With the life cycle shortened, when will the battle between paid and free short dramas end?

With the rapid development of the short drama industry and the increasing saturation of the market, the controversy over free and paid models of short dramas has become increasingly fierce, and the short drama industry of short videos is constantly seeking diversified commercial monetization methods.

Platform profit sharing, cooperative brand orders, talent incubation, sponsorship, brand customization... the monetization methods of the short drama industry are gradually becoming diversified, and are beginning to move away from the single form of investment and payment. Even short dramas that are free to watch are beginning to bring commercial benefits.

However, with the expansion of the market scale and the emergence of high-quality creators, the competition in the short drama track has become increasingly fierce, the market has begun to remain saturated, and the "80/20 rule" has begun to emerge. From filming to publicity and distribution, the industry has begun to accelerate into the iteration period, the pace of the entire market is accelerating, and the battle situation between upstream and downstream parties has become increasingly tense.

This is also reflected in the changes in content format. In the past, most of the short dramas that were popular were based on themes such as domineering bosses, fantasy, and gods of war. However, this year, more and more short dramas on hot topics such as the Olympics, festivals, college entrance examinations, and hit dramas have begun to emerge.

The popularity and topicality of such works are closely related to relevant hot topics, which means that the content life cycle of such works is also relatively shorter.

On the other hand, with the deepening of industry supervision, higher requirements have been put forward for short dramas from relevant departments to platforms. Corresponding to this is the increase in the production and distribution costs of short dramas, which has brought more severe tests to the commercialization of short dramas.

The industry has never stopped discussing whether short dramas should be free or paid, focusing on the topic of revenue and cost. From the perspective of both parties, both paid and free have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the methods of monetization are also different. So far, there is still no conclusion on which method is the best solution for short drama monetization.

1. Commercialization Model of Free Short Dramas

Looking back at the new content forms that appeared at various stages of the Internet, free content was an important way to attract users and fire the "first shot". However, the transition from free content to paid content is a long and complicated process.

From early free viewing, to membership VIP and SVIP, and now to the continuous pirated and leaked content, long videos have not been able to completely solve the problem of content payment after more than ten years of development.

This problem also occurs in short dramas. For relatively low-end content groups, it may not be difficult to take money out of their pockets once, but when the form and content of the short dramas converge, it becomes a difficult task to get them to continue paying.

Therefore, many content platforms have begun to try to deploy free short dramas, hoping to commercialize around brands. Methods such as implantation, customization, and talent incubation have become relatively mature, and they are more about making money on the B-side.

For example, the Hongguo free short drama APP launched by Douyin previously attracted more short drama users with a free model and achieved commercialization through IAA (in-app advertising monetization).

According to the June short drama monthly report released by Hongguo, the platform's total revenue in June exceeded 100 million yuan, of which two copyright holders had a monthly revenue of over 10 million yuan, and more than 100 works had a monthly revenue of over 200,000 yuan per drama. This shows that this method can work for short dramas.

For the producers of short dramas, product placement, customization and other methods can also bring in actual income.

According to Crawley's observation, beauty and skin care brands are currently more active in investing in short dramas. Many domestic brands such as PROYA, MARUMEI, HANSU, and GUYU have increased their investment in short dramas. International brands such as HR and Shiseido have also begun to enter the market, and brand marketing methods are gradually maturing.

For example, in the short drama "Big New Year" starring Xu Mengjie and Li Chuan, the Guyu Whitening Set appears in the plot as a New Year's gift, which not only fits the festive atmosphere but also plays a role in planting grass. The short drama has been updated to the 4th episode and has been played 220 million times.

However, the brand placement method also has certain shortcomings. Limited by the length of a single episode of a short drama, the appearance of advertising content will be more abrupt, and obvious commercial traces will greatly reduce the user's perception. At the same time, compared with regular film and television dramas, the viewing time of short dramas is more fragmented, the communication effect is difficult to predict, and the investment risk is higher.

In order to reduce the uncertainty of promotion effects, "customization" has become a new trend in short drama commercial cooperation. Creators tailor content according to brands, create content based on the pain points of the audience, organically combine content with products, and let content roles directly serve products.

For example, the brand short play "The Unfeeling Concubine's Counterattack" launched by Sophie was co-created with Qin Ran, a top short play expert on Douyin. From the script to the costumes and props, it is completely dedicated to the brand's new product Liuguang Thin Sanitary Napkins. Even the female protagonist is the product manager herself. At present, the cumulative number of views of this work has exceeded 24 million.

For brands, although customized short dramas have considerable marketing effects, the production costs are also high, and they are not suitable for all brands. The form of single-episode delivery meets the marketing needs of many brands. Compared with customized short dramas, the cost of single-episode delivery is lower, so the risk is relatively smaller.

