The 101 series draft ended, and the draft wind in the company was rising

Author | Ding Qianwen Edit | Fan Zhihui

At present, how to restart the draft boom after the 101 series draft scenery is no longer in the limelight is a common issue facing the East Asian idol circle.

This year, when the 101-series talent variety show "Boys Planet" participated by Chinese, Japanese and Korean trainees continued to usher in a sluggish rating of less than 1%, the Japanese and Korean idol markets also brought back the old player of "company draft" for show fans outside this weak star-making chain.

On March 6, South Korea's YG Entertainment announced that it will release the debut program "Last Evaluation" of the new girl group Baby Monster, which also brought the long-awaited "internal draft" back to the public's vision. Coincidentally, Janis Japan also launched a special program "Janis Jr.CHAMP" at the end of February, bringing together 100 Janis Jr. trainees from Kanto and Kansai to determine the MVP in three categories: dance, sports, and specialties.

At the same time, with the internal entertainment talent show being stopped, the last limited group INTO1 also announced in March that it was about to release a farewell album, but the draft still failed to "turn over" in domestic entertainment.

At present, Japanese and South Korean brokerage companies are betting on the internal draft again, in fact, it is the same as the internal entertainment that stopped the draft, and they have fallen into the draft dilemma of the 101 series of brilliant no more. But this also means that the draft game will not really disappear from the idol industry, but only from the "fight" of the public platform to the internal digestion of the brokerage company.

What is the company draft?

The internal draft system has a long history in the Japanese and Korean idol markets.

The so-called "internal draft" is, as the name suggests, an internal draft conducted by an agency for a debut project. Many leading agencies will also choose to open the selection of trainees in the planning, separately plan it as an in-house talent show and put it into the idol market for "popularity test".

The logic of the company's draft is no different from the talent show hosted by the platform and satellite TV, the essence is to let fans immerse themselves in the thrill of "national star making", so as to establish a deeper bond relationship and accelerate the incubation and cultivation of idol groups.

For example, South Korea's JYP Entertainment's girl group TWICE was selected by the company in 2015 in the company's in-house talent show "SIXTEEEN" cooperated with Mnet, in the form of 9 trainees and 7 girl group candidates to compete for debut places, and set up audience voting to decide the pick.

But the difference is that the internal draft does not follow the established program rules in an orderly manner like the talent variety show, but the agency has high autonomy and can adjust the rules at any time according to audience feedback. For example, TWICE is after the final 7 debut places are determined, and then President Park Jin-young considers the audience voting results, and adds two early elimination trainees MOMO and Ziyu, and finally forms TWICE's 9-person debut lineup.

This draft model, which comprehensively considers the company's operations and fans' opinions, has long been effectively imitated by internal entertainment. In 2019, Times Fengjun launched "Typhoon Metamorphosis Battle", packing and sending the original "Typhoon Youth Group" members Ding Chengxin, Ma Jiaqi, Song Yaxuan, Liu Yaowen and trainees He Junlin, Zhang Zhenyuan and Yan Haoxiang, and the originally planned five-person quota gradually collapsed in the later part of the show.

According to the statistics of the program, the proportion of votes supporting all debuts is as high as more than 400,000 votes, which is much higher than that of a five-person group, and the draft results of "seven in and seven out" are partly due to the fact that fans have invested nearly 20 million yuan for the show, which also reflects the commercial value of idols.

It can be seen that the internal draft is not like the 101 series draft is completely voted by fans to decide the order and debut, and the opinions of the agency can often subvert the ranking. This is because the 101 series talent variety shows are often considered from the perspective of limited group operation, and the fast-moving consumer goods model is measured by whether the popularity of idols can be monetized in the short term and high quality; The company's draft focuses on long-term operation, which is a long-term stable idol product scheduled to be officially launched to the market, and to some extent, it is also a warm-up exposure for the new launch.

At the same time, it does not mean that the choice of agencies and producers is what fans want.

For example, the Korean boy group ENHYPEN, which debuted in 2020, is a lineup that disagrees with the producer by fans taking the initiative. The group was selected by the South Korean HYBE Group and CJ E&M Group jointly launched "I-LAND", producer Fang Shihyuk preferred to put post-95 Japanese trainee K into the debut group's choice is far from the public selection of all post-00 lineup, so that a large number of fans had to vote jointly to keep the "popular election", and finally formed ENHYPEN, who drew up the debut lineup of fans, and paid off the 20 billion won cost invested in this in-house talent show in only one year after its debut.

It can be said that the "highlight" cases of domestic and foreign drafts in the past have also created a very confident sample for many mainland brokerage companies that are eager to try. In addition to the peak of the era of eating the first bite of crab, more and more agencies have begun to choose this draft as one of the ways to "bring back the dead".

