carries the short drama business of scarce content supply, product conversion, and new marketing. It has not caused a dimensionality reduction blow to the industry due to the addition of new variables by the entry of giants. Major producers still have a long way to go in terms of short dramas.
@新tropy Original
Author丨Wang Siyuan Editor丨Jiuli
The short play that has been popular for three years has still been unearthed new additions.
From the perspective of content quality, the traffic dividend of brainless micro-short dramas may be disappearing, but the long-term value of high-quality short dramas has just begun. Countless short drama practitioners have either left the scene or explored new content output.
At the same time, in addition to content platforms such as Byte and Kuaishou, short plays have appeared on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo, and even Meituan, and even 360, Huawei, and Xiaomi have cross-border "short plays" ", recruiting troops and horses in the market.
However, the involvement of the "regular army" has not only improved the quality of content, but also led to the emergence of many new ways of playing in the industry. For example, changes in content positions and collisions between different business models.
short plays are essentially a new form of content. The example of ByteDance and Kuaishou has greatly expanded the imagination of short plays. It can not only increase the user time of the platform and create immersive consumption scenarios, but also to a certain extent. Implement content-based transformation of tool applications.
Different giants have different core businesses, and their decision-making and execution vary greatly, which makes the short drama market flourish. The involvement of
major manufacturers is undoubtedly a prelude to changes in the short drama market, but it is also an important game between major manufacturers. So why do major studios start favoring short dramas? Will short dramas become a standard feature of major Internet companies? What new variables will it bring to these major manufacturers? If a major company makes a short play, will it be a dimensionality reduction attack?
Major companies have entered the market, and the short drama market has changed.
In the three years from the end of 2020 to the end of 2023, the short drama industry has expanded rapidly, and film and television companies and some small and medium-sized teams have worked hard and made great achievements. However, in the short drama market in the rash stage, there are hot new emperors ascending the throne every day. These living success stories are all around us. Stories of "getting rich overnight" naturally inspire the hope of most practitioners. Even if they fail to turn over, subsidies from major platforms encourage third-party creations and provide small and medium-sized teams with the possibility of profit.
Reversal In 2024, the short drama industry has implemented successive regulatory policies and large companies that are not short of money have personally stopped. While significantly driving up the cost of short drama production, it also made the investment-guided payment model completely lose market space. Some small and medium-sized enterprises that originally expected the short drama market to flourish were swept out when the market really took off.
However, these giants who ended up did not follow the old routine of the short drama market and rely on endless reversal of fun to gain traffic. Under the strong layout, short dramas are no longer simple content products, but carry more diversified content for Internet companies. goal demands.
"New Entropy" also divides it into three major categories. The first category is the new ecology of short dramas based on content platforms. Byte and Kuaishou have their own short drama genes, and they are early entrants to the short drama track. With the upgrade, the two major platforms Douyin and Kuaishou have actively abandoned homogeneous content and extensive competition and focused on short dramas. Upgrading to high-quality products, reaching strategic cooperation with IP copyright owners, introducing well-known film and television companies and professional teams, and raising the competition threshold for short dramas.
It is worth mentioning that Byte's actions in short dramas have penetrated into the upper reaches of the industry. Since the launch of Tomato Novel in 2019, Byte has begun to plant seeds in online literature, and now it has borne fruit in the short drama industry. According to the recent statistics of Xin Wan Er, among the top 20 daily short drama popularity lists, there are many short dramas related to Tomato.
In addition, according to statistics, Douyin Group’s entertainment department, editing and commercialization department, and independent product Pippi Shrimp are all involved in the short drama business, and are on the same level.
Kuaishou coincides with the same. Currently, Kuaishou has several major categories of businesses related to short plays: advertising iaa paid short plays (in-app advertisement, in-app advertising monetization), starburst short plays, streaming short plays, and independent short plays. drama app "Xifan", and other short plays.Among them, Chen Yiyi's team is responsible for Xingmang short dramas, IAA paid short dramas and other short dramas. Their functions include producers for b-end investment, with a scale of about a hundred people, and they are responsible for building the Kuaishou short drama ecosystem.