When choosing short dramas for product placement, brands should pay attention to the quality of the short dramas’ content, audience matching, and the influence of the broadcasting platform. For example, in the third episode, “Working with a Frugal Family”, the female protagonist receives Boben Lotion from her boss. This plot not only fits the theme of the short drama, but also strengthens the target audience’s awareness of the brand.

In addition, short plays have gradually become a new form of live broadcast for talent incubation and product promotion. Some time ago, the short play "Mr. Huo's New Intern Looks Like Your Wife" customized by Judian and Kafka became popular. In the brand's official live broadcast room, the clips of product placement in the play are played in a loop. When searching for "Kafka" on Douyin, related products and short plays appear on the same page, further promoting product conversion through short play seeding.

At the same time, more and more organizations have begun to add mid- and low-level talents to short dramas, which can drive their rapid fan growth. In this process, MCN organizations can also discover new talents with commercial development potential and reserve more talent resources for the company.

2. Pros and Cons of Paid Short Dramas

Paid short dramas are more about setting a paid "hook" when the user's interest reaches its peak, attracting users to pay to unlock the subsequent plot by stimulating their thirst for knowledge and curiosity. The main mode of common short drama payment is that 5-10 episodes can be watched for free, and users need to pay to watch subsequent episodes.

For paid content, different platforms have different unlocking methods. Some unlock all the content at once, some unlock single episodes, and some require membership and watching advertisements to unlock. Different unlocking methods also correspond to different prices.

At present, most short video platforms adopt the form of paid unlocking of dramas, while long video short dramas and mini-program short dramas mostly unlock the short drama content by purchasing points or recharging membership on the platform.

Douyin was the first to launch the user payment model, using a single-episode payment unlocking method. Paid series were sold at a price of one yuan per episode, and a one-time payment was supported to unlock the entire series. Later, Kuaishou also followed suit with paid short series, selling the finale at a price of around 1-3 yuan.

Subsequently, mini-program dramas began to appear. These short dramas are about one minute long and achieve user conversion through the model of reaching users - jumping back to the mini-program - continuing to watch - paying. This type of content mainly reaches users on a large scale through delivery, forming a screening "funnel" that screens out people willing to pay for it through a rough model.

As one person who is engaged in the development of such short dramas said: "Some people may never switch to the mini program in their entire lives, and some people may only watch the free episodes in their entire lives, but it doesn't matter. As long as the base is large enough, there will always be a group of people who will pay."

However, at this stage, short dramas still have problems with content homogeneity and users' low willingness to purchase them. The paid unlocking method has limited profits and is difficult to be a long-term solution.

The fundamental logic of content payment is to monetize users' time and needs. However, in this process, when content producers are able to profit through advertising, traffic sharing and other means, implementing a paid model will inevitably be criticized and disliked by users, especially for content such as short dramas that are not difficult to produce.

Therefore, more and more producers have begun to focus on the development of high-quality short dramas. Celebrities and famous directors have also joined the market and started to shoot short dramas in a reduced dimension. The industry has entered a new development node, and high-quality production has become a slogan often mentioned in the industry.

However, the high-quality development will inevitably lead to an increase in shooting costs and cycles, and the user's payment results are uncertain, which forces producers to cooperate with brands to obtain stable profits as much as possible.

Overall, paid short dramas are a relatively easy way to implement, but the monetization is not stable. The decline in users' willingness to pay requires short dramas to make corresponding changes to their business model. The traditional paid unlocking model can no longer meet the needs of profitability.

For the short drama industry, exploring more diversified business methods can revitalize the industry's "money prospects" and achieve long-term stability in commercialization. As Maiya Media's vice president and general manager of short drama operations said in an interview with the media: "The initial traffic dividend of paid dramas has disappeared, but the long-term content dividend has just begun."

3. Final Thoughts

Today, the short drama industry is no longer a "wildly growing" industry. Business models and content production models are rapidly changing and evolving. Both the investment and production costs are no longer comparable, and the cost of trial and error has increased significantly.

In this case, there is still no clear answer as to whether the free or paid model is the optimal solution for the commercialization of short dramas, just like when multiple forces fought in the online literature field, no absolute winner was decided.

For the producers of short dramas, content creation and commercial value always come first. After the rapid development of short dramas, creators and practitioners have gradually turned their attention back to commercial monetization. This conforms to the current trend of content consumption and is also a fundamental consideration for the long-term development of the short drama field.

Reference: Short plays are entering the free era! / Drama Planet

Free or paid, which is the best solution for the short drama business model?