text | Zhiniuer Media
html On April 16, Three Sheep Network (referred to as Three Sheep) officially opened the "Three Sheep Theater" account. Its information stated that "self-made high-quality short plays will be updated one after another", and the published content is the promotional content of the short play. . As of press time, the account has 32,000 followers. In addition, multiple slice accounts owned by Three Sheep have also updated content related to short dramas.In February this year, Brother Yang publicly stated that he would reduce the number of live broadcasts and focus more on film and television. This time, Three Sheep’s entry into the short drama track is more like a planned business transformation and strategic adjustment.
In 2018, short dramas appeared on the market. In 2020, the profit model of short dramas is mainly based on advertising monetization, but ads are charged per thousand clicks, making monetization difficult. In 2022, the Douyin mini program will realize a closed loop of production and payment, and new short dramas will emerge. In 2023, film and television companies and mcn organizations will join in, and short dramas will move toward high-quality products.
The dramas currently released by Three Sheeps have the flavor of standard short dramas such as "The Domineering President" and "Sweet Pet". However, perhaps what people are looking forward to more is, what kind of sparks will "Brothers, Link Up" create with the short drama? Can Internet celebrities’ short dramas become the next dark horse?
A new short drama business model and profit possibilities are nurtured in it.
Three companies in one building, Three Sheep’s Dream Short Play
“When I found out, my dad paid to watch the short play on the Douyin mini program and had already spent nearly a thousand yuan.” Chen Ming told Zhiniuer Media. When she returned to her hometown during the Spring Festival of 2023, she found that her family was paying to watch the show. This surprised her quite a bit.
This is consistent with the sketch of user portraits by Wang Lin, a practitioner in the short drama industry.
Wang Lin described the current core group of people who pay to watch short dramas: 40+, with slightly more men than women. Men prefer the "God of War" hegemony drama, while women like to watch the CEO's sweet pet drama. "It's the kind of style where the crown prince is reincarnated into modern times, bullied by a group of gangsters on the street, and then turns around and tramples the gangsters under his feet in the blink of an eye." Wang Lin further described what the "God of War" drama is.
1 minute episode, the plot is compact and the ending is super satisfying. This feature is also shown in the skit on the Douyin account of "Three Sheep Network".
Currently, "Three Sheep Network" has launched the short dramas "Let Me Love You Again" and "Anti-Corruption Storm". The short drama currently being filmed is "Master Fu, Your Substitute Bride is a Boss". The poster of the play shows that the actors are mainly talents from Three Sheep, and Xiao Yang did not participate in the show. Hefei Sanhua Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Yimeng Culture Media Co., Ltd. are the producers of the play.
According to Tianyancha, Hefei Sanhua Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. was established on April 9, 2024. Its registered place is in Hefei City, Anhui Province. Its legal representative is Li Yanan and its registered capital is 1 million. The company's registered address is in the same building as Sanyang (Hefei) Holding Group Co., Ltd.
Hangzhou Yimeng Culture Media Co., Ltd. was established in June 2023. Its registered place is Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and its legal representative is Wang Yalei. It can be seen from the Yimeng Theater mini program that Yimeng Culture mainly produces vertical screen short plays, and has popular broadcasts such as "Zongheng" and "Addicted to Wrong Marriage: The President's Sweet Wife".
grass snake gray line. The skit about Three Sheeps entering the game started to appear last year.
In November 2023, Hefei Jubaixing Media Technology Co., Ltd. was established. Hefei Sanguang Commercial Operation Management Co., Ltd. and Beijing Qiguang Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Qiguang Technology) are shareholders. The shareholding ratios of both parties are 65% and 35% respectively. %. The former is indirectly wholly-owned by Sanyang (Hefei) Holding Group Co., Ltd. It is worth noting that the registered address of Jubaixing Media and Sanyang Holdings are also located in the same building.
It is understood that Xin Wenhai, the legal representative of Jubaixing Media, is a well-known producer and distributor. He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. He has distributed "Massage" directed by Lou Ye and has appeared in the online movies "This Security Guard is a Bit Big", Served as a producer in the web drama "The Stars Can Be Picked".
Qiguang Technology was once known as "Forest Film and Pictures" and earlier produced "The Wind Rises in Longxi" adapted from Ma Boyong's original work of the same name, as well as "Sail" and "The Demon Leaps from Chang'an". Under the leadership of founder Sun Qian, the company transformed from a film and television company into an mcn organization.Qiguang has signed and hatched more than 300 KOL accounts such as "High-Forehead Male God", "Follow Me Back to Sichuan" and "Potato and Fresh Meat". The video styles of many of the comedy experts are similar to the early video styles of Big and Little Yang.
The joining hands between Qiguang Technology and Three Sheep is no accident. The former has film and television genes, while "Crazy Little Yang" has film and television dreams. They all boarded the same ship, mcn. Now they may have the same destination again - short drama.
