A refreshing novel was adapted into a mini-program short drama: 100 episodes were shot in 3 days, and 13 million yuan was earned in 45 days

Now, more and more people are flocking to the trend of WeChat mini-program short dramas, and the business model of this type of WeChat mini-program short dramas is somewhat different from the business model of short dramas on the original short video platform. Many people who flock to it are more for "quick money". How to interpret the emergence and development of WeChat mini-program short dramas? Let's take a look at the author's interpretation.

• Short male-oriented dramas featuring security guards, food deliverymen, and couriers have become popular on WeChat mini-programs. The scripts are plagiarized and poorly produced, with the cost of one drama being less than 100,000 yuan.
• The WeChat mini program is connected with external platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, opening up a new traffic gold mine. People who want to make quick money are rushing in, using unlimited high investment in exchange for lucrative profits.
• The wave of wealth creation is about to turn into a turbulent whirlpool, but the people swimming in it can’t care less. They just want to make money desperately before being drawn into the whirlpool.

At 3 a.m. in Hengdian World Studios, producer Dashu's crew had just finished work, and the security guard at the door came over with a smile. "Are you shooting a skit? I love that stuff!" He took out his phone, skillfully opened the WeChat mini-program, and swiped up and down, and a variety of mini-programs for short plays occupied two or three screens.

Each episode of the short drama costs one yuan. In order to watch the drama on the mini program, this security guard can top up 600 yuan a day at most. Money flows continuously from the pockets of countless similar users to the short drama company. Stories of earning millions or even tens of millions a month are circulating among the gold diggers in this brand new industry.

Dashu is the producer of the short dramas, responsible for coordinating the director, actors, photographers, post-production, etc., and selling the finished films to the short drama company. He heard that this business can make a lot of money, and he has repeatedly asked indirectly where the users come from and why they are willing to pay, but the answers to these questions are regarded as the "core secrets" of the short drama company.

The security guard broke the mystery: the long-ignored middle-aged men in the lower-tier markets are becoming the new wealth code. They have free time and a certain level of spending power, so they don’t have high requirements for the content of the skits and are more easily satisfied.

It was like a shot of stimulant, which rekindled Dashu's fantasy of becoming rich overnight: "I want to get into this business, no matter how hard I try."

1. When the cool story is put on the screen

What does the middle-aged security guard who spends 600 yuan a day watching TV series like to watch? The popular mini-program short drama "The Rich Son-in-law" is a sample worth referring to.

In order to compete with her chaebol father, the gorgeously dressed heroine ran to the side of the road and grabbed the delivery man who was about to pick up the food. Her eyes and tone were equally firm: "Yes! I am going to marry him." The inconspicuous delivery man was at a loss and stunned.

The camera turns and the delivery boy who "married" into a wealthy family has a slicked-back haircut and is accompanied by three bodyguards. He appears in high-end western restaurants and luxurious KTVs in a suit and tie, shaking a red wine glass while spending a fortune to buy listed companies, or stepping on the heroine's rich and handsome ex-boyfriends and splashing beer on their faces.

Wang Mian, who has been a traditional film and television screenwriter for 20 years and a Douyin and Kuaishou (hereinafter referred to as "Douyin and Kuaishou") short drama writer for nearly 4 years, spent 4 months reading thousands of scripts and summed up a "universal formula" for mini-program short dramas: using classic male-oriented online literature as a reference, there are three main story prototypes - the son-in-law, the urban war god and the special forces, and there must be three essential elements: the poor counterattack, the rich family's distress, and rebirth and revenge.

Other mini-program short dramas with similar themes to "The Rich Son-in-law" include "The Noble Son-in-law", "I'm More Than Just a Son-in-law", "The Supreme Rich Son-in-law in the City", and "The Super Son-in-law".

While creators of Douyin and Kuaishou are racking their brains to win the hearts of female users, the WeChat mini-program "cool dramas" with security guards, delivery men, and couriers as the protagonists are making middle-aged men in third-tier cities and below addicted with plots such as counterattacks and face-slapping.

Dashu has carefully analyzed this group. More than a decade ago, when online literature was popular, they were loyal fans living in the world of refreshing literature; now that they are getting older and their lives have become comfortable or hopeless, they are trying to find their own utopia from the refreshing dramas that have made a comeback.

The groups and demands that have been ignored in the past are brewing a new blue ocean.

Xuebao Finance once searched for keywords such as "short drama" and "theater" on WeChat, and found hundreds of platforms providing similar short drama viewing services. In some popular dramas, the number of likes and reposts of a single episode can reach hundreds of thousands.

When the cool novels were put on mobile screens, the market suddenly became popular, allowing a number of online literature companies to see new opportunities. The short drama company Yexiang Theater is backed by Chinese Online, and Momo Romance Network has also begun to collect scripts for mini-program short dramas. On Xiaohongshu, Tieba, public accounts and other channels, there are posts of "seeking high prices for scripts".

