Committed to stylization, type, brand, quality


There are good dramas in the online theater (deep observation)

　　A few days ago, the "Night Walker" of iQIYI's Mist Theater received a good reputation after its broadcast, which once again attracted people's attention to the Mist Theater.

In 2020, the popularity of iQIYI's self-produced drama "The Hidden Corner" made the video platform's theater mode well-known, and promoted the in-depth exploration of this mode by major video platforms.

In 2021, Mango TV Monsoon Theater's "I'm Good in a Homeland", 2022 Youku Dove Theater's "Please Call Me Director" and other works that are hotly debated by audiences are all products of the theater model.

　　The theater mode means that the video platform integrates a collection of works with similar themes, styles, and genres into one theater for centralized broadcasting.

This helps the audience to distinguish the style of the works and make targeted selections according to their personal preferences.

After a period of development, the theater model has become the brand, IP, image, and logo of major video platforms.

iQIYI's Mist Theater, Xiaodou Theater, and Love Theater show iQIYI's pursuit of a youthful brand tone; Youku's Pet Theater, Suspense Theater, and Hong Kong Theater reflect the platform's "focus on love". TV's monsoon theater demonstrates the platform's character of resonating with the times and in harmony with the society.

　　Cross-border evolution and upgrade

　　The theater mode of the video platform is closely related to the TV theater.

In order to distinguish the different program sections of the day, Weiwei often names the section where TV shows are shown as "theatre", such as Happy Theater, Golden Eagle Theater, China Blue Theater, Oriental Theater, etc.

However, most of the theater names of satellite TV are determined according to the characteristics of each satellite TV rather than the characteristics of the broadcasts, and the styles of satellite TV theaters are diverse, and usually these TV series are not very recognizable.

　　Since its birth, the online theater has been devoted to the exploration of style, type, brand and quality.

In 2013, the Sunshine Theater launched by Youku may be the earliest attempt of an online theater.

In 2015, Put Theater was launched on Youku, and two small theaters, Bold Chong and Relax Live, were launched for male and female audiences, consciously exploring audience segmentation.

With the development of self-made dramas on video platforms, in 2018, iQIYI launched Qi Suspense Theater and Love Youth Theater.

At this time, the style of online theater works began to be unified, the genre began to stand out, and the theater name also had a certain degree of recognition.

　　In 2020, iQIYI upgraded the Qi Suspense Theater to the Mist Theater, and successively released works such as "Ten Days Game", "The Hidden Corner" and "Extraordinary Witness", which became famous for a while.

So far, iQIYI has officially operated and promoted the theater as a brand, which has played a leading role in other video platforms, bringing the theater model into a high-quality, high-quality development stage.

　　Pursue creative innovation

　　The works in the theater mode of the video platform generally pursue creativity, innovation, imagination and creativity. The stories told and the way of telling stories focus on satisfying the curiosity of the audience.

"I'm Good in a Foreign Country" has a unique perspective and deep excavation, showing the working life and hard work of four young women "Beijing Drift".

"Meow, Please Make a Wish" adds sci-fi elements to the love story, telling the emotional experience between people from different planets.

These imaginative stories bring audiences a different kind of viewing experience.

　　Theater works have diverse and rich themes, and often combine a variety of elements to collide with new ideas.

Among them, there are suspense dramas and costume comedies; urban romance dramas and youth campus dramas; scientific research workplace dramas and sci-fi dramas... A variety of themes meet the individual needs of the audience.

　　The works of the same theater often have a high degree of uniformity in style, focusing on breakthroughs in genre, and the theater name shows its own characteristics.

The three theaters of iQIYI's Mist, Love, and Xiaoju are full of creativity, no matter the name or content.

For example, although Mist Theater is mainly based on suspense, it also focuses on themes such as family, science fiction, and growth. "Who is the Murderer" focuses on the psychological state of young people and the power of family affection behind the suspense.

The works of Youku Family Fun Theater are mainly comedies and family dramas, while the works of Urban Theater are mainly modern urban life dramas and comedies, such as "Three Lives are fortunate to meet you" and "Hello!

Mothers are all witty and genre-melting.

　　Strive to create quality products

　　At present, the differentiation of audiences and fierce market competition determine that film and television works must go through big waves. The theater operations of major video platforms have implemented high-quality strategies and made various efforts:

　　"Refined production": Reduce the number of episodes, condense the drama, and strive to present better audio-visual effects and actor performances.

In just 12 episodes, "I'm Good in a Foreign Country" vividly portrays the images of 4 young women "Beijing Drift" who have experienced the ups and downs of work and life.

"The Mystery of the Octagon Pavilion" tells a family story spanning nearly 20 years in 12 episodes. The characters are three-dimensional and vivid, and the pictures and sounds have a cinematic quality.

　　"Precision content": Focus on topical social hotspots, arouse empathy and resonance.

"Sito" expresses the theme of romantic love and the concept of environmental protection; "The Hidden Corner" focuses on the topics of family education and children's growth.

These themes can affect the hearts of current audiences.

　　"Precise audience": Respect young audiences, pass on youth culture, and show the image of youth.

"Please Call Me Director" shows young women's independence and self-improvement and a positive outlook on workplace struggle; "Night Walker" portrays the heroic image of young police officers and sings praises for their perseverance, bravery and wisdom... These dramas all convey the ideals of It is a youth culture and youth image characterized by socialism, family and country responsibility, tolerance and fraternity.

　　Explore brand strategy

　　The theater mode is the branding and IP-based construction of the video platform, which has high anti-risk ability and strong brand appeal.

On the one hand, the theater provides publicity convenience and audience base for the works. For example, because the audience is full of expectations for the Misty Theater, they actively promote the "Octagon Pavilion Misty" before the broadcast; on the other hand, the excellent works of the theater have a strong brand driving force. For example, "The Hidden Corner" directly detonated the Misty Theater, and "I'm Good in a Homeland" also rapidly increased the influence of Monsoon Theater.

The theater brand also has a certain self-healing ability.

When the brand appeal drops for some reason, if the theater can launch new works in time, it can attract the audience faster and restore the brand influence.

　　The theater model is also an industrial exploration of web dramas, with industrial advantages.

First, the cost is controllable, and the subsequent script creation can be based on the expectations of the audience of the previous drama to "plant flowers with heart" to meet the needs of the audience; second, the works can rely on brand influence and appeal to reduce marketing costs; The third is to focus on the industrialization of production, often more Co-produced by a company.

For example, the episodes of several iQIYI theaters are mostly co-produced with other production companies, and then maintain the brand in the form of "iQIYI exclusive broadcast".

The same is true for most of the theater productions on other platforms.

　　Theater boutiques also have the significance of international cultural dissemination.

"The Hidden Corner" and "The Silent Truth" and other works from the Mist Theater have been broadcast in many overseas countries and regions. "The Hidden Corner" has also become the only Chinese film to be selected as one of the 15 global films selected by the American "Variety" magazine in 2020. Best drama production.

Undoubtedly, these high-quality drama series not only show the artistic level of Chinese online dramas to overseas, but also an international dissemination of Chinese brands and Chinese culture.

　　Chen Xuguang Zhang Minghao