The company's internal draft is in full view

It has been nearly eight years since the 101 series draft became a hit; It has been about two years since the domestic entertainment draft was "martyred".

It is undeniable that the 101 series draft has achieved milestone significance in the Chinese idol industry, and Cai Xukun, Liu Yuxin, Zhou Zhennan, etc. have all been active in the forefront of head idols since then. However, with the "krypton gold" of mainland brands binding fan economy with the platform being blocked, the quality of trainees is low, and there is no show to choose from after the draft is stopped, the fatigue of traditional draft star-making has also intensified.

We have also noticed that many leading brokerage companies in the mainland have also begun to promote trainees to open the internal draft process, and have lengthened the draft front on the basis of the Japanese and South Korean cases, which is more meaningful to catch big fish in the long term.

Like the three generations of TF under Times Fengjun, since it was released in 2017, it has repeatedly launched an "unofficial draft" that is no different from the company's draft. In 2019, it launched the "New Year's Concert" project ranking, the top three can get a public performance stage, attracting fans to invest nearly 600,000 yuan; In 2020, trainees opened Weibo accounts to light up the "debut position" activity, which also attracted fans to invest more than 1 million yuan.

Based on this, it also allows the third generation of TF trainees to enter the competition for positions in advance, and the change in the company's ranking is more flexible. For example, in the official photo released by Times Fengjun in February this year, Zhang Zeyu, a trainee who was previously ranked sixth, became the second place, while Zhu Zhixin still held the C position. Perhaps it has also been paved for a long time, and the official debut of three generations similar to "Typhoon Metamorphosis" was also revealed to be in preparation this year.

Similarly, Wa Haw Wow also started the "Little Wow Music Club" project this year, although it has not yet moved towards the systematic steps of self-incubating the talent in the trainee club, but at present, the trainees who have been exposed have formed a certain fan circle cognition under the continuous supply of road shows, life Vlogs, assessment group complexes and other materials. And the past experience of combining drafts and variety shows may also plan a "debut survival battle" for it when the time is ripe to make up for the vacancy of the idol group after the dissolution of its INTO1.

However, it is worth noting that the successive exposure of trainees will also affect the results of the company's draft. The overwhelming support of trainees with a certain degree of recognition in the company's talent show will inevitably mobilize the public choice. In 2013, YG launched an in-house talent show called "WIN: Who Is Next", which divided 11 trainees into two groups to debut as a team.

Among them, Kang Seung-run, who entered the final four in the national talent show "Super Star K2" and Solo, and Lee Seung-hoon from "Super Star K" already have certain solid fans, and the audience vote of the A team led by him exceeded 50% of the audience vote for both performances, which is also diametrically opposed to the choice of the judging team led by producer Yang Hyun-suk, and the A team also successfully defeated the B team to debut under the name of "WINNER", and set a record for a Korean boy group to win a music program in just 5 days after their debut. So far, no one has broken it.

At present, well-known domestic entertainment brokerage companies such as Kunyin Entertainment, Lehua Entertainment, and SDT Entertainment have also made relevant investments. It can be expected that the company's internal draft may also become one of the publicity methods for subsequent brokerage companies to launch new idols.

After all, the in-house draft led by the brokerage company actually minimizes the risk of input costs when it is selected by the targeted crowd. Instead of taking the risk of directly pushing to the market and facing the fluctuation of fan orientation, it is better for fans to enjoy the process of participating in star making, deepening the sense of bondage and making market choices more clear.

But this does not mean that the internal draft is enough to become a major shortcut to "save" the internal entertainment draft, which may also be unable to go out of the circle due to company and platform restrictions, and may also become self-entertainment.

LIKE THE KAKAO GROUP'S IST ENTERTAINMENT LAST YEAR'S "THE ORIGIN- A,B or What?" " can be described as "no one cares", the trainees who stood out formed a new boy group ATBO did not attract attention, and now they have also returned to the talent show "PEAK TIME" to strive for exposure. In 2021, Lehua Entertainment and iQiyi planned an internal draft "Next Stop Debut", planning to select debut places from two groups of reserve groups, but it has not been launched until this year.

In other words, the restrictions and difficulty of the internal draft are no less than the platform draft.

Looking at it, at present, there are only three or two brokerage companies that can do the company's internal draft. It can be seen that the investment in sunk costs, a mature idol training system, family fan audience stickiness and other construction conditions are indispensable, which is also difficult for brokerage companies in the middle waist and below to bear.

More importantly, the audience's enthusiasm for the draft largely lies in the "having fun" mentality and the unchanging "CP" output.

