One drama brings fire to one platform: Will more "Hurricane" come?
China News Weekly reporter/Meng Qian
Published in the 1079th issue of "China News Weekly" magazine on February 13, 2023
"Hurricane Celebration Banquet" is on the trending list today.
Some netizens ridiculed on social media that "one table for Jiuchang Street, one table for the Public Security Bureau, one table for Qiangsheng Group, one table for the supervision team...", which is enough to show that the scenes and characters of this drama are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
No matter in terms of popularity, word-of-mouth or influence, "Hurricane" has become a phenomenon-level hit drama at the beginning of 2023.
Frequently appearing on the hot search "Hurricane", iQiyi has gained enough attention, which fully embodies the saying in the long-form video industry that "one drama leads to one platform".
Looking back at the development history of the long video platform, at first, users were exchanged for "burning money and buying copyright".
In the past ten years, as user growth has peaked, the industry has entered the stock stage. Long video platforms have gradually replaced TV stations with high-quality self-made content to become the industry leader, and turned to higher-dimensional competition.
With the income from membership, advertising and copyright basically stable, it is difficult to extend the story of the long video platform at the commercial level, and the stage of relying on "efficiency competition" to fight for profitability has arrived.
Affected by the macro environment such as the epidemic, while the long video platform is tightening its belt, the entire film and television industry is affected by the transmission effect and is facing changes and challenges.
Wu Manfang, Dean of the School of Management of Beijing Film Academy, told China News Weekly that in the film and television industry dominated by long-form videos, from trying to find out to frequent hits, "traffic" has indeed played a key role. Today, traffic is the basis for creating hits First of all, we have to return to solid content.
After the membership economy enters the stock era, a high-quality self-made content may be more precious to the platform's "drainage value".
After the industry "reduces production capacity", "Hurricane" is here
In the past Spring Festival, the popularity of "Hurricane" is obvious to all.
"One Play as Three Films", a film that takes the special struggle against evil as the starting point, and puts stories about justice and evil in the three years of 2000, 2006, and 2021. Ann, the representative of justice, The contest between Xin and Gao Qiqiang, the gangster brother who started as a "fish seller", brought thrilling and ups and downs to the audience.
From "Plasma TV" to "Sun Tzu's Art of War", topics such as "I suggest you check out Zhang Songwen, it's not like acting" have received thousands of hot searches on the entire network. The props and actors of the show have attracted many viewers discussion.
In addition to word-of-mouth and popularity, "Hurricane" has brought real benefits to the platform side.
According to speculation by relevant sources, after the broadcast of "Hurricane", the number of iQiyi members exceeded 120 million.
On February 1, the day of the finale of "Hurricane", iQiyi's stock price "surged" accordingly, closing up 9.10%. The cumulative increase in iQiyi's share price during the year reached 37.92%.
As of the close of trading on February 3, iQiyi’s share price was reported at US$7.41 per share, with a market value of US$7.012 billion.
A related person from iQiyi revealed to the media that after the Spring Festival holiday, "Hurricane" ushered in a large number of advertisements, with a single brand reaching up to tens of millions of dollars, and the brands that cooperated in the early stage also generally made follow-up investment.
A person from the brand told "China News Weekly" that after "Hurricane" became popular, they began to seek cooperation with a certain actress in the play.
He learned that the actor's value has risen with the popularity of TV dramas, and the cost of cooperation has doubled. Due to too many brands queuing up for cooperation, there are basically no opportunities for cooperation in the near future.
Over the past year or so, the long-form video platforms led by iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku have focused on "reducing costs and increasing efficiency". More innovative A+ and S-level (A+ and S-level projects are considered high-level projects in the platform's rating of projects) launched an impact.
"Hurricane" is just such a TV series positioned at the S level.
The producer behind "Hurricane" Liu Bai Film and Television has been producing the play since 2019, and initially positioned it as a "national play" with the support of the Central Political and Legal Committee.
