If the long** platform goes all out to make short dramas, will it be a copy of the headlines of portal science back then? Wang Han, a senior producer of the ** platform, asked "Deep Web".
In the past year, the popularity of the micro-short drama track has attracted a lot of capital to enter the game. The layout of various ** platforms has increased, and support and account sharing plans have been launched, and major online text platforms, game manufacturers, media and film companies, MCN institutions and publishing houses have all entered the short drama track.
At the end of 2023, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will normalize the governance of micro-short dramas, putting the brakes on the entire industry.
Regulation is a good thing for the micro-short drama industry, not that it is gone, but that the entire industry will usher in a more stable development. Liu Wuhua, the founder of the short drama production company Sailing, told "Deep Web".
There is no doubt that after bidding farewell to the era of traffic mythology and savage growth, the micro-short dramas included in the supervision have become a new ** category. The official tone has been set for this. On January 10, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a notice on the creation plan of "Traveling with Micro Short Dramas", affirming the significance of the existence of the emerging form of short dramas, and giving suggestions on topic selection.
However, the short drama category that is on the right track does not mean that it is suitable for iQiyi, Youku, Tencent and other long-term platforms to make efforts here.
iQIYI CEO Gong Yu recently revealed that iQIYI is now cautious and limited to enter the micro-short drama market, and currently only uses the advertising model as the first platform for casting, not producing, the main reason is that "the aesthetics of this business are very different from the aesthetics, talent types, and business ecology of iQIYI's current film and television main business."
From the advertising model to the membership payment, the training cycle of the previous long ** is very long; However, the micro-short drama quickly broke through the long-term business model with a single-film payment model. "Whether it is advertising placement or payment, in essence, short dramas are a business of traffic trading. ”A person in charge of the short drama business of a film and television company told "Deep Web".
In other words, short dramas are a refined processing method of the short ** platform for its own traffic, and short dramas are traffic products in the short ** category, rather than the value content of benchmarking film and television works. For the long** platform, the impact of the short drama is no different from the impact of the previous short** encroachment on the duration.
Skits are a lot like a genre of short**. Jeff, a partner at the skit production company Touch Culture, told the Deep Web. Jeff revealed that when the team was analyzing what kind of short drama company was good, he found that "the faster the efficiency of the whole cycle is the company that analyzes the data feedback data, and makes content adjustments and production based on the data."
Jeff eventually concluded, "This business has nothing to do with content, it's just a product." ”
Say goodbye to wild growth in 2024
The micro-short drama in 2024, although the era of savage growth is over, the entire industry is still growing. Liu Wuhua, the founder of Sailing, analyzed.
According to the data released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the number of micro-short dramas recorded in 2021 will be 398, the number of micro-short dramas recorded in 2022 will be close to 2,800, and in 2023, a total of 3,574 short dramas will be recorded, and the number continues to grow. According to iiMedia Consulting data, the size of China's online micro-short drama market in 2023 will be 373900 million yuan, an increase of 267 percent year-on-year65%。
A short drama is a web series 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.
"After watching a short drama, what the user gets is not a wonderful story, but emotional value. ”Jeff, a partner at Touch Culture, told the Deep Web.
The micro-short drama follows the "6 seconds" rule of short **, has a fast pace, and puts some plots that can detonate emotions in the first three episodes. With traffic as the core, a number of brain-opening short drama core theme words have been screened out, and plots such as rebirth, revenge, and changing one's life against the sky have become the traffic passwords of popular short dramas.
Haotian, let me tell you how this story should be filmed, you can shoot it. Director Wu Haotian glanced at the investor opposite and felt that the other party was too crazy. "Why did you tell me this story should be filmed like this? The investors came from the game industry, and Wu Haotian did not agree with the investors' suggestions at first.
For Wu Haotian, who has worked hard in the film and television industry for more than ten years, the origin of filming micro-short dramas is that during the epidemic, the film projects in his hand "Songhualing" and "This Life as a Mother and Daughter" are difficult to operate even if they have been recorded, and there is nothing to do, so he filmed micro-short dramas such as "Conquering Life Every Day", "Wushuang National Teacher" and "Food Detective" and "Haikui".
