At present, at least 43 companies in the A-share and Hong Kong ** markets are participating in the short drama market, including both well-known film and television companies, advertising and marketing companies, and even non-related enterprises such as textiles and e-commerce have also entered the game.
Dolma, a researcher at the Investment Times.
Crossing the ...... "sweet pet", "palace fight", "house fight" and "farming".Many labels and plot types that used to belong to online literature are appearing on "short dramas", and in a more intuitive form than words, impacting the audience's nerves.
Recently, a video called "Finished!".I'm surrounded by beautiful women!The product combines sitcom with games, and quickly dominates the first best-selling Steam national region and the fourth place in the world. It is reported that the production cost of the game is only 5 million yuan, and the price is more than 40 yuan, but it has created more than 34 million yuan of income.
Since the beginning of this year, the concept of short dramas has continued to be hot, and the industry has grown explosively. According to iiMedia Consulting data, in 2023, the size of China's online micro-short drama market will be 373900 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26765%, and the market size is expected to reach 100 billion yuan in 2027. According to the Detaven report, in the first half of 2023, a total of 481 new micro-short dramas will be launched, exceeding the 454 new dramas in the whole year of 2022, which is equivalent to an average of 27 parts. In addition, data from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television shows that in the first three quarters of 2023, a total of 349 online micro-short dramas with 7,855 episodes have been approved for distribution, which has exceeded the whole year of 2022.
From a conceptual point of view, a short drama refers to an online micro-short drama with a single episode in length from tens of seconds to about 15 minutes, with a relatively clear theme and main line, and a relatively continuous and complete storyline. Compared with the short **, the short drama is also lightweight, but the plot is more coherent. At the same time, various "interactive dramas" that incorporate interactive elements have also sprung up. In the industry, benefiting from AI technology and other factors, the "short drama + game" model will become more and more common in the future.
The heat of the market will inevitably be accompanied by the influx of capital. In fact, a number of listed companies in the A-share market and the Hong Kong ** market have laid out short drama business or developed live-action interactive film and television games. According to incomplete statistics from researchers at the Investment Times, at present, 43 companies in the A-share and Hong Kong ** markets have participated in the short drama business, and there are many outputs. Among them, both well-known film and television companies, advertising and marketing companies, and even non-industry-related enterprises are also involved in the market. The short drama market, is it a trickle or a flash in the pan?
Layout of the short drama track film and television companies to make efforts
Speaking of the company that has recently exploded due to short dramas, Tianwei Video (002238SZ) must be on the list. Although the company's main business is to provide users with digital TV ratings, Internet access services and TV, online shopping services, not film and television, but in October and November, the company's stock price accumulated **9132%, mainly because the No. 1 app in the Apple Store - Hippo Theater is related to the company's shareholding company.
In the announcement of the change in the transaction, Tianwei Video said that the company held 26 shares17's shareholding company, China Radio and Television Media***, will begin to cooperate with Beijing Dianzhong Technology in early 2023, and will successively launch short drama products on WeChat applets, fast applications and other platforms. The Hippo Theater APP is responsible for application development, program production, terminal operation and traffic delivery by Dianzhong Technology, and China Radio and Television Media is only the platform and the manager, reviewing and checking the product content and sharing the platform income. Tianwei Video also said that the current content of the Hippo Theater is mainly self-made and original by Dianzhong Technology, and the purchase volume is also responsible for Dianzhong Technology, and the Hippo Theater brand belongs to Dianzhong Technology.
It is worth noting that whether the Hippo Theater is profitable or not, it has little to do with Tianwei Video. Tianwei Video said that the revenue of the Hippo Theater business will only account for 5% of the revenue of China Radio and Television Media in 2023, and the revenue of the overall short drama business (including the Hippo Theater) is expected to account for 19% of the annual revenue of China Radio and Television Media. In 2023, the profit of the short drama business (including Hippo Theater) is expected to not exceed 3 million, and the overall profit of China Radio and Television Media in 2023 is expected to be a loss. In addition, China Radio and Television Media is not a consolidated statement enterprise of Tianwei Video.
Another company that has attracted much attention, Huawen Group (000793SZ) has the same situation. Although the company stated on the interactive platform that the company is mainly engaged in the operation of cultural tourism business and media business, including mobile phone audio services, game operation and development, etc., excluding the short drama segment business. However, the company's shareholding company indirectly holds a stake in Beijing Ruiao Vision Technology, and the company's development of Ruiwang Microvision is a specialized short drama app. As a result, Huawen Group was included in the relevant concept stocks.
