Online drama chase, also enter the "theater" (decoding · cultural market new observation)
Innovative broadcast mode of video platform, promote short drama series, genre and quality
Core reading
In recent years, on all major domestic video platforms, theaterization has gradually become an important form of episode broadcasting.
Theaterization is not a simple collection of dramas of the same category. Through a high degree of genre, quality, standardization and scale, it can not only meet the theater viewing needs of different users, but also bring about changes in business models and promote the development of the industry.
Hunan Satellite TV's "Golden Eagle Theater", Oriental Satellite TV's "Eastern Theater", Zhejiang Satellite TV's "Chinese Blue Theater"... Many audiences are familiar with these theaters launched by TV stations. In recent years, on all major domestic video platforms, "theaterization" has gradually become an important form of drama broadcast.
Form genre plays to meet user needs
Looking around several major domestic video platforms, theaterization has become an important form of episode broadcasting.
Around 2015, several video platforms, iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent, launched theater play modes for episodes. According to Wang Xiaohui, the chief content officer of iQiyi, the drama of the video platform is not a copy of the TV theater, but should be based on the characteristics of the Internet and based on the needs of users to establish the type of drama production and scheduling.
Talking about the initial idea of Youku to set up a drama theater, Liu Yanhong, the person in charge of the Youku content operation center, said that Youku hopes to use the theater to form all the episodes of the same type and complete the broadcast into a content band, and users do not need to perform a single episode when watching Instead of searching, you can enter the theater to efficiently and quickly find the drama you want to watch, thereby enhancing the user's stickiness through the vertical operation mode. She recalled that the "I Am a Special Force" series of trilogy that aired when "Play Theater" was just launched increased the flow of Youku to 200%.
If the initial theatricalization still stays on the TV platform to buy and broadcast TV series, with the improvement of the video platform's broadcasting capabilities and production capabilities, homemade and customized dramas have gradually become the focus of the theater.
Wang Xiaohui believes that the key to the dramaization of video platforms is to meet the needs of different users to watch the drama. As the fragmentation of people’s lives and time intensifies, the episodes especially need to meet the needs of people to "see the most exciting stories in a short time." Therefore, short episodes made or customized by the video platform should become the main products of theater.
Large-scale broadcasting, forming a brand effect
Industry insiders divided the development of theatricalization of video platforms into three periods. In the era of theater 1.0, theater genres are also focused on inspiring young users’ enthusiasm for viewing. In 2015, some Internet dramas adapted from IP for young people watched, which greatly promoted the growth of paid Internet members, and largely reversed the video platform's business model of using advertising fees as the sole income.
In the 2.0 era of theaterization, theaterization began to break through the creation of genre dramas limited to young users, and aimed to produce and broadcast vertical episodes of dramas for the more general crowd. In 2017, some young short films and film directors began to intervene in the creation of theater dramas, which also brought a visual aesthetic improvement.
The industry believes that now has entered the era of theater 3.0. "The theater we did in the past did not break through the general framework of pan-typing. Now we have to maximize and standardize the quality of this vertical classification and episodes." Wang Xiaohui said.
Nowadays, highly typed, refined, standardized, scaled, and branded are the keywords for theatricalization of video platforms. In recent years, the video platform has emerged 12 episodes of "I am Yu Huan Shui", 12 episodes of "Chinatown Detective", 18 episodes of "Longling Labyrinth" and other strongly typed short plays, but because they are singles Fighting alone, there is no large-scale scheduling, so it cannot meet the continuous demand of the audience for a certain type of episode.
"This discontinuous play is difficult to form the brand of the theater, and it is difficult to truly maintain the user's stickiness. What we need to do now is to broadcast through high-density broadcasts of several genres to form a large-scale Effect, making the theater a brand." Wang Xiaohui said.
Film and television commentator He Tianping believes that if the concept of "theaterization" is simply understood as the collection of dramas of the same category, it may underestimate the long-term value of this strategy for the industry. "From the existing practice, we can see a new trend-emphasizing the reduction of the collective volume of a single play and the enlargement of the type effect. On the one hand, the generation of the brand effect of the episode is not only dependent on the social influence of the single work, but the quality is short The mass emergence of dramas will be well developed under the concept of theater; on the other hand, the genre in theater also reflects the trend of China's drama development to catch up with the level of industrialization, and it is important in the structural exploration of dramas. Promote meaning."
High-quality short dramas to promote the evolution of the industry
In February this year, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Work Related to the Creation and Production Management of TV Series Online Dramas" in response to the "water injection phenomenon" in TV series online dramas. Creation of short plays within the collection. After the issuance of the "Notice", the relevant management departments of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television strictly controlled the planning and project review of online dramas, strictly controlled the water-injection dramas, and guided the creation and production of high-quality online short dramas. Under this policy trend and environment, Online boutique short plays have shown a rapid development trend this year.
In the eyes of many insiders, the development of short episodes is strong, and it will gradually achieve the same pace as traditional long episodes through large-scale and high-quality approaches, and even surpass long episodes in market size and appeal. This stems from the audience's great demand for different types of high-quality drama series, or it will change the audience's habit of constantly pulling the progress bar or choosing double speed when facing the "water injection drama".
Although the short drama series is the main direction of theater, it does not mean that the short drama is a compressed version of the traditional long drama. "Which space is suitable for presentation and what means of presentation are determined by the content itself." Wang Xiaohui said.
Industry insiders also said that theaterization will bring about changes in business models. "Packaging for marketing in the form of a theater makes it easier for advertisers to pay, and can bring better advertising revenue to the platform; on the other hand, as the brand effect increases and user stickiness increases, new members gradually join." Liu Yanhong said .
Wang Xiaohui believes that theater is not the ultimate stage of drama development, but a transitional stage of the development of fine short plays. "The concentrated emergence of high-quality short plays does not mean that traditional long plays will be eliminated, but with the popularity of high-quality short plays, domestic audiences will become more and more accustomed to short plays."
"The length of an episode is only a sign, and the real concern is that when the episode reaches a mature industrial standard for genre production, the quality of short dramas may be more attractive to the market and audience." He Tianping said: "At present The mainstream audience market's recognition of fine short plays is quite good. In the long run, genre, short drama, and high quality may all be the development trend of theater."
Our reporter Liu Yang