Xu Kang, the founder of Liubai Film and Television and the chief producer of "Hurricane", told "China News Weekly" that the important reason for the popularity of this drama is that the script is good. In addition, the audience it faces is a pan-user group, and everyone can watch it. user base.
""Hurricane" has given us a good year, laying a good foundation in terms of members and other data dimensions. Works like "Hurricane" can give the content industry a lot of confidence," Dai Ying, senior vice president of iQIYI He told "China News Weekly" that there are certain patterns in the content of hot items, but any error in any detail may affect the result. A breakthrough, but this guts may lead to loss of money, or it may reap great success."
"A very good script will attract the participation of good actors and the active investment of the producer, so it can penetrate many levels of users. The overall investment of this drama is produced according to the top-level drama, no matter from the economic point of view or production point of view, When this show faces such a large user base, iQiyi and Liubai have already made predictions during production." Xu Kang revealed that, no matter for the platform or Liubai Film and Television, "Hurricane" is currently very important. brought positive benefits.
Xu Kang noticed that starting from the second half of 2021, the long video platform initiated cost reduction and efficiency increase, and the film and television industry began to make adjustments. Many projects at and below the waist were cut off. "When cooperating with the platform, every project will It is hoped that it will make money", and before that "all projects are losing money, and if they lose less, they are considered to be doing well."
According to Yien data, in 2022, the long-term video platform will continue to reduce production capacity, and "cost reduction and efficiency increase" will become the key word of the year. Sixty percent, reaching 213.
Although the number of TV dramas has declined, the popularity of headline content has increased, and the number of hits throughout the year has continued unabated.
The average broadcast index of TOP50 domestic dramas in 2022 will increase by 9.3% compared with 2021.
Among them, iQiyi has 23 headline content, Tencent Video and Youku have 19 each.
Among the top ten broadcast volume, iQiyi has 5 solo dramas on the list.
Behind this is the embodiment of the video platform focusing on the head content, reducing the output of waist content, and minimizing inefficient content.
Li Danlei, head of Smile Media's self-produced drama, has a deep understanding of the long-term video platform's "cutting production capacity". First of all, it is more and more difficult to "pass the meeting".
"Passing the meeting" generally refers to long-form video platforms doing top-level key projects. The project will be locked in the early stage, and funds and production will be involved through the platform's evaluation process.
Secondly, "Except for the very few projects that passed the meeting last year, before the customized dramas would be divided into head projects and mid-waist projects, and now only the head projects are left." Li Danlei mentioned that most of the mid-waist projects are not supported by the platform. support, and can only be transferred to account-sharing dramas, which means that the producers bear the risk themselves, so the number of start-up projects has been greatly reduced.
"The primary supporting factor for an excellent blockbuster drama is high-quality content. Regardless of the type of subject matter, the quality of the play, the performance of the actors, and the details of the creation, "Hurricane" has won the satisfaction of the audience. These satisfactions are supported by the Internet. Quickly convert it into a topic and word of mouth, thereby forming a strong voice and attracting more viewers to watch." Wu Manfang pointed out that with the development of the Internet, the scarcity of audio-visual content has been greatly reduced, and the audience's aesthetic taste is constantly improving. The core demand, to a large extent, will also force the upgrading of the production side. The crude and low-end supply in the past not only cannot meet the demand, but also becomes more and more difficult to obtain commercial returns.
“We didn't pay extra”
"In addition to meeting the platform's own needs in terms of content selection and forming its own style, the current platform controls costs to a certain extent and can truly use funds for artistic creation to improve content quality." A senior producer Tell "China News Weekly".
"The video platform will now be so rigorous that the finances will go down to the crew. From the purchase of props, set scenes, and even the cost of food and clothing for the crew, basically every expenditure must be calculated and compared." The above-mentioned producer added that cost reduction and increase The effect is actually reflected in every detail of content production. He gave an example. In the past, the water cups needed for filming by the crew were thrown away when they were used up. Now they have set up warehouses to recycle props by category, and the management is also very strict.
