Some people say it is a "massage artifact", and some people say it is a video-based cool text. Internet micro-short dramas are rapidly rising and occupying the market because of their short, concise, fast-paced, and easy-to-consume characteristics. However, as an emerging cultural industry, in the process of rapid development, online micro-short dramas have also experienced prominent problems such as typing, homogeneity, low style, and limited development. How to help micro-short dramas break through development bottlenecks, seize the opportunities of the times, and achieve high-quality development has become an issue of great concern at the "Online Literature+" conference that concluded in Beijing yesterday.
New business formats are in urgent need of new breakthroughs
Once upon a time, when searching for micro-short dramas on the Internet, you could often see bloggers such as "The sadomasochism between the adopted son and his stepmother", "The sinister prince fell in love with the female killer", "He learned after a flash marriage that his husband was the richest man", etc. The eye-catching marketing entries and cheap "50-cent special effects" also make people feel deeply earthy. Like online literature back then, online micro-short dramas experienced a stage of wild growth at a faster rate last year.
Why did micro-short dramas suddenly explode in popularity last year? Chen Ruiqing, chairman of Dianzhong Technology, believes that after experiencing its budding state in 2022, online literature has provided a large number of talents for micro-short dramas, and more than 85% of the talent reserve comes from online literature authors and editors. Another important reason is that Internet literature has accumulated a large amount of IP over the years, providing sufficient support for adaptation in terms of content.
Li Li, general manager of iQiyi Drama Center, provided a study on user profiles of micro-short dramas and found that there is a high degree of overlap between users of online literature and micro-short dramas. First of all, there is a high degree of overlap in popular tags, such as the sweet pet, time travel, and boss of female channels, and the counterattack, time travel, and rebirth of male channels. In addition, more than 60% of the audience for online literature is from Generation Z, and the audience for online micro-short dramas from Generation Z is also as high as 65%. At the same time, online micro-short dramas and online literature have great potential and possibilities to explore overseas markets.
Internet literature writers therefore became the first group of people to perceive the micro-short drama "Spring River Plumbing". Internet literature writer Miao Juan shared her own experience. In the past, Internet writers were often asked, "Should we cooperate with the development of film and television dramas?" Now the question has slowly changed to "Can we cooperate with the development of micro-short dramas?" ?”
Diazhong Technology also transformed from a single online literature business in 2022 to add an online micro-short drama business. Li Jiang, CEO of Dianzhong Technology, said that according to their statistics, the total number of micro-short dramas of various types on the market in 2023 will be approximately 10,000, with 70% or more coming from adaptations of online literature. Li Jiang said: "At the beginning of 2023, we ourselves didn't watch micro-short dramas very much because we felt they were too 'sinking'."
By the end of last year, although the number of micro-short dramas had exploded, the content was still highly homogeneous. . Li Jiang said that the current direction that the micro-short drama industry is working towards is to correct values on the basis of satisfaction and to make a "breakthrough" in terms of creation.
High profits call for high quality
Micro short dramas have low cost, short cycle and high returns. If a subject becomes popular, it will immediately attract a large number of crews to follow suit and invest in filming. At first, you could get an iPhone and spend 50,000 yuan to produce a micro-short drama. Now, the cost of micro-short dramas has increased from 30 to 100 episodes. Li Jiang said that the industry already has dramas with a cost of more than 1 million yuan. .
Even if the investment is 1 million, looking at the field of long-form dramas, it will only be a drop in the bucket, not to mention the huge inverse ratio in return. Li Jiang gave an example: "My Husband is a Rich Family", an online novel about flash marriages. The revenue from the paid novel last year was about 300 million yuan, while the short drama adapted into it made an astonishing 200 million yuan at the box office.
Taking the Douyin platform as an example, Wang Chen, the person in charge of Douyin short dramas, revealed that the number of Douyin users actively searching for short dramas every day has doubled, the number of users who are willing to pay for short dramas has increased by 10 times, and the payment amount has increased. 5 times.
Internet micro-short drama has become a new beneficiary of the lipstick economic phenomenon. With a single recharge ranging from a few cents to dozens of yuan, the audience can gain a certain emotional value."Shuang" has made hundreds of millions of viewers flock to it; "earning" has caused a number of famous actors and directors such as Stephen Chow to end their careers; "+" has allowed the cultural tourism industry and many brands to see the huge power of micro-short dramas, making micro-short dramas The drama has transformed from a content consumption product into an empowering tool to promote the prosperity of cultural tourism, industry development, and marketing.
Almost all long-form video platforms have made some attempts to adapt Internet literature IP, and each platform has also launched its own support plan to develop high-quality micro-short dramas. Wang Chen said that Douyin will make various innovations in themes in this summer season and subsequent periods, including family comedies, period dramas, science fiction dramas, anti-fraud dramas, national security dramas, fire dramas and medical dramas. In terms of these contents, we break through the original themes such as Shuangwen and God of War, and share better quality content with users. Du Hao, the short drama director of
Reading Group, said that high-quality content creation is inseparable from a clear IP adaptation path and the platform’s traffic integration support. Quality and theme innovation are imperative. As a crucial part of creation, writer and screenwriter Jin Mu believes that no matter what type of work, quality is the fundamental pursuit of every creator. There is no conflict between high-quality products and marketization. Respecting the free and unique expression of creators can break the deadlock of homogeneity. (Xinmin Evening News reporter in Beijing Zhao Yue, Beijing Today)
