China News Service Client Beijing, January 19 (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) Recently, it was reported that South Korean TV station JTBC will remake the domestic drama "Thirty Only", and "You Fei" and "The Golden Years" are also expected to be broadcast in South Korea.
In early January, "Da Qin Fu" also landed on YouTube hit theaters abroad.
Nearly ten years after "A Beautiful Time for a Daughter-in-law" became popular in Tanzania, the domestic drama "Going to Sea" is no longer a distant legend.
In recent years, large quantities of domestic dramas have gone to sea, and many popular dramas have been exported overseas.
Behind the "sea craze", what is the effect of domestic dramas?
Screenshot of the overseas broadcast video of "Da Qin Fu"
Where did the domestic dramas go to sea?
"I just started watching Chinese fantasy TV series recently, and then I was fascinated immediately. This is not the first one I watched, but it is definitely the best one in terms of scenes, costumes, special effects, play and performance." On IMDb, the largest Internet movie database in the United States, some foreign netizens commented on the domestic drama "Sweet Honey Like Frost".
IMDb screenshot
Like this netizen, many foreigners are learning about China through TV dramas.
At first, when "Zhen Huan Biography" went abroad, it caused an uproar on the Internet.
Nowadays, simultaneous broadcasting of domestic dramas overseas has become a common phenomenon.
According to the relevant person in charge of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in 2019, TV series are currently the most important program type in the international distribution of Chinese TV programs, accounting for about 70% of the country's TV program exports, and have been exported to more than 200 countries and regions around the world.
Where have all the domestic dramas "Going to Sea" been broadcasted?
Among them, the most common are foreign TV stations, including TV stations in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Arab region, Africa, and Australia.
Screenshot of the Korean trailer for "The Hidden Corner"
South Korea has Chunghwa TV and CHING that broadcast Chinese programs. In addition, mainstream Korean TV stations such as MBC, KBS, and ChannelA also broadcast domestic dramas.
In addition to the introduction of "The Hidden Corner", "The Story of Yanxi Palace", "Dear, Loved" and other popular dramas, South Korea has also introduced some non-hot dramas in recent years, such as "The Legend of the White Snake" and "Smoke in the World" "Cooking", "What Tonight", etc.
Korean TV stations have also increased their adaptations of domestic dramas. "Scary Step by Step", "To Our Simple Little Beauty", and "Prince Concubine's Promotion" are all adapted into Korean dramas.
Chinese TV screenshot
In contrast, the number of domestic dramas introduced by Japanese TV stations is not so large, but the translation of the Japanese version of "Chinese Twenty Foot" often arouses hot discussion on the Internet.
For example, "Strategy of Yanxi Palace" is translated as "Yingluo~The Burning Concubine of the Forbidden City~", "Zhen Huan" is translated as "The Lady of the Palace" and so on.
TV series poster
Another major destination for domestic dramas to "go overseas" is major overseas Internet platforms, such as American streaming platform Netflix, American video websites YouTube, Hulu, and video website Viki, which broadcasts a large number of Asian shows.
In the past few years, Netflix has purchased a number of high-quality plays such as "Zhen Huan Biography", "Langya List", "White Night Chasing the Murder", and "Netflix introduction" once became a symbol of quality.
In recent years, in order to attract more Asian users, Netflix's introduction of domestic dramas has also accelerated. In the past two years, it has received "Chen Qingling", "Liu Li", "Next Stop Is Happiness", "Thirty Only" and more. Drama.
Screenshot
Viki has cooperated with many Chinese film and television companies such as China International Television Corporation, Hualu Baina, Huace Film and Television, and Yiren Film and Television. This allows international audiences to watch a wealth of Chinese TV dramas, including "A Dream of Red Mansions" and Old dramas such as Zhugege also include new dramas such as "In the Name of Family" and "Under the Jin Yi".
Viki is more aimed at the Asian market and has a large number of Korean and Chinese drama resources.
VIKI screenshot
Which domestic dramas are most popular when going overseas?
So many domestic dramas are broadcast overseas, what is the effect?
Which type of drama is the most popular?
From a geographical point of view, domestic dramas still have a strong competitive advantage in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, and their influence has gradually increased in recent years.
At the same time, it has also begun to go out of Asia and continue to expand to Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and other countries and regions.
BiluTV screenshot
On Vietnamese video sites BiluTV and FPT Play, domestic dramas account for almost half of the country.
On the BiluTV real-time ranking table, domestic dramas occupy more than half of the seats, including "You Fei", "A Hundred Years Old, A Word Is Determined", "Wishful Fang Fei", "His Royal Highness Wolf", and "Shangyang Fu". The rest are Korean dramas and Native Vietnamese drama.
FPT Play screenshot
According to Google search data analysis, among the top 10 hot search terms in Malaysia in 2020, in addition to "Forensic Pioneer 4", "Apostle Walker 3", and "Airport Special Police", there are also popular "Youth with You 2" and "Three Ten only.
There are also "Dear, Loved" and "Full-time Master" in 2019.
Top Google Search Terms in Malaysia
However, in Asia, domestic dramas still face a strong opponent of Korean dramas.
Among the popular TV dramas on the foreign rating website MyDramaList, Korean dramas account for a considerable portion, followed by Chinese dramas, Japanese dramas and Thai dramas.
Screenshot of MyDramaList
From the number of repertoires on the Japanese film review website Filmarks, we can also see how well Japan accepts TV dramas from various countries.
Among them, American dramas are the most, followed by Korean dramas, British dramas, Canadian dramas, and then Chinese dramas.
Filmarks screenshot
However, the number of Chinese TV series has gradually increased in recent years.