In addition, Youaiteng, the three parent video platforms, not only "fight" long-form dramas, but also "roll" short dramas. Through vigorous support and various subsidy policies, they enrich the content supply of the platforms, seize the time of users of short video platforms, and increase user stickiness. and activity.
In addition to content platforms reducing dimensionality to compete for the short drama market share, e-commerce platforms are also eyeing this "fat meat". E-commerce platforms dominated by Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have also become the second category of the short drama market. player.
Taobao is the e-commerce platform that invests the most in the field of short dramas, attaches the highest importance to it, and has the most professional layout. First, at the 11th China Online Audiovisual Conference, Taobao released relevant policies to support short dramas in 2024, including giving brands, online celebrities on and off the site, celebrity traffic and cash subsidies, etc.; then at the Taobao Content E-commerce Ceremony, Taobao Shopping Shopping and Taobao short dramas jointly launched a "Ten Billion Taobao Opera Plan", with the maximum investment amount for a single drama reaching 5 million yuan.
Currently, Taobao has a dedicated theater channel on the live broadcast page, which coexists with podcasts, live broadcasts, online articles and other channels. There are nearly a hundred Taobao exclusive short dramas in the theater, and some dramas have product links.
In April this year, JD.com announced that it would invest one billion in cash and one billion in traffic to attract more original authors and high-quality content institutions to increase content layout. Accounts and content related to the short drama appeared in the information flow on the "Shopping" page of JD.com's app, along with product purchase links.
It is worth mentioning that both Taobao and JD.com have launched the “image search” function in their short dramas. After the short play screen is paused, users can use this tool to find the same style, such as the heroine's outfit, decoration, etc. The platform took the opportunity to reverse product flow.
Compared with Taobao and JD.com, Pinduoduo’s actions in short dramas are relatively conservative.
In December last year, Pinduoduo began to launch the “Duoduo Good Drama Plan”, which adopted a cpm traffic sharing model to support high-quality short drama content through recommendation weighting, traffic sharing, etc. As short dramas continue to heat up, in April this year, Pinduoduo launched a short drama section. In the secondary channel of "Duoduo Video", "Short Drama" is juxtaposed with "Live Broadcast", "Follow" and "Recommendation", and continues the old routine of getting cash for watching videos.
In fact, Pinduoduo seems to have no intention of making its own short dramas, but will broadcast them for free. Most of the short dramas on Pinduoduo are small programs designed for vertical screens, and some are transferred from other long-form video platforms, and are finally monetized as "directly recommended short videos to bring goods".
In addition to the mission of carrying content and bringing goods, short plays have gradually become a new consumption carrier and marketing tool just like the emergence of short videos that changed the content form of the Internet and developed into a new marketing battlefield. That is the third type of short drama mode.
One of the more representative big companies is Meituan. In early August, Meituan’s self-made hilarious short drama “I Changed My Life Against the Heavens in My Diary” was launched on the Meituan app, video account, Douyin and other platforms. Judging from this short play, it is actually a short play customized by Meituan's brand, intended to embed advertisements for Meituan's magic coupons. Since the first episode, Meituan coupons have been embedded everywhere. Information such as "Meituan coupons can save more", "Click on the coupons to save money" and "The coupons can be expanded up to 100 yuan" and other messages have been deeply integrated into the plot to promote the plot. develop.
In addition, this is not the first time Meituan has used short dramas to advertise. Meituan has previously launched a monthly short series "Empire of Gods", which uses Meituan's Gods Festival on the 18th of every month as a selling point. It invites well-known actors from major short dramas to play various types of CEOs and perform exciting plots. , thoroughly implanting the selling point of Meituan Shenguan Festival as "saving", thereby building up the minds of consumers and realizing the transformation from short dramas to local life products.
Of course, in addition to Meituan, in March this year, Xianyu also launched the short drama "Mrs. Fu Cheating All the Time", which was adapted from the real stories of Xianyu users and was also integrated into various business functions of the platform.Of course, platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Taobao will also cooperate with brand merchants to tailor a short drama for them based on brand needs and marketing strategies. Short plays have become the "new trend" in marketing.
From the current point of view, these major manufacturers no longer have a "tentative entry" mentality, but are investing real money to explore new growth points. However, for the giants, short plays are really a sure way to make money. A business that does not lose money?
content platform, scarce high-quality content
First, let’s look at the short video head platforms represented by Douyin and Kuaishou.
