Text | Rhino Entertainment, author | Shen Wanting, editor | Pu Fang is exactly the same as the long video platform's "some are happy and some are sad" in the first half of the year. The report cards of drama companies have also waxed and waned, with mixed results. In recent days,

is exactly the same as the long video platform’s “some are happy and some are sad” in the first half of the year. The report cards of drama companies have also waxed and waned, with mixed results.

In recent days, drama companies such as Xinli Media, Huace Film and Television, Perfect World, and Happy Century have successively announced their financial reports for the first half of 2024. Overall, some of the trend characteristics of the drama market in the first half of the year are reflected in the performance of listed film and television companies. There are leaders who have boosted revenue and profits with multiple hit dramas, and there are also companies that are retreating if they do not advance and are in a period of adjustment. stragglers.

After the second half of the year, the summer season is about to come to an end. There are only a few works that can be called big hits, and there are only a few drama companies that have come out. With only one-third of the balance remaining in 2024, how many projects do you still have on hand that can be included in the financial report for the second half of the year?

Xinli has a good harvest, Huanrui has turned around losses, Huace has achieved a perfect profit double drop

Xinli Media can be called the biggest winner in the first half of the year in terms of revenue and net profit. According to Yuewen’s financial report, its subsidiary Xinli Media had revenue of 1.05 billion yuan in the first half of the year and realized a profit of 300 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 93% and 74% respectively.

Xinli's success in the first half of the year was mainly due to the "three consecutive hits" of the TV series " Celebrating More Than Years 2", "Traveling with the Phoenix", " Rose Story " and the movie " Hot" which dominated the box office at the beginning of the year. Spicy and hot 》. Yunhe data shows that in the first half of the year, among the top 10 effective broadcasts of dramas on the entire network, the three dramas mentioned above are among them, ranking first, second and seventh respectively. All three dramas are endorsed by big IPs and have strong appeal. A major major project with the support of the leading actors and sufficient publicity investment.

It is worth noting that the "Celebrating More Than Years" model has verified China Literature Group's business model with IP as the core and cross-industry chain linkage. After its launch in May, "Celebrating More Than Years 2" not only hit domestic screens, but also became the most popular Chinese drama on the Disney+ platform. At the same time, the "Celebrating More Than Years 2" event area launched on the Qidian Reading app led to a 38-fold month-on-month increase in reading volume. The series’ 11 blind box models sold more than 200,000 units.

The situation of Huanrui Century, which has the same revenue and net profit, is different. According to its financial report data, Huanrui's revenue in the first half of the year was approximately 108 million yuan, an increase of 12.64% over the same period last year; its net profit was 16.04 million yuan, an increase of 136.96% year-on-year, successfully turning losses into profits.

Huanrui's operating income mainly comes from artist management and film and television drama-related businesses, and the top four projects in revenue are all from artists. In the first half of the year, the artist management business achieved revenue of approximately 83.17 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 96.90%; affected by Affected by the project cycle, the income from film, television dramas and derivatives was 24.6 million yuan, a decrease of 35.51% compared with the same period last year. Huanrui's official website shows that the company's contracted artists include Cheng Yi, Zhang Yuxi, Liu Xueyi, Zhang Rui and others. Among them, Liu Xueyi successfully hit the table in the first half of the year with the drama "Dark Horse" and "Flower Room Order", and his role and actor exposure have increased significantly. promote.

In comparison, Huace and Perfect’s semi-annual reports are not so pretty.

Huace, as a veteran leading company, although it left many works such as "Our Translator", " Cheng Huan Ji ", " Please Fall in Love with Me Like This " in the first half of the year, its revenue and net profit were both Compared with the same period last year, they decreased by 67.67% and 70.39% respectively. From the perspective of specific businesses, Huace's TV drama production and distribution, film sales, advertising, music and other revenue all declined year-on-year in the first half of the year. Among them, TV drama production and distribution had the highest decline, a year-on-year decrease of 96.8%. Regarding the decline in revenue in the first half of this year, Huace's explanation is that "the company's confirmed revenue items from new dramas in this period have decreased year-on-year."

