2023 is coming to an end, what have you seen this year?Maybe the answers are very different, but if you want to review the hot spots of the cultural industry this year through data, short drama must be a hot word that cannot be avoided.
Compared with traditional dramas, short dramas have a faster pace and lighter carriers, which are more in line with entertainment and fragmented content habits. Short dramas emerged in 2018 and gradually jumped into the public eye after several years of development. Now, with the increase in entrants and the maturity of the production level, the story of the short drama industry has finally entered a climax.
2023 is a year full of "fast and furious" in the short drama industry. According to the "Micro Short Drama Market Report for the First Half of 2023" released by Detavin, a total of 481 new micro short dramas will be released in the first half of 2023, exceeding the 454 in the whole of 2022. According to Dataeye's calculations, in 2023, the size of the domestic short drama market will be equivalent to two-thirds of last year's movie box office.
Returning to the industry, news hotspots are also emerging: in China, the salaries of popular short drama actors are rising, Hengdian has become a "vertical store", and more and more people are pouring here, setting off the next small wave in the film and television industry;Overseas, after the launch of the short drama platform Reelshort, it continued to maintain a high growth trend.
At the same time, problems with the content quality and subject matter of short dramas began to emerge, and major platforms began to further strengthen self-examination and self-correction of short drama content.
On November 15, 2023, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced that it would once again carry out a one-month special rectification work on online micro-short dramas, and platforms such as WeChat, Kuaishou, and Douyin all took collective action at the first time to remove illegal short dramas from the station in batches, dispose of accounts that publish short dramas in violation of regulations, and severely crack down on content that touches the "red line" from all aspects such as release and promotion.
On December 21, under the guidance of the Network Audiovisual Program Management Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television and the China Network Audiovisual Association, the Future of Drama - Boutique Micro-short Drama Cooperation Seminar was held in Hangzhou. In the coming year, Douyin will join hands with ** institutions to create high-quality micro-short dramas around the three themes of "Towards the Sun", "To the Good", and "To the Beauty", "To Dreams", "To Youth", "To Warmth", "To Revitalization", "To the National Style", and "To Imagination". At the meeting, Dong Chuchu, a first-level inspector of the Network Audiovisual Program Management Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television, said that the form itself does not determine the level of cultural value, and micro-short dramas can be "small but not weak, short but not shallow", and can use their own unique advantages to focus on social issues, explore core values, and present grand themes of the times with small incisions. At this stage, exploring the road of high-quality and professional development is a major topic for the future development of the micro-short drama industry.
So, how should the boutique of short dramas go?Is the "boutique" of short dramas just the boutiques of content?In this article, we try to start from the content trends and business trends of the short drama industry that have been visible, and the direction of the change of the "high-quality" of short dramas. Content turn: from the same "routine" creation, to the theme of reality, the value of beauty, and the production of fine productionThe birth and rise of the skit industry are all related to the attention economy. In today's society, people's pace of life is accelerating, content consumption is fragmented, and the characteristics of short duration, concise plot, and relaxed subject matter are more suitable for people's habits of obtaining content, which has created the rapid growth of the short drama market since 2018. However, at the beginning of development, short dramas that started more "simply" fell into the trap of "low-quality" development due to the lack of support from professional film and television teams, and the content creation was routineThere are even some short dramas, in order to attract people's attention, there are problems such as "vulgarity" and "kitsch". The immutable "routine creation" is not only likely to have a dislocation of value orientation, but also a stifling of innovation ability. From the perspective of industry development, breaking the routine creation is also a return to and protection of the innovative value of short drama repertoire. It's actually not easy to be differentiating and appealing at the same time. So, where should content be high-quality?Fortunately, around this issue, some film and television companies and short drama creators have begun to practice and have tasted some sweetness. From the recent rise of high-quality content, we can see three directions;First, the subject matter has shifted from virtual to real. In the early days of the development of the industry, the common denominator of many short dramas in screenwriting is that most of the content themes take place in the alternate world. "God of War", "Rebirth", "Heaven and Man Realm" ......Keywords such as these, although they can bring a certain degree of solace to the audience in the virtual world;However, these "castles in the sky" style settings also lack attention and care for the real world. Some creators have begun to return the theme of short dramas to real-life social issues. In October, the short drama "Full-time Househusband Training Plan", which was launched on Douyin and exploded, is one of the explorations. In the process of proposition, the team noticed that on the short ** platform, the plot short ** related to parenting experience and father with a baby often receives a high number of likes, which points to the society's attention to the division of labor between men and women in marriage. The team keenly captured this social issue, and made a reasonable dramatic derivation, depicting the details of family life through the way of "Housewife Counterattack", and telling the growth path of young "mothers and fathers". 