Compared with the previous two companies, traditional film and television companies are more familiar with the development and operation of short dramas, and many industry companies have already secretly made efforts. According to incomplete statistics from researchers at the Investment Times, at present, Tangde Film and Television (300426SZ), Baina Qiancheng (300291SZ), Huace Film and Television (300133SZ), Huanrui Century (000892SZ), Ciwen Media (002343SZ), Huayi Brothers (300027SZ), Blue Ocean of Happiness (300528SZ) and Ningmeng Film and Television (09857HK) and other companies have a short drama business layout and have produced a lot of output.
For example, Huace Film and Television stated in the record sheet of investor relations activities released on November 8 that the company began to pay attention to and study the micro-short drama market in 2022, and gradually cut into it from June 2023, and clearly established two core competencies of micro-short drama script development and marketing and distribution, and has established 6 teams and completed the filming of 5 short drama projects.
Ningmeng Film and Television said that the company has sufficient IP copyright and material reserves in short dramas. At present, the revenue of short dramas** mainly includes business cooperation, C-end payment, platform customization, etc., and a single drama can achieve a high ROI. On the whole, in the first three quarters of this year, the business cooperation of short dramas has doubled every quarter. In the future, the company will maintain the advantages of high-quality content, linkage at home and abroad, and continue to lay out the short drama track.
Huanrui Century has also recently been included in the short drama concept stock. The company said in its 2021 annual report that the soft sci-fi suspense short drama "Tianmu Crisis" was broadcast on Mango TV Monsoon Theater on August 25, 2021. As a suspenseful soft science fiction work, the short 12-episode drama contains a huge amount of information, and successfully integrates multiple elements such as soft science fiction, suspense, and reasoning detectives, which can be called a characteristic drama with both innovation and forward-looking breakthroughs. However, in the 2022 annual report and 2023 semi-annual report, Huanrui Century did not mention matters related to short dramas.
Game companies come to share the soup, and those who get IP get "the world"?
The production of * is inseparable from the support of content, and the researchers of "Investment Times" noticed that a large number of short dramas are directly converted from online articles. Based on this, reading platforms and publishing companies with a large number of online text IPs have also become one of the active participants in the short drama market.
Researchers from the Investment Times noted that there are 300364 Chinese reading platforms and publishing companies that have deep accumulation in IPSZ), Palm Reading Technology (603533SH), China Literature Group (00772HK), Mercedes-Benz Information (300571SZ) and Guomai culture (301052sz）。Among them, Chinese** is the most eye-catching in the secondary market.
Wind data shows that in October and November this year, the stock price of Chinese ** accumulated **10622%。On November 29, Chinese** released a record of investor relations activities, the company said that the company successfully created a short and medium drama adapted from the name of April Day ** this year - "Provoked", which has exceeded 20 million yuan after landing on Tencent**. At the same time, Chinese ** also has dozens of works adapted from April Day and 17k** platform IP to be broadcast, and will land on major ** platforms one after another.
However, the company also said on the interactive platform on December 7 that the company has laid out the domestic short drama business and has begun to take shape, but its channel costs and promotion expenses account for 80%-90% of operating income, and its profitability is weak.
As the parent company of Chatterbox, Mercedes-Benz Information has also gained market attention because of its large number of IPs.
According to public information, Mercedes-Benz Information is a core supplier of communication operator equipment + content, and the company's main business is mainly smart home business, supplemented by 5G communication business and mobile reading business. It is reported that Mercedes-Benz cooperates with copyright owners such as publishers, ** and individual authors to aggregate massive text and audio reading content, and provides reading services to users through reading platforms such as WeChat and communication operators, as well as audio platforms such as Himalaya and Tomato.
The reason why Mercedes-Benz Information took advantage of the concept of short dramas is that the company has invested in a company called "Zhejiang Entertainment Broadcasting Technology Co., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as Entertainment Broadcasting Bang", which is an MCN innovation service platform integrating short drama production and distribution, and e-commerce chain services. However, Mercedes-Benz Information said that the company's investment in the entertainment broadcast gang is small, and the proportion of equity is also low.
As a book publishing company, Guomai Culture also has a large number of IPs. The company recently said on the interactive platform that the company has a large number of high-quality IPs and writers, and the company's AI comic model is progressing smoothly, and will launch animated films, short plays, interactive comics, etc. in the future.
Unlike other companies involved in short dramas, Tom Cat (300459SZ) is a special existence, the company produces animated short **, animated short dramas and other products, and there are also IP-related games, but the company currently has no plans to produce "short dramas + games".
