[Text/Observer Network Yan Shanshan] Returning after 7 years, the second season of the suspense web drama "White Night Chaser" and "White Night Breaking Dawn", the "originator of the world", has returned with great anticipation. The popularity of the previous work has brought a h

[Text/Observer Network Yan Shanshan]

returns after 7 years. The second season of the suspense web drama "White Night Chaser" " White Night Breaking " returns in the much-anticipated sequel. It has a huge audience base and investment ability. Related topics frequently appear on hot searches. On the day of the broadcast, Youku happily announced that it had successfully attracted 30 brands and aired its first eight episodes, setting a new record for the platform’s pre-broadcast investment recruitment. Industry insiders said that the show’s advertising revenue had reached nearly 300 million, and within three days of its launch, Hot over 10,000 ...

A series of figures proves the audience and the market's recognition of the previous work and their expectations for the second season. However, to continue the reputation of the criminal investigation web drama "White Moonlight", "White Night Breaking Dawn" faces higher-than-average expectations from the audience. .

In the seven years since it was "urged to update", the tastes of online drama users have been "fostered" by the typed high-quality drama series of iQiyi Mist Theater and Tencent X Theater. The information density, narrative rhythm, and The logic of the case and the acting skills of the actors put forward higher demands.

As the title work of Youku's "White Night Theater", the "White Night" series carries the high expectations of the platform and advertisers. The unique setting of Gemini Detective can surprise the market in 2017, but in 2024, will the hit be able to Replication faces testing due to multiple factors. Can the "original flavor" of

cater to the taste of the audience 7 years later?

"Daybreak" chief producer Zhang Long told the media, "In order to find the unique 'that taste' in the hearts of the audience, "Daybreak" not only reunited the original cast, but even retrieved the actors' costumes from seven years ago. , and restored every scene from seven years ago one-to-one through 'pull-up'. "In order to maintain the same figure as the previous season, the lead actor Pan Yueming almost skipped dinner during the filming. In terms of continuing the style of the first season,

showed its sincerity in the second season, paying attention to characters, details and lens language. Although new characters occasionally appeared, it was not a traffic jam. However, the audience's evaluation of criminal investigation dramas is not based on whether the style of painting is consistent, but whether the case is rigorous and whether the group portraits are brilliant. In the first season of

, Pan Yueming plays two roles - twin brothers Guan Hongfeng and Guan Hongyu. His younger brother Guan Hongyu accidentally became a suspect in the "2.13 Massacre Case". As the captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, his older brother Guan Hongfeng suffered from a phobia of darkness and had to rely on his younger brother to investigate the case for him at night. The two brothers alternated day and night to resist the evil forces.

It can be said that although the screenwriter's use of "dark phobia" was a "dangerous" move, and some people were questioned if he was not careful and could not withstand scrutiny, the script and characters in the first season stood firm and brought great success. With good dramatic tension, netizens were affected by the plot and were always worried that the brothers might reveal their flaws and expose their identities.

In the second season, this excitement has weakened to a certain extent.

The identity swaps that the two brothers worked so hard to conceal began to be "revealed" frequently. Not only Zhou Xun (played by Wang Longzheng), the deputy captain of the good guys front, could easily see through it with just a few words, but also other people in the police station who didn't know their cards could also sniff out the secrets. Different. The younger brother's inability to pretend to understand and lack of experience when playing the role of his elder brother when investigating the case put the character at risk of "collapse".

Another difference is that in the second season, his younger brother Guan Hongyu already knew that he became a suspect in the "family extermination case" because his older brother Guan Hongfeng "framed the blame". He developed great distrust of his older brother and decided to stay alone day and night. Playing the role of Guan Hongfeng, he did not give his brother a chance to investigate the case.

Fortunately, Pan Yueming's acting skills were excellent, and he was able to survive the rift between the brothers and the younger brother's recklessness in the first two episodes. The screenwriter and director gave the older brother a chance to reflect on the brotherly relationship through the first case. He apologized to his younger brother and admitted frankly that if it happened again, he would Won't do that. It turned out that the man behind the scenes wanted to frame his brother, who was the captain of the criminal investigation detachment. In order to find out the truth, the brother wronged his younger brother in desperation and passed the suspicion on to his younger brother.

After the two had a heart-to-heart talk and settled their differences, the fourth episode began, and "Daybreak" slowly returned to its narrative track.From this point of view, although the ending of the first case of the second season, "The Strange Case of Fraudulent Corpse", is a bit dull and hasty, it has "strong instrumental properties" and is effective in promoting the main plot, triggering his brother Guan Hongfeng's reflection on brotherhood.

In terms of style, "Daybreak" is a little more serious and lively compared to the first season, and some lines have a "light comedy" style. Zhou Xun hoped to use the surveillance camera all night to get his younger brother away in exchange for his older brother, and the barrage interaction increased. However, this treatment is also controversial. Users have different opinions on whether the inclusion of humorous elements in suspense dramas will cause drama.

As for the case, the second season has a tendency to stick to realism and pay attention to the emotions of the times. For example, the "Child Abduction Case" and "Pet Abuse Case" focus on hot social issues, hoping to arouse thinking about related issues. Subsequently, doubts began to arise that the case was not "brain-burning" enough and the level of suspense was reduced.

In response to this, Liu Yingjian, the director of "White Night", responded in an interview with Beiqing that he believed that no matter how the lens language or the story shell is expressed, the suspense drama ultimately tells about human nature. This is also a different challenge for "White Night" than its predecessors. , "We do not attract the audience through the difficulty of reasoning cases or the high-intelligence suspense. Instead, we put human nature in the front and slowly move the cases back. At the same time, the auxiliary role of each case is to help the protagonist team grow."

