During the Spring Festival this year, the entertainment market is not only hot in the TV and film industries. The short drama market, which has been popular from last year to this year, has also begun to be shortlisted for the Spring Festival, with considerable performance in terms of popularity and traffic. The current market demand for short plays is growing day by day, and it is making a "comeback" through more quality production, more mainstream themes, and gradual standardization.
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Short drama involved in the 2024 Spring Festival schedule
Many data broke previous records
At the beginning of the new year, the total box office of the 2024 Spring Festival movie schedule reached 8.016 billion yuan, breaking many records in Chinese film history such as box office and movie attendance, achieving a "good start" . During this period, a dark horse "Skit" was also galloping. Data shows that during the Spring Festival, short dramas performed equally well on video platforms such as "Doukuai Aiyou Tengmang", and various data broke many records in previous years.
According to Nandu reporters, this year’s short drama Spring Festival stalls released short play lists represented by Douyin and Kuaishou platforms, which strongly conveyed the concept of “Short Drama Spring Festival stalls” to users. Video platforms such as "Aiyou Tengmang" take advantage of their own resources to launch original dramas and strive to create short dramas for the Spring Festival that belong to their own platforms. In addition, many short drama companies have also chosen to launch mini-program short dramas during the Spring Festival, efficiently releasing them for publicity and distribution during the Spring Festival, and joining the Spring Festival stalls. It can be observed from the short dramas released on various platforms during the Spring Festival that the trend of "high-quality" short dramas has become increasingly obvious.
It is worth noting that half of the 10 Spring Festival short dramas released by the Douyin platform before the Spring Festival are derivative works of movies or TV series. Among them is the live-action mini-series "Beyond", a spin-off of "The Young Lion". "Ah Juan", the spin-off short drama "The Game of Disguise" from the movie "All or Nothing", "My Way Home is Windy" adapted from last year's popular TV series "Where the Wind Goes", and the spin-off drama "Assassination" from the movie "Assassination of Novelists" "The Novelist's Girl Strikes Back" and "Little Nyonya from the End of the World" adapted from the long-running drama "Little Nyonya" are produced by established film and television companies such as Huace Film and Television, Beijing Wonderful, and Bad Monkey.
Among various data, the most outstanding performance of the 2024 Spring Festival short drama is the "Female Channel" short drama "I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s". After the drama was officially launched on the third day of the Lunar New Year, it has rapidly increased in broadcasts. It ranked second on the dataeye short drama hot list. It is understood that the drama is a paid vertical screen short drama, with each episode lasting 1 to 2 minutes, with a total of 82 episodes. Taking rural love as the theme, it tells the story of a modern female college student who travels back to the 1980s and marries a divorced single father with two children. Since the show was launched, it has attracted a lot of attention and heated discussions from viewers and netizens in a short period of time. As of the time of writing, it has exceeded 700 million views. It is worth mentioning that according to relevant information, the filming period of the show was only 10 days, with an investment of 80,000 yuan in the later stage, and the recharge revenue in a single day was as high as 20 million.
Other short dramas that broke out during the Spring Festival include "Mr. Li, You Got the Wrong Wife", "The Yandere Villain's Strategy Plan", "Homecoming in the Year of the Dragon", "The Emperor of the Nine Dragons", etc., all on major video platforms Achieve impressive results. The short drama "Give Her the Handle" produced by Tencent quickly exceeded 20,000 views on the site after its launch, and topped the Maoyan short drama popularity list for many days in a row. Related topics have been frequently searched on Weibo. "New Year's Day" starring actor Xu Mengjie also performed well, and "Little Nian Beast and the Monster Hunter" created by the original cast of "Escape from the British Museum" is also competing fiercely for the popularity ranking of short dramas during the Spring Festival.
A new public account dedicated to researching short dramas pointed out that an industry insider said that consumption during this year’s Spring Festival set a new record, "at least one day exceeded 100 million, and the remaining days also had consumption of 80 to 90 million." According to related news, a practitioner in the short drama industry once expressed emotion in his circle of friends: "I heard that there are already more than 800 short dramas occupying the track during the Spring Festival, which is a bit scary."In an interview with a reporter from Nandu, Zhu Guli, the content director of
Peach Film and Television, said that the reason for the emergence of the 2024 Spring Festival short drama phenomenon is that micro short dramas, as public consumption, will be more concerned about launching projects during holidays and peak traffic periods. "From the industry From an investor's perspective, there are still some hidden worries amid the prosperity. The current market is not so benign and still needs a growth cycle. The development of high-quality micro-short dramas is best not to be clustered together, but to have continuous content output. "
Leng Song, secretary-general and researcher of the World Media Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also noticed the phenomenon of micro-short dramas in the Spring Festival in 2024. He said in an interview with a reporter from Nandu that this is a very gratifying symbol. Micro-short dramas have opened the new year. Just outside of big movies and big screens, I made an appetizer that is equivalent to a visual feast. "This appetizer is not greasy or heavy, and gives people a simple, relaxing, and relaxing happiness. At the same time, It also makes a useful supplement to the cultural market. Micro-short dramas filled the audience's fragmented and leisure time very well during the Spring Festival, and indeed achieved the effect of educating and entertaining in a relaxed way. "
Nandu reporters noticed that major video platforms took advantage of the opportunity before the Spring Festival and launched traffic support measures for many short dramas. This also promoted the improvement and upgrading of short dramas on the one hand. However, in the cold season From Nagi's point of view, this appetizer is just a small test, and so far it has not achieved the desired effect. "On the whole, it is not easy to form a large scale. This kind of 'short, flat and fast' fragmentation time The filling is very good, so there is reason to believe that it will become a waist product and a circle product in the vertical category in the future. "
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Each platform "increased its investment" to provide support.
