Are skits going crazy? The old Mary Sue is becoming popular

This article introduces the emerging trend of short dramas with middle-aged and elderly themes in the market, analyzes the reasons why they attract middle-aged and elderly audiences, and the potential value and challenges of the short drama industry in the silver economy.

The 27-year-old billionaire president falls in love with the 45-year-old cleaning lady!!! #国产短剧已疯了# dominates the hot searches. The short drama track is still hot, and recently there is a new theme - sweet pet drama for the elderly.

Old age! Sweet love? This sounds "crazy", but it does not affect the audience's love. In the past two months, a new type of short play, "The Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Me in Menopause", which is jokingly called "The Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Me in Menopause", has topped the short play popularity list.

Image source: Screenshot of the short play

49-year-old Shi Xiaoxiu was abandoned by her husband, the factory director, and lived alone. She was also bullied by her daughter-in-law and could only sell lunch boxes on the street. By chance, she saved a girl named Lei Mengjie. With the help of this girl, the ordinary Xiaoxiu, without knowing it, got married to Lei Zhiyuan, who pretended to be an air conditioner repairman with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, but was actually the chairman of the group. Her qualities of truth, kindness and beauty touched the 53-year-old unmarried "dominant boss" and he immediately decided to marry her.

This is the plot of the first four episodes of the recently popular short drama for the elderly, "Flash Marriage with a Rich Family". Although it is about the "twilight love" of uncles and aunts, it has all the elements of "domineering boss" and "sweet pet"; the plots of heroes saving beauties and CEOs chasing love are even more "crazy" than the young people's version. Many young people can't digest this kind of Mary Sue plot, but many aunts "can't put it down".

According to DataEye's short drama hot list, "Flash Marriage My Spouse is a Wealthy Family" has been online for half a month and has been ranked first on the hot list for several consecutive days, with a cumulative playback volume of 500 million times. Tinghuadao, the production company behind the drama, also stated that "Flash Marriage My Spouse is a Wealthy Family" is the most profitable short drama since the Spring Festival this year. The current recharge amount of the drama mini program has reached 26.4 million yuan; the original end (referring to the short drama company's release of its own copyrighted short drama on the official Douyin theater account registered by the main body) has an income of 1.95 million yuan, and the total profit exceeds 3 million yuan, which has caused a lot of shock in the industry.

The solid performance has made many practitioners realize that the middle-aged and elderly groups are the "high-quality audience" of short dramas. Many short drama companies have begun to set up projects. Xiaoyun, a screenwriter of a short drama production company, revealed to DoNews: "Our company has also started to prepare for the elderly short drama project. In order to catch up with the opportunity, we even started to accept scripts for elderly short dramas."

The wind has already blown in the industry, but is the market really vast or just a flash in the pan? When middle-aged and elderly people watch short dramas, what are the potential dark sides behind the glitter?

01 The temptation of the elderly boss

Several short dramas featuring elderly "bosses" have become popular one after another.

Before "Flash Marriage with a Rich Family", "Flash Marriage at 50" also dominated the short drama popularity list, and the current Douyin topic volume has exceeded 2.3 billion. The plot is similar: a divorced woman facing a midlife crisis is slapped by her son and ex-mother-in-law at home, and is rejected when she goes out on a blind date. Her miserable life is a mess, but by some strange coincidence, she gets flash married to a wealthy chairman who pretends to be a taxi driver. The 95 episodes of dog-blooded plotting slap all kinds of villains along the way.

In addition, there are "When You Are Fifty, You Get Married with a Domineering President", "After a Flash Marriage, the Fifty-Year-Old Domineering President Spoils Me Crazy", "Flash Marriage Mom", "Fifty-Year-Old Nanny Marries a Rich Family", etc., which are all full of elements of blind dates and flash marriages, Mary Sue love between middle-aged and elderly people, conflicts between the kind heroine and the vicious daughter-in-law, and the vicious mother-in-law.

In the opinion of CC, a short drama market researcher, the reason why this type of short drama has become so popular is that, on the one hand, the "domineering" atmosphere created by the plot gives the audience room to dream, and on the other hand, it takes middle-aged and elderly people as the protagonists and incorporates issues such as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships, parent-child relationships, etc., making it easy for the audience to put themselves in the story.

"'Dream making' is not only suitable for young people, but also for middle-aged and elderly people. In addition, in daily life, they do not have multiple outlets to vent their emotions like young people do, so middle-aged and elderly people are more likely to become addicted to things that satisfy their emotions."

In fact, short dramas have already appeared in subcategories to meet the pain points and pleasure points of the emotional needs of middle-aged and elderly people. In addition to the "domineering president" theme, there are also family-themed dramas such as "I am a Mother", "Three Sons Respecting Their Mother", and "Ten Fingers Connected to the Heart", and daughter-themed dramas such as "Fifty Years Old Riding the Wind and Waves" and "The Vegetable Selling Auntie is the Emperor's Sister-in-law".

In addition, the "diversion" between male and female frequencies has also continued in short dramas for middle-aged and elderly people. For example, the recent short dramas such as "The Return of the Designated Driver Dad", "Dog Father and Tiger Son", and "Father and Son Soldiers in the Battlefield" have added elements such as battlefields that men like in addition to family affection, and also highlight the "cool" emotion.

02 Can short plays for middle-aged and elderly people make money?

Being thrifty is a social stereotype about the middle-aged and elderly groups, but this does not mean that short plays targeting middle-aged and elderly audiences cannot make money.