The transformation from "sheep" to "wolf"
took four years for Little Yang and Big Yang to transform from the funny "sheep" to the "wolf" of live streaming.
In 2018, Brother Yang and Brother Yang shot their first funny short video. In 2020, we will start the road of Douyin live broadcast to bring goods. In 2021, Hefei Sangeyang Network Technology Co., Ltd. was established. This year, the company has gradually developed a systematic approach to management, operations, and supply chain construction.
In 2022, "Crazy Little Yang" will be at the top of the Douyin sales list. The business scope of Sanyang (Hefei) Holding Group Co., Ltd. has expanded to venture capital, Internet sales, supply chain management services, corporate image planning, etc. In 2023, the company launched the construction of the China (Hefei) content e-commerce industrial park. "Through short videos and combined with products, content creation will help brand global marketing and promote the digital upgrading of traditional enterprises in the new retail format."
According to Three Sheep The official website shows that as of December 2023, Three Sheep has 1,000+ direct employees, 10,000+ content distributors, 10+ million-level experts, 9,000+ empowered brands, and more than 30 companies under its umbrella, involving technology, media, e-commerce, Investment, tourism, clothing and other fields.
Live streaming is the main source of income
During the development process of Three Sheep, it established a matrix with big and small Yang Ge as the core, Xiao Huang, Qibo, Zui Ge, Qiao Mei, Zhuo Shilin and other head anchors. The construction of the live broadcast matrix maximized traffic and laid out the entire live broadcast category, thereby achieving sales growth.
Live streaming is Three Sheep’s main way to make money. According to public data, in 2022, the output value of Three Sheep's live broadcast products will exceed 10 billion yuan, the transaction volume of Douyin will be about 6 billion yuan, the operating service income will be 860 million yuan, and the tax payment alone will be as high as 250 million yuan. In 2023, the output value of live streaming is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan, operating service revenue will reach 1.5 billion yuan, and tax payments are expected to exceed 450 million yuan.
Three Sheep Live Broadcast has opened its way to overseas markets. In December 2023, the global headquarters of Sanguiyang Group will open. On the day of the first live broadcast of selling goods in Singapore, it topped the local list in Singapore. Most of the brands selling goods came from Chinese local brands "Xiao Yang Selection".
Live slicing authorization bonus
Three sheep got the bonus of live slicing. Live broadcast slices to bring goods, that is, the content of the account anchor uses the method of short video + product link to bring goods. With the spread of the vertical matrix of live broadcast accounts, exposure is magnified n times, and sales and revenue are also magnified n times due to the scale effect.
According to relevant data, the sales of three sheep slices will exceed one million in 2022, with revenue of about 170 million yuan. In 2023, this figure is estimated to reach 700 million yuan. In April 2023, Sanyang launched the "Zhongxiaoer" app, a live streaming slicing tool, with the vision of "helping 40,000 people increase their annual income by 50,000 yuan within five years."
It is worth noting that the essence of live broadcast slicing is the high-frequency reuse of IP content, and the consequence of reuse is that it is easy to produce content homogeneity problems. In addition, there are hidden risks in live slicing. Take the incident of "Wang Hai reported that Xiao Yang brought fake Wuchang rice" at the beginning of this year as an example. Once the Slice account generates negative public opinion due to irregular management, it will create a backlash against the anchor and the brand.
"Xiaoyang Zhenxuan" self-controlled supply chain
In November 2022, Hefei Xiaoyang Zhenxuan Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. was established and is 100% controlled by Sanyang (Hefei) Holding Group Co., Ltd. "Xiaoyang Zhenxuan" is positioned as "good stuff, affordable", and its products cover daily necessities, leisure snacks, personal care and home care and other categories.
builds its own brand and builds a supply chain. Three Sheep wants to obtain higher gross profit margins. According to data, the total sales volume of "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" exceeded 10 million orders within 4 months after its launch. In May 2023, the "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" offline supermarket concept store was launched. Products in offline supermarkets and online malls are updated simultaneously.
The three sheep regarded "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" as a place to "settle down and settle down". Du Gang, CEO of Three Sheep, said in an interview that live broadcasting cannot last for decades, and brands have a longer life cycle than live streaming. Obviously, compared with live broadcasting, self-controlled supply chains have a stronger voice and higher profit margins. Did
’s entry into the skit follow the trend, or was it “premeditated”? How popular are
short plays? Hengdian becomes a "vertical store". From this joke in the industry, it can be seen that more and more people are entering the game, and vertical screen short plays are very popular.
According to public data, the revenue of the short drama industry will exceed 30 billion yuan in 2023. This data is equivalent to the total revenue of China’s movie box office in 2020. With the strong market demand for short plays, platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have increased their investment in short play content and support for creators.
In terms of entry barriers and content review, short plays are more "friendly" to creators compared to long videos, and the production costs and cycles of the two are also vastly different.
