and Road Initiative simply and crudely, but completes the dissolution of the grand issue with concreteness and pyrotechnics, and presents the beautiful changes that the Belt and Road Initiative has brought to the world in different ways. At this time, it shows the relationship between each individual and the grand issue.
During the study tour in Saudi Arabia, there were Saudi students who regarded China as their second home and missed Wuhan hot and dry noodles; there were residents of Riyadh who liked to buy Chinese products online; there were Chinese sons-in-law in transnational marriages; there were also some who were completely impressed by China’s intelligence Busy local employees in the changed logistics center. In Iceland, the Hua Shao Tuan visited the private museum of Grandma Una, who loves Chinese culture. She has been to China 38 times. She loves to wear Tang suits and practice Tai Chi. She has a beautiful Chinese name "Wanglang".
These real-life stories have gained resonance and praise from the audience. Topics such as #花小5的 Pattern##花小5culturaloutput# have been on the hot search list one after another. While
reaches more domestic audiences with more public and grand themes, at a time when going overseas has become the core narrative and major increase in the content industry, the overseas dissemination of "Hua Shao 5" shows new possibilities for Chinese IP to go overseas. , was rated by netizens as "bringing the audience to see the world, and the world to see China."
"Communication" and "concrete" are the most inspiring keywords provided by "Hua Shao 5" in the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.
At a local cultural exchange event in Croatia, Hua Shao Qizi performed with other well-dressed foreign tourists. Qin Hailu dressed in character costumes from "Red Sorghum" and sang a piece of Peking Opera "Ode to the Pear Blossom"; Hu Xianxu wore a black coat and played Tianjin Allegro, and Wang Anyu put on a Chinese tunic suit and recited an English version of "Young China"; Dilraba put on Uighur costumes and performed a Xinjiang dance, which was bright and moving; Qin Lan and Xin Zhilei performed a Northeastern Yangge dance. Under the guidance of the two, tourists and captains also turned their handkerchiefs.
Among them, a video of Dilraba wearing a traditional Uyghur dress and performing a traditional Xinjiang dance was exposed 47 times by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin and the official matrix of multiple Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, with a total of 36 official accounts. Recommended overseas. In addition, overseas organizations such as the tourism bureaus of seven countries including Iceland and companies undertaking multiple Belt and Road cooperation projects are also actively promoting "Hua Shao 5" around the world.
4. Broadcasting: Innovation in broadcasting creates an immersive content experience.
Innovation in broadcasting allows "Hua Shao 5" to directly bring different vitality to the "Hua Shao" IP.
"Hua Shao 5" is the first program in the "Hua Shao" series to be launched online and backstage. It makes full use of the communication advantages and flexibility of the integration of Mango and the Internet. "Hua Shao 5" has created an innovative program in scheduling and derivative content. A unique space where fans can continue to consume and fully discuss. What’s noteworthy about the scheduling innovation of
is that its essence is a change in thinking mode. Under traditional station broadcasting, the one-way communication relationship between producers and audiences has been broken in the new station-network linkage model. From the commercial dimension, members have become the main source of income for variety shows; from the product dimension, producers have a way to directly communicate with the audience, which puts the needs of the audience at the most important position, even surpassing brand customers and becoming the core target of the program.
The innovation in the broadcasting of "Hua Shao 5" mainly lies in two aspects.
First of all, unlike the previous station broadcast rhythm of once a week, continuous updates have brought users high sticky interaction and continuous attention. From 7 days of continuous updates during the opening week, to 12 days of continuous updates starting from November 20, and then to 3 days of continuous updates at the end, the continuous updates directly lengthened the variety show content cycle, while providing the audience with rich content and a sense of continuous companionship. , the topic of programs and artists continues to gain popularity.
Secondly, "Hua Shao 5" meets users' content needs not only through continuous updates, but more importantly, by matching rich content materials with users' diverse content needs. Under the concept of "Hua Shao Zhou",
includes review trailers, pilot films, membership advance sales, membership renewals, unbroadcast highlights, etc., and fully focuses on the rich derivative content with different focuses produced by "Hua Shao 5". Meet audience needs.
Among them, the most effective one is the guest reaction feature film "Friends of a Flower Boy". The audience bluntly said in the barrage that "I don't want to miss any episode of Friends". Compared with the main film of the program, which shows the process of the seven people from being half-familiar to fully-familiar, "Friends" has more of a relaxed feeling like an acquaintance variety show, and it is another kind of viewing experience.
"Friends" also created a unique official second-generation atmosphere, and minor conflicts during the trip were cleverly alleviated, providing a space for artists to explain misunderstandings and resolve audience doubts; at the same time, it also serves as an independent program , creating new famous scenes for the entire "Hua Shao 5", such as the paragraphs where Saudi Wang Anyu and Qin Hailu want to praise, and Xin Zhilei's bold gesture of "fanning", have become interesting materials for the audience to consume and spread.
5. Promotion: High-frequency interaction brings a sense of participation to all members.
has a similar underlying logic to scheduling innovation. In the diverse and high-frequency business interactions of "Hua Shao 5", fans, celebrities and the production team are not only It is not the relationship between watching and consuming content, but a more interactive and intimate relationship, where the audience becomes an important part of the co-creation.
first fully mobilizes the enthusiasm of fans and allows them to participate in creation. The importance of secondary creation is self-evident. The audience not only consumes the content, but also consumes the personal understanding of the content generated thereby.
