Text/Wang Xinyi
The variety show market in 2022 is hovering in the "pouring spring cold" and "warming up".
On the one hand, at the beginning of the new year, the lack of sponsorship often appears in the variety show market, and the phenomenon of naked broadcasting, only one title or a small number of sponsorships starting broadcast, and the number of comprehensive N generation sponsors has dropped significantly, which has become the "resonance" of the market.
Behind the sharp decline in sponsors is the lack of overall voice of variety shows. According to Yunhe data, the cumulative effective broadcast of variety shows on the whole network in 2022 fell by 14% year-on-year, and a total of 8 new variety shows exceeded 500 million in effective broadcasts, a decrease of 2 compared with 2021.
On the other hand, throughout 2022, there are not a few who can generate the volume of topics, cause communication and discussion, and even contribute to variety show scenes, and at the same time, the number of new variety shows and the proportion of those with higher Douban scores are also increasing.
According to Yunhe data, in 2022, there will be 274 domestic seasonal variety shows, an increase of 7 year-on-year; The average score of Shangxin variety show Douban rose to 7 points, and variety shows with more than 8 points accounted for 27%, an increase of 12 percentage points year-on-year, and more than 250,000 people scored 9.6 points on Douban such as "Happy Departure".
Source: Yunhe Data
In addition, the competition of long and short videos to encircle the variety show track is intensifying, on the one hand, long videos further incubate smaller and lighter micro variety shows to expand the content territory, on the other hand, Jitter Kuai has launched the concept of "variety show season", and content community platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Zhihu have also joined the battle.
Looking back at the variety show market in the past year, "Welcome to the Mushroom House" and "Happy Re-start 1&2" brought the "re-employment boy group" and "0713" archaeological fever with fire; "Riding the Wind and Waves 3" triggered a nostalgic upsurge on the whole network through Wang Xinling; "Fifty Kilometers Peachblossom Dock 2" is embarrassing 9 minutes caused by guests discussing what group activities to do and how to do it; the discussion about suitable jokers triggered by the selection of guests in the first episode of "Talk Show Conference 5"; "Liu Bo Bangs Scar" of "Annual Comedy Competition 2" "Young Master and Me"; the suffocating discussion triggered by Zhang Wanting and Song Ningfeng in "Goodbye Lover 2"; At the end of the year, "Infinite Beyond Class" successfully dominated the hot search for many days with many controversial topics such as "Unmanned Car Paul", "Dimi Benza" and Zhao Yingzi in the first issue... In terms of hot search volume and topicality, the variety show market in 2022 is still remarkable.
In the year when the draft was lost, in addition to creating topics, variety artists lay in the hotbed of "emotional killing" and "familiar relationships".
Outdoor hotspots have become a new trend,
The "type of big household" sound complex and love complex are more subdivided
Variety shows will never give up the pursuit of new outlets, nor will they be absent from leading and following the current hot spots and trends. Such a trend also appears on the 2022 variety show "Topic".
At the beginning of the year, against the ice and snow fever of the Beijing Winter Olympics, variety shows related to ice and snow sports have become the focus of the layout of various platforms. Zhejiang Satellite TV launched the ice and snow expert competitive growth program "Ice and Snow is Burning", and the ice and snow exploration documentary variety show "Follow the Champion to Ski" was broadcast on Southeast Satellite TV, Mango TV, and Migu Video; iQiyi and Jiangsu Satellite TV launched the winter fun entertainment snow variety show "Super Fun Ski Conference"; The reality show "Snowy Days to See You" was broadcast on Youku and Beijing Satellite TV.
A still from "Ice and Snow Are Burning"
However, judging from the results, several ice and snow programs did not ride the east wind of the Winter Olympics and did not cause too much noise.
Another new "theme" is the camping variety show.
After camping became a new trend activity for offline young people in 2022, variety shows did not miss this outlet, and the return of new variety shows and the old variety N generation have taken this as the theme. iQiyi and Jiangsu Satellite TV launched "Let's Camp Together", the return of Hunan Satellite TV's "Flowers and Youth" also chose the camping season, Anhui Satellite TV launched "Let's Go Camping", and Zhejiang Satellite TV's "Star Chaser 2" continued to take the road of self-driving camping. It's just that compared with the popularity of offline camping, camping variety shows have not appeared the so-called explosion, warm swallowing, boring has become the slot of many variety shows, more is biased to quiet.
A still from "Flowers and Youth Camping Season"
But regardless of the result, the exploration of young users' tastes and the capture and reaction of current hot content and trends have always been one of the homework that video websites are doing, from this point of view, whether it is ice and snow sports or camping topics, there is a need for layout.
In addition to the new outlet, there are some categories that have shown enduring ability, the most obvious of which in 2022 is the launch of music complex and love mix.
Incomplete statistics, in 2022, more than ten emotional variety shows will be online, deconstructing gender emotions from multiple angles such as love, wedding, divorce, and re-start, and upgrading to "love +" on the basis of romance, and also in the case that the ensemble can't play any tricks set by the show, so I have to further create topics and emotional resonance through the subdivision of perspectives and crowds.
