is considered by many people to be a mini-program micro-drama that is a "myth of wealth creation". It has become a hit from last year to this year.
Recently, the micro-short drama research platform dataeye released the "2024 Micro-Short Drama Purchase and Intake Data Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" mentioned that the market size of micro-short dramas will surge from 37.39 billion yuan in 2023 to 50 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2027.
"Buy volume and invest in traffic" is an important link in determining whether a mini-program micro-short drama will make money. The "Report" mentioned that the investment scale of China's micro-short dramas in 2024 is expected to reach approximately 42 billion.
Since there is basically no word-of-mouth communication like traditional film and television works, streaming has become almost the only distribution channel for micro-short dramas. It is also the most critical part in determining whether it can be seen by users and attract users to pay and recharge. "The actual purpose of advertising is to guide users to jump from advertisements to mini programs to watch and pay. This is the product attribute of micro-short dramas. Its playback carrier is mini programs, which can only be diverted through advertisements." An industry insider told Red Star News reporter. Public data from
shows that currently in the field of mini programs and short dramas, most of the cost is spent on streaming, generally reaching 80%, and many reaching 90%.
In order to push micro-short dramas to the precise crowd to the greatest extent, the publisher will accurately select the targets according to the characteristics of the project, and delineate the scope by setting the user's gender, age group, active time, keywords of interest, etc. For example, if you want to stream a female video drama, the required selection is female users aged 18 to 25 years old.
"Report" mentioned that the daily consumption of short dramas at the beginning of 2023 will be about 30 million yuan, and the National Day peak will exceed 100 million yuan. Since November, management of platforms and other aspects has been strengthened. Thousands of illegal short dramas have been banned from investment, and the market has declined.
Since 2024, the overall consumption of short dramas has stabilized, with an average daily consumption of about 50 million yuan. Since February, the average daily consumption has been about 65 million yuan.
Consumption during the Spring Festival period (February 10-February 17), which many short drama practitioners have high hopes for, is not ideal. According to the analysis of the "Report", one of the reasons comes from the hot Spring Festival movie market. To a certain extent It occupies the short drama market space. "Another important reason is that piracy is rampant." Micro-short drama screenwriter "You You" told reporters. For example, "I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s", which became popular during the Spring Festival, requires 39.9 yuan to recharge to watch through regular channels, but it is very expensive. There are now free full-length resources on some platforms, and some are even selling them at low prices on e-commerce platforms.
's 24-hour recharge exceeded 20 million yuan, and its eight-day revenue exceeded 100 million yuan... Micro-short dramas seem to be an industry where money is flowing everywhere, but many micro-short drama practitioners told reporters that it is difficult to make money in this industry, let alone overnight success. The myth of wealth. The only ones that are guaranteed to make money without losing money are platforms such as Douyin and Tencent that are sitting on traffic. "The short drama industry seems to be making money, but in fact all the money goes to traffic platforms."
"Report" mentioned that Douyin's The huge engine is the largest platform for short drama streaming materials. Since 2024, the amount of materials has accounted for about 60%, Tencent advertising has accounted for about 20%, and other media platforms have accounted for about 20%. Analyzed by the proportion of streaming consumption, Juju Engine is also the largest platform for short drama streaming consumption. Since 2024, streaming consumption has accounted for approximately 74%, with Tencent Advertising accounting for approximately 16% and other media platforms accounting for approximately 10%.
"The domineering president fell in love with me", "×× God of War is reborn", "Counterattack starts from The plots and stories, the fun and exciting modes such as pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, set off a "money-attracting" craze.
What kind of themes will attract attention in 2024?
The "Report" mentioned that since 2024, emotions, counterattacks, and God of War have occupied the top three hot investment subdivision themes, and are far ahead in investment popularity. Ancient costumes and sweet pets ranked fourth and fifth. The popularity of son-in-law and divine heroes fell out of the top ten.
short drama practitioner "Peach" analyzed that themes of son-in-law and godly heroes have been the mainstream themes of micro-short dramas for a long time, but later creations became more and more exaggerated, and a lot of overly exaggerated content appeared. In terms of values, Issues such as suspected showing off wealth and worshiping money and exaggerating the antagonism between the rich and the poor have also appeared.Many of the micro-short dramas that were previously removed from the shelves had similar problems, so we deliberately avoided this type of subject matter in our creations. Many practitioners in
believe that in the future, micro-short dramas will need to enrich their subject matter.
At the beginning of 2024, the General Office of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released the creation plan of "Traveling with Micro Shorts", proposing to create and broadcast 100 excellent microshorts with the theme of "Traveling with Microshorts" in 2024. Subsequently, the micro-short drama "My Return is Windy", directed by the Beijing Municipal Radio, Film and Television Bureau and jointly produced by Douyin and Huace Film and Television, was released on Douyin's Spring Festival schedule on February 16. This short drama is similar in style to "Where the Wind Goes". It combines the delicious food and beauty of Leshan, Sichuan, and tells the story of the protagonists' self-growth. The highest number of views for a single episode is nearly 20 million. In addition, Luoyang in Henan, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, Jianshui in Yunnan and other places have also cooperated with film and television companies to launch their own cultural and tourism mini-series to promote the local cultural scenery.
In addition, period themes such as the suspense genre represented by "Qi Er Life", "I Became a Stepmother in the 1980s" and "Rebirth of a Hot Wife in the 1970s" have also attracted the attention of the industry. However, it remains to be tested whether the successful experience can be replicated on the new track. Screenwriter You You said that there are still big differences between the suspense-oriented micro-short drama scripts she has come across and the suspense scripts of traditional long dramas. Most of them are imaginative and very gimmicky at first glance, such as waking up in the night. Then, the person around you suddenly becomes another person; or some plot content involving superstition is not suitable for filming. "Suspense content has requirements on the quality of the script itself and shooting, which will inevitably increase the cost, so currently There are still relatively few. But if good works come out, they may serve as a benchmark and lead this trend."
Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng and editor Zeng Qi
(Source: Red Star News)