Faced with the audience’s ridicule for post-editing troubles, "Hua Shao 5" issued a call for Hua Shao Scissorhands, and sincerely invites scissorhands to use their creativity to edit trailer videos for the third feature film. Excellent trailer content may also be adopted. Enter the main film of the show; at the end of December, the official Weibo solicited the MV for the theme song of Scissorhands, and prepared high-definition raw materials of titles and empty scenes from three countries for netizens. This series of actions also made the audience sigh, "You still know how to play Son."
In the process of discovering and creating celebrity personalities, the program team also actively absorbed audience feedback, forming a positive interaction."Electronic Dora" was originally popular among netizens. Later in the third episode of the program, special effects packaging of Electronic Dora was added to enhance the memory of this character. In addition to the official
program, artists are also actively following fan creations on Weibo. Hu Xianxu will repost the "Flowers and Boys Rap" edited by netizens and express his appreciation with "I'm so happy that my stomach hurts."
In addition, not deliberately creating a sense of mystery, closeness and proximity are important tags of "Hua Shao 5", which also gives fans more reality and immersion in participating.
On Xiaohongshu, there are also a lot of links between "Hua Shao" and travel topics. In addition to launching "Hua Shao Group Travel Road Book" to share the same route, Lao Ma is the topic that Wang Anyu found on Xiaohongshu. , there is also a feeling of helping the audience to make a travel guide.
program producer Xia Qing opened a personal account on Xiaohongshu, where she shared many behind-the-scenes footage of the program and served as an important channel for listening to netizens’ suggestions. Netizens affectionately called her “sister.” After the last episode of "Huofen Evacuation" was broadcast,
posted the group chat records of the team during that sleepless night, which also made more netizens feel the care and responsibility of the program team. A senior variety show enthusiast replied in the comment area, "In the future, I can also say loudly that there are talented and caring production teams in China." On the final day of the
program, the topic #花小pd shared the daily routine behind the scenes on Weibo Bo Hot Search showed photos of the daily work of PDs. In the comment area, fans thanked the production team for their hard work and also called for the release of the PD version of "Flowers and Boys". The addition of
live broadcast mode allows viewers to directly become Beidou's traveling companions. During the recording of the program, "Hua Shao 5" and Xinhuanet launched the "Walking with the Light" flash mob live broadcast of the aurora, synchronizing the progress of the Hua Shao Group's pursuit of light. The popularity of the live broadcast reached the top 1, with more than 640,000 interactions. It started at 6 a.m., and there are still more than 3.3 million people watching online.
Conclusion
Nearly 10 years have passed since the first season of "Flowers and Boys" was aired in 2014. "Flowers and Boys 5" not only successfully restarted the "Flowers and Boys" IP, but also made it become a leading star in Mango and even the entire variety show market. The top header IP.
This illustrates one thing. The vitality and charm of a variety show IP have nothing to do with time. If you find content and expression that match the current moment, you can gain new audiences.
After breaking down the specific operation of "Hua Shao 5" from different dimensions such as casting, insight, theme, scheduling, promotion, etc., perhaps we can abstract some underlying methodologies:
1. Reality shows are real art and adhere to sincerity and real. Many of the classic scenes in "Flower Flower 5" come from unexpected situations or the free play of the artists. Without deliberate settings, they show the best artist status and dramatic effects.
2. Variety shows always seek to echo the emotional resonance and content interest of the broadest public at the moment. The harder it is to innovate in the n-generation variety, the more innovation must be done. What should be updated should not just be superficial content such as gameplay, but truly understand and satisfy the aesthetic taste of current users.
3. Grand issues are an inevitable part of contemporary nature, and they are also an effective way for variety shows to reach the public. Paying attention to individuals does not mean avoiding grand narratives. "Hua Shao 5" provides a content solution to help find the connection between individual destiny and grand issues, showing unique social value.
4. The essence of content is the interaction between people. The active interaction between "Hua Shao 5" and fans during the broadcast created huge value.
When the "Hua Shao" IP was born in 2014, the relationship between the audience and the TV station was simply watching and being watched. But now fans and viewers have long become part of content co-creation, not only bringing popularity to the program, but also their creativity Inspiration for the new season of the show.
As the show comes to an end, the call for "new content from the original cast" is getting stronger and stronger, and the director team is also looking for more ways to implement it to continue the beauty brought by Beidou Seven Elements.
When recording the Iceland episode, Dilraba discovered that the director team could monitor everyone's conversations, so she jokingly said, "I also want to be a director." Li Chao took it to heart and came up with the idea for a new season's program model.
At last year's Mango Investment Promotion Conference, Qin Lan took the stage as the promoter of "Hua Shao 6" and mentioned that Dilraba will continue traveling with her sisters and realize her dream of becoming a director.
is not only the production team, but also the artists and fans. They have become the source of vitality for the entire "Hua Shao" IP, constantly bringing new inspiration and creativity to it.
If the 1.0 era of variety show IP is about continuous updating and long-term operation, "Flower Young Master" allows us to see a new possibility for variety show IP operation - the birth of a co-creation model with the participation of all people.