According to the observation of Snow Leopard Finance, these scripts require 450 to 650 words per episode, which corresponds to a short play length of about 1 minute. A drama has 100 to 200 episodes, and the scripts are often tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of words, and the price is only 5,000 to 10,000 yuan.

"They are all plagiarized scripts. I just spent some money to buy the copyright." Wang Mian told Xuebao Finance that "plagiarizing a hit" is already a well-known secret in the industry. He can tell which drama it is plagiarizing by reading the first three pages of a script. After the classic male novel "The Son-in-Law" was adapted into a popular film and television series last year, it has become one of the most popular plagiarism templates for mini-program short dramas.

The script was purchased at a low price, and the subsequent filming process was also outsourced.

Short drama companies usually look for film and television producers based in Hengdian to shoot. "90% of producers are shooting short dramas, and they already have a mature industrial process." Dashu has been a producer for nearly 10 years. Last year, he started to take on short drama projects for Douyin and Kuaishou. In the second half of this year, he mainly shot short dramas for mini programs.

From receiving the script to editing the finished film, the shooting cycle of Douyin and Kuaishou short dramas is usually 15 days, while the short dramas of mini programs can shoot 100 episodes in two or three days, and can take on more than a dozen projects a month. Party A (the short drama company) does not have high requirements for the quality of the finished film. If there is any special demand, it is "always ask for a lower quality."

The market consensus is that the production cost of male-oriented dramas is low, usually only two-thirds of that of female-oriented dramas or even lower.

A producer who has deployed short dramas on multiple channels such as iQiyi, Youku, Douyin, and mini programs told Xuebao Finance that male users don’t pay much attention to the cast, costumes, background music, scheduling, etc., and do not have high requirements for special effects. "I will control the production cost of this type of short drama to 60,000 to 100,000 yuan, which is only one-tenth of the cost of Douyin and Kuaishou short dramas."

How can fast-food mini-program short dramas with low costs, crude production and highly similar content attract a large number of fans and become a good business that can generate huge profits?

2. Underwater traffic business

With the help of an acquaintance, Dashu finally got into a mini-program short drama company. At his first presentation meeting, he stayed up all night to prepare the content plan, but found that no one talked about content, production and user operations. The theme of the meeting was simple and crude - how much traffic was invested and how much money was earned.

Only then did he realize that although they were both called short plays, they were two completely different business models.

On Douyin and Kuaishou, short drama creators mainly monetize through platform revenue sharing, advertising, and product promotion, but either the ceiling is too low or the monetization path is too long. The founder of a leading MCN company complained to Snow Leopard Finance that the current short drama creation environment is becoming more and more competitive, and 80% of companies cannot make money.

However, WeChat mini-program short dramas never make money from content, but rather through hidden "operators" behind the scenes who do pure traffic business and make quick money.

The short drama company cuts the series into slices and places information flow ads on platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou. After users click on the ads, they will jump directly to the WeChat mini program. The first 5 to 10 episodes are free to watch, and subsequent content requires payment, usually 1 yuan to unlock 1 episode, or purchase a monthly/annual membership.

The path to jump to the mini program on Douyin

According to Wang Mian, the short drama with the highest revenue has earned 13 million yuan in 45 days, and "the subsequent long-tail traffic can push the revenue to 20 million yuan." He told Xuebao Finance that most short dramas on the market cannot earn tens of millions of yuan, but it is not a problem to earn one or two million yuan a month.

Making good use of traffic leverage is the key to mini-program short dramas leveraging tens of millions of revenue, and the most core position is the pitcher. They are responsible for placing advertising budgets and purchasing as accurate traffic as possible to facilitate subsequent transactions.

As early as two years ago, pitchers had already skillfully taken advantage of the traffic pool of Douyin and Kuaishou, and Qin Meng was one of them.

In 2020, Qin Meng was the assistant anchor of a beauty live broadcast studio. One night, the pitcher asked for leave and she was arranged to take over. From 12 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock the next day, the GMV reached a rare 1.7 million yuan, nearly 6 times the usual amount, and the ROI of the investment flow exceeded 7, the highest in the entire company. Recalling her first experience as a pitcher, she still feels like a dream.

In the past two years since she transformed into a pitcher, Qin Meng has been like a person digging for gold next to a gold mountain, watching the mining pools of beauty, clothing, food, pets, etc. hit the bottom one after another. Douyin and Kuaishou are no longer the traffic depressions of the past, but there are always people who can find new opportunities.

In July this year, Douyin broke the ice wall and WeChat mini-programs can run feed ads on Douyin, and users can also jump directly from Douyin to WeChat mini-programs. The popularity of the WeChat mini-game "Sheep" is largely due to the precise flow of ads on Douyin.

People who wanted to get rich overnight gathered around the new mine, and Qin Meng was also swept up in this wave of interests and desires.