Nowadays, the cost of many content productions can also be reduced through technological innovation. "In the past, the crew would rent a lot of cars, and some people would even steal gasoline. Now after switching to trams, this situation will be much less." "Extensive production is not continue."
According to the relevant person in charge of the Hengdian film and television shooting base, self-produced dramas, including platform-customized dramas, are being implemented more and more carefully to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and the quality and cost control of scenes, group performances, props, costumes, etc. are also getting higher and higher.
At present, the self-produced dramas on the platform will arrange management personnel to station in the filming team to strictly control each link. The crew is as small as the bottled water purchase brand and must be reported for approval. It can be said that the cost has been refined to the extreme.
In order to reduce the cost pressure of the crew as much as possible, Hengdian has been working hard to build a supply chain platform. On the one hand, more types of suppliers are included in the crew service system to standardize the service quality; The supply chain platform efficiently obtains various production factors, saves time and cost as much as possible and reduces shooting costs.
Even for a big production like "Hurricane", "spending money and saving money" has always been in parallel throughout the production process.
As a drama spanning three eras, "Hurricane" involves the restoration of the backgrounds of different eras, and the shaping of characters, art, and props must conform to the characteristics of the era.
"This kind of time span has distinct characteristics. The scenes such as the market where Gao Qiqiang sells vegetables, the police station in Jinghai City, and even what watches people wore and what drinks they drank in that era all arouse the memories of netizens. This needs to be measured by the creators. How much is necessary to complete this sense of era substitution, and what level of precision is required.”
"Hurricane" has made a reasonable allocation of funds from the script, actors, and scene layout. It is a normal investment in a leading drama, "without spending too much money."
Xu Kang said, "During the production, everyone maintained an attitude of saving as much as possible, and carried out refined operations."
In his opinion, it was too imprecise in the past, especially during the bubble period of the film and television industry, when platforms and production companies invested heavily. In those years, the cost of all elements of the industry was rising rapidly, the most important being labor costs. , the cost of everyone involved in core production, including actors, directors, screenwriters, and even artists, is rising, and it has risen to a state where it is basically impossible for the platform and producers to make profits.
Xu Kang said that everyone is basically in a rational state now, and everyone's expectations will no longer be unrealistic in all aspects from the leading role to the production.
According to the research report of Bank of China Securities, after more than ten years of development, the online video industry has gone through the stage of "burning money" and entered the stage of high-quality content and user operation. At present, the overall content cost is decreasing. Effectively control costs, on the other hand, reduce investment risks through account sharing and other forms.
Taking iQiyi as an example, the total content cost decreased year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, and the proportion of content cost to revenue began to show a downward trend.
In the past three years, iQiyi’s content costs have accumulated close to 64 billion yuan, accounting for more than 70% of its revenue.
"The long-form video platform was at the stage of grabbing share at the beginning. Everyone was trying to find out what content could make users pay or attract advertisements. It was a trial period at that time, and the platform was trying to find the upper limit of business." Xu Kang believes that the current video platform has already The ceiling of paying users has been tested, and profitability is the most important goal.
On the one hand, the cost reduction means that the platform itself reduces manpower and operating costs, and on the other hand, it is passed on to the production company to lower expectations. The film and television companies and actors are the same, "no longer want to eat a fat man."
Relevant departments have already begun to restrict star remuneration. In February 2022, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television proposed in the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese TV Dramas" that the remuneration of actors for a single episode of a drama series cannot exceed 10 million, and the highest remuneration cannot exceed 50 million, the remuneration of the actors shall not exceed 40% of the production cost, and the remuneration of the leading actors shall not exceed 70% of the total remuneration.
"The film and television industry needs intensive cultivation and continuous correction. In the past few years, the flow stars have been managed, sky-high pay has been rectified, actors can return to their jobs, and after the bad things are eliminated, the real investment can be spent on the production itself. Good dramas Only then will they emerge in endlessly.” Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told China News Weekly that intensive cultivation can reduce uncertain risks for both platforms and producers.