Zhang Xi, a post-2000s who works in Beijing, told DoNews: "When I went home for the Spring Festival last year, I found that my grandmother had recharged nearly 1,000 yuan to watch short dramas. At that moment, I finally believed that the short dramas uploaded online were not a scam. Because before, I saw short dramas for free, or spent one or two yuan to buy them in some resource groups. I never thought that someone would really spend so much money to recharge."

What surprised him was that his usually frugal grandmother was willing to pay for the short drama. "My grandmother believes that nowadays you have to top up your TV to watch it, and even after you top up you may not be able to find what she likes. As for the short drama, she watches it first, and after watching it for a while she likes it, and then she spends money to buy the next one, which is like trying something new before buying it."

Zhang Xi really couldn't refute his grandmother's words. "The smart TV at home is basically just for decoration. If we're not at home, she can't turn it on at all, let alone find her favorite dramas to watch." Zhang Xi had no choice but to install some free apps for her grandmother to watch short dramas, and also find some free resources to reduce her recharge.

Image source: Screenshot of Hongguo Short Drama App

However, there are also “free ways to make money” from free short plays.

A mother born in the 1990s quietly discovered that her mother-in-law has received more express deliveries in the past one or two months. "They are small items such as socks, garbage bags, and water cups. When I asked, I found out that they were all orders placed while watching short dramas."

It turns out that although some short dramas are free, if you want to follow the dramas, you have to watch video ads of a certain length. Clicking on them will directly jump to the shopping platform. The products recommended by big data for middle-aged and elderly people can easily prompt them to place orders.

"My mother-in-law said that for many dramas, you have to watch a video ad after watching one or two episodes. But the things in the ads are very cheap, like a water cup is only a little over one yuan, and they are still snapped up. There are also garbage bags, which are more than three yuan a bag. I placed an order thinking that I can use them at home." Mo Mo said helplessly: "It's just that some things are not cost-effective to buy, such as garbage bags, which are very thin and basically unusable, but the old man didn't understand when he bought them."

Mo Mo repeatedly told her mother-in-law not to buy these things, but she only bought less of the things she complained about, and still ordered other products while watching the skits. "There is no way, the old lady seems to have no defense against the Internet, as long as she is still addicted to watching the skits, she will definitely order these things."

Of course, Momo had tried to persuade her mother-in-law not to watch skits anymore, but for her mother-in-law, watching skits was one of the few ways for her to relax and entertain herself.

03 The silver economy of the short drama industry

Why are some middle-aged and elderly people addicted to short dramas?

CC analyzed: "Young people have many ways to entertain themselves, such as offline movies, concerts, various ball games, and electronic products, but the middle-aged and elderly people are very scarce. In addition, due to physical reasons, they cannot travel far for a long time and cannot keep up with the pace of the smart era. Their entertainment basically depends on film and television content products."

However, the development of online broadcasting and the upgrading of smart TVs have raised the threshold for middle-aged and elderly people to watch film and television content. Relatively speaking, the up and down operation of short videos on mobile phones is very friendly to middle-aged and elderly people. According to the "2023 Silver Economic Insight Report" released by QuestMobile, the top 5 of the top 10 App usage preference list for the elderly are occupied by short video apps. It can be seen that in terms of content consumption, the elderly rely heavily on short videos, which may be one of the reasons why short dramas based on them are so popular among middle-aged and elderly people. "

QuestMobile data shows that in March 2024, the penetration rate of people over 50 years old will reach 26.5%, and the population size will reach 320 million people, and there is a huge gap in emotional consumption demand waiting to be filled. On the other hand, the consumption power of the elderly should not be underestimated. According to the "China Aging Industry Development Report", by 2050, the consumption potential of China's elderly population will increase from 4 trillion to 106 trillion. Even if middle-aged and elderly people do not necessarily only watch short dramas, the funnel effect of the crowd also makes short dramas for middle-aged and elderly people have a very large development space.

However, it is worth noting that although the market for short dramas for middle-aged and elderly people is booming, it is not so easy to create a "hit" that makes money.

"Whether it is for young people or middle-aged and elderly people, if you want to create a hit, you have to innovate in content. You will never create a hit by following the trend. Just like after "Flash Marriage at 50", everyone started to copy this type, but the frequent use of the same plot will only cause users to become aesthetically bored. On the other hand, young people may actively search for topics on social platforms, while middle-aged and elderly people are just watching videos. Therefore, whether a short drama for the elderly can become a "hit" depends more on the investment and traffic bet of the company behind it." Xiaoyun said.

The production companies behind the current hit short dramas for middle-aged and elderly people are all industry leaders. For example, the production company behind "Flash Marriage My Wife is a Wealthy Family" is Tinghuadao, which has created "I was a Stepmother in the 1980s" and "Boss Pei Wants to Become a Rich Man Every Day". The producer of "Flash Marriage at 50" is Tianqiao Short Drama, which has launched more than 1,000 short dramas in the market. The company behind "Flash Marriage Mom" ​​is Jiuzhou Short Drama. It's not that small companies can't make hits, but that the top large companies have a higher tolerance rate, so they dare to innovate themes and open up new tracks.

In addition, if short dramas for middle-aged and elderly people are to go further, short drama companies should tap into the real emotional needs of the middle-aged and elderly groups, rather than creating conflicts, provoking emotions, and distorting values. Middle-aged and elderly people may not be able to keep up with the trend, but they should also enjoy good content products.

Author: Cheng Shushu, Editor: Li Xinma, Operation: Leo This article is written by the operation author [Wen Yu Talk], WeChat public account: [Wen Yu Talk], original/authorized to be published in the operation party, and reproduction is prohibited without permission.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.