Second, the values have changed from shallow to aesthetic. Previously, many short dramas had the problem of forced setting and lack of logic. Such a plot setting is often to satisfy the user's pleasure. In addition, some creators have found that "pandering" is not the only way to create short plays. In September this year, the popular short drama "Escape from the British Museum" gave another logic: the excavation of traditional Chinese culture and traditional crafts. This short drama tells the story of a jade pot in the British Museum that escaped to find its hometown, and once the first episode was broadcast, it created a dazzling figure of 5.55 million followers in only 7 days. In August, the British Museum issued a statement that about 2,000 pieces of its collection had been stolen. The topic of asking the British Museum to return Chinese cultural relics free of charge has sparked heated discussions on the whole network, and the idea of "Escape from the British Museum" came from the comments of netizens. Judging from the selection of topics, "Escape from the British Museum", in fact, is the same as the series of plays such as "I Repair Cultural Relics in the Forbidden City", which is closely related to the attention and inheritance of traditional culture. From the perspective of creative skills, the anthropomorphic creative idea combines the current hot spots with the creativity and style that young people prefer, which makes the creation of short plays both heart-oriented and full of texture. 
In addition, the creator's in-depth investigation of history and control of details also make the work a masterpiece. From the starring role, the naming of place names, to the relevance of the wear, living habits and the history of the cultural relics themselves, all make the audience feel that the more they pick up, the more they have. The theatrical expression that young people like resonates with their cultural identity, and together they create a hit. Third, the filming standards have changed from rough to fine. A small screen may not be a small production, and a large production does not have to have special effects, it can also be a big brain-burning. Focusing on the preferences of users with deep needs, creating refined content that can stimulate their interest can also make the short drama out of the "independent**" short drama "Who?" launched on Douyin on December 3"Three Seconds of the Future" is the creator's exploration of refined short dramas. Transcending the stereotypes of male and female themes, the creative team tried to integrate the novel composite genre setting of science fiction, suspense, and light comedy, which met the content expectations of users who required narrative depth. The style is differentiated, the vision is futuristic, and the plot, scenes, and dialogues are refinedAs soon as the "Three Seconds of the Future" was launched, it stimulated a high degree of recognition from users. 
Business turn: from heavy investment, fast gold absorption, to diversified, light subscription small stepsIn line with user content acquisition habits and higher expected ROI returns, the short drama industry has entered an unprecedented blowout on the supply side. According to Detawen's statistics from January to September 2023, the number of micro-short dramas recorded by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is 2,007, of which 312 were recorded in September, and urban themes accounted for 44 of the total number of micro-short dramas recorded this month55%。
Data**: Network Audiovisual Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television Source: The supply of content from Detaven Technology has become larger, and the competition has naturally become fierce. This is mainly determined by the "solidification" of the current business model of short dramas. or a mini program, or a short ** platform - the content of the short drama may have different interfaces, but in general, it is the core logic to let users be attracted by good content and continue to trigger paid subscriptions. However, the business certainty of this business logic is declining – relying too much on betting on blockbusters. An industry insider said that betting on the explosive money to make a lot of money does not mean that there is no chance at all, but the probability has indeed been greatly reduced. In fact, people's expectations of "making rich in short dramas" are more akin to a kind of "survivor bias", and a large number of practitioners do not agree with the statement of "getting rich in one drama". As for how to create a deterministic "hit", there is currently no rule that can be "used as soon as you take it". In this context, returning to the origin of creation in the film and television industry - "content is king" has become the most reliable path for short drama creators. In addition to looking for good actors and mining good scripts, since 2022, some new explorers in the short drama industry have also tried to link diversified content with new business models, looking for a "new frontier" for short drama profits in the "era of big content". 