30+ mature age, divorced, never in love, emotionally damaged and other stories gathered in one "pseudo" innovative romance show after another, trying to screenshot more diverse gender relationships and emotional choices in the current society. Of course, in addition to all kinds of "sweet" and "saccharin", the increasingly dramatic emotional stories and character personalities are also allowing many romances to complete traffic KPIs.
Another type of big household music complex also shows the same trend, although the track of the idol draft has been blocked, but the music complex still shoulders the S+ mission of many platforms, the return of the N generation and the departure of innovative programs complement each other, and on this basis, segmentation also has a clear trend.
Folk songs, musicals, electronic music, Hong Kong music, folk songs, and the combination of culture are all among them, and the song variety show has also made another effort this year.
On top of the achievements of this year, there are only a few new stages that can be recognized by the market and cause the audience to forward, but under the impetus of the "nostalgic tide", the treasure singers in the memories of the previous 8090s have been killed back gloriously, and the "sweetheart godmaster" Wang Xinling danced "Love You" again, triggering a short video to set off a short video #When my husband watched Wang Xinling's "Love You" #话题狂潮, and then "Su Youpeng Girls" collectively appeared to continue the memory of the "Little Tiger Team", in addition, under the pendant music variety program, Cantonese songs, Folk music genres and other subdivisions once became the "favorite" shared by the circle of friends for a while...
Without a high degree of newcomers, "emotional killing" has become a good medicine for KPIs.
Compared with the stable output of sound and romance, although the reasoning track will emerge as a gold player Tencent Video in 2022, the new projects "Let's Start Reasoning" and "Landing on Yuanyuzhou" have not set off too many splashes; Outdoor variety shows are still the world of "Running Man", and there is no blockbuster outdoor "fast complex" in 2022, perhaps sniping this position, it will have to wait until the new season of "All Staff Acceleration" that announces its return in 2023; Slow variety shows are the same, although "Longing for Life 6" hit a new low in word of mouth, and the audience's dissatisfaction was further expanded, it was still no match for the love of sponsors, the stability of online broadcast data, and there were many variety shows as mentioned above, taking the gimmick of "camping" to cut into the slow variety series, which still does not pose a threat to the "mushroom house family"...
Long video micro variety show vs short video long variety show
Although there is no shortage of famous scenes in variety shows in 2022, there are many variety shows that can arouse audience discussion and generate high traffic, but it is not common to continue to attract audiences to the last issue.
Variety shows are facing the challenge of their own creative bottlenecks, and they are also facing the continuous impact of various content forms such as live broadcasts and short videos.
After all, every high-energy clip of a variety show must be included in a short video, so as to ensure the intensity output of topics and traffic.
Screenshot of short video platform
Long video platforms have tested the water of micro-variety shows to open up long and short content, and communities and short video platforms have also begun to enter or strengthen the layout of long variety shows, trying to open up the platform link with short band length and straight band length.
From this point of view, the flowering of domestic variety shows in 2022 is multi-platform and multi-volume.
Tencent Video continues to do small fresh collection, "Mao Xuewang" continues to update, sponsors favor began to arrive, and from time to time can have hot search topics such as #Mao Xuewang Yang Mi said what are you doing is I miss you#; On the other side, Mango TV also has intellectual reasoning variety shows "yes or no2" and "beautiful reasoning", and the human pet emotional reality show "Go Wild!" Hairy Child" and other innovative experiments; And the ledger variety show "Shining Days 1&2" scored high scores of 9.3 and 8.2 on Douban respectively, once again practicing the new possibilities of the variety show market... The micro-comprehensive track of long videos is gradually serialized and word-of-mouth.
"Mao Xuewang" stills
In addition to the long video track players dominated by Youai Tengmang, domestic variety shows are ushering in more or more "suppliers".
After Station B made high-reputation variety shows such as "Rap New Generation" and began to output variety shows such as "90 Marriage Agency" and "Summer of the Eaves", community platforms have successively joined this competition show.
In 2022, Xiaohongshu launched the parent-child interactive micro-variety show "Full of a Big Bowl" launched by Akita Manman, and launched "I Want to Live Like This Camping Season", etc., which are mainly micro-comprehensive, and the content is more in line with the platform planting grass and sharing attributes; Zhihu launched "The Profession I Longed For" and "Wilderness Talks", which are also lighter programs, the former focusing on the four industries that are widely concerned, restoring the working life of the four guests, and giving users decryption and answers to workplace problems, while the latter is a youth talk show, focusing on the confusion faced by young people...
A still from "Full of a Big Bowl"
In terms of short video platforms, Kuaishou launched programs such as "Sleep at 11 o'clock", "Old Iron Love" and "Sound Like Summer Flower", among which "Sound Like Summer Flower" focuses on the growth of female music anchors and explores the content mode of "long-short-straight"; Douyin continues to create "Praise for Song 2", and there are also "Baichuan Variety Show Season", among which "Baichuan Variety Show Season" covers music, comedy, emotions and other subdivided fields.