Among the existing talent openers, the Little Wow Music Club and the third and fourth generations of TF at the peak of the times all rely on CP to attract fans into the pit, and the effect of internal closed-loop digestion also deepens the binding degree of trainees. In a certain sense, while bringing double benefits, it has also become a variable for idols, and this has become a sweet burden for the company's draft.

Why does internal entertainment need an in-house draft?

Recently, a large number of Chinese trainees of "Boys Planet" lacked systematic training of poor performance in song and dance, and were also ridiculed by netizens, "It's too shameful, does this show have to be chosen?" ", and even once produced "seven eight in the fog" out of the circle joke.

Obviously, the "duck catching" style of rapid disclosure of domestic entertainment trainees is no longer fresh and inclusive in the draft. Compared with the Japanese and South Korean drafts, which are due to the rapid industrialization of idols, resulting in the need for draft diversion to the market and digestion of idols, domestic entertainment is still stuck in the contradiction between insufficient industrialization of the idol industry market and imperfect operation of the industrial chain. The idols that the public expects have become more demanding after the big waves.

After the initiative of the elected show was handed over to the brokerage company by the platform, the quick shortcut was blocked. Without the timeliness limit of short-term market seizure, brokerage companies need more idol products that can generate value in the long term. To put it bluntly, as long as the "draft" is involved, the dividend is still unwilling to be given up by brokerage companies and platforms, especially the strong "blood pack" of the domestic entertainment fan economy, which is an "oil field" that has not been completely exploited.

In the two years since the mainland lost the draft, a large number of "show fans" who have nowhere to land have turned overseas.

Last year, after the "Girls Planet999" draft, which still has a trace of popularity in the mainland, ended, Shen Xiaoting, a member of the debut group Kep1er China, also became the emotional projection of many show fans. Since the release of the two return albums since June last year, the sales of fans personally invested by Shen Xiaoting have successively accounted for 60% and 80% of the group's lost sales, with an overwhelming proportion to support the base of Ke1per's single return of only 400,000 album sales. From all this point of view, the external support of the domestic entertainment fan economy has also made China the second highest country and region for South Korea's music exports in 2022, reaching 51.326 million US dollars.

The considerable consumer audience is also the reason why the draft has not been abandoned by platforms and brokerage companies. To some extent, it is conducive to promoting long-term stable and sincere "draft development" fans. To put it bluntly, what the audience needs is the "draft" model, regardless of the form of display, which is why the in-house draft can be favored by the head agency.

On the other hand, this is also due to the need for benign competition and benign monetization. In the past, the method of monetization of the draft mainly revolved around the cooperation between brands and platforms such as advertising and interpolated endorsements, which was difficult for brokerage companies to share. Although the internal draft is dominated by the agency, the idol effect is still desired by a large number of brands. For example, in "I-LAND", there are local Korean brands such as Vita 500 and Bibigo.

The company's internal draft makes its own decisions from within the company and becomes an open and transparent trading content, which means that it will eventually become a "variety show", which fills the gap in the music comprehensive market. To put it bluntly, the music complex market with low appreciation threshold, diverse inclusive circles, and entertainment attributes is very prone to explosive programs. Today, even if the traditional 101 series draft no longer exists, it does not mean that the draft will be removed from the music complex, and the internal draft can also give high hopes.

Perhaps it should be said that what domestic entertainment needs is a draft that can roll the diversification of the music comprehensive market, rather than the ancestral model draft under the nature of "comprehensive N generation". Just as the current B station after "Taosha" rap musician's "Rap New Era", successfully launched "Do You Listen to My Music" featuring an original track in 2021, the same is true for the company's auditions.

After all, China's draft career, from the orthodoxy of the academic school, the counterattack of the grassroots, to the current environment of trainees and cultivation departments, is also a stage of enthusiasm in the process of constantly updating the fault tolerance rate. It can be said that the draft track will still be the content that the music complex market will not give up, and the entire idol industry will not refuse, but how to recreate the draft type, and the bet on the internal draft may also become a new track for the music complex.

However, in the final analysis, the first fact in front of us is that the gap in domestic entertainment trainees has gradually been replenished to a saturated state after the popularity of "Idol Trainee", and the career development space is relatively small. This may also lead to the monopoly of the head brokerage company, and the middle waist and below may not receive anything.

Overall, the vitality of the domestic entertainment idol market still needs the draft as a "catfish" to stir up the 100 billion market of the idol industry, which is also one of the important reasons why the current internal draft is "lifted" to the front of the stage. What's more, relatively speaking, the vast majority of domestic entertainment fan audiences are still positioned and are still oriented to the content of the eyeball economy, and there is an extremely considerable form of monetization.

After a thousand sails, big waves and sand, the fan economy is still there, and the draft will not be extinguished.