Leading film and television companies have made great efforts to lay out their plans, and artists have stepped out to test the waters.
As the most "unexpected" trend in the film and television market in 2023, the short drama market has emerged this year led by actor Yang "Twenty-nine", starring Rong, has exceeded 800 million views on the Douyin platform; to "Wushuang", which "recharged over 100 million in 8 days online"; and "Escape from the Great Britain", which conveys the charm of traditional Chinese culture. Museum" quickly emerged from the circle; there were even dramas such as "It's Finished, I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Women" that drove the A-share market and were called "miracles" by industry insiders. Although they are small in size, they are extremely explosive.
Nandu The reporter noticed in the "2023 Micro Short Drama Industry Report" that in 2023, video platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Youku, Tencent, Mango TV, and Bilibili launched 455, 214, 189, and 176 new micro short dramas respectively. , a total of thousands of works were launched on the long and short video platform throughout the year. It is worth mentioning that according to the "2023-2024 China Micro Short Drama Market Research Report" released by iiMedia Consulting, the market size of domestic micro short dramas in 2023 reached 373.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 267.65% from 10.17 billion yuan in 2022. It is expected that the market size of China’s micro-short dramas will exceed 100 billion yuan in 2027.
"2023 Micro-Short Drama Industry Report".
"China’s Micro-Short Dramas 2023-2024" "Drama Market Research Report".
Leng Song told Nandu reporters in the interview that the cultural industry continues to expand in subdivisions, and there is a great need for the healthy, orderly and sustainable development of the new track of micro-short dramas. On the one hand, the competent authorities It is to strictly standardize management, and on the other hand, it also encourages micro-short dramas to form a virtuous market cycle.
It is understood that as early as before the 2024 Spring Festival, the Network Audiovisual Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television held a promotion meeting for the 2024 New Year’s premium micro-short dramas, focusing on Recommended 16 micro-short dramas that were launched during the Spring Festival. The Douyin platform also launched the "Chenxing Project" a year ago to provide financial and traffic support to short-drama creators. It also released the 2024 Spring Festival high-quality micro-short dramas. single; Kuaishou has once again upgraded its support policy for Xingmang short dramas, increasing the amount of investment in high-quality projects and covering full-link services.
"2023 Micro Short Drama Industry Report".
Among the recommended film lists released from various channels It can be observed that the number of dramas with cultural and travel themes as creative themes is relatively prominent, and the remaining themes are of different styles, covering not only emotions, suspense, but also urban, fantasy and other types. This is also a key factor for the short drama industry at a certain level. The creators provided creative direction and thinking.On January 10, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also issued a notice to launch the "Travel with Micro Shorts" creation plan. The notice pointed out that the integration of "micro-short drama + cultural tourism" is encouraged to promote consumption and promote the innovation of micro-short drama themes and genres, and plans to launch 100 excellent micro-short dramas with the theme of "travel with micro-short dramas" in 2024.
On the other hand, traditional film and television creators are aiming at the "end" of the trend and beginning to reach the market. Among them, well-known directors such as Stephen Chow and Wang Jing, well-known actors such as Gao Yalin, and many film and television companies have successively announced their entry into the short drama industry. A few years ago, the Douyin platform and Stephen Chow reached an exclusive cooperation in high-quality micro-short dramas, which quickly attracted the attention of many netizens. It is reported that the two parties will jointly develop and operate the "9527 Theater". The first season of the first high-quality micro-short drama "Golden Pig and Jade Leaf" is expected to be launched in May this year. Director Wang Jing has already led his team to develop the short drama market and started filming "Billions of Silly Princes".