"Short drama + game" is indeed one of the important forms of expression for enterprises to participate in the short drama track. At present, the game companies involved in the short drama include Perfect World (002624).SZ), Skyworth Digital (000810SZ), Keying Network (002517SZ) and Shengtian Networks (300494sz）。
As a film and game complex company whose business covers two major sectors: film and television and games, Perfect World has a natural advantage in developing short dramas. Recently, Perfect World said on the interactive platform that the company set up a dedicated micro-short drama team in 2022 and is actively looking for excellent micro-short drama writers, directors and actors to cooperate. In the past year, Perfect World has launched the costume mini-dramas "The Female Teacher is Superior", "The Demon King is Below", "Please Don't Be Tempted", and the urban female-themed micro-short drama "Full-time Househusband Training Program" in collaboration with Douyin. Among them, the recently launched "Full-time Househusband Training Program" quickly topped the TOP1 of the hottest list of short dramas on Douyin in the first week of its launch. At present, the total number of feature films of the short drama exceeds 2200 million, and the total number of episode topics exceeds 300 million.
Shengtian Network said in the record of investor relations activities released on November 23 that the company has reached a cooperation agreement on the copyright of a love-themed short drama that has been filmed, and has begun to develop a multi-ending live-action interactive entertainment game based on the short drama, and the game development and optimization are being carried out in an orderly manner, and the game is expected to be completed and launched in December this year.
The combination of production and broadcasting, the long and short ** platforms are all in the game
Whether it is a short drama or other ** genres, they eventually need to be broadcast, and the ** platforms have long been dissatisfied with the broadcast itself, and have devoted themselves to production. Researchers from the "Investment Times" noticed that the ** platform that has laid out short dramas at present includes Mango Supermedia (300413SZ), iQiyi (IQO), Tencent Holdings (00700HK), Oriental Pearl (600637SH) and Guomai Culture (600640sh）。
Mango Supermedia is actually one of the earliest platforms to enter the field of short dramas among the major ** platforms. As early as 2019, Mango Supermedia released the "Da Mang Project", and created a number of masterpieces such as "Nian Nian Ignorance" and "False Face", covering many genres such as female suspense, science fiction, traditional culture, and realistic topics. On December 7, Mango Supermedia said on the interactive platform that the company's two micro-short dramas "The Fog in the Eyes of Love" and "Super Dimensional Love Comprehensive" of Mango TV were approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. In the future, the company will continue to deepen and increase the micro-short drama track.
Tencent Holdings also got involved in short dramas earlier. In 2019, Tencent**, a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, created the first IP-adapted micro-drama "Psychic Princess". In 2020, Tencent** officially launched the "Mars Project" to benchmark micro-short dramas against online movies. In June 2021, Tencent** upgraded the "Mars Project" to the "Mars Project 2".0", in order to better support creators, and at the same time help the micro-short drama industry move towards the direction of high-quality and large-scale. In December 2021, Tencent** officially released the industry's first micro-short drama brand "Shifen Theater". In addition, WeChat, a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, is one of the important broadcast platforms for short dramas, and on November 7 this year, the official advertising assistant of WeChat Advertising issued a notice on the upgrade of the advertising fund incentive activities of the "Micro Short Drama" Mini Program to encourage the creation of high-quality short dramas.
Researchers at the Investment Times noted that state-owned enterprises were also involved in the skit. For example, Oriental Pearl said in this year's semi-annual report that in the first half of the year, the company promoted innovative micro-short dramas, and "Eating is the Serious Thing" simultaneously landed on BesTV and BesTV. China Telecom's listed company, Guomai Culture, said on the interactive platform on November 24 that the company will combine AIGC technology to empower and upgrade content production capabilities, explore and lay out new models of digital and intelligent short drama production, accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, and create high-quality short drama content based on IP resources such as games and reading, and carry out short drama production and distribution and other related businesses.
In addition to the long-term platform, the short-term platform also participates in the competition in related fields. At present, the live broadcast platforms that participate in the short drama market include Kuaishou-w (01024.).HK), Ying Universe (03700HK) and Yuanwang Technology (002291sz)。
In fact, as early as 2019, Kuaishou-W took the lead in laying out micro-short dramas - the establishment of Kuaishou Small Theater. In 2020, Kuaishou-w launched the first account-sharing policy for creators in the micro-short drama industry called "Kuaishou Xingmang Project". A year later, the "Kuaishou Starlight Project" was officially upgraded to the "Kuaishou Starlight Short Drama". In 2022, Kuaishou-W will once again launch the "Drama Star Project". Recently, Kuaishou-W launched an independent short drama app called "Xifan", which split the short drama business into an independent APP for the first time, and has now logged in to App Treasure and Xiaomi App Store. According to Kuaishou-W's latest financial report, the company will launch a total of 85 short dramas of the Xingmang Project in the summer of 2023, and 21 short dramas will exceed 100 million yuan, covering a variety of themes such as ancient style, youth, city and family.
