A big year for suspense dramas, a new battlefield for brand marketing

In recent years, suspense dramas have been very popular on Chinese online platforms, and major video platforms have set up their own suspense theaters. The author points out that this is a new battlefield for brand marketing.

Have you all watched the popular suspense drama "New Life" which just ended?

"New Life", starring Jing Boran and Zhou Yiran, was launched on Youku and Netflix, becoming the hottest suspense drama in recent times. Whether it is the story development from "anti-fraud film" to "all villains", or the complex mental journey of the characters in the play, the audience can't stop watching the series, and the topic of this drama remains high.

According to the data released by Lighthouse Professional Edition today, "New Life" has topped the Lighthouse web drama daily ranking of feature film playback volume for 9 consecutive days, and the current average playback volume per episode exceeds 34 million.

The playback data of "New Life"

Data source: Lighthouse Professional Edition

In recent years, the quality and quantity of suspense dramas have improved. According to the "2023 Drama Implantation White Paper" released by Jirang Insight, the scale of the suspense track continues to expand, and native implantation and platform self-investment also rank among the top three themes.

At present, the three major domestic streaming platforms, iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent, have all set up suspense theaters. What is the current development status of suspense theaters? How have the platforms arranged the gameplay in the theaters? How is the marketing of suspense dramas different from other types of dramas? TOP Jun raised the following questions based on the marketing of suspense dramas, hoping to find the answers in the discussion.

1. iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video set up suspense theaters, with Mist · X · White Night as the three pillars

The first company to enter the suspense drama market was iQiyi.

Current episodes of Misty Theater

After the establishment of Misty Theater in 2020, popular dramas such as "Ten Day Game", "The Bad Kids", and "The Silent Truth" set off a craze for suspense dramas. As of now, iQiyi Misty Theater has launched 17 works, with Douban scores fluctuating between 4.0-9.0, and the quality of the works is slightly uneven.

Among them, the two higher-rated dramas "The Silent Truth" and "The Bad Kids" were both adapted from Zijin Chen's novels. Since then, the low ratings of the dramas have led many netizens to joke: The Misty Theater is like a fish out of water without Zijin Chen.

However, the departure from the Misty Theater of Zijin Chen's script also means more diversified development. iQiyi is also trying different types of suspense plots. According to the statistics of Lighthouse Professional Edition, the recent broadcast of "The Unspeakable" produced by iQiyi has been hovering between the second and fourth places in terms of the number of views, which is also a good result.

Tencent is the second long-video platform to establish a suspense theater. Although it entered the market relatively late, its achievements are very impressive.

X Theater's current episodes

Since the launch of X Theater in 2023, a total of 4 works have been broadcast. "The Long Season" has received a Douban score of 9.4 with its superb camera language and flawless plot setting, which is a big environment where suspense dramas are prone to bad endings. In X Theater, in addition to the plot-oriented drama "Huan Yan", "Under the Bustling City" and "Black Soil Without Words" also performed above the passing line.

However, compared with the increasing trend in the number of dramas since the launch of iQiyi's Misty Theater, Tencent's strategy seems to be more steady and cautious, striving for high-quality products with a small number of them.

The suspense drama "Rebirth" that just ended comes from Youku. It is worth noting that Youku recently announced the establishment of the White Night Theater. Currently, the only two dramas in the theater, "Pale Fire" and "Rebirth", have achieved good results.

White Night Theater's current series

According to the Lighthouse Professional Edition and Douban ratings, "Pale Fire" ranked third in the TV drama feature film playback volume [Weekly List (5.6-5.12)] with 168 million playbacks, and "New Life" has become a hot topic among recent online dramas as mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Although the Douban rating of "New Life" has not yet been released and some viewers have described it as "bad ending", its unstoppable popularity means that the suspense track still has a bright future. According to the list of films released by Youku, the White Night Theater will also launch dramas such as "Border Water Past", "Sand Storm", "Black and White", "Wilderness", "Breaking Cocoon 2" and "Snow Labyrinth" this year.

2. Competition in vertical categories is fierce, and fancy implants have the same goal

Taking stock of the development of suspense dramas in recent years, we can see how hot the suspense market is. The three major long video platforms have each established suspense theaters, which also means that suspense dramas have entered a stage where quality is more important than quantity. The market competition is more intense, and the three major platforms of iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video have also launched different ways of implantation to help brands capture suspense drama fans and expand their popularity from the circle.

As early as 2018, iQIYI launched the "Love Youth Theater", "Strange Suspense Theater" and "Remembering Heroes Theater" successively, and systematically and typologically integrated the theater operation model. The establishment of Misty Theater in 2020 marks the beginning of the theater's branding . Type focus, branded operation and high quality have become the three major characteristics of Misty Theater.

As many dramas of Misty Theater have gained high popularity and good reputation , they have promoted member consumption to a certain extent. iQiyi has also seen the strong appeal of a single hit product to type-based system creation for users, laying the foundation for the commercialization of Misty Theater.

