Why do iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video and Mango TV have to make short dramas?

After the short drama became popular, many companies have invested in it, including video platforms such as iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video and Mango TV. So the question is: Why do video platforms have to make short dramas? Is it just to keep the content in their hands, or are there other considerations? In this article, let's see the author's answer.

The degree of attention and the amount of resources invested, to a certain extent, reflect the depth of the platform's understanding of a new trend. For micro-short dramas, the understanding of all parties is gradually expanding and deepening, and the same is true for long video platforms.

Born in the era of short videos, micro-short dramas are obviously more suitable for short video platforms and broadcasting environments. Long video platforms initially entered the market with some reluctance and only tried it briefly. Moreover, they lacked a deeper understanding of the nature of micro-short dramas and their significance to the platform and the industry.

However, judging from the frequent actions of various long video platforms at this stage, it is clear that the awareness of "the change from long to short" has been upgraded. As Gong Yu of iQiyi said at the 2024 iQiyi Enjoy Conference, "iQiyi did this not early, one of the reasons is that historically, the question of 'what is iQiyi's micro-short drama equivalent to' has never been clearly thought out, but now we have basically figured it out."

What have long video platforms thought clearly? Why is it so important to produce short short dramas?

1. Adapt to the development trend and do it

The film and television expression logic and brand marketing logic represented by micro-short dramas are undergoing profound changes, and if long video platforms want to remain invincible in future competition, they must not miss this trend.

At this year's Internet Audiovisual Conference, iQiyi Senior Vice President Dai Ying summarized the performance of TV series in the first half of this year: there was a deviation from the expected performance of blockbuster hits, but the innovative works brought us great surprises. "This means that the aesthetic iteration of our audience may be far ahead of the development speed of content creators and the content itself. If we don't create content with foresight now, then the day the work is broadcast will be the day we are eliminated by the entire market and users."

The "creative difficulties" faced by long video platforms seem to be answered in micro-short dramas. The extreme sense of excitement, fast-paced narrative and innovative forms of expression are all subversive changes that distinguish micro-short dramas from traditional film and television expressions.

A short play screenwriter mentioned in an interview: "Short plays are the Yiwu small market of the film and television industry. Before, people only needed to look at the Yiwu small market to know what was popular internationally. Now film and television people can also see from the popular short plays what the audience wants to watch and what they like to watch. The content code lies in it."

If long video platforms want to truly grasp this changing trend, they must "get involved."

Relevant data in the "2024 H1 Micro-Short Drama Industry Observation and Marketing Guide" show that in the first half of this year, the number of micro-short drama registrations and broadcasts both increased, and the number of brand-cooperated commercial micro-short dramas increased by 68% year-on-year.

Many radio and television organizations in Hunan, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places have begun to enter the micro-short drama market and invested a lot of resources. In June, Jiangsu Radio and Television announced the launch of the Litchi Micro-short Drama "Trend Plan", including five major tracks: the head IP trend plan, the cultural tourism empowerment trend plan, the boutique cooperation trend plan, the fun animation trend plan, and the brand customization trend plan. In July, Hunan Radio and Television held the Mango Short Drama "Spark Plan" and the Screenwriter God Seminar. Gong Zhengwen said that Hunan Radio and Television has promoted micro-short dramas to a group strategy and is making arrangements for platforms and content. In September, Shanghai Radio and Television and the China Internet Audiovisual Association jointly launched the "China Micro-short Drama Quality Oriental Plan", launching five major actions including the launch of micro-short drama theaters, quality benchmarks, peak discussions, variety show innovation, and venture capital blue ocean.

Long video platforms have also taken many measures. iQiyi has launched short theaters and micro theaters, and the business model it designed is to distribute more than 70% of the revenue to content producers. Mango TV plans to build a micro-innovation content industry cluster in three to five years to achieve leapfrog development and contribute "micro power" to building a "long, medium and short" connected Mango super platform. Tencent Video has innovated the rules of shared-account dramas from multiple angles, such as no platform classification, upgraded evaluation standards, and extended the sharing cycle, and emphasized that good content is not divided into long and short, and the shared-account drama track should be "long and short integrated, and prosper together." From October 8, 2024, the unit price of Youku short dramas at the S level will be set at 16 yuan, and the unit price of A level will be set at 8 yuan. At the same time, the new coefficient indicator will be introduced to encourage excellent works to reach new heights.

In terms of brand marketing, a report shows that with the development of short videos, self-media and advertising marketing, 50% of short drama producers come from advertising marketing companies, 20% from MCN companies, and only 30% from traditional film and television companies. In the first half of this year, 70 brands and 15 industries tried short drama marketing for the first time, with beauty, personal care, and food and beverage leading the way.

The brand marketing logic of micro-short dramas, characterized by precise user reach, innovative implantation models, and customized creation, has become the industry's leading model. If long video platforms do not join the game to compete for this "cake", it will be too late.

2. Satisfy user needs, it’s imperative

Mango TV is committed to building a Mango super platform that connects the "long, medium and short" content, comprehensively connecting the "Mango Series" long, medium and short content matrix, amplifying the derivative development of the "Mango Series" hit drama and variety show IPs, and providing brands with a "one fish, two ways" strategy of complementary long and short marketing.

Tencent Video's shared-revenue drama adheres to the principle of "integration of long and short dramas, common prosperity and common progress". In terms of micro-short dramas, the shared box office of 9 projects in the first half of the year exceeded 10 million, among which "Just Stop While You're Promising" and "Pen" achieved gratifying results of shared box office exceeding 20 million.

Among these, the most noteworthy is the cognitive upgrade and change of long video platforms that "no longer differentiate between long and short content."