Although most of the streaming fees for paid short dramas flowed into Byte's pockets, Byte used free short dramas to launch a round of impact on paid short dramas. The emergence of Hongguo's short drama is considered to be Douyin's left hand beating its right hand. After all, free short dramas put their hands into the pockets of paid viewers. In May last year, Byte launched the Hongguo short drama, which is mainly free and adopts the iaa model. Users need to watch ads to unlock the next episode, and the platform gains advertising revenue.
And this also means that there has been a round of competition among free short drama platforms in terms of production and collection of dramas. An Internet practitioner who pays attention to short dramas is skeptical. In his view, entering the game and making apps now is a "retro" behavior, which requires high promotion costs and user psychological costs. More than one industry has proven before that among the swarms of entrants, the majority are reduced to cannon fodder. Even for a large company like Byte, the short drama app will most likely become the Youku version of short dramas. It will only serve to build brand awareness for the company, and it will be difficult to make money from advertising.
Compared with Douyin, Kuaishou, which has a wider user base in lower-tier markets, is also more popular in the short drama market. According to Kuaishou’s 2023 financial report, the number of Xingmang short dramas (Kuaishou’s short drama platform) with a playback volume of over 100 million has reached 326, and the number of paying users of short dramas in the fourth quarter has tripled year-on-year.
Although Kuaishou’s short dramas have gradually shed the “local flavor” label when they first produced content and focused on a wider range of story themes, the sinking user structure also determines the “sinking” content of its short dramas. The value resonates with the "old iron", so sometimes it is easy to fall into the "self-pleasure" within the platform. There are still only a few works that can break through the circle and trigger heated discussions on the entire network.
This can be gleaned from the "Short Drama Q1 Quarterly Report" released by Detawen. Data shows that among the top 30 micro-short drama prosperity indexes in the first quarter of 2024, compared with other platforms, Kuaishou short dramas have a weaker presence, with only 2 on the list.
At the same time, the review and supervision of short dramas has become increasingly strict. The implementation of the policy also means that the short drama industry will become more and more formal in the future. In the past, those content that used borderline content such as bloody violence or soft porn to create the ultimate sense of pleasure will most likely not work. Survival of the fittest will happen faster in this industry.
But for content platforms, the quality of short plays also means a rapid increase in costs. In the past, the cost of a short play was within 300,000 yuan or even 100,000 yuan, but some directors and producers pointed out that with the With the acceleration of the quality of micro-short dramas, the investment budget of production institutions has increased at least three times compared with the past. And this means that whether Douyin or Kuaishou, whether self-made or acquired, is no longer a profitable business. Especially the two major short video platforms that want to build a complete short drama ecosystem cannot avoid a drama of "spending money to grab share".
Short plays bring goods, but profits are difficult to control
For e-commerce giants, behind the entry into short plays is a deeper traffic anxiety.
Compared with Douyin and Kuaishou, Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo are all shopping-oriented shelf e-commerce platforms with strong user purpose and high efficiency. However, in contrast, the platform content attributes are not strong and users stay. Duration is limited.
As the Internet traffic dividend gradually reaches the ceiling, the revenue growth rate of the entire e-commerce industry has slowed down and entered a stage of fierce competition. The cost of acquiring new users is getting higher and higher, and Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have to adjust their strategies and shift from expansion to in-depth operation of users.
Although the methods of the three companies are slightly different, one thing they have in common is that when users have not yet fully developed their minds, e-commerce platform short dramas are mainly intended to divert traffic, and the core goal of their short drama business is not to produce " The "hot hits out of the circle" works are not intended to compete with short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou for market share. The fundamental purpose is to attract new traffic with interesting and valuable short drama content, improve users’ stay time and stickiness on the platform, and achieve conversion of commercial value. To put it bluntly, short plays on e-commerce platforms are ultimately intended to sell goods. This is its fundamental intention and underlying logic.