"Compared with other categories, the traffic of mini programs is still in the bonus period, and the ROI can reach 2 at most." Qin Meng told Xuebao Finance that from the end of July when she launched the first short drama to now, the payback period is 45 days, and the drama has rolled out nearly 3 rounds, with an ROI of 1.7. "In the beginning, it was only about 0.5 a month. I kept polishing the keywords and user portrait packages, and the feel became better and better, and the traffic became more and more accurate."

With this seemingly simple gameplay, short drama companies with strong financial strength continue to snowball and make money from the traffic business.

Wang Mian did some calculations: a short play company needs to reserve at least 10 short plays, with a cost of about 1 million yuan. Each short play is expected to spend 500,000 yuan on advertising, so the start-up capital is at least 6 million yuan, not including the production cost of the mini program. In his opinion, the more you invest, the more you earn, and there is no upper limit.

Dashu told Xuebao Finance that his company has invested 10 million yuan in the mini-program drama project. The boss often says: "As long as there is money, we will spend it. If the ROI reaches 1.2, we will make money."

When the wave of getting rich overnight came, people rushed to jump in and tried their best to make quick money.

But some people have noticed that a whirlpool of fast-flowing water is beginning to appear ahead.

3. The “Bloodless Knife” Reveals Its Sharp Edge

Unlike Douyin and Kuaishou creators who are dedicated to incubating talent IP and building brand influence, mini-program short drama companies have chosen a completely different survival philosophy: being low-key and cautious, and making a fortune in silence.

Most short drama companies will put their content into different mini programs. Usually, one mini program has less than 5 plays, and only a few have more than 10. Take Nanjing Huasheng, a relatively active short drama company, for example. It has dozens of mini programs, including Kegua, Snail, Brilliant, Reshui, Treasure, and Dahai.

Different mini programs from the same company have almost identical product forms, and some mini programs even have no difference in the content of the dramas they list. The drama playback page does not have interactive methods such as bullet screens and comments. Although there are entrances to recommended short dramas, short drama rankings, and the latest short dramas at the bottom of the mini program, they are often blank when you click on them.

Wang Mian told Snow Leopard Finance that the reason why short drama companies "cloned" multiple mini-programs but neglected their operations was, on the one hand, to make more money through multiple channels, and on the other hand, because the risk of being banned in the industry was high, they had to spread their eggs into more baskets.

"Mini programs are all made using templates, and they only cost 10,000 to 20,000 yuan to make one. If you want users to see any data in your own mini program, you can just refresh it in the backend."

Even for mini programs of the same company, the membership system and payment system are independent and do not connect to each other. Mini programs have set up tasks such as watching, signing in, liking, and sharing. Users can earn coins by completing tasks and use the coins to unlock more short drama content. This social fission gameplay is exactly the same as what Pinduoduo did in its early days to seize the sinking market.

Wang Mian had two accounts blocked due to reports from users and peers, but in the emerging industry of mini-program short dramas, being reported and blocked is not even a stumbling block. The real risk lies in supervision.

At present, short dramas broadcast on Youku, iQiyi, Tencent Video, Douyin and Kuaishou need to be registered with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, while short dramas on mini-programs are still operating outside the law.

On November 25, Tencent's official content security communication platform released the "Announcement on Further Standardizing the "Micro-Short Drama" Content in Mini Programs", continuing to manage illegal content in short drama mini programs, and banned and removed at least 30 mini programs.

Currently, when Snow Leopard Finance searches for keywords such as “short play” and “theater” in the WeChat mini-program column, the result is “no relevant results yet”.

The rules of the game may change at any time, and the mixed bag of early mini-program short dramas will eventually come to an end, but at least for now, the entire industry is still immersed in the pleasure of making quick money.

“Who would pull out their hand to make money in advance for a knife that has not seen blood?” Dashu knew very well that the boss’s foundation for making money was still Douyin and Kuaishou. He came to the mini program to make short plays just to “make a quick buck and run” in the grassroots era.

But while Wang Mian was making quick money, he also saw a glimmer of hope in the chaos.

More than a decade ago, online literature platforms relied on similar traffic methods and promotion routes to grow wildly, but eventually they became standardized and refined. Ten years ago, online movies were crudely made, costing tens of thousands of yuan to make one, but now the production cost has reached millions. The mini-program short dramas that seem "low" now may also have room to continue to grow and become more refined.

Wang Mian believes that the heavy-handed crackdown is to wash away the bad habits in the industry and pave the way for "regular forces" like him. "In the future, the mini-program short drama industry will surely become more and more prosperous."

Last month, he transferred dedicated operations personnel from the head office, intending to use WeChat's social environment to develop the private domain well, "and maybe do e-commerce in the future."

Stories of getting rich overnight are still circulating, but the road to wealth has begun to become bumpy. When the storm is coming and the bubble is shattered, will anyone persevere to the end?

(All characters in this article are pseudonyms)

Author: Li Xintong

Source: Xuebao Finance (ID: xuebaocaijingshe), faster, deeper and wiser