Since 2017, the strong rise of short videos has further dismantled user time, and the film and television industry has gradually entered the era of "second" as the unit of measurement: 50 or 60 episodes of long dramas have gradually disappeared, and 12 episodes of fast-paced short dramas have been replaced; The ever-accelerating "double-speed viewing" and short video and Weibo viewing of dramas have become the norm, and the so-called drama structure and precise logic are being deconstructed and reshaped by "high speed".
As for the micro-short drama, the product of the combination of speed and content, it is born with the trend: an episode of 2 minutes to 15 minutes, there is no unfathomable dramatic logic, only the rapid entry of the plot, the ultimate character relationship; sweet pet, suspense, Time travel, soft sci-fi, nonsense, everything... Even if its production is not enough to "50 hair standard", it is enough time to fill a cup of instant noodles.
The data can prove the market effect of the short drama.
It is reported that in 2022, the number of daily active users of micro-short series on Kuaishou platform alone will increase to 260 million, of which more than 50% of users watch more than 10 episodes per day; Mango TV’s single micro-short series has more than 600 million broadcasts. Among them, "Nian Nian Wuming" scored more than 29,000 people on Douban, with a score of 7.3; Youku's "A Thousand Gold Maid" has a maximum popularity of over 7,000 on Maoyan, which is as long as the same period. According to media reports, Tencent video "Please!
Don't spoil me "The amount of the accounts exceeded 30 million yuan, setting a new record for the accounts of micro-short dramas...
How did the mini-series come about?
Why did the micro-series develop rapidly and form a scale?
A reporter from the Beijing News interviewed Zhan Yali, producer of Mango TV's "Damang Short Play", Bai Yicong, founder and president of Linghe Culture, Lu Tian, content director of Twelve Shengxiao Media, and Du Hao, founder of Sugar Free Culture, Dismantling the road to the outbreak of micro-minidramas.
A short video grabs a lot of time from users, and micro-short dramas emerge as the times require
According to the new "Online Micro Drama" section added by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television in the filing system in 2020, a micro-short drama can be defined as a web drama with a single episode of no more than 10 minutes.
If we go back to this standard, the 2013 "mini-drama" "Unexpectedly" can be called "the originator of micro-short dramas" - each episode is only 5-10 minutes long, and there are 15 episodes in total, but it attracts people with nonsensical exaggerated plots. A group of young audiences, and filmed three seasons in a row.
But at that time, the content of online students was just starting, and there was no market environment for micro-short dramas to pursue success.
The budding of "mini-sketches" recognized by most industry insiders was from 2017 to 2019.
In the past three years, short videos have risen strongly, and users' time has gradually been fragmented.
According to the "China TV Drama (Internet Drama) Industry Survey Report", in 2019, the usage time of short video users in China exceeded that of long videos for the first time.
At the same time, the content of long videos is frequently filled with water, and the web dramas of fifty or sixty episodes emerge in an endless stream, which also pushes the audience to pursue compact narratives in reverse.
"Micro-short dramas" are almost the product of long and short video platforms in the war to seize users' time.
In 2021, Kuaishou officially launched the "Kaishou Xingmang Short Drama" brand, hoping to create more top-quality micro-short dramas, and to provide micro-short dramas through account sharing rewards, brand investment promotion, live e-commerce, commercial single advertisements, etc. A full range of monetization links.
Platforms such as iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video have also begun to deploy mini-series.
In 2019, Mango TV officially launched the "Damang Short Drama".
In Zhan Yali's view, micro-short dramas focus more on the main story and key characters. Although they are shorter than long dramas, they need to release more information within a limited time. Slowly normalizing, micro-short dramas are new products in the market that came into being.”
Linghe Culture is one of the early traditional film and television companies that have deployed mini-series.
In 2019, Bai Yicong found that users stayed longer and longer in short videos, and many people seemed to have "give up" to pursue long dramas, because many long dramas can be edited into short videos, "Everyone has been indoctrinated into I'm impatient." Bai Yicong said that the current content creation is more and more "fast", in the case of the same unit time, users want to absorb more information and get more pleasure, 10 reversals per second It can easily catch the audience's attention.
From this point of view, short dramas are indeed better than long dramas.
"In 2019, there are still very few short dramas on the market, but we felt that it might become a new model, so we encouraged the team to develop and reserve themes."
