The rise of branded short dramas: explosive content and high-quality marketing build a new era of content ecology

Starting from short plays, this article analyzes the reasons why short plays appear, why brands favor short plays, and the direction of short plays in the future. It is recommended for students who want to learn more about short plays.

In the 2023 Double Eleven battle, "brand sketches" stood out and are constantly refreshing the gameplay.

Mao Haifeng, vice president of Kuaishou Magnetic Engine, said last year, "From our practical results, short dramas are one of the most penetrating scene marketing methods. With the further penetration of industry customers, the commercial space of short dramas will surely be further expanded in 2023."

The uniqueness of short dramas lies in the fact that they combine large traffic, strong marketing and efficient reach of new audiences.

Although short dramas are still in their growth stage, the "brand short dramas" on Double Eleven performed well and are expected to write a new chapter in brand growth.

1. The phenomenon of the emergence of a large number of “branded short plays”

As an upgraded form of short video content, short dramas are becoming increasingly popular. During this year's Double Eleven Shopping Festival, short dramas proved their influence on the two major platforms, Douyin and Kuaishou.

During the Double Eleven period, many short dramas broadcast on the Douyin platform, such as "Full-time Househusband Training Program", "Why Love" and "Double A Couple is Beautiful and Cool", received support from sponsors such as PROYA, Five Female Doctors, and MaruMei Four Antibiotics. At the same time, the short drama "The Brilliant Star Road" on the Kuaishou platform also received the title sponsorship of Feihe Milk Powder. The short drama "Unexpected Life" starring Wang Yaoqing was sponsored by Touron V6.

These short plays not only reflect the market value of short play content, but also demonstrate the efficient combination of brand and short play content.

Among them, Hansu brand has seen an increase in brand awareness and sales after launching the customized series "Dress for Growth" in cooperation with Silver Earth MCN. This short drama tailored for workers has been updated for 16 episodes and has received more than 600 million views. Hansu's "Sun Never Sets" live broadcast room has taken over the traffic and attention brought by the short drama, and promoted the sales of the Red Waist Set, which focuses on anti-aging effects. This successful case shows the market effect of the combination of "customized short drama + brand self-broadcast + Dabo".

In addition, the short play "Beauty Comes True" created by Gu Mai Jia He for a bankrupt brother and sister won the exclusive title sponsorship of Tmall International after it was launched, and the number of views exceeded 1 billion, becoming a new benchmark for commercial short plays. Kuaishou's Star Mang short plays produce a stable annual output of 300-500, of which the number of views of S+ level short plays has reached an average of more than 300 million. In order to meet the personalized marketing needs of brands, Kuaishou Magnetic Engine has launched a gradient and layered short play marketing resource combination, which helps brands and content to adapt efficiently and flexibly, and accelerates the pace of content commercialization.

Development data in the past three years show that the audience size of short dramas is continuing to expand. In observations and surveys, it was found that 65% of respondents chose to finish a short drama within 1 hour rather than watching two episodes of a long drama. Short dramas meet users' fragmented and fast-paced viewing needs, while also having the companionship and emotional satisfaction of long dramas. This unique attribute has created a huge audience group for short dramas in the video content market.

Moreover, the integration of brand marketing and short drama content is constantly colliding and updating. For example, in “Beauty Comes True”, Tmall Global’s brand concept is naturally integrated into the plot through various forms such as corner logo exposure and customized content, achieving in-depth interaction between the brand and the audience.
In short, short dramas, as an emerging content form, have occupied an important position in the video content market.

2. The reason why brands favor “short plays”

There are three reasons why brands favor "short plays":

First, short dramas have a wide audience, and young women dominate. According to the user data of short dramas, more than 65% of users are women, and users under 30 years old account for more than 50%. The main audience of short dramas is young women, who have a strong interest in short dramas with themes such as ancient style, love, and campus. At the same time, short video platforms have also found that users over 30 years old show a high interest in dramas with realistic themes such as family and city. This makes the content of short dramas diverse and meets the needs of various users. And this broad audience base provides brands with greater marketing potential.

