After Wang Ma’s “reputation collapsed”, who is still trying to grab the huge wealth in the short drama industry?

Why did Wang Ma's "collapse" incident become a hot topic? What is the current situation of the short drama industry? This article will help you explore the reasons behind it and better understand the current situation of the short drama industry. It will also provide reference for newcomers who want to work in new media in the future.

"It is indeed too harsh to charge such a salary for such an account income."

Compared with the employees of the "Wang Ma" team, a multi-millionaire internet celebrity who were exposed for problems such as long and short work weeks, poor welfare benefits, and no social security for employees on probation, actor Chen Qian, who started shooting short dramas in 2022, can be regarded as one of the first people to reap the benefits of the industry.

Chen Qian is currently employed by one of the top three MCN companies in China, has participated in the filming of dozens of short dramas, and is the main actor with a production cost of over 40 million yuan (the sum of operating costs and revenue). He has the most direct experience of the public impression that "short dramas are highly paid", and knows the real salary income of relevant staff in the industry. "In the industry, 'Wang Ma' is an exception, not a common practice."

Behind the false personality, through the sharing of veteran short play actor Chen Qian, let us see what the practitioners’ top understanding of the current state of the industry is.

1. Profits from hit short dramas account for 20%

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, the popularity of the short drama industry began with the drama "I was a Stepmother in the 1980s" during the Spring Festival in 2024, but in fact, the industry really started to take off much earlier than that.

As an actor who graduated from a professional school, when Chen Qian officially started taking on roles outside in 2019, the first things he came into contact with were still some relatively traditional work content. "Because I had just graduated, I didn't have the ability to be competent for the shooting of TV series and web series. I was more involved in the shooting of micro-movies, short videos, and information streams." At that time, he did not expect that he would have an indissoluble bond with short dramas.

Around 2022, due to the shift in market demand, actors working on the front line quickly noticed a subtle change - there were more opportunities to shoot short dramas, and Chen Qian naturally began to shoot short dramas. It was not until he signed a contract with a leading media company at the end of 2023 and gradually participated in the short dramas and short videos produced by the company that he no longer had to worry about shooting opportunities.

Since entering the industry, Chen Qian has participated in dozens of short dramas, but now when he thinks back to his first short drama, he can't remember it clearly, "In the beginning, I only took small roles, and I didn't write down the names of the dramas specifically." Perhaps the plots were too awkward, or the impression was not deep. Chen Qian admitted that he almost never looked back at these old short dramas. Only when talking about the hit dramas he had filmed, he remembered them clearly, "So far, there have been several hits, the highest one cost about 40 million yuan, and I played the villain in it."

In fact, Chen Qian's reaction just illustrates the biggest feature of the short drama industry at this stage, that is, the market effect is very strong . According to Chen Qian, the key to whether a short drama becomes a hit or not lies in the consumption. The higher the consumption, the higher the profit. A short drama with a consumption of more than 5 million yuan is a small hit, and a short drama with a consumption of more than 10 million yuan is a big hit. A hot drama like "Back to the 1980s as a Stepmother" is a phenomenon.

If the production cost of a hit short drama can reach 10 million yuan, the net profit will be around 2 million yuan. "The hit drama I shot with a production cost of 40 million yuan had a net profit of around 6 to 8 million yuan. So there is nothing wrong with the view that 'short dramas have high incomes' because the market can afford such an offer, not to mention short dramas with a production cost of nearly 100 million yuan."

"Because short dramas are market-oriented, relevant companies will put efficiency first for the sake of profit." Compared with ordinary crews, the shooting pace of short dramas is undoubtedly faster and the time is more rushed. "Our working hours depend on our own schedule and the shooting plan of the drama. Generally, the shooting cycle of a short drama is about one week. From the preparation of the short drama to the post-production and release to the start of profit, it is basically a half-month cycle."

2. Actors in the industry generally earn 20,000 to 40,000 yuan a month

Since the "money prospects" of short plays are so impressive, will they benefit related practitioners through salary? The answer is yes.

Although the recent scandal of "Wang Ma" has caused a lot of controversy: the Internet celebrity "Wang Ma", who became popular due to her image of "the best mouthpiece for workers", was exposed for having irregular working weeks, poor welfare benefits, and no social security for employees during the probation period. The other side of the exploitation of employees is that the account's revenue in two months may reach tens of millions. However, if we look at the real situation of the industry on a larger scale, this is not the case.

"Wang Ma" car overturn storm continues to ferment

After learning about the cause and effect of the "Wang Ma" incident, Chen Qian was very surprised. "This is already a phenomenal account. Legally speaking, as long as the salary of 4,000 yuan complies with the provisions of the National Labor Law, there is no problem. The rest depends on the willingness of both parties. But logically speaking, this level of account is indeed too harsh for such an employee's salary."