However, the quality of short dramas on e-commerce platforms may vary due to factors such as production teams and funds. Some short dramas may lack cultural characteristics and value connotations, and may even contain vulgar, spoof, absurd and other content, affecting user experience and platform image. . If you want to produce a high-quality short play, you need the support of a professional team of directors, planners, scripts, cameramen, sound engineers and lighting engineers, and the cost is relatively high. If the e-commerce platform cannot continue to invest or has improper cost control, it may cause ROI (return on investment) to be lower than expected.
Generally speaking, since it is still in the early stage of testing the waters, although it already has clear business models such as content splitting, brand placement, advertising sharing, e-commerce commissions, and e-commerce delivery, several major e-commerce platforms have not They cannot clearly use the above business models to make money for themselves, and they are still in the simple initial "watching stage". Therefore, it can be said that none of the major traditional e-commerce platforms has actually taken the big cake, and they cannot give an exact number. to demonstrate the profitability of short plays.
New marketing, hidden variables
In addition to content and product promotion, short plays are also a "new trend" in brand marketing, but this trend is not easy to take advantage of.
Meituan has tried the sweetness of short drama marketing before, and the essence behind its entry into short dramas is that local life services are being eroded step by step, and the content side platform is also pressing on this step by step, not letting any growth go. opportunities, short dramas have become another new variable that Meituan has seized.
However, unlike other major companies, Meituan does not seem to be satisfied with driving consumption time and retaining users through short drama content. It is more concerned about the marketing value of short dramas. The characteristics of the short drama are "short, fast" and "top-up". After the advertising information reaches the user level, before the user orders food or makes a hotel reservation, the previous related advertising placement will invisibly affect the customer's consumption decision-making.
However, if Meituan lacks a professional team and experience in short drama production and marketing, it may lead to slow project progress, cost overruns, or substandard content quality. For example, Han Shu had previously obtained huge traffic through customized short plays, but then its founder Lu Yixiong said in WeChat Moments that since November 2023, Han Shu has basically stopped marketing short plays, realizing that continuing to invest in short plays may just be Sending money to the communication platform does not bring the expected business returns.
marketing lies in continuous innovation and going your own way, only then can you break through. In Han Shu in 2023, when we tried to learn from other brands and found KOLs to break through, we tried short dramas to break through and became the only brand on Douyin that did not rely on any KOL to break through, and achieved remarkable results! When many beauty brands across the country learned from Korea and squeezed into the short drama track, the supply of short dramas increased 20 times, the price doubled, and the audience was measured, that is, the effect of short dramas dropped 40 times, so from 8 last year All the brands that are doing short dramas in Yuejin are doing leeks. There is no successful case, they are all giving money to Douyin! After November 2023, Han Shu will basically stop doing short plays. . .
——Lu Yixiong’s circle of friends
In addition, from the perspective of consumers, the cookie-cutter plot of may not be able to effectively build brand awareness, let alone , which can truly bring about an immersive brand concept like a long drama. The feeling of the scene, and if there is not enough storyline to mobilize the sense of excitement, it will be far from the desired effect.
So from the current point of view, the combination of short dramas and marketing has passed the "barbaric growth" stage.How to dig out more highlights, achieve conversion, and achieve the connection between volume and sales may be a question that needs to be explored.
In fact, in the new short drama market, no matter what kind of business form it is, what can really achieve dimensionality reduction is definitely not the old-fashioned plot of "infinite reversal", but IP authorization and channel resources, or the sentiment on the Internet control. IP authorization can provide short dramas with content and brand effects that already have a fan base. Channel resources determine the exposure and promotion effects of short dramas, while Internet thinking helps to better understand and meet audience needs, thereby achieving accurate content. push.
In summary As mentioned above, major companies are pouring into the short drama market one after another. This is not only a keen insight into emerging content forms, but also a strategic layout for new entrances to Internet traffic and competition for user time. As a new member of the content ecosystem, the potential of short dramas is gradually emerging, but this does not mean that it is a business that is sure to make money without losing money.
Faced with fierce competition and changing needs in the short drama market, major producers need to continuously innovate content forms, improve production quality, and at the same time explore the most suitable business model for themselves based on their own business characteristics and resource advantages. This requires major manufacturers to not only have strong content production capabilities, but also have keen market insights and flexible operating strategies. In the future, the short drama market will present a more diversified competitive landscape, and the competition for talent and budget among major companies will also become more intense. As for where each company will go, we will continue to track it.