As of the end of June this year, Huace has premiered 3 TV drama projects and 2 projects have been launched. Compared with the same period last year, the premiere TV dramas include "Go to Where the Wind Is", "San San Ye", " Spring Boudoir Dreamer " and other 5 TV dramas. , with 3 episodes launched, the number of drama projects broadcast and launched by the company has decreased, which will also have an impact on the company's revenue and profits.

Perfect World, whose game business accounts for the majority, achieved operating income of 2.76 billion yuan and a net profit loss of 177 million yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 38.12% and 146.55% respectively.Specific to the film and television business, operating income in the first half of the year was 89.6046 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 88.28%. The company said that this was mainly due to the fact that fewer film and television works were broadcast and revenue was recognized during the reporting period.

In the first half of this year, the TV series " Little Days ", " Today's Them ", "Executive Judge", " Pearl and Jade on the Side " and "New Year's Eve", "Bright Moon Flowing Fire" and "Sparkling Sister" participated by Perfect Many short dramas such as "Full-time Househusband Training Plan 2" were aired one after another. Judging from the market popularity, except for "Little Days" which caused a lot of heated discussions during the broadcast, other projects received average response.

Now that the competition in the second half of the year has already begun, the summer season, which originally carried high expectations, still failed to wait for the big hits; and looking at the project inventory and layout of several companies in the next few months, Rhinoceros is still holding on. A cautious wait-and-see attitude.

First of all, drama companies will not give up the market competition for top dramas, but the expected revenue is not optimistic. For example, Xinli Media, which had a bumper harvest in the first half of the year, has drama reserves for the second half of the year mainly including "" and "Ya She". However, the only big IP that has attracted more attention is actually "Dafeng". "The Watcher" may face a break in the schedule of the top drama in the future. Another thing to note is that 2024 is the last year of the five-year bet period between Xinli and China Literature. Although Xinli will successfully fulfill the bet without any accident, whether it can still go all out in development after removing the "tightening curse" There is still a question mark as to its greater potential.

Another example is Huace, which has been deeply involved in the field of dramas for many years and has a wide range of interests. Since this year, it has broadcast a number of contemporary dramas with different styles, but it has never been as popular as last year's "Where the Wind Is". Circle of masterpieces. The two dramas "You Are More Beautiful than the Starlight" and "Promising Future" that were released in the summer have also failed. Although the former leads the ratings, it has a poor reputation, while the latter has been at the top of the market in terms of popularity and broadcast volume since its launch on August 18. Mid-rise. While the filming of "The Beauty of the Country" and "The Imperative" that have already been filmed should be broadcast next year, Huace has almost no dramas to be broadcast in the second half of the year.

On the other hand, judging from the second quarter financial report released by Aiyu Tengmang in recent days and the performance of the summer film and television industry, the competition in the entire long video is becoming saturated, and the profit growth brought about by cost reduction and efficiency increase has exceeded It is becoming less and less obvious, and drama companies that are deeply bound to the platform are also facing pressure and challenges. Therefore, many companies have gradually begun to explore transformation and diversify risks. Companies such as Huace and Perfect have increased their investment in short drama business in the past two years. Huanrui is also currently conducting a series of interactive dramas "It's Over, I'm Surrounded by Beauties". development and preparation.

Of course, we don’t need to be too pessimistic. After the summer vacation, there are still many “to-be-exploded” films worth looking forward to, such as Noon Sunshine’s “Alley People” and “Mortal Song”, Ningmeng Film and Television’s “Half-Mature Man and Woman”, Stellar Gravity "Eternal Night" by Enlightenment Pictures, "Going North" by Enlightenment Pictures, "Six Sisters" by Xi Xi, etc.

As long as the audience’s demand for popular products continues, there will never be a lack of opportunities for long videos. As a project operator, drama companies should also re-examine the quality of their own content from the creative side. If they never step out of their comfort zone, it may be difficult to achieve a qualitative breakthrough.