Crazy Xiao Yangge is gone, top internet celebrities and MCNs are competing for the short drama cake

This article deeply explores the current competitive situation in the short drama industry, focusing on the trend of Xiao Yangge's company "Three Sheep Network" entering the short drama industry, and analyzes the layout and competition of other MCN agencies in the short drama field. By introducing the performance and advantages of various MCN agencies in the field of short dramas, it reveals the potential and development trend of the short drama industry. This article is suitable for readers who are interested in short videos, MCN agencies and the Internet entertainment industry.

Short plays have become a hot commodity that everyone is scrambling for.

Recently, the news that Xiao Yangge's company "Three Sheep Network" entered the field of short drama shooting has caused heated discussions. Especially since Xiao Yangge previously announced that he would reduce live streaming and fade out of the live broadcast room, it is inevitable that people speculate that short dramas may be his next track to focus on.

In fact, Three Sheep Network is not the first MCN agency to enter the short drama market. Wuyou Media, Maiya Media and other agencies have already entered the market and found their own way to do this "cost-effective business" with quick results in a short time.

With professional film and television teams and actors in front and leading MCN agencies and internet celebrities in the back, the competition in the short drama track is becoming increasingly fierce, and entrants are accelerating to grab a share of the short drama pie.

1. Brother Xiao Yang is changing to the short drama route?

"The Three Sheep's first short play has been completed!"

On April 22, the official account of Three Sheep, "Three Sheep Theater", released a video of the completion of the first short play. This was only five days after the opening ceremony on April 17.

A few days ago, Three Sheep released a video of the opening ceremony of its first short play, which was considered a signal that Xiao Yangge had entered the short play industry. The Douyin homepage of Three Sheep Theater reads "self-made high-quality short plays are updated continuously."

The first short play of Three Sheep is called "Master Fu, Your Substitute Bride is a Boss". Judging from the subject matter and the released behind-the-scenes video, this is a vertical screen short play. In terms of the choice of script, the play is adapted from a novel. In the comment area, a netizen said "I am reading this book recently". In terms of the cast, the actors of this short play are all anchors under Three Sheep, and the leading female role is Three Sheep anchor Xiaoqi.

It is reported that one of the producers of this short play is "Hefei Sanhua Film and Television Media Co., Ltd." According to Qichacha, the company's address is located in the building of the Three Sheep Group. Moreover, the filming location of this short play is not in Hengdian, but in the Hefei Railway Studio.

Brother Xiao Yang has entered the short drama track in a high-profile manner. In addition, he previously announced that he would reduce live streaming sales, fade out of the live broadcast room, and instead focus on other forms of content output. It is inevitable that people speculate that short dramas may be his next track to focus on.

In fact, this is not the first time that Brother Yang has tried his hand at short plays.

Previously, Three Sheep had filmed two short dramas, the Anti-Corruption Storm series and Let Me Love You Again. Among them, Anti-Corruption Storm is a workplace drama with the Three Sheep Group as the background, while Let Me Love You Again is an urban emotional drama with the background of the underworld. However, the company did not open a special account for this, but posted the content on the main account of Three Sheep Network, and arranged it together with Xiao Yangge's sales slice. The two short dramas added up to only 11 episodes.

Now, from opening official accounts and hiring their own anchors and talents to perform in short plays, it can be seen that Three Sheep has truly begun to enter the short play track.

In the comment section of a video of Three Sheep Theater, when a fan asked "whether to switch to the short drama route", the reply was "extended business segment".

For Xiao Yangge and the three sheep, there are natural advantages in entering the short drama industry:

1. Traffic advantage: Brother Yang is the only super internet celebrity on Douyin with over 100 million fans;

2. Content advantage: Xiao Yangge himself started out by producing dramas and funny jokes;

3. Broadcaster and talent resources, with more than 300 signed broadcasters and talents;

4. A rich slice account matrix. You should know that the short drama distribution model also requires numerous accounts for publishing and promotion, and accounts like Three Sheep are ready-made.