Wu Haotian told "Deep Web", "Later, I realized that the control of big data over people is too terrible, generally the first ten episodes are free, and when the tenth episode is played, there must be big scenes, luxury fleets and high-end banquets, but there must be excavators, as long as there are excavators, users will pay." ”
The management side has big data, understands traffic, and masters the password of traffic and wealth. Oops! The queen mother came to work" was launched within 24 hours, with a recharge amount of more than 12 million yuan; The cost of "Wushuang" is less than 500,000 yuan, and the recharge exceeded 100 million yuan in 8 days after it was launched, and the recharge exceeded 300 million yuan in 2 months ...... online
For a long time, the saying that the micro-short drama "is filmed in a week, launched in January, and a piece of wealth is free" has been widely circulated in the industry. This also means that crudely produced micro-short dramas full of routines and gimmicks are mass-produced, and the content chaos accompanied by the first wave of micro-short drama nuggets has attracted the attention of regulatory authorities.
On November 15, 2023, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced that after the previous special rectification work was completed, the governance of online micro-short dramas would be normalized. Kuaishou issued a special governance announcement for illegal micro-short drama mini programs, and just two days later, Douyin issued an announcement on cracking down on illegal micro-short dramas.
Previously, the producer of the popular micro-short drama "Black Lotus Upper Manual" had an investment relationship with Mimeng Company, and was once praised as a benchmark work for the micro-short drama track. However, on November 21 last year, the show was removed from the entire network, and the relevant statements of the short ** platform all mentioned that its content "renders extreme revenge, counters violence with violence, and brings negative value orientation".
The tightening of regulations has greatly slowed down the crazy operation rhythm of the short drama market.
"The previous state of filming in a week and going online in a month has become a thing of the past, and the short drama I filmed in October last year has not been broadcast yet. ”Li Bing, director of the micro-short drama, told "Deep Web" that after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television normalized the governance of online micro-short dramas, he felt that the industry had undergone significant changes.
The paradox of the boutique of short plays
With the normalization of the supervision of micro-short dramas, the transformation of high-quality products has become a "must" for short ** platforms to ensure the compliance of content and the positive orientation of values. "But will it be a false proposition to transform micro-short dramas in a high-quality way of long dramas? Screenwriter Wen Xin was a little puzzled.
On January 29, director Stephen Chow cooperated with Douyin to announce his entry into the micro-short drama market, and named the "9527" theater after his masterpiece, and will launch his first work "Golden Pig and Jade Leaf" in May this year. Previously, another Hong Kong director Wang Jing's first vertical screen short drama was launched in Hengdian on November 29 last year.
Do professionals have to have fun when they enter the market? "In the past, the production and supply of movies and TV series was centralized. The production cost is high, the production cycle is long, and the user portrait is not so clear. This form suffers more, and products with stronger user logic will erode products with blurred user portraits and low production efficiency, as is the rise of online dramas, online comprehensives and micro-short dramas. Jeff analyzed.
Jeff told "Deep Web": "In the context of the current short **, users' patience and acceptance of grand narratives are declining. The micro-short drama is more in line with the logic of short**, its form is advanced, the rhythm is very fast, and there is no long layout. For example, when I watch a movie, I will write down at least one story, but this is not the case with short dramas, only emotions. ”
The director of the micro-short drama Sige believes that compared with experienced famous directors, excellent micro-short drama creators will have a more sense of networking, such as the three-second rule and the key point suspense grasp, which is what some excellent micro-short drama teams are better at.
Whether professional ability is important, or network sense is important, everyone can see it in the next 2024. ”
The sense of the net is indeed very important, and it is the core factor of whether a micro-short drama can be successfully streamed. Streaming is the key to the commercial success of a micro-short drama, and its cost is much higher than the production cost.
The directors of micro-short dramas and the founders of leading MCN institutions contacted by "Deep Web" all said that the highest revenue cost of a popular micro-short drama can even account for 80%-90%.
The profit of the short drama is not as high as the outside world imagines, except for the short ** platform, everyone makes hard money. Jeff told "Deep Web", "There is a big misunderstanding in the outside world, saying how profitable the short drama is, making 100 million in 8 days." The short dramas that can reach hundreds of millions of dollars are all phenomenal hits, the flow is real, and the cost of the entire stream is also very high, accounting for 80% of the overall revenue. ”
Wu Haotian told "Deep Web", "In the screenwriting session, most of the stories are bought by investors at a very low **, and 50 episodes can be bought for 2,000 yuan." In the filming process, the theme is divided into ancient costumes and modern, according to one episode per minute, for example, a 100-episode short drama, the production cost is basically 10-500,000 yuan. ”
Nowadays, the popular dramas that can run out are turning to high-quality products, and the cost is also rising. Liu Wuhua told "Deep Web". Director Yan Peiliang, who has filmed many popular micro-short dramas, said that at the beginning of 2023, the production cost of his company's micro-short dramas was about 200,000 or 300,000 yuan, and it rose to 500,000 or 600,000 yuan at the end of the year.
