Joy of Life 2: The Siphon Effect of S-Class Dramas

Joy of Life 2 concluded last night. What can we see from this S-level drama?

The 2nd season of "Celebrating 40" ended last night. I finished it in two days over the weekend, contributing a small amount of revenue to Tencent's financial report. Taking advantage of the sage time after the cool drama, let's talk about business flow.

01

Mild spoiler: The replacement of Ye Ling'er and He Zongwei is uncomfortable, while the replacement of Yan Bingyun and Yi Guipin is gratifying. In addition, new characters such as Deng Ziyue, Lai Mingcheng, Hong Zhu, Ming Jia, Ye Liuyun, etc. are all surprises.

The biggest impression is that the show has changed from a political drama in the first season (someone is responsible for the plot, some are responsible for the comedy, and some are responsible for the reversal) to a light comedy in the second season (almost everyone is making fun of it). The first few episodes were a bit jumpy and the pace was slow, but the feeling of a cool drama has not changed, and it can still be called a masterpiece.

02

Tencent Video has won again this time. From "The Three-Body Problem" to "The Long Season", from "Longing 1" to "Hometown, Goodbye", from "Flowers" to "The Journey of Phoenixes", from "The Story of Joy" to "Joy of Life 2", there have been many hits in the past two years. Behind the discovery of the traffic code is the maturity of a complete system of IP + industrialized creation and production + platform promotion and distribution + commercialization, especially the "Joy of Life" IP, which can be regarded as a standard template for an S-level drama.

03

Commercial siphoning of S-level dramas. Since its broadcast on May 16, Celebration 2 has always ranked first in the daily market share, and last night's finale was as high as 51.2%, basically locking in the top spot for dramas in the first half of this year.

In addition to attracting members, advance on-demand, and IP-related revenue, advertising from sponsors is the main source of revenue. There has never been a drama like "Celebrating 2", where the advertising list has spoiled the main film before the main film was revealed. The 26 brands are divided into 5 levels, which is more like a palace fight for advertising favor.

The first tier is the "head sponsor" Chunzhen, the second tier is the "co-sponsor" Pechoin, the third tier is the "leading special sponsor" JD Supermarket, the fourth tier is the "special partner" Dong-E E-Jiao, TCL, OPPO, Magiray, and the remaining 19 brands include Du Xiaoman, Nestlé, and Alienware.

04

S-level dramas siphon minds. If the commercialization of dramas meets the 80/20 rule, that is, 20% of the dramas occupy 80% of the advertisements, then the influence of dramas meets the 80/20 rule, that is, 4% of the dramas occupy 96% of the "effective" commercial minds. The numbers are not so rigorous, but they are objective facts. There are three underlying reasons:

1. The topicality of S-level dramas can form natural hot searches that are talked about by the audience;
2. The content power of S-level dramas, the advertisements occupy the popcorn moments with expectations;
3. The mental value of an S-level drama is that the brand gains not only exposure but also a memory anchor.

In the decision tree of all brand advertising, national-level S-level dramas and variety shows can be invested in without any hesitation. CMOs will not have any psychological pressure in their year-end summary. They only need to consider one factor: cost. The rush of brands must have been calculated carefully.

05

Mature innovative gameplay. Although many viewers complained that the advertising density of "Celebrating 2" was too high, from the perspective of practitioners, what we saw was very delicate soft processing, which has achieved the extreme balance between content and business.

Behind these "kid-like" techniques are "heartfelt" operations.

1) Using the characters in the play with distinct personalities to interpret creative advertisements in a personalized way is rare on such a large scale. It is important to know that the coordination of the actors is very difficult;

2) Each ad is very original, basically fitting the plot, world view, character setting, plot development, etc., not only does it not distract from the main film, but it is also an effective supplement to the main film;

3) The content is interesting, with strong meme-making power, and the product selling points are accurately implanted, making the memory anchor unforgettable. The reason why so many brands have reached a consensus on a certain marketing style is based on the consensus on the promotion value of the drama.

06

There are several that I remember most vividly: Fan Xian bringing Chun Zhen back to cater to the audience's emotional release after five years of waiting, the "since the market is east of Kyoto, it is called Jingdong Supermarket" joke, the drinkable gold in Dong'e Ejiao's small gold bars, Du Xiaoman's ancestral rolling pin business loan, the Pechoin×Wuzhu easter egg at the end of the film, etc.

Overall, the drama can get 8.5 points, and the advertisement can get 9 points.

07

Some brands also value marketing effects. During the hot broadcast period, IP co-branding has become a standard move. The omni-channel traffic of the Deyou Qing Yu Nian co-branded model has increased by more than 70%.

Products endorsed by Zhang Ruoyun, such as Shulei Shampoo and Conditioner, Duoli Cooking Oil, and EKO Smart Trash Can, are also selling well, among which Shulei Shampoo and Conditioner's main new product sales increased by 400% month-on-month. Whether it is a hot search or a sales ranking, it is the refined linkage management capabilities that count.

08

To make a prediction, AI is still needed to reduce costs and increase efficiency. It feels like a long time since "Southern Black Sesame Paste" and "Kangmei Love" were released. Advertising is back to competing on content power.

If we want to optimize and advance on the current basis, there are still many limiting thresholds: actors' shooting schedules, customization of one episode, one product, and one advertisement, advertising derivative dramas, personalized production to meet the needs of small and medium-sized brands, etc. Not every drama is like Joy of Life. With a large budget, cost reduction and efficiency improvement are necessary. AI has a great opportunity to solve some creative problems.

Maybe you can see AI-made advertisements full of interesting ideas in the Celebration 3.

09

The core of a hit is certainty. To recap, the IP of Joy of Life has redefined the commercial template of S-level dramas in terms of joint development, advertising classification, advertising creativity, celebrity binding, user operation, and technical cooperation.

Top-tier works meet the greatest common denominator of consumers' needs and are also the optimal solution for commercialization for producers, platforms, and brands.

Some people say that this is a hit, non-standard, and unreplicable, but looking deeper, its understanding of content, users, platform, and brand deserves to become a common standard for more dramas and variety shows.

The core of a hit is never a gamble on luck, but an infinite approach to certainty. If you don’t believe me, count carefully. The density of Tencent Video’s hits in the past two years has almost reached an average of one per month. The more interesting detail is that behind the continuous hits, there are many advertisers who have invested in them continuously, and they should have tasted the sweetness.

10

Finally, for those who haven't watched it yet, a word of advice is that careful appreciation will help improve your viewing experience.

"Joy of Life is a refreshing drama, but its advertisement is a palace fighting drama."