"Dragon Aotian" counterattacks overseas: 1 drama, 200 million

Short plays have become popular this year and have also become popular abroad. Let's take a look at the development of short plays as described by the author~

In the fourth quarter of this year, the short drama that suddenly became popular became a hot new outlet in the film and television industry. Not only did well-known directors and actors appear on the list of short drama creators, but even the former Internet celebrity CEO Chen Ou was recently revealed to be planning to build a short drama platform and promote copyright transactions.

However, since November, the supervision of the domestic short drama market has suddenly intensified. First, WeChat, Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili and other platforms removed some short dramas that conveyed negative values, and then mini-program short dramas were also strictly regulated.

As the competition landscape of the domestic short drama market quietly changes and the butterfly effect of industry regulation continues to spread, the overseas market seems to have become the "sea of ​​stars" that Chinese short drama companies yearn for. So will the popular short drama be the next outlet for going overseas?

1. The “short drama trend” is spreading overseas

In November this year, short dramas hit a breaking point overseas. On Singles’ Day, ReelShort set a single-day record for downloads and revenue, with 326,000 new installations and net revenue of $459,000 (after deducting app store channel fees).

According to data from Sensor Tower, a global mobile app intelligence platform, ReelShort, a short drama overseas product of Crazy Maple Studio under Chinese Online, has been ranked in the top ten in the entertainment charts of 52 regions around the world for three consecutive months. Since its launch in August 2022, it has been downloaded 11 million times on iOS and Android.

Different from the early stiff dubbing of domestic short dramas, the overseas short dramas about overlords that have become popular in this round all have absolutely pure European and American accents and faces. Typical representatives are ReelShort's hit series "Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress" ("Dangerous Relationships: The Ex-wife of a Sky-high Price Is Not Easy to Mess with", translated by Jingzhe Research Institute) and "The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband" ("The Big Account of the Rich Husband is Online", translated by Jingzhe Research Institute). The former has about 900,000 favorites on the App, while the latter has been online for a longer time, with more than 3 million views on YouTube alone, and about 6 million favorites on the App.

The Chinese dramas, abbreviated as "Cdrama" on social media, have 47,000 followers in the Reddit community group. In the past two or three years, video ads and information streams on overseas platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) have also begun to make personalized recommendations for short dramas of different styles based on different IP addresses. However, the core content of this explosion has not changed much, and it is surprisingly similar to Jinjiang Literature ten years ago.

According to App Growing Global data, the domineering and sadomasochistic love story is now a popular genre on overseas short drama platforms, and has entered the top 3 in the North American, European, Southeast Asian and Korean markets. These different forms but similar content of Chinese "Mary Sue"-style sweet pets, domineering and sadomasochistic love stories, as well as modern stories about invisible rich men inheriting their wealth, coupled with time travel, palace fighting suspense, and sadomasochistic love stories have not only captured the hearts of Chinese women, but have also fully captured overseas female audiences.

As the survey data shows, the audience of overseas short drama applications is mainly female, accounting for 70%. In addition, 48% of users are over 45 years old, and 39% of users are between 25 and 44 years old. Users' evaluation of apps and similar content is mostly "like" and "addictive".

Industry insiders currently believe that Chinese short dramas are becoming the "fifth global cultural phenomenon" after Chinese online literature, American movies, Korean culture and Japanese comics. In addition, Chinese short dramas have a market share of more than 80% in the overseas micro-short drama market.

2. What are the chances of “Long Aotian” winning?

At present, there are two content models for short dramas to be exported overseas. The first is to translate the original domestic videos and then upload them to the YouTube platform or independent APP. This is also the model chosen by most short drama manufacturers to be exported overseas. This model has low initial investment costs and is better than killing two birds with one stone.

However, the disadvantages are also obvious. Due to differences in region, culture, and preferences, the short drama content may not be easily accepted by local users. Therefore, the priority market for applications that mainly translate existing video models is Southeast Asia, which has a Chinese base and similar culture.

Large, medium and small manufacturers are all planning to export their short dramas overseas. Many are still in the stage of building teams and no content has been officially released. Therefore, content that has been popular in China, such as marrying into a wealthy family, the heroine's revenge, and other melodramatic and classic cool plots, have become content that can be directly reused in the new wave of short dramas going overseas.