Some creators are starting to look for new content vectors. For example, the 2023 hit game "Oops!".I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Women is one of the explorations. The essence of this game is actually a multi-threaded short drama plot, and unlike traditional short dramas, the user becomes the protagonist in the "first perspective", can freely explore the plot content, and can experience the full story for a single payment, without feeling "hanging". This game has a praise rate of 94%, which can be called a development sample of "drama *** interactive game". In addition, based on the traditional distribution model, business models such as advertising cooperation, large screen, and light subscription are also becoming more and more popular. In these business models, creators try to find new business spots on traditional carriers, such as embedding in-roll ads in their content, forming a deeply bound cooperative relationship with advertisers to ensure expected revenue. In addition, in different "circles", the content preferences of subdivided groups, such as two-dimensional gamers, urban white-collar workers, young mothers, etc., are explored, and more accurate "light customized" content is created, which also allows some film and television companies to embark on the route of lightweight creation. Ecological transformation: from a one-dimensional investment stream to a coopetition game with distribution platformsThe production tends to be high-quality, the form tends to be diversified, the creativity is the leading, and the user experience is constantly improved......In any case, to achieve the long-term commercial development of the short drama industry, sufficient and high-quality content is indispensable. Some brokerages believe that with the maturity of the short drama industry, the core value of the industrial chain will be tilted towards the content distribution link. Before explaining this mode of operation, it is necessary to sort out the three parties experienced by the short drama from project establishment, to production, and then to the user. The first is the content side, that is, the film and television company and the IP company, the film and television company is responsible for the actual shooting of the content, and the large number of networks reserved by the IP network text company can provide scripts for short dramas, which is the cornerstone of the quality of content stories. The last party is the platform, which is an important medium for short dramas to gain customers, a bridge to users, and an actual lever for the commercial value of short dramas. 
Some industry insiders pointed out that today, in the distribution of short dramas, the cost of streaming accounts for a high proportion of the total cost. In order to improve the price of short drama distribution and improve the certainty of business;Naturally, the producer of the short drama should seek a "win-win" situation with the core customer acquisition channel - the platform. Based on the benign development of the industry and the review and business needs, a deeper cooperation ecology is taking shape: from a one-sided buying game to a "competition and cooperation" of in-depth cooperation. First of all, the short ** platform can guide content creators to start accurately and improve the certainty of creating "hot styles". Taking Douyin and Kuaishou as examples, today, the platform can show creators the content preferences behind the portraits of different people, and even give users new content hotspots. Many creators can even pick up fresh content here to inspire their content – Escape from the British Museum is a good example. In addition, content creators can form deeper benefits through in-depth cooperation with the platform, and even start exploring "gameplay" and shooting techniques in the field of AR and VR. Some people in the industry believe that short dramas are naturally a good field for AIGC to reduce costs. In terms of subject creation, AIGC technology can effectively shorten the creation cycle, reduce the cost of trial and error in screenwriters' creation, and inspire creative ideasIn terms of content production, AIGC can reduce the cost of scenery set-up and transition time. According to East-West Entertainment, virtual production can save 30% to 50% of the cost compared to traditional shooting methods. After experiencing rapid and savage growth, the short drama industry has entered an important and new period of reshuffle. We have reason to believe that the relaunch after this suspension will bring a calm rethinking to the entire short drama industry. From rough processing to fine processing, from "routine" to "high-quality", short dramas are returning to the essence of creation from the traffic business, and truly becoming a content business and a creative business. It is conceivable that the theme of the new era of this industry is to compete for innovation, content, work and quality.