Last year, Japan's NHK TV station also made an exception to broadcast "The Legend of Hao Lan" at the prime time, and "The Hidden Corner" will also land in Japan in January.
"The Legend of Hao Lan" landed on NHK, Japan
The increasing influence of domestic dramas is largely driven by explosive dramas.
For example, "Stricken Heart", "Zhen Huan Biography", "Langya List", "Strategy of Yanxi Palace", "Chen Qing Ling" and so on.
In 2018, "Strategy of Yanxi Palace" also topped Google's global TV series hot search list.
Story of Yanxi Palace topped Google's hot search list
At first glance, it seems that the most popular are costume dramas?
I have to admit that costumes and martial arts have always been the most competitive and labelled genres of Chinese film and television works, and costume dramas are also a major force in the "going to sea" of domestic dramas.
However, in recent years, there have been more and more modern dramas "going to sea", including works with realistic themes that reflect the lives of ordinary Chinese people, as well as romantic dramas and suspense dramas.
BiluTV screenshot
Among the top 20 domestic dramas compiled by relevant organizations, half of them are modern dramas, including "Small Smiles Are Allure", "Shan Shan Is Coming", "Why Sheng Xiaomo", "Ode to Joy 2", "All Are Good" and "I "The First Half of Life" and so on.
The relevant person in charge of Shanghai Shangshi Films also revealed in 2019 that the "China Joint Booth" has promoted about 170 TV dramas in the past three years, of which realism TV dramas (including romance and plots) accounted for 62%, and costumes Repertoire accounted for 34%, adventure fantasy drama accounted for 4%.
As the most popular genre in the international market, romantic dramas are also becoming a major advantage of Chinese domestic dramas going overseas.
Among all the Chinese dramas on the video website viki, most of the most commented are romantic dramas, such as "To Our Simple Little Beauty", "A Slight Smile is Very Beautiful", "There is the Brightest Star in the Night Sky", and "My Amazing Boyfriend" Wait.
viki screenshot
In the popular dramas of MyDramaList, in addition to "Chen Qing Ling", "Langya Bang" and other period costume dramas, there are "In the Name of Family", "Full-time Master", "I Only Like You", "Dear, Loved", and "Battle in Changsha" And other works on family, e-sports, love and war themes.
Screenshot of MyDramaList
In addition, works that reflect the anxiety and confusion of ordinary people's lives, such as "Little Farewell", "Little Happy Joy", and "Thirty Only" have also received resonance from many foreign audiences.
From "borrowing a ship to sea" to "building a ship to sea"
There are more and more domestic dramas "going to sea", and the promotion and efforts of all parties are inseparable behind it.
In terms of "going to sea", domestic dramas are moving from "borrowing boats to sea" to "shipbuilding to sea".
On the one hand, it comes from official support.
The Information Office of the State Council and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television jointly set up a "China Joint Booth" to organize domestic institutions to participate in influential film festivals and exhibitions around the world, and promote Chinese film and television works to go global.
In 2017, China International Television Corporation initiated the establishment of the "Film and Television Culture Import and Export Enterprise Collaboration", which attracted the participation of dozens of film and television companies such as Noon Sunshine and Ciwen Media to help film and television works go abroad.
In the second year, more than 400 programs were broadcast by members of the "consortium", 78% of which were broadcast overseas within one year after the domestic premiere.
In addition, the "Silk Road Film and Television Bridge Project" and China-Arab Satellite TV have also promoted Chinese film and television dramas to be broadcast on stars in Mongolia and Arab regions.
"Parents Love" has been rebroadcast nearly 10 times in Mongolia, and "Apocalypse of Life" and "The Story of Hot Mom" have repeatedly broken ratings records in the country.
"Parents Love" stills
On the other hand, the "going to sea" of domestic video website technology has also accelerated the "going to sea" of content.
In June 2019, Tencent Video launched WeTV, a streaming media service platform overseas.
The first stop was Thailand, followed by landing in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries and regions.
Currently, WeTV users cover more than 110 countries and regions.
WeTV screenshot
There are also Korean dramas, Thai dramas, Indonesian dramas, etc. on WeTV, but mainly domestic dramas.
In addition to disseminating domestic dramas to the outside world, WeTV is also committed to localization, such as cooperating with Thailand 3 to buy the network broadcasting rights of its Thai dramas.
At the same time, Tencent also acquired iflix, the top-ranked Malaysian streaming media platform in the Southeast Asian market.
After being acquired by Tencent, iflix added WeTV's dedicated channel on the homepage, and some domestic dramas were also recommended on the homepage of iflix.
iflix screenshot
IQiyi's business in Southeast Asia is also gradually expanding.
In 2019, the international version of iQiyi landed in Malaysia, and also cooperated with the Malaysian media brand Astro to establish an iQiyi HD TV channel locally.
In addition, iQiyi has hired Netflix executives to expand overseas business.
Screenshot of Astro Malaysia
The streaming media market in Southeast Asia has become more and more controversial. Recently, Station B has also released local language versions in Thailand and Malaysia to promote the "going overseas" of the two-dimensional content.
Bilibili expands overseas business
With the expansion of the platform, it will be more convenient for domestic dramas to go out in the future.
However, as Gong Yu, the founder of iQiyi, said, the responsibility of exporting Chinese culture to the world is still very difficult.
Not to mention that the international share and export scale of Chinese TV dramas are still relatively low and need to be further improved.
It is still a problem to talk about how to truly enter into the domestic dramas after going out and have real influence.
In the process, many difficulties such as market, translation, and cultural differences must be overcome.
However, it is clear that no matter who the audience is, the most important cornerstone is the quality of the work itself.
(Finish)