"Now a team of 10 people can shoot a 100-episode short drama in two weeks with 100,000 yuan. Based on the platform recharge amount of 10 million yuan, 9 million will be used as marketing expenses for Douyin streaming. After deducting the remaining 1 million from production costs, copyright and other expenses, the profit from the short drama is quite good." Wang Lin made an calculation for Zhi Niu Er.
Three sheep enter the short play and have inherent advantages. "Crazy Little Brother Yang" has nearly 200 million fans online. The average number of views of Douyin's original works exceeds 100 million, and the cumulative likes have reached nearly 900 million. High brand awareness and fan base provide strong support for the publicity and promotion of short dramas.
Three Sheep has accumulated rich experience in content creation in the field of short videos. At the same time, mcn's organizational background enables Three Sheep to have a complete content production and operation mechanism. Its many artists and creators provide guarantee for the production, innovation and diversification of short drama content.
enters the game at this time, which is a good time for the three sheep.
Affected by the negative public opinion about "vulgar products" and the "lymphatic meat" incident on March 15, the sales of Three Sheep showed a decline. In terms of sales in the past year, Crazy Little Yang, Make a Friend, and Walk with Hui all exceeded 2 billion, but the fan base of Three Sheep is 5 to 6 times that of the latter two. Oriental Selection, with a quarter of its fans, achieved twice the sales of Three Sheep.
From an industry perspective, regulatory requirements for the live broadcast industry are becoming increasingly strict, and the platform’s requirements for content quality are also gradually increasing. According to relevant news, Douyin will increase its support for original high-quality content, and will increase the rights reduction and traffic restriction for slicing accounts. This also means that the advantages of the three-sheep slice licensing model will no longer exist.
’s entry into the short drama industry is believed to be the result of multiple factors including Three Sheep’s comprehensive brand transformation and upgrading, resource accumulation, short drama development dividends, and platform regulatory pressure. In terms of profit model, which one is more conducive to Three Sheep quickly gaining a foothold in the short drama market, the advertising placement route or the user payment route?
Three Sheep seems to have successfully tested the waters in a unique way.
Concert ticket sales = short play to test the waters? The start of filming and release of the
Three Sheep short series shows the company's determination to act quickly. Challenges also exist. How to break through content homogeneity and how to build a sustainable profit model are issues that the industry needs to solve. The three sheep seem to have a unique way of thinking about this.
This starts with a concert. Back in November 2023, Three Sheep spent 30 million to hold a concert with a strong lineup of guest performers. Concert tickets will be given out for free by lottery and membership deposit after placing an order in the "Xiao Yang Selection" live broadcast room (recharge of 3,000 will give you a VIP, and if you top up 5,000, you will get a SVIP).
According to statistics, the number of online viewers of this concert reached 65.724 million, and the number of likes exceeded 500 million. On the night of the concert, the "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" account gained more than 4 million followers. This concert is based on the fan economy and combines Three Sheep’s experience and resources in the field of live streaming.
This scene of giving away tickets seems familiar.
The current business model of short dramas: users browse short drama clips and are attracted to the Douyin short drama mini program. After watching more than a dozen episodes, they need to top up gold coins to unlock new episodes.
If recharging gold coins = stored value of Xiao Yang Zhenxuan members, and locking in new plots = receiving free concert tickets, then the number of people watching the concert and the successful diversion of the "Xiao Yang Zhenxuan" private domain will be the entry of three sheep. A preview of the outcome of the skit? From this point of view, the short play "Three Sheep" has been successful.
In the past, short dramas earned money from users paying to watch on the Douyin mini program and from advertising placements. Nowadays, with the entry of MCN represented by Three Sheep, the products sold live may be embedded into short plays, and a new business model is about to emerge.
has observed that in the current short drama marketing method, personal distribution is on the rise, that is, individual promoters receive short drama links after registering and being authorized on the short drama distribution platform, and then use the method of editing video clips + links on various video platforms. Guide users to click on the link to watch. The platform divides the revenue between the data and the promoters, with the proportion ranging from 60% to 80%.
This tests one’s ability to stream. People with a good Internet sense will earn a lot of money through distribution, and Internet celebrities with a certain fan base have an advantage. I have to say, this is a bit like "live slicing".
It's just that this time it's "sliced". The goods brought by the Internet celebrity are not products, but short plays. users may not even need to pay through jump links in the future, but can directly click play on the internet celebrity Douyin account to watch. Three Sheep, which has embraced the "live slicing" bonus, may once again usher in the era of "short drama slicing".
If Three Sheep enters the short drama successfully, it will provide an example of cross-border cooperation for mcn organizations and content creators, and may also bring new business ideas and profit models to the short drama industry.
(At the request of the interviewer, Chen Ming and Wang Lin are pseudonyms.)
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