Written | Ho Furong
Edit the | Wu Xianzhi
Fashion is a reincarnation.
The content of domineering presidents, sweet pet love, crossing and other themes seems to be reinvented from generation to generation of young people.
From the once popular paper magazines and online texts, to TV dramas, online dramas, and then to the current short videos and short dramas, the content and media forms have changed over the past, and the content of shuangwen has always played the role of a traffic harvester.
In various popular cultures, "Shuangwen" may be regarded as one of the most popular cultural needs, and the dual stimulation of the senses and spirit allows users to indulge in illusory pleasure and enjoy it.
In 2021, short dramas as a new form of content have exploded on long and short video platforms, and the "overlords" are like finding a new host, opening a new round of traffic harvesting.
However, the short drama integrates the common attributes of long and short videos, and the flexible short drama is at the intersection of long and short users, and the conflict hidden by the long and short video platform for many years has erupted head-on on the new content track of "short drama".
"Overbearing President" from shuangwen to short drama
"Short dramas" follow the production method of TV series, showing to users in the form of episodes, and integrating the characteristics of fragmentation and traffic of short videos in terms of duration and content, catering to the new content consumption trends of current users.
However, the sudden outbreak of the content form of short dramas has also exposed the content dilemma of both long and short videos.
In the past year, it is self-evident how difficult the situation for long video platforms is, and it is also far from being able to turn from loss to profit in the future. Layoffs and membership price increases have become its most direct and crude means of cost reduction and efficiency increase, and the high cost of content in the entire film and television industry is the fundamental dilemma that long videos are difficult to make profits, and short dramas may be regarded as a new breakthrough in the long video industry based on content.
A short drama producer said that the production cost of an A-class short drama is between 1.3 million and 1.5 million, and the cost of platform customized short dramas in Youku is 4 million to 10 million, and platform customization is mainly based on the pursuit of content quality. For most MCNs, as well as the output of small and medium-sized film and television companies, the cost is as low as hundreds of thousands.
It can be seen that this is not the same as the cost of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of traditional long videos such as web dramas and movies, and the long video industry is in need of a new way to achieve its cost reduction and efficiency.
In addition to throttling, short dramas are also saddled with the new responsibility of pulling new long video platforms. Long-form video platforms are now at the bottleneck of traffic and payment growth, competing for young users through short dramas and exploring diversified profit models.
For short video platforms, for a long time in the imitation, remake and hot use mode, content homogenization led to the phenomenon of user aesthetic fatigue has become more and more prominent, coupled with the peak of new users, short video platforms are also accompanied by "content anxiety". Short video platforms need more high-quality original content to enhance user stickiness.
The episodic characteristics of short dramas are different from the simple visual stimulation content of the short video platform "disguise", which has become a breakthrough channel for the upgrading of short video content.
In addition, this is also an exploration of the development of new monetization models for short video platforms. Nowadays, Douyin and Kuaishou have opened the short drama payment model, just like the long video platform used to be "advanced on demand", this model also reveals the ambition of the short video platform to squeeze the long video membership payment.
Last year, the long video industry sued the short video platform editing infringement incident, and the short video second creation was pressed the pause button, which may also strengthen the determination of the short video platform to lay out short dramas.
Driven by their respective needs, long and short video platforms have thrown money and traffic into the short drama track. Youku, Tencent Weishi, Mango TV, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc. are all heavily invested in supporting short dramas.
However, long and short video platforms have entered this track, in the final analysis, it is still a competition for users and user time, and the two sides have launched a positive game based on "content".
Shuangwen Evolutionary Theory
Short dramas are regarded as a "new track" by video industry practitioners, most of which are concentrated in 2-10 minutes per episode, and the plot advancement presents the characteristics of many reversals, dense plots, and fast paces, avoiding the pain points of many domestic TV series.
However, the short drama does not seem to have anything new in the upward direction of the theme, and it is also the "old three" of harvesting young people. According to the data disclosed in the 2021 annual report of Youku Content Open Platform, in 2021, the content of urban youth dolls, costume romance, urban emotions, and blood counterattacks in the micro-short drama industry will dominate.
The sweet pet of romance supported the whole day of the short play. And the plot of these contents can not escape the overbearing president in love with me, di si or Cinderella counterattack, after crossing over the modern people's sight and news to crush everything and other old routines.
Just like the psychology of most users, "Although I know this is very dirty, I just love to watch", which may be the main reason why this kind of content is enduring.
Now open the long video platform again, a strong sweet pet wind hit, and its cover is the same as the previous online novel catalog.
On the left is a screenshot of Youku short drama category; on the right is a screenshot of Tencent Video short drama category
However, this is actually a two-way choice for the platform and users. What the platform wants to attract is the young user base, and naturally there is a certain bias in content.