Based on cost considerations, many companies in the industry chain have already provided supporting services. Some AI service providers provide face-changing, dubbing, and subtitles to match users in different regions. Some manufacturers also claim that they can replace the faces of all characters in the current short dramas with European and American faces, Latin faces, etc., and all faces are generated by AI, without copyright risks. Compared with remakes using foreign actors, projects with AI support are undoubtedly more cost-effective.

The second model is to invite local actors and teams, modify the script, and shoot short dramas that are more in line with the needs of local users. This model is conducive to breaking the circle quickly and can accumulate a certain user pool for the platform. The disadvantage is that the investment cost is relatively high, and the shooting, editing, and post-adjustment cycle is relatively long.

In addition to the careful polishing of the script in the early preparation stage, good actors and production teams are also very important. At present, overseas shooting team resources are one of the biggest challenges faced by overseas short drama teams, because it involves issues such as actors, venues, local affairs and cross-team communication. Many overseas platforms prefer to look for local Chinese teams.

Public information on social media shows that local Chinese teams in Los Angeles often receive short drama shooting assignments. A short drama with a volume of 100 episodes can be shot in a few days or more than ten days, and most of the quotations are between $150,000 and $200,000. Among them, Chinese film and television students with foreign shooting experience have become the "king of the bidding." Because of their high cost-effectiveness, high degree of cooperation and low quotation, the Chinese student group has become the main force of overseas short drama shooting teams.

In general, dubbing and localized remakes each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Domestically translated scripts are supported by mature methodologies, and based on algorithms and big data-supported consumer habits, they can effectively adjust the "cool" points, contradictions, and storyline of the short dramas, making them more likely to become hits. However, the low-end market users targeted by the short dramas need more popular expressions and cool point designs that are closer to local culture, and translated scripts are difficult to meet such needs.

In the early days of its launch, ReelShort also transferred domestic short dramas and put them online after translation, but the market response was not good. It only lasted for three or four months, and ReelShort turned to content with local actors and local scenes. In terms of scripts, ReelShort also prefers the online literature IPs that are well recognized by the market on its online literature platform Chapter. From this point of view, platforms that own local online literature IPs and have access to local user big data will undoubtedly have more advantages in this round of overseas expansion.

The current stage is the starting stage of short dramas going global. Major manufacturers do not mind making lightweight investments in different regional markets to test the depth of the market first. It is best to seize a wave of traffic dividends and accumulate users before commercializing them later. The sign that an industry is on the cusp of the trend is that the concept is hot and there is a lot of room for imagination. In fact, the relevant industrial chain is complete, and capital and talent are constantly flowing in.

At present, short drama producers are constantly overcoming difficulties and making continuous investments. Since it is difficult to form a local team overseas, they will temporarily use domestic creative teams or recruit overseas Chinese teams. If they find a suitable short drama script, they will replace the subtitles with videos, and if they don’t have videos, they will recruit overseas actors to shoot it. If the plot and aesthetics of the locals deviate from the preset, they can fine-tune the script. According to this standard, the overseas short drama market is also on the eve of an explosion.

3. Short dramas are gaining popularity overseas

What attracts domestic manufacturers is not only the influence dividend of the emerging short drama overseas market, but also the expected revenue from the hits. Although the business model of overseas short dramas is relatively simple compared with the mature domestic short dramas, for example, the domestic short drama model has run through copyright distribution, platform revenue sharing, membership payment, advertising realization, customized advertising placement, and e-commerce marketing, while the overseas short dramas are currently limited to the two mainstream models of membership payment and advertising realization plus some platform revenue sharing.

Leading short drama apps such as ReelShort and GoodShort mainly use the method of unlocking each episode, with the unlocking amount for each episode ranging from US$0.3 to US$0.5. Reelshort can also use virtual currency (Coins) to unlock episodes. Users can get Coins by watching ads or directly recharge for Coins such as US$4.99 or US$15.99, and users will not notice the "spending" behavior during the viewing process. Overseas users are not familiar with these "routines", and their payment behavior may be more impulsive and direct, without much thinking and hesitation, but this has also led to complaints from overseas users who are accustomed to paid subscriptions.