Liu Yingjian also said that in reality, not all crimes are high-IQ crimes. The cases chosen may seem simple, but they are exactly what everyone may encounter in their daily lives, allowing the audience to see the truest psychological state of the people around them. "Cases such as trafficking and pet abuse also call for everyone to pay more attention to these types of cases to avoid tragedies from happening again."

29 episode of "White Night Breaking Dawn" has been broadcast for more than 20 episodes. Douban has a score of 6.8, which is higher than the first episode. It was 2.1 points lower, and the reputation was not as good as expected, but it was still above the passing line. Taken alone and put into the criminal investigation drama circuit, the second season is a qualified work, but the gems come first. It must meet market expectations and there is still room for improvement.

The advertising revenue of "Daybreak" may exceed 300 million, and multi-platform "bets" on suspense

On social platforms, although entertainment topics emerge in endlessly every day, it is an indisputable fact that the performance of long-form video platforms has declined. "Advertisers are the most realistic" - this sentence has become popular among drama fans this year, which also reveals the "open war" between platforms.

In an industry environment where performance is under pressure, platforms have adjusted their account sharing strategies this year and further "bet on" short dramas. Relatively long genre dramas are announced in theater mode with a guaranteed minimum release, ensuring that short-length masterpieces have the opportunity to be released.

In April this year, Youku upgraded its suspense brand to "White Night Theater". The platform said that "White Night" means "the long night must end and the truth will be revealed", hoping to allow the audience to unravel the mystery while peeling off the cocoon. The 29-episode volume of "Breaking Night" is not comparable to iQiyi's "Mist Theater" masterpiece "The Hidden Corner" (12 episodes) and Tencent's "X Theater" masterpiece " The Long Season " (12 episodes). It is relatively short, but the broadcast cycle is long, which makes it more attractive to advertisers. The

platform created the second season of "White Night", which also broke the IP problem of "difficult to form a system" in suspense dramas to a certain extent. Launching a sequel in the genre drama track is a test of extending the profit cycle of hit dramas. .

In addition, unlike suspense dramas such as "The Hidden Corner" and "The Long Season" which were not favored by the market before they were broadcast, "White Night Breaking", as the highlight of Youku White Night Theater, inherits the popularity of its predecessors and comes with its own IP traffic , it is much easier to attract investment before broadcasting. A price list obtained by

Jiupai Finance shows that the total title bid for "Daybreak" is 45 million yuan, and the total title sponsor is Oppo. According to sources, the overall budget of Oppo's flagship series is more than 100 million yuan; the starting bid for the small theater and multi-episode packages with advertisements in the drama is more than 5 million yuan; the starting bid for the hard advertisement with a skippable title is 12 million -19 million yuan.

estimates based on this, the advertising sponsorship fee for each episode of "Daybreak" is nearly 11 million yuan. Excluding the hard advertising outside the show, the sponsorship fee for the 29 episodes of the show is nearly 300 million yuan.A brand owner told Jiupai Finance one week after the show aired that there are still investment quotas for "Daybreak".

The number of advertisements in "Breaking of Night" according to social platform users

According to Jiupai Finance, the first 8 episodes of "Breaking of Night" have an average of 8 advertisements in each episode, which is close to the 10 advertisements in each episode of " Blossoms "; the average of the first 8 episodes The total duration of the advertisement is 110 seconds, which is close to the average of 117.8 seconds in the entire series of "Celebrating More Than Years 2". "Daybreak" is sponsored by a total of 34 brands, and the number of sponsored brands in 2024 is " Rose Story" - 44 brands. The unexpected popularity of

's summer release " Mo Yuyunjian " and the popularity of White Night Theater's "dark horse" " Bianshui Past Events " have given Youku two popular works this year. Previously, "Xinhua Daily Telegraph" named the "Four New Chinese Drama Directors", in addition to "The Long Season" director Xin Shuang, "Rebirth" director Bid for the Olympics, "Bianshui Past Time" director Suan (real name Mou Xincen) and " " Under the Stranger " directed by Xu Hongyu, the series that became his signature are all aired on Youku.

Nowadays, the Douban score of "Daybreak" falls on the passing line. The possibility of a third season still awaits further feedback from the audience and management. Director Liu Yingjian admitted in an interview with Top News that he cannot decide whether there will be a sequel at the director level. If the audience is satisfied with "Daybreak", then the platform and the screenwriter may consider continuing to create a third, fourth or even fifth season.

It is worth mentioning that at the end of the year, it is not just Youku who is aiming for suspense KPIs, other leading platforms are also gearing up.

The criminal investigation drama "I Am a Detective" starring Yu Hewei was aired on CCTV and iQiyi on November 27, and has received a good reputation. The supporting actors have contributed many famous acting scenes; there is news that "I Am a Detective" co-produced by iQiyi and Tencent Video crime hunting illustrated book "2" will return in December, but the drama studio has not announced the release date; Tencent's suspenseful criminal investigation drama " Black and White Forest " has been scheduled for December 4; the mango suspense drama "Treasure" starring Hao Lei will be released on November 12 First preview.

Since the beginning of this year, the popularity of micro-short dramas has diverted the attention of many long-form video users. The market returns of some suspense dramas have also proved that suspense dramas are no longer a genre that has been tried and tested and has guaranteed success despite droughts and floods. Creators and platforms must innovate in the sluggish long-form video market and stand out in the melee of suspense dramas. Fast-paced, high-quality and case logic that can withstand scrutiny are the constant magic weapons for winning.