Government funds "leveraging social capital"
"The Central Political and Legal Committee and several ministries and commissions have helped us set the general direction, and the creation has really given us a lot of support and tolerance." In Xu Kang's eyes, "Hurricane" is a special theme, and it was originally created in the Central Committee. Projects under the guidance of the Political and Legal Committee "give a lot of room for expression."
In recent years, there will always be figures of relevant departments behind some top TV dramas.
Wu Manfang pointed out that in recent years, most of the online dramas with a good reputation come from a few leading companies, or are self-produced by the platform, or produced by a few content partners approved by the platform.
For example, the producers behind "Hurricane" include both CCTV and iQiyi. At the same time, they have received strong support from relevant state agencies. The industry resources they can leverage are an important guarantee for the achievement of high-quality content.
The "Hurricane" project was established in Zhejiang, and Liubai Film and Television was registered in Dongyang. This drama was funded by the Zhejiang Culture and Art Development Fund.
The relevant person in charge of the fund center told China News Weekly that "Hurricane" has been unanimously recognized and recommended by the evaluation experts from the initial evaluation to the re-evaluation during the application selection process.
Many experts believe that the project is directed by the Central Political and Legal Committee, and it is a key TV series that reflects the special struggle against crime and evil in recent years. By reviewing the project materials, clips and trailers provided by the film and television company, it can be seen that it has mastered the scale, character creation, The innovative attempts made in various aspects such as narrative style are a breakthrough compared with "traditional" anti-criminal themes.
Established in 2019, the Zhejiang Culture and Art Development Fund specializes in supporting the creation of outstanding literary and artistic projects in Zhejiang. It has about 100 million yuan in financial funding every year. The scope of application includes radio and television, stage art, visual art, literature, film, theme publishing, etc. Six categories.
For masterpieces with profound thinking, exquisite art and excellent production, the maximum funding for a single project can reach 10 million yuan.
The person in charge told China News Weekly that more than 800 projects were declared this year, and 126 projects were finally funded.
Up to now, the fund has funded four cultural and artistic projects, and this year's "Hurricane" has also brought fire to the fund.
The TV series "Hurricane" has invested hundreds of millions of yuan, and the application funds are mainly used for post-publicity.
Wu Manfang said that in recent years, there have been funding plans for excellent projects in the region.
When the audience sees this information in the episode, it means that the more efficient the use of support funds in various places, the more significant the results will be.
According to her understanding, the selection of funded projects often has a strict review process, so the selected projects basically have a good development foundation and growth potential.
The evaluation focuses on the project, which is a good channel for financing and project promotion for companies that are down-to-earth in projects, especially small and medium-sized film and television companies.
"Our fund hopes to leverage social capital to a greater extent and revitalize the entire art market. Affected by the epidemic before, many companies dare not shoot, especially some TV dramas with clear themes may face the risk of not making money. In the foundation's Under the guidance, we must first give confidence to the film and television companies, in addition to funding, there will be follow-up supporting rewards, provide full-process service elements, and help coordinate and solve problems in the production process.” The person in charge emphasized that the biggest feature of the Zhejiang Culture and Art Development Fund is Born and raised in Zhejiang, led by the Zhejiang Culture and Art Development Fund, guides resources from all parties to invest in the creation and support of literary and artistic projects, and systematically creates a three-level linkage between provinces, cities and counties, and a good ecological environment for the entire network to promote the creation and production of key projects.
"Zhejiang's local policies can give companies a very stable expectation, and the local government is very familiar with the film and television industry, and can use resources such as Hengdian, a film and television base, to help companies produce." In Xu Kang's view, targeted and implementable Policies, measures and support are of great help to enterprises.
Wu Manfang observed that through the support plan, some provinces and cities in China are currently doing very well in this area. Through a good business environment, they attract high-quality enterprises to settle in, help project incubation and growth, and give birth to a group of well-known film and television products.