However, "the rhythm and narrative techniques in traditional film and television creation may not be copied to the field of micro-short dramas. Wen Xin, a screenwriter in the field of film and television, told "Deep Web".
Therefore, using the idea of high-quality long dramas to transform short dramas will deconstruct the advanced nature of the form of micro-short dramas? All of this remains to be seen.
In the past, micro-short dramas were over-bound to traffic and algorithms, which led to the homogenization and vulgarization of micro-short dramas, and became the "electronic mustard" criticized by the industry. How do you balance traffic and regulation? This is also a difficult problem left for the short ** platform.
Kuaishou's short drama business will start working with about 20 film and television drama teams from 2023. Yu Ke, head of the Drama Business Center of Kuaishou Entertainment Business Department, said: "In 2024, the word that everyone mentions the most about the micro-short drama industry is high-quality development, but I prefer to call it quality development, and I hope that the team that creates micro-short dramas will become more and more diverse and professional." We will make a new upgrade to the starlight short drama, that is, the threshold is lower, the income is more secure, and the account sharing gradient is higher. ”
Crossover of parallel tracks
In late October last year, the annual Hengdian Film and Television Festival opened, and the Hengdian Film and Television Festival is regarded as the vane of the film and television industry. Many bigwigs in the film and television industry gathered together. Hou Hongliang, chairman of Noon Sunshine, said, "Many funds think that (film and television projects) are too risky and dare not invest, thus forming a vicious circle." ”
Half the river is sorrowful and half the river is red, and the film and television industry is still in the cold winter, which is more like a metaphor for reality. During that time, there were more than 100 micro-short dramas filmed in Hengdian, and 10 were started every day. Director Zhang Luquan revealed: The short payment cycle of micro-short dramas and the clear visibility of losses and profits are the reasons why many professionals enter the scene.
For the long-** platform, the involvement in micro-short dramas is more of a commercial supplement consideration.
Wang Han, a producer of a mainstream long-term platform, told "Deep Web" that the current challenges faced by long-term dramas include the user's ** time being crowded, the high cost and the difficulty of reducing the revenue model, etc., "In the context of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the way of light operation, low investment and high sharing of the micro-short drama team is a very attractive new way of cooperation, which solves the risk of uncertain high return on investment."
iQIYI CEO Gong Yu recently said in an interview with "New Voice Pro" that although iQIYI does not produce micro-short dramas, there are operators who cast on iQIYI, and more than half of the short drama paying users on the platform are members of iQIYI, and 40% of people did not spend money on iQIYI before, but now they spend money, which is a good thing. Gong Yu also said that paid short dramas will have a negative impact on iQiyi's membership business in a broad sense, but at present, it is very limited, and the difference in crowds is quite large.
According to relevant data, in 2023, there will be 170 new micro-short dramas on Tencent, 163 new on Youku, 52 new on Mango TV, 15 new on iQiyi, and 8 new on Station B.
At present, the scale of short drama income is still a drop in the bucket for the long-** platform.
According to the "2023 Micro Short Drama Industry Report", from October 2022 to August 2023, the total amount of micro-short drama sharing on the long** platform will exceed 20.3 billion, which has exceeded the total amount of the three years from 2020 to September 2022.
The highest account share amount of a single drama is Tencent**'s "Provocation", with a share of more than 20 million yuan. Mango TV, which was the first to start the layout of micro-short dramas, cooperated with Sohu** to launch "Wind and Moon Change", which shared more than 13 million yuan, and Youku's "Lock Love Three Lives" also broke 10 million yuan.
Relevant data show that in the past year, there have been 500 micro-short dramas with more than 100 million Douyin**, and according to the estimation of the League of Nations**, the advertising scale of short dramas in the Douyin system may reach about 22 billion in 2023.
The micro-short drama track and the long ** track are basically parallel and have an impact, but they will not have a fatal impact. There may be some places where the micro-short drama can be done to the extreme, but the long ** may not be done. But the long ** is also adjusting itself, and the content that does not have competitive advantages will not be done, and these contents are things that cannot be replaced by micro-short dramas. Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association, said in an interview with the Beijing News.