From "The Silent Truth" in 2020, "The Mist of the Octagonal Pavilion" in 2021 to "The Returning Daughter" in 2022, iQiyi's Mist Theater provides brands with marketing methods such as synopsis, voice-over transitions, and patches ; from the perspective of drama marketing, it also constructs a "Misty Universe" including art exhibitions, script-killing activities, and creates a larger interactive space.

For example, the plot setting of "The Returning Daughter" revolves around the "family" scene. In the standard advertising product, Jindi uses "always available at home" as the communication keyword, which fits the theme of the series while focusing on the audience's life needs, integrating the brand into the content, and invisibly enhancing the audience's awareness.

"The Returning Daughter" × Jin Di

Tencent X Theater also adopts a similar approach, providing brands with advertising products that match the series. The "Black Soil Without Words" broadcast at the beginning of this year not only contains the social life of criminal investigation stories, but also the sense of humor nurtured by the black soil of Northeast China. Wang Laoji took a fancy to the tense atmosphere and just the right humor of this drama, and brought a strong visual impact through naked-eye 3D frame-breaking advertisements .

"Black Soil Without Words" × Wang Laoji

Youku launched new drama marketing methods yesterday at the 2024 Alibaba Greater Entertainment Business Spring Cloud Release. In addition to locking in the highlight characters of the drama in advance and providing pre-exposure, Youku also provides annual identities for cooperation with multiple tracks, monthly sponsorship focusing on core tracks , and customized package products that are highly adapted to the brand's popular dramas.

For example, when "Pale Fire" in the White Night Theater was first launched, Nanfu Battery launched an exclusive evidence-collecting event for the first time. Through the dual-scene immersive marketing of "brand event customization + series internalization" , it followed the drama at the same frequency as users and gained more exposure through vertical communication.

"Pale Fire" × Nanfu Battery

Judging from the theater gameplay of the three major platforms, there are actually certain similarities. But as Wu Gang, senior vice president of iQiyi, said at the 2024 iQiyi World Conference, " IP-centric influence is the key to success in long-video marketing ." By grasping the influence of suspense IP, brands will have the opportunity to get closer to consumers.

3. The audience’s brain-burning reasoning field is also a stimulating battlefield for brands

Long video platforms are optimistic about suspense theaters and have made all-round arrangements, and brands have also taken advantage of the perfect opportunity to enter the market at the right time.

According to the "2023 Drama TV Series Implantation White Paper" released by Jirang Insight, in 2023, dramas with brand investment accounted for 93%, and the overall number of brands invested increased by 55.5%; in terms of the selection of investment themes, the three major themes of romance, crime/suspense and urban were ranked in the top three in terms of native implantation and platform self-investment.

Excerpts from the 2023 TV Series Implantation White Paper: Theme Investment Promotion

Data source: Jirang Insight

For example, Youku, which has just established the White Night Theater, has Nanfu Battery and Aptamil as advertisers in "Pale Fire" and Nanfu Battery, Holly, Huiren, Magiray, Ctrip Old Friends Club, Grandpa's Farm and other brands have joined in "New Life". As a newly established suspense theater, it is already a good result.

Then TOP can't help but ask: Why can suspense theater win the favor of so many brands?

From the three charts in the first part of the article, one thing that is clear is that most suspense dramas have a relatively small number of episodes , with the majority being 12 episodes, while their duration is comparable to or longer than that of ordinary dramas .

Compared with long series, the production cost of a single episode of suspense theater, which is mainly short series, is higher, but because of the small number of episodes, the total cost is lower and the return on investment is better . For brands, they can also occupy the high ground in the minds of consumers in a short period of time.

In addition to the length, suspense dramas also feature fast pace and dramatic plot twists . The most direct effect is that they firmly grasp the user's attention and emotions .

Based on this, brands can establish emotional connections with consumers to a certain extent by integrating into the rhythm of the plot, becoming the best companion for the audience to watch the drama. The companion-style case-solving mentioned above in Pale Fire is an excellent example of greatly improving interactivity.

In addition, judging from the background setting of the suspense drama, the scenes close to reality also provide a stage for many brands to express themselves in a lifelike manner , thus better narrowing the distance with users.

Finally, excellent suspense dramas have a long-lasting long-tail effect . In TOP Jun’s observation, suspense dramas with high Douban scores enjoy continuous exposure for several years, which can also bring continuous empathy from the audience to the brand, converting the long-tail effect of the drama into the long life cycle of the brand .

IV. Conclusion

Branded operation is one of the brand commercialization products under the rapid development of long videos, and is also a representative strategy of major video platforms.

Compared with regular dramas, suspense dramas have greater appeal to the audience and have a natural advantage in product placement, providing brands with a variety of product placement methods through fancy marketing methods. Now that three major suspense theaters have been established, the exciting game of content marketing is just around the corner.

Author: TOP Jun; Source public account: TopMarketing (ID: 1082248)