B Small and medium-sized film and television companies quickly realized
In 2012, Lu Tian started working in film production after graduating from Beijing Film Academy.
In 2015, the concept of online dramas became more and more popular. Lu Tian switched from movies to customized dramas and account-sharing dramas, and served as the producer of online dramas such as "Sword Dynasty" and "Three Thousand Crows Killing".
Until 2019, after making four or five online dramas, Lu Tian discovered that as the production cost and purchase price of online dramas have risen, the market supply relationship of "reduction and growth" has allowed the platform to continue to reduce costs and the profit margin of the filmmaker. , the right to speak has been further suppressed.
"Even if the river dries up, the small river can't flow anymore." In those two years, Lu Tian also became a deep short video user.
In the era of fast monetization of content, he began to think, whether it is possible to combine short video and episode content to find new market development space?
So, he joined the start-up company Twelve Shengxiao, and started to develop vertical-screen micro-dramas using Kuaishou's Internet celebrity account as the publishing port.
Lu Tian called Twelve Shengxiao a "small workshop" - there are only a dozen incumbents, no huge capital flow, and it is a representative of micro and small film and television companies.
At present, at least tens of millions of dollars are invested in a customized drama, and millions of dollars are also invested in the account-sharing drama. Such companies often can only become unknown victims in the competition of large companies.
However, the low production threshold, low capital investment, fast filming and production, quick cash return, and the subsidies and financial support provided by major platforms for micro-short dramas have all brought vitality to small companies: "We will be small The amount of money can be opened (machine) at about 1 million. Whether this money is paid out by one family or two or three companies together, it is not a lot of pressure. Moreover, we can share accounts with the platform, there are subsidies, and the return cycle is relatively fast, which can be carried out quickly. Realize the content and solve the problem of capital flow." Lu Tian said.
Looking at the current production organizations of micro-shorts, most of them are small and medium-sized film and television companies like Twelve Shengxiao.
The sugar-free culture founded by Du Hao is even smaller than Twelve Shengxiao, but it has successively released works such as "Nian Nian Wuming", "Jin Xiaoqi Family", and "Don't Go Wild with My Sister".
Among them, "Nian Nian Wuming" has become a two-way explosion in word-of-mouth ratings.
Du Hao revealed that the trial and error cost of micro-short dramas is relatively low, and the core advantage of being short, smooth and fast has also contributed to the entry of other content ecosystems other than traditional film and television companies into the micro-short drama market.
"For a small-scale company such as us, micro-drama is a product and business with strong vitality." Du Hao said.
C Traditional companies reduce volume and cost to find another way out
According to data from Detawen, in the first half of 2022, 2,859 mini-series have been planned and filed in the SARFT system (that is, entering the preparatory production period), and 195 mini-series have been filed online (that is, ready to be put on the market). .
Among them, the number of filings in May and June both exceeded 400, which has exceeded the number of filings for short dramas in 2021.
Under the two swords of Damocles, "Bitter Winter of Film and Television" and "Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement", the short drama went against the trend.
"In the current environment, many teams have no chance to shoot long dramas. If a company that has been committed to long dramas suddenly shoots short dramas, is it really innovative? No, many are trying to find a way." Bai Yicong said frankly .
Compared with the gradual cost reduction of the platform a few years ago, the clear "cost reduction and efficiency increase" in 2022 has accelerated the reshuffle of film and television companies.
According to industry insiders, in the first half of this year, there were only about ten S-level projects that could be passed by the video platform after many meetings, which was not enough for the passing rate of the past meeting.
Many film and television projects can only be put into account sharing pools, and the company's capital flow is greatly challenged.
In order to reduce losses, some companies have reduced production costs, and some companies have begun to quickly deploy short dramas.
Bai Yicong also received a short-drama project book sent by a friend. The investment was less than one million, but there were five or six producers, each of whom only invested tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
"Nowadays, many people do micro-series through financing. A film or drama can raise at least tens of millions or hundreds of millions, which is difficult now; but micro-series can only raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although most of the micro-series lose money , but even if the money is lost, it will not be too serious. For some companies, the more important thing is that the business has to move, at least one project is being shot, and the funds can be circulated.” Bai Yicong said.
Beijing News reporter Zhang He