On November 22, in the busy Hengdian Film and Television City, Lin Qing and her team had just completed the completion of a short drama. However, this is only their third skit in the past month. For Lin Qing, this has long become the norm at work. Her work schedule is so tight that she barely has any breaks, knowing full well that this is a highly competitive industry and that only hard work can make a difference.
Lin Qing admitted to reporters: "We don't have time to get off work, and we're about to start the film, so we have to bring props and art to determine the scene today." Since the completion of the previous drama, they have already begun to prepare for the next drama, with a gap of less than four days. In this limited time, they need to pick actors, view scenes, and have little respite. This kind of high-intensity work pressure made Lin Qing sigh: "In my eyes, this is an elimination industry, and if you don't work hard, you will be eliminated." ”
According to Lin Qing, there are currently about fifty or sixty short dramas in Hengdian that are under construction at the same time, and in terms of volume, the proportion of long and short dramas is about the same, and it is not as exaggerated as the "vertical store" as the outside world says. However, this does not affect the enthusiasm of capital for the short drama market. The revenue figures of the skit industry continue to climb, attracting the attention of all walks of life. 20 million in 1 day, breaking 100 million in 8 days, such numbers are not uncommon.
As a regular army in the traditional film and television industry to make short dramas, Lin Qing said bluntly: "This industry is very hard, and it is more tiring than the ordinary film and television industry. Although her income is more than double that of the previous one, she believes that the effort is directly proportional to the income. In fact, the skit industry is not very profitable. The first financial survey found that although the external figures are eye-catching, the profits are actually in the single digits, and the cost of investment to the platform accounts for 80% or even higher of the consumption revenue. The average shooting cost has also risen from about 10-300,000 yuan last year to 30-600,000 yuan or more. After deducting the cost of scripts, platform commissions and other costs, the proportion of short dramas that really make money is very small.
Despite the challenges of rectification and intensified involution in the industry, the short drama industry is still pouring more hot money. In the eyes of industry insiders, short dramas are actually games about traffic. The first people who paid attention to this field were people in the industry who were familiar with traffic play, such as advertising, e-commerce, and games. They keenly grasped the potential of the short drama market and rushed into this emerging industry.
** Liang Lili, the founder of the short drama Xi room, previously worked in Internet information flow advertising. In the first half of last year, she found that there were people in groups in almost every advertising circle discussing skits. "We saw that the frequency of this keyword was very high, so we were very curious and went to investigate, figured out a lot of patterns, and found that this industry can explode quickly. Soon she did the first live broadcast on the whole network about the distribution of short dramas.
Skits are mainly through mini programs**, so in the eyes of the Internet industry, skits are mainly played by the Internet. By looking for users in the traffic pool of Douyin and **, attract users to recharge and pay. This model has made many Internet practitioners see business opportunities and have poured into the skit industry.
However, as the industry continues to grow, so does the competition. In order to diversify, venture capitalists will invest in multiple dramas to bet on possible hits. It's like an e-commerce industry test, where they may test multiple products in a week to determine which one has a higher return. Also in the skit industry, they typically invest in ten or more episodes to determine which one has the potential to become a hit.
However, Lin Qing maintains a clear understanding of the popularity of the industry. "Doing a short drama for a week or a month or two, financial freedom may not be common in the industry, for us, it is better to take a step by step and be solid," she said, "I don't ask for how much recharge volume I have, and my goal for every drama is to return to the original cost and be able to preserve the capital, which is the concept we have always adhered to." ”
The boom in the industry has also brought about the strengthening of supervision. Radio and television began to regulate the short drama industry, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for the industry. "In fact, it is also very beneficial to us, because cracking down on some illegal and vulgar short dramas also prompts the producer to produce better film and television works. An industry insider said.
In general, behind the popularity of the short drama industry is the high-intensity dedication of the production team and the intensification of competition in the industry. The influx of capital and the strengthening of supervision have also brought more opportunities and challenges to the industry. But no matter what, the industry is constantly evolving and changing to bring more wonderful works to the audience.