"Hello, Saturday" has invited many popular artists, such as Tan Jianci, Wang Hedi, Li Xueqin, etc.
Li Chen is a regular guest on " run ".
Everyone in " Ace vs. Ace " has a role to play.
Entertainment Brand Observation④
TV variety shows had a golden period. Since 2012, major TV stations have produced many variety shows. Some have been eliminated in the market competition, while some have become very popular and have survived to this day, becoming the long-lived variety show generation of TV variety shows. This issue of Entertainment Brand Observation focuses on the four TV variety shows "Hello Saturday", "Ace vs. Ace", " Extreme Challenge " and "Run" to explore the current situation of national TV variety shows.
01
Satellite TV ace was born in the golden age
From 2012 to 2013, " Good Voice of China ", " I am a singer ", " Dad Where Are We Going " and other variety shows were broadcast. Once broadcast, they became popular all over the country. Officially It started a craze in the production of several reality TV shows. Among the four national TV variety shows mentioned in this article, three programs were born in the golden period of these years.
In 2014, Zhejiang Satellite TV introduced the South Korean SBS TV variety show "Running Man" and produced a large-scale outdoor competitive reality show "Running Man" (later renamed "Running Man"), inviting Deng Chao , angelababy, Li Chen , Chen He, Zheng Kai, Wang Baoqiang, Wang Zulan seven artists served as permanent guests, the program quickly became popular and became the most popular reality show at the time. According to data from CCTV Sofurui, with the exception of the first episode, the ratings for the following 14 episodes all ranked first among csm50 city networks.
In 2015, Dragon TV produced a large-scale inspirational experience program "Extreme Challenge", with Yan Min as the chief director and six guests forming the Extreme Men's Gang. The dramatic setting of the show brought out the greatest variety show effect through the guest combination of "Three Elites" and "Three Idiots", attracting a large number of loyal viewers. The first two seasons of "Extreme Challenge" not only always ranked first in the ratings of the same time period, but also scored a good reputation of 9.3 points and 9.4 points respectively in Douban's statistics with more than 100,000 ratings.
In 2016, at the peak of the development of TV variety shows, Zhejiang Satellite TV produced an indoor reality show "Ace vs. Ace", with Wu Tong as the chief producer, Wang Zulan and Bai Baihe as the permanent captains. Although the first episode of the first season of "Ace vs. Ace" broke the ratings record for the premiere of a satellite TV variety show, after Bai Baihe was injured, Xie Na temporarily replaced the captain. The overall response to the entire season was not too enthusiastic until the third season. With the participation of two national comedians, Shen Teng and Jia Ling, this program has gradually become one of the representative works of satellite TV variety shows.
The birth of "Hello, Saturday" is more special than the other three programs. This indoor variety show will premiere on January 1, 2022. Its "predecessor" is "Happy Camp" well-known to people across the country. On October 9, 2021, Hunan Satellite TV announced that "Happy Camp" will be upgraded and updated. "Hello, Saturday" is the new program that has returned from "Kuaiben" with a new face. It will be hosted by the host He Jiong and composed of different new faces. New hosting team.
Either he was born in the era of satellite TV variety shows, or he inherited classic IPs. Although the "names" of the programs are different, the content settings of these four programs are mostly light-hearted content based on games. Compared with other types of programs, the viewing threshold is lower and suitable for all ages. This has also helped them become the flagship IP of various satellite TVs and even representatives of national TV variety shows.
Even if the history of "Happy Camp" is not included in the duration, there are also n-generation seniors in the four programs. The eighth season of "Ace vs. Ace" ended at the beginning of this year, and it has reached the tenth season of "Extreme Challenge" Currently airing, "Running Season 8" also airing is actually the twelfth season of the IP. But can longevity and evergreen be equated? Perhaps specific issues need to be analyzed in detail.
02
The results are still the top, but the popularity and reputation are declining.
It is undeniable that among the TV variety shows that are still produced and broadcast today, these four programs are still at the top.