The further convergence of long and short platforms and the more development of long and micro variety shows have made the competition in the variety show market more fierce and further expanded the possibilities of variety shows.
2022 keywords,
Will it continue in 2023?
Under the type, in the selection of guests and content settings, the 2022 variety show market is enthusiastic or can arouse voice, and even large-scale discussion is inseparable from feelings and acquaintances.
At this point, even if the short video platform and community platform do variety shows such as the above, the two keywords of "feelings" and "acquaintances" have not been spared.
On Douban, the variety shows that received high scores in 2022 were "Happy Departure 1&2" with 9.6 and 9.4 points, "Shining Days" and "Riding with Reason" with 9.3 points, "The Seaside of the Band" with 9.2 points, "I Am Studying on the Island" and "Escape Room God Edition 4" with 9.1 points, and "Detective Academy 6" and "China 2 in the Classics" with 9.0 points.
"Happy Again 2" stills
It can be seen that two of the seasons of "Happy Departure", "Escape Room God Edition 4" and "Detective Academy 6" are variety shows based on acquaintances, and "The Seaside of the Band" also brings together Yu Wenwen, Liu Lian, Zhao Meng, etc. in "Riding the Wind and Waves 3" with friendship and interaction that have attracted the audience's attention and expectations.
As a cliché, the natural basis of acquaintance relationships is destined to be true and natural of the show, and the guests' familiarity with each other also means the ease of making terriers and the moderation and tacit understanding of receiving terriers, which is one of the important reasons why it is loved and has gained a high reputation.
And "Summer when you want to sing" with 09 Supergirl as the main guest, and the "Night in Greater Bay Chai" series launched by the brother in the Greater Bay Area for two seasons, etc., can also be regarded as the landing of a reality show with a certain degree of acquaintance relationship. When the doubts about the "script" and "unreal" of reality shows are endless, the development of acquaintance relationship programs has become a good attempt to cure reality shows.
A still from "Night in Greater Bay Chai 2"
The real revelation of this kind of real acquaintance relationship also made the audience "disgusted" at some slow complexes that originally focused on "acquaintances", which was concentrated in the word-of-mouth reaction of "Longing for Life 6", this year, what shocked "Mushroom House" may be the performance of the "re-employment boy group" in the pilot variety show "Welcome to Mushroom House", and the "Happy Re-start 1&2" that followed, which really told the proud "Longing for Life" what is the "slow" relationship of real acquaintances.
In addition to using the relationship of acquaintances as the basis to make variety shows such as "Happy Departure" produce great popularity in this year's domestic variety shows, and even present a dark horse, becoming the "electronic squeeze" of many audiences, the "feelings" commonly used in variety shows have also bloomed new vitality again this year.
As mentioned above, Yinji will obviously benefit from harvesting "emotional killing" in 2022, in addition, Wu Tong, a "key gentleman" in PD, also continues to dance his emotional tricks with long sleeves.
For example, "Ace vs. Ace 7" continues to stage classic links, "Detective Detective 2" staged an actor reunion in the classic IP, and "Infinite Beyond Class" pulled TVB actors together...
"Ace vs Ace 7" stills
"Feelings" and memory killings can indeed stir the audience, if not form long-term topics and discussions, at least they can bring some attention to the show in the moment. Coupled with short videos, the dissemination of social platforms, archaeology and other second creations, it is also easier to radiate to more people and act on the program itself.
But it is still the problem that has always existed, feelings and memory killing are not once and for all, deliberately creating memory killing, will lose the true emotional expression under nature and greatly reduce the effect, and will also cause the audience's boredom.
In 2022, this voice has already appeared, and Wu Tong, who reunited Sha Yi and Yao Chen at the beginning of 2023 and tried to evoke the feelings of "The Legend of Wulin", has made such doubts come earlier in the new year.
Subsequently, whether it is "Infinite Beyond Class" or "Our Inn", the Douban score has fallen below 4 points, setting a new low for Wu Tong, and the existence of 3.2 points in "Our Inn" is also challenging the tolerance line of the lowest score of domestic variety shows.
Screenshot of Douban
With feelings without any innovation and thinking about variety shows, such formulaic creations are setting off a huge backlash.
Although the variety show market in 2022 is no longer so popular, and the continued attraction of the show to the audience is weakening, the appropriate use of "acquaintance relationship" and "feelings" still allows many variety show producers to find a new round of weight to complete KPIs.
But will these two weights continue to work well in 2023?
Although the comebacks of Xu Huaiyu and others at various galas at the beginning of the year are still attracting attention, creators should see the market and the audience's vigilance against "Wu Tong-style creation".
In 2023, there will still be some classic characters in memory returning to the stage, there will still be some classic variety show IPs will be restarted, and there will still be some old friends teams in the spotlight, but in any case, don't think that in order to achieve such a vision, the content will be successful, to make the content "good", some mechanism effects, it is worth every variety artist to take the initiative to think in advance.