Secondly, short dramas can accurately grasp user needs and meet the diverse tastes of users. This is mainly due to the precise user portraits of short dramas. Short dramas continue to expand the boundaries of content innovation, taking Chinese aesthetics as the main line, iterating in small steps, and opening up the imagination space of existing themes. Whether it is youth inspiration, urban workplace, or family empathy, short dramas are working hard to meet the needs of users in various circles. For example, a short drama with youth as the theme, "Seventeen Years Old", resonated with the audience through warm and healing content.

Finally, brand-sponsored skits can integrate brands into the plot, achieving a deep integration of brands and content. This integration method can avoid the embarrassment of hard implantation and will not cause disgust among the audience. For example, in the "Full-time Househusband Training Program", the brand gift box sponsored by PROYA appeared as a plot prop, which not only strengthened the label of the heroine as an independent woman, but also tied the PROYA brand to this label. This implantation method allows the audience to accept brand information unconsciously, maximizing brand communication.
In general, short dramas are becoming a new favorite in brand marketing due to their broad audience base, accurate user portraits, and deep integration of brands and content. They can not only provide diversified content to meet user needs, but also help brands achieve communication through accurate user positioning.

3. Predicting the future trend of short dramas

This development model, which is user-demand-oriented and content-innovation-driven, will undoubtedly bring more possibilities to the short drama industry and brand marketing. In the future, the development of branded short dramas will most likely have the following characteristics:

First, the content marketing of short plays is expected to become increasingly vertical, and the plot and character setting will become the key points of brand promotion. Brand sponsorship will also become more refined, and short plays of different themes will correspond to brands of different categories. For example, this trend has already appeared in urban short plays, and beauty and skincare brands have become the main force of sponsorship. Brands such as PROYA, MARUMEI, Red Elephant and SPES have deeply integrated the plot into the short plays they sponsored, successfully realizing brand communication. This content marketing method is softer than traditional brand promotion and can convey brand concepts, positioning and advantages in all aspects.

Secondly, the future brand short drama content marketing will be deeply integrated with the plot and character setting, rather than just simple brand exposure. For example, in the short drama "Double A Couple is Beautiful and Cool" sponsored by Marubi, the heroine is set as the daughter of Marubi Group, which not only increases the frequency of brand exposure, but also improves the rationality of the plot.

Furthermore, the new model of using drama to promote sales will also become a major feature of short dramas in the future. Customized short dramas will be a new direction for the combination of brand marketing and short dramas. For example, the customized short drama "Full Score of Romance" co-produced by Red Elephant Primary School Frost and Jiang Shiqi, through the plot setting, makes Red Elephant Primary School Frost fit the characters naturally, and the use scenarios are more extensive, opening up a new model of using drama to promote sales.

Finally, a new linkage model of short drama + e-commerce live broadcast room may emerge in the future. For example, the leading actress "Yizhilu" in the short drama "The Brilliant Star Road of Wanzha" is also the top e-commerce anchor of Kuaishou. Through the mutual drainage of short drama and live broadcast room, the effective linkage between short drama and e-commerce live broadcast room is realized. This model shows the commercialization potential of short drama and also provides more possibilities for brand marketing.

Of course, the operational ideas and ability to create hits of short dramas have been verified by the market, and it is leading the industry into a new stage of high-quality development.

IV. Conclusion

In short, the future development trend of short dramas will be reflected in "verticalization of content marketing, in-depth integration of plot and character setting, new model of using dramas to promote products, and new linkage model between short dramas and e-commerce live broadcast rooms."
The trend of branded skits has arrived. It is not only a new direction for content creation, but also a new tool for brand marketing. In the future, brands will use skits for marketing and will probably build a content ecosystem. The combination of high-quality content and marketing strategies will lead us into a new era of content ecology.

Author: Mr. Bingfa

Source: WeChat public account: "Marketing Art of War" (ID: lanhaiyingxiao)