Judging from the broadcast results, their ratings and online broadcast volume performed outstandingly in the competition during the same period. According to the statistics of China Audiovisual Big Data (cvb), the top 30 ratings of the single channel of local satellite TV's evening time premiere literary and artistic programs in 2023, "Running Season 7", "Ace vs. Ace Season 8", "Extreme Challenge Season 9" and " "Hello, Saturday" ranked 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th in the ratings respectively. Broken down into broadcast periods, all four programs ranked first in ratings during the same time period.
also ranks among the best in terms of online views. Yunhe Data's 2023 TV variety show effective broadcast screen dominance list shows that "Running Season 7", "Ace vs. Ace Season 8", "Hello, Saturday" and "Extreme Challenge Season 9" occupy the top four places.
In addition, the investment data of the four national variety show IPs are also stable performers in TV variety shows. In various satellite TV investment promotion meetings, they are often crowned with modifiers such as "ace", "hot hit" and "blockbuster". For example, "Running Season 8" has the most sponsors, with a total of six different "financiers" paying for it.
But at the same time, there are hidden dangers behind the seemingly excellent performance. First, the playback volume is declining. Judging from the online broadcast volume shown in the annual list of Yunhe Data, all three seasonal programs have shown a downward trend.
Taking "Extreme Challenge" as an example, the number of effective views of the program's main features dropped from more than 1 billion to more than 400 million from the sixth to ninth seasons. The decline was even more obvious for "Ace vs. Ace". The effective viewing volume of the feature film from the fifth to the eighth season dropped from more than 2.5 billion to less than 1.2 billion (Note: Because the eighth season was broadcast on New Year's Eve, so Data for the first quarter of 2024 can be added to the playback volume as appropriate). In comparison, the trend of "Run" is relatively gentle, with a drop of less than 200 million in 2023 compared with 2020.
The second reason is that public reputation and attention are not as good as before. Douban Rating provides data information that can be referenced. After the first season, the "Run" series did not reach the 7-point threshold again until last year, but the number of ratings has been reduced to less than a quarter of previous years; after the departure of the chief director Yan Min, the first two seasons became high-scoring classics The Douban score of "Extreme Challenge" dropped below 5 points in the fifth season, and the two seasons of the program in recent years have also hovered around the passing line, with less than 10,000 people rating; the trend of "Ace vs. Ace" is based on the fourth and fifth seasons. Season is a turning point, showing a trend of rising first and then falling. The seventh and eighth seasons failed to pass, and the latest season only had more than 7,000 people rating it. "Hello, Saturday" has been on the air for two years, and its rating is still only 6 points.
The decline in scores means a decline in word-of-mouth, while the decrease in playback volume and number of ratings actually means that the once loyal audience is constantly being lost. From a vertical comparison, the situation faced by these four programs is not as optimistic as imagined.
03
Content patterning has changed from praising people to relying on people to guide them?
Everyone doesn’t like watching variety shows that were once popular. What’s the problem? If I want to answer it with the simplest and clearest answer, it may be: I’m tired of it. The routine and stereotyped content is probably one of the most criticized shortcomings. Several programs have become electronic pickles for the audience due to their light-hearted and cheerful nature, but no one wants to eat pickles every time.
"Ace vs. Ace" and "Hello, Saturday" are both studio variety shows. The content is basically composed of performance + interactive games. There are classic games such as "Megaphone" and "123 Look Here", but every The program design of each episode is almost the same, and homogeneity can only be reduced by using different guest lineups.
As outdoor variety shows, although "Run" and "Extreme Challenge" will highlight some differences in the theme and content setting of each issue, firstly, they have fixed the permanent lineup, and secondly, they have been conducting for nearly ten years. After years of production, a lot of content will be presented in a stereotyped package that changes the content without changing the content, and it is difficult to give people a sense of freshness.
Therefore, when it is difficult to innovate content, the permanent lineup is even more important for national variety shows. Emphasizing the integration of the permanent lineup is the commonality of these four programs, from the "Happy Family" of "Happy Camp" to the "Good Six Group" of "Hello, Saturday", and the "Running Brothers Group" of "Running", "Extreme Challenge" goes from "Extreme Men's Gang" to "Extreme Boy Group", while "Ace Vs Ace" is the "Ace Family". These concepts are all strengthening the unity. Within this whole, everyone has their own role to play in order to generate sufficient chemical reactions in this group.