Previously, industry insiders who have entered the short drama distribution market told Xinbochang that the short drama distribution model is highly dependent on the account matrix, and the live broadcast room slicing MCN has become the beneficiary of this gameplay.

"There is no flow of goods in the distribution of short dramas, which is more brutal than slicing live broadcasts." The head of an institution said that because this type of content has a wide audience and is not restricted by scenarios, in addition to short videos, private domain traffic and live broadcast rooms can also participate, "any form is acceptable."

Therefore, this will undoubtedly help Three Sheep Network to start its short drama business.

2. MCN "rushes into" short dramas

In fact, Xiao Yangge’s Three Sheep Network is not the first MCN agency to enter the short drama market.

In October 2023, the live-action interactive video game "It's Over! I'm Surrounded by Beauties" became a huge hit, attracting close attention from both inside and outside the industry to the "short drama + game".

At the end of 2023, the live-action interactive video product "Goddess Descends to Different Space to Find Love" started filming. This interactive short play is jointly produced by Wuyou Media and Zhijian Games. Wuyou Media is also one of the producers of the play. The actors of this interactive short play are talents under Wuyou Media, including Liu Siyao, Cheng yooooo and other talents with tens of millions of fans.

It is reported that this live-action interactive game drama will be launched simultaneously on Douyin and Steam in May this year.

In addition, Wuyou Media has filmed a series of high-quality short dramas - "Uncle Who Makes Money", and "Uncle Who Makes Money 3" has been completed.

Xinbochang also learned that Wuyou Media has established a short drama center and has previously launched a short drama script collection activity. This year, Wuyou Media founder Lei Binyi proposed to increase the number of short drama vertical accounts with strong commercial carrying capacity and create more customized projects with consumer products and local cultural and tourism institutions.

In addition to Three Sheep and Wuyou Media, there are also MCN agencies that entered the market early and have already occupied a place in the short drama track, such as Gumai Jiahe and Maiya Media.

As a veteran MCN agency in the industry, Gumai Jiahe is known as a "hit-making machine" and is good at producing plot content. It has created many hit short video IPs. It started to develop short dramas in 2019, and has produced many hit works so far, and has gradually taken the path of commercialization. Its representative works include "I am a Group Pet in the Entertainment Circle", "Beauty Comes True", "My Grandpa and I", etc.

Gumai Jiahe entered the short drama industry in line with Kuaishou's trend of developing short dramas, becoming one of the earliest partners of Kuaishou's Xingmang short dramas. With its own talent resources and content production team, Gumai Jiahe's short dramas can be described as "transferring".

Maiya Media, which also has many talent resources and content advantages, not only allows its talents to shoot short dramas, but also enters the vertical screen short drama track and becomes a platform.

In mid-2022, Maiya Media entered the short drama track and performed outstandingly. It is now one of the leading platforms in the short drama industry. It is reported that Maiya has created more than 70 short dramas, including more than 10 hit short dramas, covering both male and female themes.

In addition, another company that has entered the short drama market is Chuangyi Technology, which is famous for its special effects. It has incubated several special effects accounts such as "Huihui Zhou", "Liu Yexi", and "Astronaut Xiaowu". Among them, Huihui Zhou, who has tens of millions of fans on the Douyin platform, is known as the "No. 1 Special Effects Queen on the Internet."

At the beginning of the year, Chuangyi's first virtual short drama "Seven People's Life" received 450 million views on Douyin. The suspenseful and thrilling genre combined with the cyberpunk-style images provided a new direction and sample for the high-quality route of short dramas.

It can be seen that with professional film and television teams and actors in front and leading MCN agencies and internet celebrities in the back, the competition in the short drama track is becoming increasingly fierce, and entrants are accelerating to grab a share of the short drama cake.

Especially with the entry of super internet celebrities like Xiao Yangge, whether their huge traffic, account matrix and very sophisticated slicing methods in the live streaming industry will bring new imagination space to the short drama industry and where the development of the short drama industry will take it remains to be seen.

Author: Field sister

Source public account: New Broadcasting Field