In 2015, the company's first product, Yingke Live, was launched, and in 2018, the company went public in Hong Kong, becoming the first stock of entertainment live broadcast on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After listing, Yingke Interactive Entertainment Group has created three major business segments: live broadcast, social networking, and blind date, transforming from a single product to a company with matrix products driving performance growth. In 2022, the company officially changed its name to Ying Universe.
It is understood that Ying Universe will carry out market analysis and research on the micro-short drama industry in May 2022, officially establish the project in August of the same year, and launch the first micro-short drama in October. Subsequently, the company's micro-short drama business developed rapidly, successfully achieving full profitability within 4 months, and became one of the company's three main businesses. In the first half of this year, the short drama business of Yingyu brought nearly 500 million yuan of revenue increment to the company, which became an important performance growth point for the company.
There are many problems with the disclosure of new business information of advertising agencies
It is worth noting that advertising and marketing companies and MCN agencies are also actively involved in the short drama business. According to incomplete statistics from researchers at the Investment Times, the advertising and marketing companies and MCN agencies currently involved in short dramas include Simei Media (002712SZ), Insai Group (300781SZ), Haikan shares (301262SZ), Gravity Media (603598SH), Zhongguang Tianxuan (603721SH), Jebsen (300182sz), blue cursor (300058SZ), Yuanlong Yatu (002878SZ) and heaven and earth ** (002995sz）。
According to public information, Simei Media is a comprehensive cultural media group, whose main business is divided into three parts: marketing services, film and television content and digital copyright operation and services. Among them, marketing services are the absolute main revenue of the company**, and the revenue realized by this part of the business in the first half of this year accounted for 98% of the company's total revenue52%, while digital rights operation and services and film and television content only accounted for 146% and 002%, film and television content revenue accounts for a very small proportion. Despite this, under the hype of this round of short drama concept, Simei Media also ushered in a wave of stock price *** From October 24 to November 9, the company's stock price accumulated **4786%。
Recently, Simei Media said in response to investors' questions that the company's subsidiary, Hangzhou Zhangwei Technology, is mainly involved in the filming of Douyin short dramas and short dramas, and the company attaches great importance to the outbreak of short dramas. Over the years, the company has reserved a large number of short drama IPs, and a number of overseas short dramas are about to be launched, and the company is currently actively exploring the development of overseas APP short drama platforms.
However, it is worth noting that on November 29, due to the failure to accurately and completely disclose the specific situation of the company's participation in the "Douyin Supermarket" business and the impact on the company's operating income when answering investors' questions, Simei Media was issued a warning letter by the Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau and recorded in the *** market integrity file. On the same day, Simei Media was filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on suspicion of illegal information disclosure.
Zhongguang Tianxue is also one of the companies that has recently been hyped because of the concept of short dramas, and the company's stock price has accumulated **63 in October and November36%, and from November 21 to December 7, in 13 trading days, 9 daily limits were harvested, and the stock price accumulated **7098%。
However, the company said in the ** transaction risk warning announcement issued on December 4 that as of now, the company's operating income structure does not involve short drama business, and the short drama business has no impact on the company's performance. At the same time, the company said that the company's short drama business "fast burning" APP has completed the technical construction, and the APP is now in the internal testing stage, and there are uncertainties about the launch time, profit model, and profitability of the "fast burning" APP.
In addition to related companies, companies that seem to have unmatched businesses are also actively chasing skit outlets. "Investment Times" researchers noted that the current Antarctic e-commerce (002127SZ), Xilinmen (603008SH), Zhewen Film (601599SH), Guangdong Media (002181SZ), Shanghai Film (601595SH) and other companies in the field of film and television advertising are also actively expanding their short drama business.
For example, Time Internet, an Antarctic e-commerce subsidiary authorized by the main brand, has launched a short drama this year, and another short drama is in production. However, Antarctic E-commerce said that the company's participation in the short drama business is still in the exploration stage, and it is expected to have little impact on the revenue and profit of Time Internet this year.
Xilinmen, which is mainly engaged in mattresses and other furniture products, also plans to enter the short drama through its subsidiary. The company's shareholding subsidiary, Zhejiang Shengxi Huashi Culture Media***, said that it will continue to deepen its efforts in long dramas this year, and will initially explore the new micro-short drama track.
It is worth noting that Hengdian Film and Television (603103SH) itself is not involved in the short drama business, but because a large number of short drama crews are filming in Hengdian Film and Television City, the company has also ushered in a wave of stock prices
The performance of some listed companies that have laid out the short drama business
Data**: wind, company announcement.