The "Three Idiots" and "Three Elites" of "Extreme Challenge" have created many dramatic effects. "Ace vs. Ace" cannot do without the support of Shen Teng and Jia Ling... The more interesting the lineup, the better the show will be. Many shows have benefited from this.
But having said that, the reason why national TV variety show IP is regarded as a "good resource" by the industry and the public is that it can help artists gain popularity as quickly as possible. In other words, it is "facilitating people".
Many popular artists made their variety show debut in "Happy Camp". "Running Brothers" and "Extreme Challenge" also played a "praising role" in the early days. For example, "Running Brothers" opened national visibility to angelababy and Dilmurat Dilraba, while "Extreme Challenge" directly increased public awareness for Wang Xun.
Today is different from the past, and the guest lineups of these programs have undergone changes again and again. Among the changes, an obvious shift is that their role of "praising people" has been reduced, and it has even changed from "use whoever is popular" to "whoever is popular, use whom". Among the lineups of the four programs in recent years, there are many white deer, Popular artists such as Fan Chengcheng, Gong Jun, Hua Chenyu, Huang Minghao, Tan Jianci, and Wang Hedi, as well as four members of the idol group Era Youth League, including Ding Chengxin, Song Yaxuan, Zhang Zhenyuan, and Yan Haoxiang, also served as regular guests on the show. The official blog of the show The comment section is often surrounded by fans’ comments.
From creating starlight to relying on starlight, guests and fans are required to complete various data traffic indicators. This is actually a manifestation of the decline in the content influence of the program itself.
04
TV variety shows are gradually declining
. As mentioned earlier, there are three programs that were born in the golden age of satellite TV variety shows. The embarrassing situation they are facing now is essentially the only way for TV variety shows to turn from prosperity to decline.
A "China Smart TV Interaction New Trend Report 2024" released by the Forward-looking Industry Research Institute shows that since 2016, my country's TV turn-on rate has dropped from 70% to less than 30% in 2022. Although televisions are becoming more and more popular, fewer and fewer people are watching them.
One of the reasons is the impact of online variety shows. The past few years of the decline of TV variety shows have also been the rapid rise of online variety shows. Due to the advancement of audience aesthetics, the public's expectations and needs for variety shows are divided, and it has become difficult to create a variety show that everyone loves to watch. Over the years, typed variety shows are more likely to produce high-quality products and hits than family-style variety shows, and niche vertical programs can often attract more loyal audiences. Regardless of content, subject matter, presentation and duration, online variety shows have greater room for exploration.
On the other hand, the public’s demand for variety shows has also decreased. The rapid development of long video platforms has provided a wealth of online content for the public to freely choose from. Short video platforms and social media have occupied the public’s fragmented time. The diversification of offline entertainment has also made more people willing to turn off the TV and go out of the house. , entertainment methods have increased, and people are not as rigid as they used to be with a TV set.
How to regain the audience’s attention is actually a challenge for all TV variety shows.
Just playing safe will not get you far. Change and innovation are the eternal themes of the content industry. In May this year, Hunan Satellite TV's "Singer 2024" returned, allowing singers to compete on the same stage in a live broadcast format, making waves again in the long-dormant TV variety show market.Cai Huaijun, deputy director of Hunan Radio and Television Station, once publicly stated that the live broadcast data of the second episode increased fivefold and increased the activation rate of large screens across the country. Although the case is limited to audio variety, it also demonstrates the appeal of good content to audiences.
Fortunately, because of the foundation accumulated in the early stage, national TV variety shows still have opportunities to progress and improve. But I hope these programs that carry the laughter of the past will not become frogs in warm water. After all, there is never an equal sign between longevity and evergreen.
Written by: Nandu reporter Yu Xiaoyu Intern Song Zhuoxin