Despite this, the revenue from hits is still considerable. Take two hit series on Reelshort as examples, the "werewolf" theme "Fated To My Forbidden Alpha" ("Taboo: I and the Wolf King are destined to be together", translated by Jingzhe Research Institute) and the "dominant boss" theme "Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress" ("Dangerous Relationships: The Ex-wife of the Sky-high Price Is Not Easy to Mess With", translated by Jingzhe Research Institute), the collection volume is 900,000 and 2.8 million respectively.

The number of views and collections of an earlier pure love short drama "The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband" (translated by Jingzhe Research Institute) also skyrocketed as the official increased its investment, with more than 3 million views on YouTube alone, and about 6 million collections on the App.

Based on the current price of about $0.5 per episode, a series has about 60 episodes, and it usually costs $30 to watch a series. Assuming that the number of people watching the same series is 1 million, the revenue brought by a series can reach 30 million US dollars.

Head companies with content production capabilities, such as Youku, choose to distribute short dramas through YouTube, and make profits by sharing the platform's traffic. They have channels dedicated to short dramas on the international version of the App and their respective YouTube and TikTok accounts. According to the "July 2023 China Non-Game Manufacturers Overseas Revenue Ranking" released by data.ai, Youku's growth rate in the Southeast Asian market is as high as 49%.

From the cost perspective, another attractive point of the overseas market is that the cost of buying traffic is relatively low. Take Reelshort as an example. As an early short drama product in the European and American markets, it entered the market early and the competition was relatively less fierce.

Secondly, the content format of short dramas is more suitable for the content habits of Tiktok and Ins Reel users. According to AppGrowing's overseas observation data, Reelshort began to buy large-scale traffic in July, with an average daily dual-end delivery of more than 400 sets. After November, the number of daily delivery was even higher, exceeding 1,000 sets at one point.

Although it is difficult to calculate the cost of the ad campaign due to the different costs and settlement methods of each buying channel, industry insiders said that most of Reelshort's materials are placed under the Reading category, and some are classified as Other News & Entertainment, Audio & Video Players, etc. Generally speaking, the cost of buying traffic in the tool category is lower than that in the reading category, and Reelshort also reduces its customer acquisition costs through such operations.

Judging from Reelshort's current hit viewing situation, the push and extremely melodramatic and reversal plot materials attract users to download the App and pay within the App, and the operational path of quickly completing the conversion from traffic to payment is also effective overseas.

According to Sensor Tower data, ReelShort's downloads and net turnover achieved explosive growth in November, with 4.443 million downloads in November, a 97.5% increase from October, and net turnover of US$6.92 million in November, a 97.4% increase from October. As of November 30, ReelShort's cumulative net turnover has reached US$27.985 million (approximately RMB 200 million).

Reelshort can be considered the ceiling of short drama apps going overseas. The second tier of manufacturers includes Jiuzhou's ShortTV, which has achieved a monthly turnover of 1.5 million US dollars since its launch in September, followed by DramaBox under Dianzhong, with a monthly turnover of about one million US dollars. Judging from the current situation of these leading products, the overseas market of short dramas is still an incremental market with an expanding market size under the investment of various manufacturers.

Although at present, the revenue scale of overseas short dramas cannot be compared with domestic short dramas that easily earn over 100 million yuan. However, for many companies, the overseas short dramas are still in the initial stage. The overseas short dramas are an exploration of innovative revenue channels. With the support of major manufacturers, the influence of short dramas is also increasing. With the continuous emergence of popular content, it will inevitably promote the overseas process of the entire film and television industry.

It can be said that the outstanding performance of domestic short dramas overseas is inseparable from the grassroots methods of producers such as low-cost production, good use of recommendation mechanisms to test user preferences, rapid iteration and trial and error, and the desire for emerging markets. But this is also an opportunity for Chinese short dramas to hit the vent of different demands for short content from thousands of users in the era of content decentralization.

As the global economy slows down, short videos and short dramas can help people escape reality. Just as there is a "lipstick effect" in economic theory, consumers will be willing to buy lower-priced luxury goods during a financial crisis. The Great Depression in the United States was also the golden age of movies. Short dramas have a promising future.

Author: Xiaodong WeChat public account: Jingzhe Research Institute