"Shuangwen" will never be outdated, and even many viewers and readers will regard it as a "decompression medicine". Users are addicted to fictional plots, just like the anesthetics of real life, and at the same time, they intensively stimulate users to secrete dopamine in various invigorating turns, and Shuangwen and even today's video presentation are the same routine.
"After reading it, I don't seem to feel anything. But in the process of chasing, I was curious, I wanted to watch it, plus each episode was very short, and I wanted to watch it in one breath. A skit audience member said. No need to think, biased towards sensory stimulation, no nutrition. The presentation characteristics of the short drama follow the attributes of the "time killer".
The script of the short drama is also mainly from the former IP novel, and the industry seems to be staging a video reproduction contest of the network text IP.
An insider of the network text company said that in today's tide of IP adaptation of short dramas, because the company has a lot of IP resources, they not only have copyright cooperation with video platforms, but also the company itself has begun to expand the production business of short dramas, in addition to selling IP copyrights to film and television companies and other content producers.
The characteristics of short dramas are low cost, short shooting cycle, small risk of trial and error, and the cost and risk of adapting the script through IP are further reduced to the minimum.
First of all, the net text IP has accumulated some of the novel fans, experienced the test of users, and can at least guarantee a part of the box office. The other is the reduction of cost and time period. "Many short drama production companies do not have screenwriters, in addition to saving costs, there are many IP providers that already have the role of screenwriters." The above-mentioned online text company person said.
"Like the professional short drama screenwriters in our company now, they can change 5 books a month on average. Short dramas mainly go to the young market, and we know what the audience wants to see after many years of experience in online text operation. Screenwriters in the traditional film and television industry are not able to adapt to the adaptation needs of short dramas, and it is difficult to grasp the points that need to be highlighted. ”
The data shows that in 2020, the proportion of IP adaptations of micro-short dramas was 14.8%, while in 2021, this proportion has risen to 30.5%, accounting for about 30%, and the proportion of original short dramas in the industry has been squeezed. Among them, IP adaptations are mainly novels, and a small part is from comic adaptations.
It can be seen that due to the consideration of factors such as cost and risk, IP adaptation of short dramas has become more and more common. The Shuangwen novels that were once in the era of online literature are also being reborn in the form of short dramas.
Explore and wander
In this cold winter of film and television, the emergence of short dramas is like the industry has found a life-saving straw. In the past year, platforms, film and television companies, MCN and Internet celebrities have poured into the short drama track.
The so-called entrants are numerous, but the number of people out of the circle is small.
While the content of the episode becomes shorter, it seems to follow the fate of rapid iteration of short videos and difficult to become popular. The content presentation of the current short drama mainly pursues the sensory stimulation of the user, and the artistry is obviously not enough, which can be described as insufficient afterglow.
Therefore, it is difficult to trigger the phenomenon of phenomenal explosions.
The short drama has a strong fictional color, focusing on the pursuit of the pleasure of "chasing the drama", but after watching it, there is no following, which is difficult to cause large-scale discussion. In 2021, the number of short dramas in Douban accounts for only 7.8%.
At present, the persuasiveness of the content of the short drama is still not enough, so it also lays the groundwork for the uncertainty of the profit model. The monetization model of short dramas on comprehensive long and short video platforms mainly includes platform sub-accounting, platform customization, advertising implantation, paid on-demand screening, and short video platform live streaming with goods.
The above-mentioned network text company said that the accounting model is similar to that of the network, that is, it is divided through traffic clicks and advertising clicks, and the accounting model of the long video platform is relatively mature. "The sub-account return rate of a short drama on Youku is 40-50%."
This also determines that short dramas on long video platforms pay more attention to content production.
Due to the short video platform's dependence on traffic and talents, the content focuses on highlighting "people". The willingness of short video platform users to pay based on content is not high, coupled with the immature account sharing model, so many MCNs do short dramas with the intention of creating celebrities or starring in short dramas through celebrities, with the purpose of cultivating talents and accounts, and then monetizing goods through live broadcasts.
However, this also puts forward requirements for the sustainable output of content, between the input and output ratio, the monetization model of short video platform short dramas seems to be slightly inferior, and the industry is still in a wandering period.
If you want to improve the user's willingness to pay, it is still necessary to implement the content. Paying to watch short dramas, many users always feel "almost meaningless", which is closely related to the excessive pursuit of even sensory stimulation of short dramas.
Although it is the early stage of development, the phenomenon of homogenization of short drama themes and uneven content production levels has become very obvious.
The short dramas cloaked in new content forms also follow the familiar playing style of the domestic TV drama industry, that is, the cool literary themes such as romance as the entry point to achieve the lowest cost attraction for young audiences.
Generation after generation of viewers have begun to abandon those cool dramas that are now considered to be less nutritious. Some people fled and some people poured in, and the "domineering presidents" ushered in a new life with a new generation of young people.