Indeed, iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video and Mango TV should not be restricted or constrained by the name of "long video platform", but should always take serving member users well as their core goal.

Micro short dramas can not only enrich the content ecosystem of long videos, but also adapt to more diverse user viewing scenarios and needs. Large blocks of immersive time periods can be used to watch exquisite "long content", while fragmented time periods can be used to watch relaxing "short content", which can provide users with more diverse emotional values.

Compared with "long content", another value of short dramas for long video platforms lies in their contribution to personalized recommendation technology. The appeal of short dramas is more single and more extreme, which is more suitable for accurate user recommendations through artificial intelligence and big data analysis. It is also more conducive to in-depth research on user viewing preferences and interests, summarizing experience and rules, and providing reference for the production and marketing of "long content" with huge investment.

iQIYI has opened micro-theaters and short-theaters, which are exclusively for VIP members, without the need to pay separately. "Micro-theaters" will launch two new works every week, with content types focusing on male and female channels and the elderly, mainly 1-5 minutes of vertical screen content; "Short Theaters" plans to launch a new work every week, covering ancient stories, modern idols, suspense and other types, each episode is 5-20 minutes long, and mainly horizontal screen content. This not only challenges the current mainstream business model of micro-short dramas that "more than 90% of the income is used for streaming and performance advertising", but also opens up a new development opportunity for the membership model of long video platforms.

For the paid membership model of long video platforms, short dramas, with their lightweight model, can be quickly updated and iterated, constantly trying newer forms of expression, which can greatly alleviate the "drama shortage" of member users between the release of major dramas. The fast update frequency can also attract member users to log in to the platform frequently to watch, effectively improving the user activity of the platform, so that the platform's high-quality "long content" has more opportunities to quickly reach users.

3. Finding incremental resources is a must

Film and television is a resource-intensive industry that follows the "Matthew effect". After several years of development, long video platforms have great control and influence over long series resources, and the competitive landscape has basically been locked. At this stage, faced with a large number of resources gathering towards short short dramas, long video platforms cannot sit idly by and allow these resources and increments to grow wildly. Moreover, faced with a relatively solidified competitive landscape, long video platforms need new resource increments to be added in order to achieve sustainable development.

Creators and stars increase

There are a large number of practitioners in the micro-short drama industry. Relevant data from iResearch Consulting shows that the number of registered micro-short drama-related companies continued to grow and exploded in 2020, exceeding 10,000. By the end of 2023, it had reached 23,000.

On the one hand, a large number of practitioners can produce a large number of short drama content, and on the other hand, they can also be regarded as a huge "resource library" for the film and television industry. These new creators can not only bring fresh creativity and vitality, but also inject new blood into the development of the film and television industry.

The first domestic "micro short drama + variety show" innovative reality show "On Air! Short Drama Season" premiered on Dragon TV at 21:00 on October 13, gathering many popular micro short drama artists such as Xu Yizhen, Li Muchen, He Jianqi, Dai Gaozheng, etc., and attracted considerable attention.

After actor Cheng Lei gained popularity through the short play "Xu Yan", he stood out in the popular ancient idol drama "Yun Zhi Yu". Now he has starred in many idol dramas and has become one of the "popular stars to come".

Partner increment

Using micro-short dramas as a medium, long video platforms can carry out more diverse forms of cooperation with short video platforms, micro-short drama producers, brands that customize micro-short dramas, etc., to form a huge increase in the number of partners.

In the process of these collaborations, each party can give full play to its own advantages and potentially discover and promote new development opportunities. For long video platforms that are seeking breakthroughs in their development models, why not do it?

Technology increment

The launch of Douyin's AI short drama "Sanxingdui: Future Revelation" has increased the industry's confidence in AI's ability to completely change the film and television industry.

By trying various new film and television technologies in short dramas, such as: AI-assisted content creation, virtual production to enhance visual effects, big data analysis to guide creative direction, miniaturization and intelligence of professional equipment, efficient editing and post-production technology, etc., we can prepare for application in long videos.

Image source: Official Weibo

4. Summary

Just like the early days of online movies and online novels, micro-short dramas still face various criticisms, but the audience's choice is the biggest criterion.

In the fiercely competitive film and television market, long video platforms need to constantly seek resources and develop new growth to achieve sustainable development, and micro-short dramas are such a new field full of potential.

Luo Zhenyu once said: "The so-called 'doer' is not someone who stands aside and gives advice. Instead, he or she gets involved, puts himself or herself in the game, and turns himself or herself into the key variable in solving the problem."

When it comes to micro-short dramas, long video platforms really can no longer be hesitant.

References

1. New profit-sharing rules for Youku short dramas in 2024 released

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fCTw3JE6vo1KOJeL76tw1w

2. Contribute "micro power" to build a Mango super platform that connects the "long, medium and short"

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gnVNxov73iNu-_UTCYChVQ

3. Accelerate towards "fine"! CCTV's "China's Fine Micro-Short Drama Venture Investment and Media Integration Action" grandly kicked off

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0AEIfHvx-mYVdKv-oEQ7cA

4. "A new chapter begins, and we move towards the future together" Tencent Video opens a new chapter in the revenue-sharing drama track

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ioughrSJnabp6whyVY47YQ

5. Gong Yu of iQiyi: iQiyi takes measures to cope with the changes in length, AI and Chinese dramas

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6wSjapHsSNPaugHYI5acvQ

6. [Eagle Eye Headlines] Short drama creators prescribe a prescription for the National Day holiday: user thinking, de-acting, and data-oriented

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/x4G9gWdm6NhWNQXTslwxwg

Author｜Freesia This article is written by the author of Operation Party [Media No. 1], WeChat public account: [Media No. 1], original/authorized to be published on Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

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