In this year’s Spring Festival short dramas, many actors also appeared in micro short dramas, including 4 short dramas starring actors such as Zhang Xiaolong, Li Chun, Yin Zheng, Guo Xiaoting, Song Muzi and Qiao Shan. At the same time, film and television companies such as Huace Film and Television, Ningmeng Film and Television, Changxin Media, and Beijing Wonderful Film and Television have made great efforts to focus on short video platforms, accelerate the production of micro-short dramas, and combine the content quality of long-form dramas into high-quality micro-short dramas.
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The short drama market will be popular in 2024
How to move forward after the "comeback"
The length of each episode of short dramas is usually controlled at about 3 minutes. Not only is it "short, fast and small", it accurately grasps the current fast pace of life, and appears in a short time The reversal of the plot, suspense, and conflicts in front of them also instantly gave users varying degrees of "exhilaration". The short play was also called "a top-level exhilaration drama" by many netizens and viewers. People's Entertainment also pointed out in relevant reports that "short dramas have become a new force that cannot be ignored, sweeping the entire Internet."
Last year, the China Online Audiovisual Program Service Association announced that since 2022, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has continued to carry out In the governance of online micro-short dramas, we have strengthened standardized management and effectively purified the ecology of the online micro-short drama industry. At the same time, he said that in the future, he will continue to improve the normalized management mechanism, increase management efforts and refine management measures from seven aspects. Subsequently, the three major platforms of "Wei Dou Kuai" actively followed up and successively banned a large number of accounts for publishing micro-short dramas in violation of regulations. It is worth mentioning that Douyin has been the most aggressive in this round of rectification. In the second round, more than 119 illegal micro-short dramas have been removed from the shelves, and 1,188 Douyin accounts have been dealt with for illegal promotion of micro-short dramas.
html On February 22, "Mimeng earned over 100 million from two short plays during the winter vacation" and "Mimeng produced me as a stepmother in the 1980s" became hot searches with over 10 million views. Last year, the short drama "Black Lotus's Handbook" produced by Mi Meng exceeded 20 million in recharges within 24 hours of its launch, but was subsequently removed from the shelves by many platforms. A number of platforms stated in the announcement of the removal of "Black Lotus: The Ascension Manual" that the play "exaggerated extreme revenge, used violence to fight violence, confused the concept of right and wrong, over-exaggerated the evil in human nature, and brought negative value orientation."
Relevant people in the industry revealed to Nandu reporters that there is a general industry consensus in the current short drama market: short dramas pay more attention to whether there is traffic, rather than whether the content is good enough. Li Tao, the head of Fengxing Culture, also pointed out in an interview that 90% of the box office revenue of a short drama is spent on casting.
reporters learned that in a traffic-dominated environment, whoever accurately grasps the "traffic password" will be the "king". When producers invest in traffic, each video platform has become the biggest profiteer, taking away most of the revenue. With the gradual standardization of the short drama industry, more and more creators are entering the industry. Under the industry trend of high-quality short drama content, "content is king" will gradually become a new industry consensus.
Wei Dangjun, vice president of China Online Audiovisual Program Service Association and former director of the Online Audiovisual Program Management Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, once pointed out at the 4th China Short Video Conference that the rapid development of micro-short dramas and the wide audience size, The market potential is huge and eye-catching, but we must clearly see that behind the prosperity there are problems such as disordered competition and vulgar content.Creating high-quality micro-short drama content, building a healthy network ecosystem, and achieving sustainable and healthy development of micro-short dramas are the keys to the future development of the micro-short drama industry.
In Chocolate's view, the domestic micro-short drama market situation will be more severe in 2024, and the current market has begun to undergo a major reshuffle. "As a practitioner, we must always trust and respect the needs of the audience, and constantly understand the needs of the audience, especially those who are willing to pay. Micro-short dramas have great potential. While the content team is deeply cultivating and serving the audience, they should not have too much self-expression Content output. At the same time, video, sound and picture also need to be upgraded to follow international developments, such as AI technology, etc. Performance tonality and theme development should be continuously improved. For practitioners, We must also dare to innovate and make some breakthroughs."
Regarding the future development direction of micro-short dramas, Leng Song shared with Nandu reporters that the creators of a large number of micro-short dramas related to historical costumes need to pay attention to the sophistication of persuasion. Give full play to the characteristics of national style aesthetics and fashionable national trends, and make its quality gradually become more cinematic. Micro-short dramas also hope to find a new path in the innovation of "film, culture and tourism integration". The scene-based creation of micro-short dramas can be combined with scenic landmarks, characteristic ancient towns, etc. to empower local cultural and tourism communication.
Leng Song believes that, like other online audio-visual programs, micro-short dramas are not outside the law, nor do they mean inferior works without a bottom line or moral integrity. As a new form that is loved by the masses, it must always adhere to the correct value orientation, and it must be based on public order and good customs that have been widely agreed upon by society as the basis for creation.
Written and written by Nandu reporter Lin Jingwu
Pictures: from the Internet