The entry of enterprises will promote the formation of high-quality industrial agglomeration in the local area, so as to better feed back the local economic development.
Liu Jianhua, executive director of the Media Research Institute of the China Press and Publication Research Institute, told China News Weekly that the cultural industry development funds of local governments have risen as early as ten years ago, but have gradually matured in recent years, in terms of fund scale, production strength and policy encouragement. All aspects are good for emerging film and television production companies.
"The government participates in the production of the cultural industry in this way. In the process of incentives and rewards, it can guide the value orientation of film and television works and activate the cultural market."
"What is missing is not members, but works"
The popularity of "Hurricane" has made the platform find confidence, but this does not mean that the platform can survive in peace.
As "Hurricane" ushered in the finale, iQiyi was recently sued for "restricting users from casting screens".
In fact, a large number of users have complained and complained about membership issues before.
On membership management issues, Youku and Tencent Video have also encountered controversy. Recently, "1 yuan is charged as a member, and 24 yuan will be deducted if the renewal fee is cancelled." This has made Youku the focus of public opinion.
Since November 2020, iQiyi has raised prices for two consecutive years, and membership fees have risen again and again.
Membership prices of platforms such as Tencent Video and Youku have different increases.
Behind this is actually the embarrassment of the business model of the long video platform.
"Any track needs a cultivation period, but since 2006, the continuous industry-wide loss of long-form video platforms has led to companies losing confidence in the secondary market after listing." Ran mentioned, "Most of the cost is still spent on the content, and until today, it still occupies the main cost of each platform. The current cost reduction and efficiency increase are essentially 'unable to fight'."
In the past ten years, due to the rise of long-form video websites, content copyrights have seen a seemingly irrational surge.
"It took ten years for video websites to burn hundreds of billions of dollars, and finally cultivated the payment awareness of today's users." Bao Ran pointed out that this is a major contribution of video websites. "Good content is worth paying for."
iQiyi was launched in 2010, and member payment started in 2015 with the self-produced drama "Tomb Raider Notes". Later, platforms such as Tencent Video and Youku followed up the member payment business. So far, member payment has become a standard business model for video platforms.
At that time, the platform began to try to control the cost and quality of content in its own hands, from "buying ready-made meals" to "buying ingredients and cooking ingredients yourself".
Liu Jianhua pointed out that the long-term video platform originally belonged to the distribution side. After familiarizing with the laws of film and television production through the strong economic strength of the platform, under the background of integration, it began to promote the transformation of various links in the film and television industry, and analyzed the viewing of different audiences through the monitoring of downstream data. Hobbies, cut into the upstream production link, increase profits by controlling costs, and contribute to innovation and breakthroughs in the traditional film and television industry.
"However, the market of traditional content production has not been shaken. Cultural products, especially TV series with dozens of episodes, still rely on quality. Traditional film and television companies will actually face greater challenges." He pointed out.
"What we lack is not audiences, but works." Dai Ying said that the iQiyi platform gene is constantly iterating, whether it is innovation in content creation or operation innovation.
"The Returning Daughter" is the first time to try content exclusively for members, and "Hurricane" is also such an attempt in a sense.
"This has never happened in the previous market operation logic and membership operation logic." She emphasized that on this basis, the industry can see that excellent content can gain great influence, and the content industry has a more benign cycle.
"The core work of the platform is to select suppliers and select the right projects. The biggest issue for the production company is how to continuously produce projects that are higher than the market average." Xu Kang said, "It doesn't have to be "Hurricane" every day, but every All projects need to be at the upper-middle level in this type of track."
"For the platform, we have been very sober all year round. iQiyi has already started to look for the next excellent work, hoping to continue to provide users with excellent content." Dai Ying said, "After going through the bubble stage, there have been useless Or invalid dramas, no ratings effect, after the big waves wash away, the rest are professional people who can make good projects.”
"China News Weekly" Issue 5, 2023
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