In Chen Qian's view, although the management system and salary structure of an enterprise are their own business, the management system and salary structure of the "Wang Ma" team will indirectly lead to legal errors due to emotional problems. "This is the result of her own greed, but as far as our company is concerned, there is no such problem."

Because Chen Qian signed a contract with one of the top three MCN agencies in China, the company's labor contract gave him a relatively fixed salary income, and also performance income linked to the series. However, Chen Qian also made it clear that even if he made a hit short drama, the reward would not be too much. "The monthly salary of actors in the company is 9-14K, and the monthly salary of actors outside is about 20,000-40,000 yuan if there are enough shooting resources."

There is a huge income gap between actors at different levels in the traditional film and television industry. However, in the short drama industry, because there is no recognized stratification measurement standard, the income gap between actors is not as big as the outside world imagines. "Outside, it depends on the quality of the actor's own works and the number of hits. The basic difference is not too big. The monthly income difference is only within 10,000 or 20,000 yuan. This problem does not exist within the company. Although the salary level is not as good as outside, it is stable and has five insurances and one fund. Compared with ordinary people in most industries, it is relatively good."

Under the employment boom brought about by the consensus of "short dramas are highly paid", the prospects for the short drama industry are broad, but the threshold is very high . "The short drama industry is highly professional. It is not like marketing or business, which can be started directly. There are too many people competing to enter the industry. After all, there are more and more students graduating from related majors. Whether it is actors or post-production positions, there are many people eyeing them. Newcomers with professional skills need to learn slowly, not to mention that pure novices have to find ways to find ways. But if you are very beautiful or handsome, it doesn't matter, you can get in directly."

"As long as you have the hard power, there won't be too many problems getting in. The company also needs to consider the issue of value equivalence." Chen Qian said this about the entry threshold of his company.

3. It’s popular, but it’s the end of the industry’s dividend period

Although it is acknowledged that actors in short plays have high salaries and the popularity of the industry has risen rapidly under large-scale exposure, contrary to the view that short plays "peak at debut", Chen Qian believes that the development of the short play industry has a history of more than two years. Short plays are indeed popular at present, but the bonus period of the market itself is already at the end . Therefore, although most people think that the short play market in 2024 is unprecedentedly hot, in fact, the industry has reached a point where it can be called involution. "The industry is already competing for innovation and internal consumption within the market."

Short drama apps are developing rapidly

What is more obvious is that many traditional film and television production companies and teams have begun to transform into short dramas. Many of the top short drama teams in the industry are transformed from previous online movie teams or film teams. "For example, our company has such employees. It is also because the market share of movies and TV series has been divided up by short dramas. There is nothing we can do. Everyone is hungry."

As a practitioner who entered the short drama industry in its infancy, Chen Qian has his own understanding of the current development status of the industry: the iteration speed of new media is basically a 2-3 year cycle, and this cycle is a bonus period. It is a new taste and you can make a lot of money. Once the market is seen by everyone, many people will enter. However, the market has a specific capacity. Once it is full, it will usher in a stock market, and profit sharing, innovation, and internal circulation will begin to appear.

The data is more intuitive. According to relevant reports, the scale of the short drama market has increased 100 times from 370 million in 2021 to 37.4 billion in 2023 in just two years. The number of key short dramas registered has increased 9 times from 398 in 2021 to 3,574 in 2023. However, the number of registered dramas in 2024 has taken a turn - the monthly average has dropped 22% compared with 2023. The short drama market seems to be moving from the barbaric expansion of the quantity era to the survival of the fittest in the quality era.

"From the company's perspective, once involution occurs, the interests of the enterprise will be affected." However, involution in the industry is not completely without benefits. Chen Qian said from his personal experience in shooting short dramas so far that he can feel that the content of short dramas is constantly shifting towards high-quality products. "Whether it is the professionalism of the script or the shooting, the configuration of the crew and the investment in funds are constantly increasing." For the actors themselves, involution in the industry does exist but the impact is not too great for the time being. "Although a large number of upper-level actors will consider shooting short dramas when there are not so many TV dramas and movies to shoot, which can affect us, the total market volume has increased relatively speaking."

Compared with being deprived of filming opportunities by new entrants, Chen Qian believes that what we need to be more vigilant about is that "the development of high-quality products will increase production costs, and excessive profit concessions by companies in the later stage will damage our interests."

From the "Wang Ma" team allegedly mistreating staff to Chen Qian expressing the concerns of short drama practitioners about the future, whether it is MCN agencies, short drama production teams, or the film and television production companies that have turned to it, it is obvious that they need to be clear: With the quality improvement and upgrading of the industry, in addition to constantly enriching relevant technical means and experience, and through stricter production standards and quality control, allowing short dramas to move from "extensive" to "fine", how to achieve a balance between the salary income of relevant staff and their own profit income is also the key to short dramas reaching a larger audience market.

Author: Meng Huiyuan, Editor: Li Wenjie

WeChat public account: Zinc Scale (ID: znkedu)